Home of the Free, Because of the Brave

Happy Independance Day!!!

Steve and Jean have the title of this post on a sign in their sun room. Every time I read those words I swell with pride for my husband and all the men and women who have made those words come to life.

I thought this poem was very fitting for today. I made sure that I sat down with Drake, Ashtyn, and Dade and talked about what the true meaning of the Fourth of July is, not just the carnivals, parades, and fireworks. We talked about how 232 years ago our brave soldiers fought to give us our freedoms, just as Brent and all his comrades are doing today. Thank you, everyone, for your support of him and of our family. It means to very much!

And Brent...You know how incredibly proud I am of you! Thank you and make sure you tell everyone there how much what you guys do truly means to us here at home. I love you more every day!

Servicemen

I watched the flag pass by one day,

It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Man saluted it,

And then he stood at ease...

I looked at him in uniform

So young, so tall, so proud,

With hair cut square and eyes alert

He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him

Had fallen through the years.

How many died on foreign soil

How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?

How many died at sea

How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,

When everything was still,

I listened to the bugler play

And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times

That Taps had meant "Amen,"

When a flag had draped a coffin.

Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,

Of the mothers and the wives,

Of fathers, sons and husbands

With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard

At the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, freedom isn't free.

Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops

Numb

Well, obviously, a lot has happened since my last post. I have had a rough time even gathering my thoughts, so a detailed updating will have to be done at another time. I really just want to thank everyone for their kind words, thoughts, prayers, and offers of help to my family. Bridget has been wonderful, helping to transport Drake & Ashtyn for me, so I could spend time with my family. The Peace Lilly sent by the Russell family is huge and beautiful! I will try to take a picture and post it to the blog. As for now, we are all coping. I wanted to share the words that my wonderful husband sent to be read at the funeral in his absence. This helps to describe what a profound sense of loss my whole family is feeling at this time. I will try to update a little more later on in the week.

“Granny”


Granny is leaving us today but she will never really leave us, for I can look around the family and see her in all of us. I look at those that are closest to her and see her, not necessarily in the physical sense, there is plenty of that, but more in the value and virtues that she tried hard to instill in those that were around her.

When I think of “Granny” several words come to mind, strong willed, opinionated, caring, and devoted are just a few. To know her daughters, granddaughters, sons and grandsons you don’t have to look too hard to see the impact that she has made on them. In them and others Granny will live on, and we will continue to see her and know she is with us everyday.

Granny was many things to many different people. I couldn’t even begin to list everything she was to everyone, but what I can tell you is she was that staunch guardian of her Granddaughters, later I learned that extended to the entire family. This is how I know her best, and how I came to respect and admire her.

I can still remember the first time I met Granny and Pa. Pa was of course his usual sociable self and just wanted to talk about the news of the day and the Cubs. Granny was sociable as well, but our topic of conversations let me know that I was going to soon be deemed worthy or unworthy for her Granddaughter Micca, for this I was forewarned and well prepared. I was told I passed the test later, but there was still some scrutiny simply because I seemed to have all of the right answers, that’s only because someone gave me the cheat sheet. Granny wanted only the best for everyone in her family and she would tell you about it whether you wanted to hear it or not.

When people talk about someone living on in someone else, I don’t think the phrase would be better used than when talking about Granny. She always gave you something, whether it was an opinion or something to think about. She has had such a profound impact on so many people I truly believe that she lives on in all of us.

First T-Ball practice

Today was like any other, except it was Dade's first T-ball practice-ever! He didn't get to play last year because we had just recently moved to Deer Creek and registration was over.

Dade has always been the type of child that likes to use his imagination. I will post a couple pictures of him that I took this afternoon as an example-scroll down to the bottom to see. When all else fails punishment-wise, I have to ground him from using his imagination and playing pretend. It sounds harsh, but it's the only thing that really affects him. He has never really been into anything athletic. He's just never shown an interest. This is no surprise, as my extent of sports after the 1st few years of softball, was Color Guard in the marching band. His dad is more of a weight lifter/boxing type of guy. And neither of us are very coordinated, so Dade comes by it honestly.

Dade decided this year that he wanted to play t-ball. I was so excited that he was showing an interest! On the way to practice I realized how much trouble I was in.

"Mommy, after I catch the ball, what do I do with it."
"You throw it to the base that the runner is running to, to try to get them out."
"Out of where?"

O, boy! We have a lot of learning to do. LOL Practice went well. Dade was shy and clingy at first. He did not want to pair up and play catch, so I played with him. The problem is, when he was in preschool we thought he was left handed and I hadn't gotten him a new right hand glove. I had forgotten all about it. So, it was a little awkward for him. I will go tomorrow and get us both some gloves. Dade thinks we need to add practicing catch to our daily routine. I told you he was BO. LOL He loosened up a little and played catch with Coach Roger for a while. He told me later that this was his favorite part of practice.

I really wish I could figure out how to post a video on the blog. At one time, Dade was turning in circles, a boy at second base is writing in the dirt, an outfielder is holding his "pee-pee" and a boy walks up to Coach Roger and asked to go play on the playground. LMAO Typical kindergarten behavior.

I also got video of them practicing running bases. The first time around, they all did well. But, the second time, they cut second really short. It should be a fun season.