You're a Grand Old Flag, For Military Fathers Everywhere

When I go to the VA in Houston, I usually have a little crying spell, as I observe the many young Veterans who I know have sustained their wounds in the present conflict. I rush to the restroom, because these heroes do not wish to be pitied, and they won't understand that my tears are about the emotion of knowing such men and women have been willing to stand for me and mine.  I cried a little today too as I read of a Wounded Warrior who brought a military event to a reverence it would not have known as he sang The National Anthem along with the others attending. How lightly we sometimes sing the National Anthem at events, perhaps because we have never experienced the rockets red glare.  

 

 The picture below is of the children at our Family Day at the 1st Battle Command Training Group of the 75th Division, Arlington Heights, Illinois.  The children holding up the award were on the team which  won the PT contest, doing the most push-ups and sit-ups, and doing the loudest hoo-ah!

When my husband speaks before school groups he always starts with having the  students stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance.  Usually, especially in the higher grades, it is half mumbled. As he winds down his speech on patriotism he tells the story from John McCain's book, Why Courage Matters, of the man who was held prisoner of war with him and tore up T-shirts which were allowed to be sent from home toward the end of their confinement. The shirts were red white and blue, and he used threads pulled from the seams and a bamboo needle he had fashioned to "sew" together a crude flag. Each day the prisoners quietly pledged the flag. Of course their captors eventually found the flag, and a two hour beating followed. It was conducted out of sight, but within clear hearing range for the benefit of the other prisoners. When the man was returned to the cell, the others cleaned the blood off and made him as comfortable as they could. A couple of hours later, the man crawled from his concrete bed, and with his bloodied hands, and through the slits of his swollen eyes, he began making another flag. My husband at this point, to end his speech, asks the students to stand and say the pledge again. There is always a very distinct difference in their participation. 

 

The rendition of the Preamble to the Constitution in the video below, and the singing of You're a Grand Old Flag is given by my grand-daughter, Gabby. She and her sister, Samantha, have been gone to Germany for three years with their father who is active duty Army, and their mother, who served eight years, and now serves in the civilian side. The pictures are of children from their school there in Germany. I was so emotional as I visited last Thanksgiving and stayed with them on the base. To be surrounded by the children of those serving was such a humbling experience for me. So today to all the fathers who are serving around the world, one of your own expressing the patriotism your service has taught her. God bless each one of you on Father's Day, especially those deployed who will not be with their children today. 

The Predators Are Out

Found this sneaky thing lurking in the corner of the duck pen!

Evidently he had visited the pond first and ate one of my bull frogs!

He won't be eating anymore!

This squirrel was carefully observing the photographing of the snake, which for those of you who do not recognize him right off the bat,  is a cotton mouth water moccasin. They are an aggressive snake, and the only good one is a dead one.  The squirrel wasn't quite sure it was dead, and kept chattering at me as if to say, you better stay away from that thing. 

It is a good idea to stay away from snakes when you can, but if they are wanting to live among you... well, it is just best to take them out.   Otherwise you might step on them in the night...

Squirrels may gossip about snakes, their bad habits and actions, but somebody has to take them out, whether they are dangerous or not. 

 

 

Quotes From General Omar Bradley

Quotes From General Omar Bradley

By far the first quote is my favorite!

"Leadership is intangible, therefore no weapon ever designed replace it." 

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we do 
about living."

"America today is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America."

"Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."

"Wars can be prevented, just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them, must share the guilt for the dead."

"We have grasped the mystery of the atom, and rejected the sermon on the mount."

"With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents."

 "The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts."

"If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner."

"Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death."

"This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting to live."


 


 

Father''s Day Is Coming

"I once read the sentence, "I lay awake all night with a toothache, thinking about the toothache and about lying awake."  Part of every misery is , so to speak, the misery's shadow of reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer, but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer.  I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief."

 C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

A Father, Marine, Father of a Marine, Father of a Victim of Military Sexual  Trauma, Father of a Non Survivor of Military Sexual Trauma...

I Went Home With a Stranger After Lunch At Tony's

I am a soft touch for an abandoned baby anything, and yesterday after  a Sunday morning filled with all kinds of excitement, my best friend and I, along with her husband and two of her grand-children, headed to Tony's in Sealy after church for lunch.  That is a great little place for Sunday lunch,  they always have a buffet with several selections of meat, all kinds of well cooked vegetables, rolls and cornbread, and the lunch is only $7,95. On Sunday they always have turkey and dressing, roast, fried catfish, chicken fried chicken, and chicken fried steak.  Before we even got in the restaurant, as we were walking up to the door, there they were, three pretty little puppies, out in the rain.  We had a fairly severe thunderstorm while we were in church, and they were a sad looking little group. They were soaking wet, hungry, and so surprisingly calm.  They were not jumping around, yelping, or whining, just sitting there in the rain shivering.  I could hardly eat my lunch.  I just feel that if your pets are allowed to breed, it is your responsibility to see that they get a good home.

Many people stopped and looked at the puppies, some went back in the cafe and got scraps from the plates they had just left to feed them a bite or two.

Randy has been wanting me to get another dog, Ginger is getting really old, and she is just too friendly to bark when someone comes up to the ranch.  She just wants them to stay for dinner, and to beg for a scratch behind the ear from them, and maybe a bite from the table after lunch or supper.  After Ginger went missing for twelve days, I had told Randy I would never have another dog, I had cried every hour on the hour the last two days she was gone.  I could accept she was dead, but I could not accept that she might have suffered, and that she had died alone.  Low and behold, God brought her home.  Then on Sunday I went to lunch at Tony's and there were the puppies, and one of them stood out to me.  I had a change of heart on the "never having another puppy again thing."

So I told Brenda I thought I would be taking a puppy home with me.  She just laughed at me and told me, "I knew the minute we went by those puppies at least one was going home with you."  So we got a box, and picked her up, and I took her home.  Another couple eating at Tony's took the other two pups.  So all of the puppies were lucky on Sunday afternoon.

She was eat up with fleas, and the first thing I had to do was give her a bath, de-flea her, and get her warmed up and fed.  She is a delight, very calm dispositioned, and obviously very intelligent.  I was a little worried about she and Ginger getting along, Ginger is unaware that she is a dog, wants nothing to do with other dogs, ignores them, and if they get too close to her food, she will go from the calmest animal you have ever been around to a wild dog in a split second.  This little pup is unusual, she is as calm as Ginger is, doesn't jump around, demand that Ginger play with her, or otherwise annoy Ginger.  There is obviously some jealousy, and Ginger keeps wanting to sit closer to me than the puppy, and of course I let her. 

                                                                            She slept most of the afternoon, and I was a little worried that she would be up all night since she had always had the other pups and a mom to snuggle up,  but she hardly made a peep.  She has already made herself at home, and soon she will go out to the kennel each night.   The only thing left to do after I get her shots tomorrow is to settle on a name.  I had first thought of Angel, then I thought of Patriot, and calling her Pat, and I like Stranger for a name too.  I can't get much enthusiasm on that one from either Brenda or Randy.  I like that it is a different kind of name, but this little stranger, I found sitting out in the rain, has stolen my heart.  

What a Beautiful Morning From My Back Porch!

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.  Psalm 113:3

I Love This Video!

This dog missed the one he loves while she served in Afghanistan.