We just got some pictures from the Flag Day/Army birthday celebration we attended last month at the Union League of Philadelphia. This is an overall view of the Lincoln Room where the event was held.


General Petraeus was the keynote speaker and gave a detailed briefing on what is happening in the US Central Command area of operations.

A number of military personnel were invited to attend free of charge. Here they are in the Lincoln Library with the general. The naval officer 4th from the right was the commander of the Mark V special ops boat that we got a ride on last year on the Delaware River.

Wild Bill Guarnere and Babe Hefron from Band of Brothers were there too. Petraeus said it was an honor to meet them since they were part of the 101st Airborne, and he was the division's 41 commanding general and the 8th commanding general to lead the division in battle (Iraq invasion). For those of you not familiar with Band of Brothers, Wild Bill is on the left. He lost a leg at the Battle of the Bulge.

Look at the headline in the paper the general is holding. Babe and Bill have written a book. Maureen is going to stop by Irish Pub in Philadelphia this afternoon where they are having a book signing tonight and get a copy.

Not too long ago I was beginning to think interest in this web site had started to cool off, but then some real good postings appeared - quite a mixture of stuff. Fred, the horse; Scout, the dog; white water rafting; Whitney back in the US; Anya with Fred and learning to drive; Steve's new web site; Molly with great grandparents, etc. Thanks to all who have put items on line. I still don't know how many view the site regularly. There's no good way to measure that. If any of you can figure out how to do it, let me know. There aren't a lot of comments, probably because making them requires going through the word recognition, having a Google account, password etc. The site is about a year old now. I've received a couple messages about renewing the domain name, but haven't figured out if they are real or not. When Steve was here, he came to the conclusion they weren't, and the renewal would be automatic. If any of you have knowledge about this, let me know in an e-mail. I've forgotten how I set it up in the first place. I do remember I started with information Andy gave me; so, Andy, how about telling me again in an e-mail? In the meantime, keep making the postings. They have been great.

Last Thursday I was elected as president of the Resident Council of Summit's Trace Assisted Living. That should be interesting, especially at this time when the new owners have been in control since April 1, and there's a real mixed bag of opinions about how they're doing.

White Water Rafting

Sally and I visited Dad last week, and on the way home stayed at Canaan Valley, West Virginia where we went white water rafting on the Cheat River. The river was a little low, but there were still some good rapids which were enough for our first time.

The big change in our lives is Frederick! After 6 years of ballet, Anya decided to go after her passion and we bought Fred.The change was bittersweet since she was getting very good at ballet, especially on pointe. We keep Fred in Ada which is about 25 min. from our house. He's a show horse and very experienced. Anya will have to work hard to get up to his level which is why she spends several hours a day at the barn. She's earning money for him working at John's office and cleaning our house. Her teacher was a Grand Prix winner from Ireland so Anya's in good hands. This was a picture from her first show. She won third place in one part and first place in the other. She also won the End of Show Championship in her division. We're proud of her!

Yes, that's Anya the first day of Driver's Training. They put her in a car by herself and told her to drive around the course even though she had never driven before! Check out the car. The place she took it is called Jungle Survival Driver's Training.

Whitney's home!

Whitney made it home safely late last night! We've had a wonderful day together, and we're going to celebrate her birthday tomorrow (only 2 1/2 months late!)

We welcomed, Scout, into our lives this summer. She's a charcoal lab with light blue eyes. We named her after the little girl in "To Kill a Mockingbird." (I love that movie.) We're having fun with her but she sure is keeping us busy! I told a friend of mine that we got a dog and she said, "Eileen, I thought you were smarter than that!" I thought that with the 4 of us, we could handle a dog.

Retraction: Heather is going to have another boy not a girl! Three boys! Sounds familiar! At least she got her money back from her faulty aultrasound and the baby girl clothes that she bought!

Whitney home this Thursday!

I wanted to make sure you all knew that Whitney will be home from Mexico on Thursday! We are so excited to see her. Please pray for safe travels, and safe passage through customs.
Steve will actually be in Texas this week on business, so has arranged to fly on the same flight as Whitney from Dallas to Omaha. I'll let you know when she has safely arrived!

An invitation to my website

I have established a website with several pages about my books and also a blog to read and comment on spiritual themes. All views are welcome and you are invited to read the thoughts expressed or even leave a comment as well. The website is www.aunitivespirituality.com

I have found when we think, write, say, and do things which are unitive, we help make our world a better place. Blessings . . .

Great Grandma and Grandpa meet Molly

Pat, Melissa, Molly and I visited the Courtyards and we all enjoyed each other's presence. It is nice to have Molly meet her great-grandparents and Mom sure eyed her. Good times were had by all and we look forward to more visits in the future!