Greetings All my Children:

Sorry I haven't posted much for a couple of weeks. It's been hectic for me.
I had a weekend training camp for the Associated Press and wannabe reporters early in October in Malibu. That was interesting, but a lot of work. Later, I spent a weekend in LA at a screenwriter's conference. That too was interesting for me, but a little discouraging as I realize writing is so competitive. Last weekend was Stake Conference. I was supposed to spend the weekend at Church in meetings, but basically slept through both days and didn't even go. Guess I had to recharge.

Mom Update: So far so good. She's doing pretty well during the day, but her nights remain very rocky. Which means my nights also remain rocky (no sleep). We just keep trying to deal with it.

My computer died about a week ago. The hard drive finally gave out. So Greg and I have had to share (my-his) laptop. So I've been going through computer withdrawal. That's also been a pain. I forget that when we first moved here in 1984 personal computers hadn't really been invented yet. (Actually they had but no one could afford one. The Commodore 64 came out in 1985 and that was about as close to a PC as was out there. Amazing!)

Greg has been doing remarkably well in school. He got A's and B's in the hard subjects like Math and Chemistry and Spanish. But got a D in English. Go figure.
Walker did the same thing. What is English a second language here now?

For Halloween, Walker and I had to go to Los Angeles Children's hospital for the day.
They had an opening to get Walker tested for the Growth Hormone Therapy program. It was a three hour test. He had to come fasting from the evening before, then he played pin cushion while they searched for a vein to draw blood every half hour. He was brave though and we managed to get through it. But we had to be there at 8:30am which meant we had to leave by 6 which meant getting up at 5, but I didn't get home from work til 1:30 which meant I got no sleep at all. So I rested in the early evening when we got back home. Walker opted to not trick-or-treat, but instead he and Greg played spooky music and handed out candy, etc.

James is doing pretty well at work. He's going to San Diego this weekend (which is Walker's 12th Birthday) to shoot Ryan's wedding.

Got a letter from Mike. Here's what he had to say:
10.23.06
Dear Dad:
The weather has been getting cooler, here. The other day it was in the low 30s, today was about 40. Infact, on the way to the library, it started to snow, and I realized that out of all the times that I've been in the snow, I've never actually seen snow fall. It was a little weird, because I didn't think it was cold enough to snow, and the sun was out. It was pretty cloudy, and windy, but it just didn't seem normal.
I had a cool experience the other day with a Nazarene Paster. We were driving past their church, and we saw one of our investigators, sitting on a bench in their parking lot. He had missed our last appointment, so we thought it would be fun to stop and talk to him, so we did. As we were talking to him about why he missed the appointment, and how he we doing, an older gentleman came out of the church to talk to us. He introduced himself as Paster Bob, and wanted to know if we were Mormon missionaries. We introduced ourselves, and he wanted to hear our message. I knew emdiately that he just wanted to argue, or Bible bash, or try to prove us wrong. We started to talk about the Book of Mormon, and he said that he had read it before. I was a little suprised, and for whatever reason, I just said, "How did you like it?" He started going off on how there wasn't any archeological evidence to support any of the claims in the Book of Mormon, or even some of the things Joseph Smith did or said he found. Normally, this would discourage me, because I have no idea how to counter-act that. But again, the words just came out, "But how did you feel about the message the Book of Mormon has about Jesus Christ and His gospel?" He thought for a second, and said that he agreed with what it taught, and that he felt pretty good when he read it before, and that he was thinking about reading it again sometime soon. Then he got a look on his face, like he couldn't believe that he just said that, and then excused himself to go back inside. We've been laughing about that for the past few days.
Anyway, it's time to go. Thanks for Jessica's Address, and I'll talk to you next week. Tell Mom that I love her, and I love you, too.
10.29.06
Dear Dad,
This week has been a rollercoaster: spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. It started out okay, but friday was a car fast, and it was raining all day. We had to ride 5 miles to the local hospital, where we're volunteer chaplains, and then 5 miles back, all in the rain and cold. Then we walked for the rest of the day, all because some missionary somewhere in the mission, had an accident with thier car. Saturday, was fine weather wise, but we didn't talk to anyone. Nobody was home for some reason, and we didn't have any appointment.
Buy, yesturday, after church, we went out with a member to some of our appointments. These two people we talked to are so excited about the Book of Mormon, and the spirit was so strong during these lessons, that it made up for the rest of the week.
Anyway, time for me to go. Try, and encourage everone to write. I got a letter from our cousin Lindsey last week. She seems to be doing pretty good. So, let everyone know that I love them and miss them, and hope to hear from everyone soon.

Elder Young"

SO IT WOULD APPEAR THAT NO ONE IS WRITING ELDER MIKE. COULD YOU GUYS PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO EITHER WRITE HIM A PHYSICAL LETTER OR SEND HIM AN E-MAIL?
NOTHING IS MORE DISCOURAGING THAN NOT HEARING FROM PEOPLE BACK HOME. HE GETS E-MAILS ONLY ON HIS P-DAY (MONDAY) AT michaelvyoung@myldsmail.org.
OR HIS PHYSICAL ADDRESS FOR SNAIL-MAIL IS Elder Michael Young, 136 1/2 First Ave, Apt #2, Gallipolis, Ohio 45631.

THANKS KIDS FOR HELPING.
CHRISTMAS IS NEARING. WE DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH MONEY, SO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'D LIKE AND WE'LL PLAN ACCORDINGLY. LET ME KNOW. POST A WISH-LIST HERE IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. KEEPING MIKE SUPPORTED SHOULD BE OUR FIRST PRIORITY THIS YEAR. WHICH MAY MEAN A LITTLE SACRIFICING OF SOME THINGS ON OUR PART TO DO THAT. THANKS GUYS.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. I PRAY FOR YOUR LIVES TO BE HAPPY. I'M SORRY THINGS NEVER SEEM TO WORK OUT LIKE WE THINK THEY SHOULD. WE'LL JUST HAVE TO KEEP MARCHING WEST. (Handcart reference).

LOVE AS ALWAYS.
DAD.