My husband told my teenaged son he would buy him a drumset this weekend.

A drumset.

I'm thinking "What's wrong with a flute?"

I spoke with a friend the other day who volunteered in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It's amazing -- so many months have passed, and many people are still not settled, their lives are not yet back to normal. What a huge disaster that was - yet so minor in scale compared to the tsunami earlier last year.

Here are some interesting articles I found on the subject:

Hurricane Recovery - information on finding missing loved ones, shelter, ways to donate and volunteer.

JoJo and Abbas Zawawi - with an article about JoJo's mother, also a volunteer minister.

Volunteer Minister Blog - not just about the hurricanes, but about other work of volunteer ministers.

Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief - Volunteer Ministers in the wake of Katrina

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

They had their baby! Yay! Her name is Suri, and she weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 oz - a perfectly nice size for a new little one!

If you are wondering about Silent Birth as practiced by Scientologists take a look at the links.

Tom Cruise - Scientology.

I am so sad. US troops fired on a family in Afghanistan - wounding a woman who had just given birth hours earlier - and her brand new baby.

US troops injure infant.

I am just so saddened by this story.

How many people does it take to nap a baby?

Today it was 4. Me, one sister, and two brothers... the little munchkin is alternately squealing with excitement, happy and interested, laughing and playing, then whining with fatigue...

He's teething - that doesn't help. And he's just one of those kids who is just excited about EVERYTHING. Every toy, every sibling, everything that moves, everything that doesn't move.

When he visited his grandmother and aunt recently, they kept commenting on how active and INTERESTED he is. And he is! Everything is amazing and wonderful to him.

What a joy babies are! Even when they're teething...

Tom Cruise and Scientology Silent Birth

Tom Cruise has been an advocate for children's rights for many years.

Now that he is expecting a baby with Katie Holmes, he has been communicating a lot about Scientology silent birth. This attention to the importance of maintaining a calm, peaceful environment during birth, is just another example of his care for children and future generations.

To read more about how Scientologists approach childbirth, check out this new website:


Silent Birth.