Update

Alright, it's been a few days... here's the latest:

Dr. Phil was fun. We were able to go to 2 tapings... the first was a mother who beats her children and is completely mentally ill. The second was "out of control teens." The first girl drank too much, the second had lots of unprotected sex, and the third tanned way too much. The tanning girl helped us to score a goodie bag of sunscreen, so that was fun. The experience overall was a little surreal. Dr. Phil looked a little like a corpse to me... just because he was so perfectly made up and he looked to have a little make up on. That and it's not every day you expect to see him, so it was definitely an odd feeling. The other odd thing was that the show staff warmed us up just like any other show would do... we were dancing and clapping - then the woman who beats her kids came out. It was a little too early in the morning for such a fast mood swing. I know that everyone in the audience must have felt it. I also felt a little guilty for seeing the people in person... its one thing to be removed from it by watching TV, but when you're in the second row... it feels like you're on the 'help judge this person' committee during a therapy session. But seriously - it was a great time. :-) The shows are supposed to air sometime in May I believe.

Good news! My neice finally returned this morning after running away almost 3 weeks ago. I have a big sense of relief to know that she's home and safe. I'm not sure of exactly what happened to her, but I look forward to her getting her life back to where she wants it to be.

Here's the link to her Amber Alert that came out before she was found.