In celebration of Easter and remembering that Christ rose from his tomb after dying for us all, today I'm re-launching my family website, replacing the old stale and stagnant website that has remain largely unchanged for the past several years.

After several starts, I've almost finished the family website. If all goes well, I intend to publish it Easter Sunday (tomorrow).

Well, it's back to work on the family website. I've just gotten a new beta of RapidWeaver, and I'm very impressed with its new feature set. As expected, it's got some bugs, too, but we'll pass them along to Dan at Realmac Software. I'm going to shoot for an Easter public release of the family website.

Well, what a relief! I've got my car back!! I was fearing it would be several hundred dollars, but it turns out that it was a bad battery. Apparently the battery in my 5-year-old car had cracked (and for quite some time, according to the service department), and it finally died on the way home from Topeka. Because the car's system voltage was under-powered, it was messing up the in-dash computer, and wreaking havoc on the car's engine & transmission. After replacing the battery, everything is pretty much back to normal. I'm still getting some "hissing" noises when the car is first started up, but it quickly subsides after a minute or two.

The lease on the car is about up (expires in August '05), and the tires and brakes are probably due to be replaced anyway. Time to start looking and some new transportation, I guess.

I'm back! It was really great being with Rebbie, the kids and the rest of her family. The best part of the trip for me was being able to take the kids to school every morning and pick them up in the afternoons. One afternoon, I went to get Bri and waited outside her home room as I'd done most ot the week. At 3:30, the bell rang and the kids started coming out of the classroom. Normally Bri is among the first, but on that day I hadn't seen her come out. After several minutes, I wondered if her dad, Ron, had already picked her up before class had let out. I was about to go to the office to inquire when Bri's best friend, Lauren walked out of the classroom with one of her girl-friends. I asked Lauren if Bri was still in the room, to which she replied she was. I thanked Lauren and she and her friend continued walking. I then heard her friend ask who I was. Lauren answered, "That's Brianna's daddy. He's really nice!"

That made me feel warm & fuzzy...

We also had the custody hearings on March 2nd as planned, and the judge agreed to appoint two guardians ad litem for Kenny & Brianna. Now they'll have a voice in the custody hearings. They've both asked Rebbie & me repeatedly why no one was listening to what they've been saying, so when we told K & B that now they'll both have someone who are their representatives in court, they were very happy. We told both of them that they can tell the guardians exactly what their wishes are, and the guardians will speak up for them. The next hearing is set for May 2nd, so I'm already planning my next trip to Topeka.

Getting back home was a hassle. Just south of Oklahoma city, my car starting giving me trouble. I couldn't accelerate quickly, and I lost momentum going up hills. If I tried to accelerate, the car made "slapping" noises, and slowed down. I continued to nurse it along through DFW and feared that if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to restart it. UGH!!! I finally stopped the car in south Fort Worth, adding some gas treatment (because I'd just filled up north of Oklahoma City, and wondered if I'd gotten some tainted gas), then topped off the tank. The car started up again, but with squealing noises I'd never heard before. Figuring I'd gotten something on the belts while I had the hood up, I limped back onto I-35 and headed south. As I got close to home, the car finally just gave up on me. Fortunately, it was just north of Georgetown, only a few miles from home. I called a tow truck and a friend who came to take me the rest of the way home.

Today, the car is in the shop, and I'm dreading the phone call from them. It's probably going to be an expensive repair. In the meantime, my buddy is letting me drive his pickup until I hear from the shop.

It's good to be back home... sort of.