Remember

I fear that we are forgetting the meanings of our holidays. It is so easy to take the free time and do something fun with it. But I was determined to share the meaning of Memorial Day with our local family, especially the grandchildren. So on that special Monday, we drove to Antioch to visit Carmen's grave and place rose petals on it. The cemetery was filled with flags on every veteran's grave! Flowers were everywhere! It was such a sight. Our little Carmen is in good company. We will always Remember Carmen and my hope is that we will always Remember those who have served and left us!

We celebrated Memorial Day later in the day with all the local families. I wanted it to be special so I prepared a slide show for the kids that showed them all the major wars American soldiers have fought, from the Revolutionary War to the present, in pictures. We included the story of TAPS and had Scotty play it for us on his trumpet. Allegra made paper poppies for each family, to memorialize Flander's Field. We sang patriotic songs, accompanied by James on his recorder. Many of the kids played the piano for us. You see their pictures here. I believe the kids got the message. I wish I had included a statement that I found later, on sacrifice. It went something like this: there are only two who were willing to give their lives for you and me, Christ to save our spiritual lives and the American soldier to save our physical lives. I want to always Remember!

Reed's wife, Dorothy, lost her stepfather, Ken Combs, who died last week. He was a good-hearted man who died prematurely from various health problems. He is pictured here. We attended his memorial this past week. He is another who deserves to be Remembered.

Pictured left, top down are Jacqueline, Alexis, and James. On the right, top down is Zachary and Scott. Carmen's grave is also pictured and to the left is Ken Combs.