Kidneys kidney's everywhere...

As you know Perry is getting on of Joe's Kidney's next month. It looks like the surgery will be the 14th of December (not yet totally confirmed). Prior to that a family fast is being planned for this Sunday, December 2.

Personally, I've only had kidney stones and so the only times that I've ever thought about my own kidney's are not happy moments. Obviously don't know much about that wonderful and vital organ that we call the kidney, so I looked up a couple of websites. If you are interested in the transplant process you can visit here or here. If you want to learn more about having healthy kidneys click here. Of course there is always tons of info on Wikipedia.

I have to admit that I'm very impressed and touched by Perry's courage (and Anna's, and Buffy's and Mom's and Dad's) at this time and the ultimate generosity of Joseph. I know that we all offered to give, but now that Joe is scheduled to be on the table next month it is even more real.

Good luck Bros. We love you and are praying for you.

Book your online shore excursions for Alaska now.

Dad wants me to let everyone know that we can each book the shore excursions that we would like to personally afford now on line. The travel agent says that booking excursions soon than later is wise so that we get what we want.

I suggest that people look at the list of excursions (hundreds of them) and we can discuss what people may like to do together--you can post comments or a new blog with your ideas here.

******NOTE: Even if you don't want to do a shore excursion, you cannot even get on the cruise without filling in this form--so do it, dang it! You can download it, print it and fax it in, if you don't want to do it online.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. go to: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/home.html.
2. go to the bottom-right hand corner of the page (scroll down) and click on "Booked Guests Get Ready to Cruise"
3. on the next page, go down to the middle of the page, titled: "Advanced Guest Registration Form" and find the link just below called: "Register Online Now," and click it.
4. Fill out the form with your registration number (see the list below), ship (Norwegian Pearl), ship date, last name and first initial. Then submit the form.
Here's the list:
TM: 13519446
KA: 13519439
CT: 13519440
BD: 13519441
JT: 13519442
AC: 13519444
MC: 13519449
JA: 13519453
JE: 13519455
PA: 13519456
5. Choose "Register Now" and then choose the country where your passport is issues from.
6. Fill in the form with all your passport and contact details.
*****NOTE: Even if you don't want to do a shore excursion, you cannot even get on the cruise without filling in this form--so do it, dang it! You can download it, print it and fax it in, if you don't want to do it online.
7. Once you are registered, you can go back to this page: http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/home.html. Go to the bottom-left (scroll down) and click on the link: "Search for Shore Excursions." It's just under the picture of the scuba diver.
8. Choose your destination and any one of the Ports of Call--a list of excursions will pop up.
9. Click on the "details" buttons next to the excursion that you want and you can then order it on line (or by fax).

Remember, you pay for these excursions yourself and you MUST register if you want to even get onto the boat (even if you don't book any excursions).

Good luck. Email me if you have any questions" dvdd8n@gmail.com.

DD

Happy Birthday Taylor Wang Dayton

Taylor Wang Dayton was born today at 7:53 AM. He weighed 8lbs, 11 oz., was 19.6" long and has a little bit of dark hair, as you can see. Mom is doing well and is pleased with how clean and nice American hospitals are. Her doctor wasn't bad either, she said!

The "blessing" of the delivery was that the uterus was only about 2mm and it should have been 5mm or more, but Jess and the baby were still fine--thanks to great doctoring. Dad said he was very glad that he did a C-section as labor would have ruptured the thin uterus. We are so glad that everyone is healthy and happy but Jess is a little sad that she will not ever be able to have a little girl (like that was ever going to be an option from me anyway!).

We don't have a Chinese name yet, but will work with a Hong Kong traditional astrologer/numerologist to select an auspicious and appropriate name based on date, time, family and "good" Chinese characters later this week--yup, that's really what we will do and did with Brien(泰东升).

DD

PS. In case you were wondering, I'm doing fine too. Thanks for asking.

New Family, New Postings, New Invitations

For those of you who have not checked in to the blog, you'll want to now--really!

In addition to updates on the family cruise that you can ONLY get on the blog, there is the potential for photos of two new family members this week! Beat that!

Please log in, update us all on your family activities (we'd love to see the photos of your kids--who else can honestly say that?!), you're websites, you travel plans (when do we get to see you), etc.

DD

Cousins are G-R-E-A-T!

Since no one else is using this site, I guess that I'll just post whatever I want--and I want to post pic's of my (and John's) cute kids. So there!

One of the best things about Brien being in the US, I think, is the association with cousins and other family. Thanks to everyone who has helped Jess and Brien out this month.
DD

MOM WINS!!!

Congratulations! We all knew you could do it. And not only did you win, but preliminary results show that you absolutely destroyed the competition with over 70% of the vote!!!

Thank you so much for your service to our country, our children and our future.

We love you, Senator.