I can’t believe that my little baby is one year old today. In honor of the Rackhams we striped her down and gave her chocolate cake. Man, Ray’s family has some good ideas.

(B. Harish, Bhilai)

People in general tend to use the two words interchangeably. But I understand that there is a difference between the two. A "lawyer" is someone who knows the law and has been admitted to the bar. He advises his clients about their legal rights and often pleads their cases in a court of law. In the strictest sense an attorney need not be a lawyer; in other words, he need not be someone who practices law. An "attorney" is someone empowered to act in a legal capacity on someone's behalf. For example, when you give the power of attorney to someone, you are authorising the individual to act on your behalf. This individual need not be a lawyer; he could be anyone - your brother, husband or friend. If you wish to use the word "attorney" to mean "lawyer", then the correct term is "attorney at law". Remember the famous Perry Mason? He was an "Attorney at law".

S. UPENDRAN

Apparently Zach's class has to write a sentence for each spelling word. Some time ago, Zach took it upon himself to fit all the words in as few sentences as possible while making the whole thing make sense. The excersice has yielded some impressive writing. Here is his latest (remember, first grade folks):

A wakeful bat, that hung beneath a tree, swooped down and flew to the ridge of the granary. Then when the bat went back, it swooped at a snake but the snake slithered away. Then the frosty ground glistened in the moonlight.

I have to wonder if "granary" wasn't a list word as well and he just forgot to underline it. I can't imagine he came up with granary all on his own... ) Then again, you never can tell with Zachy.

On our camping trip to Mt. St. Helens we were dismayed to discover that after only a few pictures, our camera's batteries died. It was the perfect occasion to try out my new camera phone! Check out this one of Dunn carrying Luke and this one of Emma and her new friend. Not bad for a phone, eh?

[Note: I have the capability of e-mailing these directly from the phone, so if you get a "picture message" in the future, just be aware that replying to it will send a text message to my cell phone, which is fine, if that's what you intend to do--but it costs me two cents each time so make sure its your two cents worth (get it? har, har, har).]

Today's terror alert level is:

So we were almost finished with our 60 mile an hour trip across the country and the brakes gave out on our Uhaul. With only three hours to go we are living it up in the motel 8 which we are bound and determined will be compliments of Uhaul. Thanks to the pool, cable, and free internet, it has not been so bad. A local has our truck at his shop as I write and we hope to be back on our way soon. Actually, we just hope to get the truck back. It is a weird feeling to know that your whole life is in a truck and you don't really know where it is.

Rachel and I took the troop on a weekend getaway to Mt. Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument. It was the first time we’ve ever taken all of the kids—in fact it was the first time Ray and I have ever been camping together. That seems hard to believe but she has always stayed home with Emma and Luke before.

Thanks John and Ray for the E-card. We loved it!

The fly back was a success! Brad landed the job in Overland Park today and we pick up the rental truck in the morning. We should be pulling in to Matt's house Sunday night. Brad will be driving around in the cool Progressive Car in no time.

Although married, we are now both bachelors.

This is my favorite picture of the graduate.