On Wednesday (Sept 26th), Richard and I took Becky to a baby reunion for all those who were in our Lamaze class. There were three classes there and everyone had their new babies with them. While we were going through our Lamaze class we filled out a prediction sheet about our babies. Each couple put down whether they thought they were having a boy or girl, what they thought the weight of their baby would be, and whether or not the baby was going to be early, on time, or late. Then, at the baby reunion, whoever was the closest would get a prize. Well, after signing in at the reunion and having some cake and punch, that was the first thing they brought up - the prediction sheet. And out of about fifteen couples, Richard and I had the closest guesses. We put down that we were having a girl, that we thought she would be 7 lb 4 oz and that she would be on time. And of course, everyone knows we had a girl, but as for the weight, we were only off by 6 oz and she was born right on her due date, so she was on time. It was pretty cool. So, we got a little door prize for that - an ornament for our Christmas tree this year.

After that, everyone was asked questions about their labors. How long, how short, how many C-sections, how long we had to stay in the hospital, and so on and so forth. I was in the top three for the longest labors. Hopefully next time I will be in the average or fastest section. One lady had a 30 hour labor in the hospital. I couldn't even imagine that. The shortest labor, though, was 25 minutes in the hospital. That was one lucky woman - and it was her first baby.

When the reunion was over we went up to say good-bye to Margo Bender and Rita Wooten (the Lamaze class teachers) and Becky got all excited and started making all kinds of little noises. They commented on how alert she was and what a happy and cute little baby she is. They just loved her - especially her chubby little legs. We will be going in for her four month doctor visit in a couple weeks and we will get to find out her weight again. We weighed her on a regular scale at a friend's house and she was about 13 or 14 pounds - but we'll know for sure in a couple weeks. She's just growing like a weed. =)

As many of you know, my grandpa passed away last week, so we made the drive to Seattle to attend his funeral services. I know I'm not alone in saying that this was a nice time for the family to reunite and catch up with each others' activities. We picked up Heather on Tuesday the 18th around midnight and started travelling straight up. After a not-so-comfortable slumber at a rest stop along the way, we kept driving and driving for what seemed like forever, and finally got into Seattle on Wednesday the 19th around 6 p.m. With bathroom stops, meals, and our aforementioned 2-hr pause for sleep, we were on the road for about 18 hours! Becky was sure a trooper on the way up. She slept most of the way, and remarkably wasn't too bothered by being in the car for 18 hours straight!



F.Y.I., here is Grant's obituary: W. Grant BARNET, Jr.
Born April 27, 1921 Grant went to be with the Lord on September 16, 2001. A loyal Alumni of West Seattle High School, he was instrumental in organizing and editing the Alumni Newspaper for twenty-five years while employed as a machinist for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. As a member of First Presbyterian in Seattle, he faithfully served as elder, deacon and volunteer in numerous capacities, trained and served as a Stephen Minister. During World War II Grant served in the Merchant Marines. In 1946 he joined the Alki Masonic Lodge. One of his interests was handling publicity for Boy Scout Troops of West Seattle. Many enjoyed his gardening, especially roses. All remember him as a selfless, kind gentleman with a servant heart. He loved the Lord and his family dearly. Survived by his wife, Marian Barnet; his three children, William Grant Barnet, 3rd, Richard David Barnet, and Barbara Jean Bolinger; Marian's two children, David Charles Bjerke and Suzanne Bjerke Johnsen and their five spouses; he has thirteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is survived by his sister Janette Miller and a niece and nephew. A Memorial Service will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Seattle, September 20, 2001, 2 PM. The family requests in lieu of flowers, remembrances to the First Presbyterian Church Shelter Ministry and West Seattle Alumni Association.

Today at noon I attended a memorial service (as part of the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance), at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was broadcast via satellite around the nation to all Stake Centers where people gathered to pay tribute to those in distress. Prayers were offered through word and song and comforting scriptures were read. It was a beautiful service. President Gordon B. Hinckley conducted and offered one of the prayers, Presidents Thomas S. Monson and James E. Faust also offered prayers, and the Tabernacle Choir sang. There were also congregational hymns in which everyone stood and sang together. A moment of silence was also a part of the service to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives, for those who have lost loved ones, for those in the rescue efforts, and for all who have been affected by this tragedy.

As I drove home today, everywhere I looked there was a flag flying or red, white, and blue of some sort on all the streets. Some of the casinos I passed had "God Bless America" up in lights with flags waving in the background. These lights are usually used for advertising, but today they they were used to honor our country and her people and to show support. I am very proud of how our nation has pulled together. We are so blessed to have the freedoms that we do in this country and the means and ability to help each other out. We are truly a blessed nation!

Here's a list of those not fortunate enough to have survived.

Click here for a list of survivors from yesterday's tragedy.

I have been impressed by the sheer volume of international condolences that have been circulating on the Internet. New (usenet) newsgroups formed (such as alt.terrorism.world-trade-center, alt.usa.disaster, and uk.current-events.us-bombing), and they abound with apologies and "get wells" from people all over the world to citizens of the United States. Listservs of international distributed computing projects, as well, echo the sentiments of outraged persons across the globe condemning the terrorist actions of the past 24 hours. Here are a few examples of some of those messages:

Subject: Get Well Soon

I am sorry to hear all the disaster in US folks, I hope god will bless and protect you, and your wound will be heal soon.
--
Can
Trabzon/TR

Subject: Re: Get Well Soon

My heartfelt condolences from Germany, too.
J�r�me

Je ne suis pas citoyen am�ricain mais je peux dire que je suis tr�s choqu� par ce qui vient de se passer aux USA. Je suis citoyen du monde et je me
sens tr�s proche du peuple am�ricain. Il est inadmissible de voir ce que peuvent faire des extr�mistes au nom de leur dieu. Je suis vraiment tr�s
choqu� et ce matin en France, je me sens tr�s mal car j'ai perdu beaucoup de moi-m�me en voyant ce que peut faire l'homme dans ce qu'il a de plus
horrible. Il faut que le peuple am�ricain soit fort face � cette catastrophe.

Julie from FRANCE

Please let us know that there is much less victims of that tragedy, than we think.
Condolences from Poland.
--
neex

That what happend yesterday in NY was terrible. I present my condolences to all Americans. Such things should not happen all over the world. American people and Polish people allways together against terrorism.
Lets fight!!!!!
Michael from Poland

God Blees You...
We pray for you........
Condolences from Denmark....
--
Poul

Condolences from Argentina. I�m very shocked about the assassinations against the American People. When I heard it at the radio, I can�t believe. So much innocent victims. Why do people such cruelty? I can�t understand. It�s terrible that humans are able to do that. A war is cruel enough, but this a cowardly, insidious act.

My heart will stay with all Americans, espacially the familys and friends of the victims of this assassination. I think every thinking human must condemn this act of inhumanity. I hope the world stays together to help our American friends! I can only repeat, my condolences to all Americans

--artaud

Je ne suis pas croyant, mais je prie quand m�me pour que l'on retrouve des survivants.

Condol�ances de France
Chotana

Nous compatissons tous et toutes � la douleur des familles des victimes et aux traumatis�s.

We all are shocked by this terrorism... The French people would like to tell the families all their friendship and present condolences.

(Sorry for my poor English)
--Cl�ment

On behalf of the People of Zimbabwe, I send my deepest, condolence to our friends in America

Cleopatra Magwaro

To the many,many thousands of families who have lost loved ones in this indescribable, outlandish, gutwrenching, sickening terrorist attack we offer our sympathy and deepest heart felt condolences. To those who lost their lives in this appalling tragedy we stand and salute you, you will not be forgotten. To those who were involved may your souls be condemned to the deepest chasm of Hell.

Vail
South Australia, Australia

Estonia is with you
No more words...
Papageno

It seems USA is now at war. God bless you and may you find the guilty, and be victorious. My deepest sympathies to everyone in the US.
Juha Jansson, Norway

With sympathy from all England. Such a tragedy which cannot be imagined. Go forward with hope for the world is looking on you now and will support you in this time.
T. Blair

Condolences from Austria
I'm shocked and all my best wishes go to your people.

This was such a sick attack and I hope you can save as many lifes as possible.
Gustav

Sympathy and condolences to those who've lost loved ones. This is the most senseless and pointless act of murder in modern history. I pray that the media don't humour the people responsible by calling them terrorists as they're not even worthy of that title. They're base murderers, nothing more nothing less. These deaths will be naught to their own selfish objectives. I hope that the American people doesn't become a part of these peoples mechanisations by doing exactly what they want America to do... strike hard and strike blind. I hope that America will strike in the way they've always done, with precision, intelligence and determination.

You know, I saw the story and thought it was just a shooting of the Spiderman movie. Right now, I kind of hope that it was. Regardless, the world is behind you guys, and I know that America will do what it's always done when pushed... stand back up, dust off, grin, say "So's your mother" and give the offender a mother of a black eye.
I hope someone over there takes solace in the words on this NG.

Peace,
Ka Khiong Kwok

The people of New York and Washington are in the hearts of The Netherland. Please be strong, and overcome this tragedy.
Leon, Netherlands

Re: condolences from Feij�, PORTUGAL
My sincere condolences to all the American people.
Tiago Rom�o

We are with American people!
I was socked by what had happened yesterday in New York city! It's unbelievable that the World Trade Center had gone with thsouands lives'death.I present my condolence to American people.Damn to those terrorist! I just want to say to American people that we share your pain and we stand with you.Let us unite to fight for justice,freedom and democracy. Let us unite to get rid of terrorism. God bless you and let God rest those innocent souls.
LIU Yanghe from China!

Condolences from Switzerland too
I hope you'll find the sick people who have done this and that they'll get what they have to.
Alan Piantoni

Condolences from Russia
It was terrible day...
We all with you.

Regards,
Ekaterina.

By the way, here's what "triage" means (I had to look it up):

The sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors; broadly : the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and resources can be best used or are most needed.

We are, as is most everyone else in the world, simply outraged by today's attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I watched and listened to the reports on TV, on the Internet, and on the radio most of the day, and the more I listened, the worse the reports seem to become. The President's address this evening was encouraging, and we look forward to justice being served in this horrible tragedy.

I apologise for the blog not working recently. There's something fundamentally wrong with my ISP's php implementation, so it doesn't work quite right sometimes. I've noticed lately that although there is more text to display that it only displays about half the page and then stops. They don't seem to know why, and I don't either, so until something get fixed on the server side, we might just have to live with a few glitches... Sorry.

Last night we stuffed ourselves with ribs at the Best of the West Rib Cookoff at Victorian Square in Sparks. We only tried ribs from a couple of different booths, but our favorites were from Desperado's BBQ & Rib Co. Here's a picture of Misti and Becky in the crowd (but sadly we didn't get any photos of us stuffing our faces, mainly because I would've ended up smearing sauce all over the camera):