Memorial Day Memories

Hello out there blog fans...Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Weekend and this week has been great for you as well. We are doing really good. Last week Doc & Mam were here for a quick visit. We had a wonderful time making yogurt, doing little projects around the house, and most importantly laughing at Clay-Jack. It was a great time with two of our favorite people and we are grateful that they had the courage to leave a huge vegetable garden and farm in the care of their friends as they journeyed out here. (For those of you who care, the tomatoes and corn survived the week without them...yea!) Clay picked up the skill of drinking from a cup while Doc & Mam were here...now, I say he's "drinking" from this cup. Actually, about 3/4 of the water ends up running down his chest and only 1/4 trickles down his throat, but whatever, we'll call it drinking. Clay can't drink from a sippy, no joke, he just chews on it, so I decided to skip the sippy and just give him very small amounts of water in a controlled setting, the high chair. He loves it and seems proud of himself. This skill gets better everyday and I'm looking forward to the diaper not being soaked on the outside from the water he's spilled on himself.
On Sunday night, before Memorial Day we all went to the Punchbowl (the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific). Just being there is humbling...knowing that each of those graves holds the remains of an American hero. A title that is thrown about loosely in today's society, but real heroes are those who sacrifice themselves so that others may gain. Today we call the basketball player who scores 50 points (way to go Dirk!) a hero, but he's just a man with a gift. We sat in the company of hundreds of heroes on Sunday night. They were Vietnam Veterans...heroes who were a part of a war for people that many have called a failure. Actually, it was a success in that it stopped the spread of Communism, but that's another topic. One of the speakers said something that stuck with me...he said that 40 years ago & today, the greatest threats to our country and freedom aren't terrorism and communism, but APATHY. In the days after 9/11, our country was united and said, "We will never forget!" But, it has only been 5 years over half of the country is ready to give up on the President and the American heroes fighting in a truly unconventional war against an enemy who will not quit until our country is destroyed. I hear people on the news and even friends, complaining about the costs of this war. Do you not think that the people who are fighting and those of us who send them off are ready for it to be over? We are ready, but not until the job is finished. So friends, I am not writing this to invite you to make my son's blog into a political battle, but rather to remind you of the blood has covered your freedom. Many men & women have died thoughout the history of this nation to preserve the ideas that we are promoting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember that as you are free to read your Bible, wear anything you wish and speak freely, even if that means against the very men and women fighting for these reasons. What a gift we have. Should we not share it with the world?