KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

Yesterday, Bethany, our youngest (age 22) in casual conversation asked, "Who is Art Linkletter? Nothing reminds me more of my age than a question like that. With two of our three already having homes of their own I am desperately playing catch up. I still see them all as somewhere between two and six years old. They would have been great on Art's show.

Lin reminded us this morning that when Bethany was first learning to read she liked to intercept the mail. One day she held up a letter, laughed, and said, "Look Mom. Here is a letter addressed to Daddy but they called him Mrs."

Our middle child Erin had a repuation for speaking her mind. At about age two she told her grandpa to close his mouth while chewing.

J.R. our oldest, in a conversation with his mother, was told about what plastic surgeons do. He thought for a long moment, and then asked, "What would happen if they used a real surgeon?"

Now, with our grandchild Micah quickly approaching age two, it starts all over. I am determined to chew with my mouth closed.

CHRISTMAS DINNER

It's nice having a decent camera on my phone. This is a photo of the table I sat at Friday night. The dinner was provided by FOCUS, an organization that helps PSU international students. Lin and I are volunteers. We fed about 200 students. I sat with a brother and sister from Saudia Arabia, a girl from Japan, and a guy from Sweden. They were all delightful. Someday we must go to Saudia Arabia. If we do, it will be in the winter. This time of year it is in the low 70s and high 60s. I don't think I would like their summer. I don't like extreme cold, either, so I will avoid Sweden in the winter. If you had six months to teach English, where would you go?

THE ULTIMATE PHONE

After 12 months of indecision, we finally dumped T-mobile. I was waiting for the gphone to make its debut before deciding. With it's android platform, the gphone is likely the phone of the future. However, I decided against it, because the first version doesn't have a standard audio-out jack, and I wanted to use Pandora in the car. I went with the iphone. I've only had it two weeks, but so far I have no complaints. It is definitely the cadillac of the cell phones. I also like the broader coverage range of AT&T. Tell me your thoughts about cell phones. Do you have one? What do you like about it?