Headed to Topeka again on Saturday. Rebbie & I are going to be in court all day Monday, May 2nd. We've both grown concerned because the guardians ad litem appear to have already made up their minds after talking with the dads. Neither guardian as made an effort to contact me, which is frustrating and disappointing. Rebbie is unhappy, and the kids are both worried that they won't be able to come to Texas.

It's in God's hands. As difficult as it is for all of us, we have to trust in His plan for our family.

More news when I get back on Tuesday.

For the past week, I've been testing a new beta of RapidWeaver, the software I use to generate the family website. It's come a long way from RapidWeaver Plus (a pre-cursor to RapidWeaver 3.0, from about a year ago). While I can see lots of opportunities to improve it, I like how it works. I've submitted my bug report and enhancement requests, and I understand there will be at least one more private beta before we'll see anything officially released.

I'm going to work in the yard today if weather permits. The lawn definitely needs to be mowed, and the weeds are starting to take over the back yard.

Today, my friends Chris & Karen were married. Chris and I worked together at MessageOne before he started his own graphics and marketing company, MagDesign, last year. Word on the street (and from Chris himself) is that his business is enjoying some well-earned success.

Chris met Karen in 2003, when he was living at his apartment. She lived across the way in another part of the apartment complex, and she always had a special interest in Chris (or, at least, so it seemed to me, anyway). About two years ago, he confided that he'd started seeing her and shortly thereafter, he and Karen invited me along with their other friends to North-by-Northwest for their informal "coming-out" party. I remember telling Karen not to break Chris's heart, and telling Chris not to let her get away. Seems that they followed that advice!

So today, I'm very happy for the two of them. It's been great watching their lives come together and grow.

The only thing that would have made today perfect would be to have had my wife & kids here at their wedding. Soon, I hope, that will become reality.

Congratulations, Karen & Chris.

I've added a new feature on the website today. Visitors will be able to see the status of the family chat cam in real-time. If it's green, it means chat is online; red, means it's offline.

To initiate a chat (when it's green), just click the status indicator and it will launch AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) or Apple's iChat (if you use it instead of AIM). It's really pretty neat how well it works. Give it a try yourself.

I also added Cookie's first installment of her "Everlasting Life" memoirs in the "Family Stories" area of the Message Board. Volume 1 is Mom's story of her early years, how she met Dad, and ends just as WWII is over the horizon.

It saddens me that today, even after a lengthy illness and knowing that his death was imminent, Pope John Paul II passed away at 9:37 p.m. (Rome time), 1:37 p.m. Central time.

Pope John Paul II was a true man a peace, reaching out to the poor and forgotten, building bridges between the church and other faiths, and helping to usher into the world an era without communism.

You have served your Father well, Karol Wojtyla.

Requiescat in pace (5/18/1920 - 4/2/2005).

Rebbie called me during the lunch hour today with some good news. Kenny was just named to the principal's honor roll at his school. Kenny has dramatically pulled up his grades from where they were a few months ago. She and I are very proud of Kenny and his hard work.

Rebbie was also recognized today by her workers and the management. She was given a certificate of recognition, some flowers and the rest of the day off! Gotta love getting PTO!

I've been getting a lot of feedback from family and friends about the new website, all positive. Some have suggested more photos or movies, so I'll see what can be done to accommodate everyone.