Hello Everyone,

I had a great time in Lincoln and it was great to spend some time with my mom, sisters, daughter and two of my nieces. I hope everyone made it home safely and recuperated.

I went to the Relay for Life with Sarah and had a great time at it. It was very inspirational.They held the event in a very large building, it was an indoor soccer field and a practice field for football. It had a full sized football field indoors. It was connected to the rec center so restrooms were close. At 11 they did a luminary service and shut off all of the lights and lit the luminaries that lined the track with purple glow sticks. They had a stage with a singer at times and all sorts of games and activities around the building. At 11 a group was on stage and a 19 year old girl spoke of being diagnosed with cancer last summer. She spoke of her experience with chemo and surgery. Wow! They then lit individual luminaries reading a part and saying if you are walking for you mother or father I light this luminary for you, then brother or sister, ect.. They had lights spell out HOPE on a wall and lit each letter separately and read what they stood for. Then everyone walked around the track in silence with music playing. It was very emotional. Sarah walked until around midnight and then we ordered a pizza to be delivered there. I met a boy that Sarah is dating. His name is Isiah and he seemed like a very nice young man. Very normal.

Sarah and I got a room at the Super 8 motel. We got back to bed around 2 a.m. I was exhausted and went to sleep right away. We were abruptly awakened at 7 a.m. by a very loud boom and a bright flash of light. It was very scary. At first I was not sure where I was and then I said "Sarah" She was sitting up and bed and said what was that. I knew it was lightening. I grabbed a pair of jeans and put shoes on and went to the lobby. Our room was on 3rd floor and the first floor was full of water. I asked a maid what happened. She said we were hit by lightning and smoke was coming out of the laundry room. I went back to the room and Sarah and I got dressed and packed our things and went back to the lobby. This motel had kind of a different lay out. You walked into the lobby but you had to go down about 4 steps to the first floor and up about five to the second floor. The breakfast area was on the level where you stepped down the steps it was flooded with very dirty water. I asked if they wanted me to knock on doors but the maids were already doing that. A very loud high pitched alarm was going off. We stayed for a while to watch the firemen. They decided there was not a fire but the lightning had struck and busted the water main. The city water dept. was on the way. We left and went to Sarah's dorm room. It was raining very hard and thundering most of the day. Sarah took a nap in her bed and I sat in the tv room for a while. The rain let up so Sarah and I went for a walk. We did not really feel like shopping we were wet and tired.

That afternoon we showered at the dorm and then went to Sarah's speech banquet. It was in an area of Lincoln called Havlock. It was like a totally different town. Like a small town inside the city limits of Lincoln. We had a great meal, they served prime rib, garlic roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables, a salad bar and then a dessert bar. They talked on how the team did at nationals and said goodbye to two coaches. I got on the road home around 8:30. It was a good trip. I did not get any shopping done that I had planned but it was nice to spend some time with Sarah without being rushed. If it had been a sunny day I may have been in a better mood. I loved the Grace Snyder quilt exhibit.

On the home front Seth was busy. He had a track meet on Saturday and then headed for the Order of The Arrow Ordeal at the lake near North Platte. He was only going to help as an OA member but once he got there they said he should go for the next level and join the Brotherhood. It cost $30 to do this and of course he did not have the money. Roger Thompson, a man Seth has gotten to know through boy scouts paid it and told Seth he did not have to pay him back he would get it out of him. Roger is the director of Game and Parks in North Platte. He also gave Seth a Beaver hide to have(I don't reallyknow why Seth wanted it). Anyway Seth was very excited that he is now in the Brotherhood. On my way home from Lincoln Seth and Denny kept calling me to see if I was awake. I got home around midnight. I was really fighting sleep so I stopped in Lexington and went to McDonald's . The races in Lex were just getting done so McDonalds was busy! But I got home ok. Ginger was so excited. I guess she thought I had left her forever.