Hello friends and family, I hope this new update finds you all happy and healthy. After spending 10 days in Kuwait and Afghanistan, visiting our military men and women with six former Miss Americas….Susan Powell, Heather Whitestone, Nicole Johnson, Ericka Dunlap, BeBe Shopp, and Sharlene Wells and a former Miss Utah, Jill Stevens, who had been deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 through her National Guard Unit in Utah, I took a week off from the book tour to catch up on my sleep and some of the non-profit work I continue to sheperd….the Miss America Organization, The Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award Young Americans’ Challenge, and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. The trip to Afghanistan was life changing. I was invited to share my book with the troops and speak to our military. The six Miss Americas and Miss Utah were VERY popular, and I was able to share in the “light” that they brought with them. I was Bob Hope, and presented them in over 12 different camps and Air Force Bases in the war zones of Afghanistan. I resumed the book tour in Meridian, Mississippi on November 2nd with a private reception and signing at the home of my dear friends Helen and Lee Valentine. Mary and I toured my friend Sela Ward’s Hope Village, which houses abused or neglected children from Lauderdale County…a terrific facility, and we are most interested in working with Hope Village to raise funds to help them continue the work that they are doing. I also spoke at the Meridian Rotary Club, and taped a 30 minute program for the local network affiliate about my trip to Afghanistan. Mary and I then drove to Jackson where we stayed with our dear friends Angelyn and Barry Cannada. Angelyn had been Homecoming Queen at Ole Miss, and Barry was President of the Student Body while we were all at Ole Miss together in the 70s. During our two days in Jackson, we worked with some of the artisans who are creating the woodwork for the new house we’re building in Oxford, I filmed several PSAs for the new statewide “Promises I Made My Mother” Essay Contest being sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Education and Rotary Clubs of Mississippi. Thousands of young people will be reading my book and competing for college scholarships presented through the Mary Kirkpatrick Haskell Scholarship Foundation. Next we met with Rick Moore, President and CEO of Eyevox and Mad Genius Productions about some projects we are working on with attorney Barry Cannada. The next day I signed hundreds of books at the Jackson Junior League’s Mistletoe Christmas Luncheon, and hosted the entertainment which included humorist Jeanne Robertson. My cousin Mary Rogers, and my publicists Nancy Perkins and Beth Kellogg were there to support Mary and me. Junior League President Crisler Boone, and Mistletoe Chairman Lisa Abernathy were so awesome and fun to be with. Mary and I also got to visit with fellow authors, and old friends, Darden North and Robert St. John who were signing books as well. Angelyn Cannada then rushed us to the airport to catch our plane to New York to see daughter Mary Lane in her starring role in the NYU production of “Kiss Of The Spiderwoman”…..what a joy to see this child perform on stage. Sam IV and his girlfriend Ashleigh flew in to join us, and New York friends Laurie Stephenson, Susan Powell, and Richard White joined us as well. On Sunday, Mary flew back to LA with Sam and Ashleigh who had to resume their studies at California State University and I flew to Chicago for multiple book signings at the Elgin Rotary, the Mt. Zurich Public Library, and the Women’s Assistance League’s Books and Christmas Brunch event. Again, I signed and sold hundreds of copies of Promises I Made My Mother which humbled me greatly. Erin O’Conner, Miss Illinois 2009, was there to join me in Chicago for these events as were Scott and Yvonne Lorenz and their daughter Katie Lorenz, who had been Miss Illinois 2008. Scott and Yvonne scheduled all of my Chicago events and took me to each of them personally. They also gave me a tour of Chicago which included dinner at Carmine’s on Rush Street, and a visit to the Signature Room on top of the Hancock Building in Downtown Chicago. The views of this beautiful city on Lake Michigan were breathtaking! On Tuesday night I flew to Dallas for multiple booksigning appearances at the Adolphus Ladies Book Club, Southern Methodist University where I gave three lectures, and a return visit to Legacy Books where all proceeds of the book event were donated to Minnie’s Food Pantry in Plano, Texas which is run by my friend, Cheryl “Action” Jackson. Kyle and Terri at Legacy had hosted me in July, when my book had become the number one Bestseller in Dallas, so I promised to come see them again during the holidays. My dear friend Jeanye “Tex” Irwin hosted me for those three days in Dallas….taking me everywhere I needed to be, and keeping me on schedule for the multiple appearances. Hundreds more books were sold and signed in Dallas. Tex also took me to dinner with her sister Ruth and her brother-in-law Roman Kupchynsky, and lunch with her friends Peggy Riggs and Jil Katz….both terrific, philanthropic women…not to mention beautiful and very funny. We laughed for two hours, and then Peggy hosted me and Tex for tea in her beautiful Highland Park home between my last lecture at SMU and the book signing at Legacy Books. I also was honored to go to the National Boy Scout Headquarters located outside of Dallas in Irving, Texas, and I had a meeting with National Boy Scout President Robert Muzzuca and his associates Al Kugler and Stephen Medlicott. I was an Eagle Scout as a teenager, and had respresented Mississippi at the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Farragut State Park in Idaho in 1969. The Boy Scout experience was one of the most life forming experiences of my journey. As President of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award for the US, I wanted to meet Mr. Mazzuca to suggest a national partnership with the Boy Scouts which could be great for both organizations. I was so pleased to meet with President Mazzuca and his staff, and even more pleased that we have agreed to move forward with a partnership plan for the two organizations. I head back to Mississippi on Monday, November 16th to join Mary, who is finishing up the two year construction on our new home in Oxford with Architectural Designer and close friend Frank Tindall, Decorator Lynda Mead Shea, and Contractor Roy Bright. On Wednesday, I travel back to Jackson, MS for the fifth time on this tour to be a guest on the Paul Gallo statewide Radio Show, and to do the keynote address for the Mississippi Ad Federation. I then return to LA to join Emmy Winning Actors Ray Romano and Doris Roberts for a masterclass at California State University. After Thanksgiving, I head to New York for a guest appearance on FOX News’ Fox and Friends on December 3rd to discuss the trip to Afghanistan, and to pre-tape a show that will air in primetime, on Christmas Eve, that will also feature some of our video footage from the Afghanistan trip. I wish each of you a happy and healthy Holiday Season. Love, SAM…Kev, I’d also like for you to get the video link I filmed for the Essay Contest, and add it to the website as well. Thanks.