Starbucks and more

Today was a happy day. I got my first Starbucks card! Looking back, and find it odd that I never got a Starbucks card before, considering that I've been an avid Starbucks drinker for 3+ years, but nevertheless, I'm satisfied to have my first :)

Pictures will come, I'm sure.

Thanksgiving: In the morning, I came downstairs, and not too long afterwards, was engaged in an intense game of Settlers of Catan with Brett and James. We played until around 12pm (we've been playing this game... like a lot) until Joel, Kimi, Elena and Aria arrived.

After that, I spent about an hour holding my new niece Aria as she fell asleep. She's an angel, and I rejoice as we add new members to our family. Bittersweet memories are made.

A little while later, the Fala family came over and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Sarah did an EXCELLENT job, with the help of Kimi and Mrs. Fala, and the whole family felt quite stuffed by the end. We ended by watching one of my favorite movies, "It's a Wonderful Life."

Yesterday morning, our family went over to the Edmonds house for breakfast, and afterward went Christmas tree hunting. We now have a beautiful, 13 foot noble fir tree in our living room. But we still have to decorate it.

In other news, I'm planning out an intensive school schedule to get my school work out of the way as soon as possible. My goal is a little intense, possibly impossible, but I'm trying to see if I can get everything out of the way to be ready by... Fall of 2011. We'll see. I have some praying and some planning to do :) Further bulletins as events warrant.

For now, Brett, Sarah and James are challenging me to another game of Settlers of Catan, so I must go and defend my dominance in the land... once again.

That's all for now! :)

Isaac Franklin

I feel like I'm always saying this...

But so sorry for not posting for so long! I've had a crazy last few weeks, so please forgive me.

Since the film festival, debate and speech have taken over a large percentage of my life. I'll recap a bit:

On the 13th of November, we had the first debate round-robin of the year (hooray!). All but 2 Rainmaker teams were present, but out of those teams, only Ben and I were a varsity/varsity team. Pretty crazy. The tournament was held in Seattle, near Shoreline, and was just one day.

We (The Edmonds. Stephen Hellweg, Matthew Riegg, and myself) decided to be crazy and drive up the morning of, and drive back that night... Not a good idea.

We arrived about 15 minutes before the first round and scrambled to get ready in time.

In the end, the whole tournament was a great blessing, and Rainmakers placed in the following:

Novice Teams:

Cannon/Cannon: 8th place novice team

Cools/Winslow: 4th place novice team

James Moller: 1st place novice speaker

Varsity:

Edmonds/Harris: 2nd place team

Isaac Harris: 2nd place speaker

----

Since then, just a whole lot more debate!

Yesterday my brother Brett got in from school, and he'll be visiting for a week. He was rather tired yesterday and headed to bed early (while I was at debate giving a lecture on flowing) but today we were able to spend together talking and playing games: Quelf (which I horribly failed at) and Settlers of Catan (24 victory points! And all three metropolis's! :D)

This evening we followed our old family tradition of cutting apples for pie and listening to Oscar Brand's First Thanksgiving tape. The family is smaller, and in some ways it seems a little empty. But times change, and new memories will be created.

More to come!

Isaac Franklin