Fallen Heroes

As we near this time of celebrating our country's birthday, I want to honor two of our fallen heroes who gave their lives protecting our freedom.

Jaron Holliday was the son of some dear friends of ours. In August 2007, he was killed in Iraq when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb. He was 21 years old. He had 7 little siblings who looked up to him very much, and was a very accomplished pianist who loved the Lord. He loved people and always took the time to brighten someone's day. He loved to make them smile. A few days before his death, he had red roses sent to his mom, who was undergoing chemo for breast cancer. His homegoing left a hole in many hearts.

Last week another young man in our church family was killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. Andrew Looney was 22 years old and had been in the country for 6 weeks. He had been wounded in Iraq in 2007 when a roadside bomb exploded. He lost part of a foot and suffered a traumatic brain injury. After spending over a year in rehab, he was determined to return and fight for his country.

I can't imagine what these families have gone through, and are still going through. I pray that the Lord will carry them in His loving arms and heal their hearts.

Thank you boys for giving your lives so that we may remain free!

Big Jake

18 years ago today, I became a mom.

I made the mistake of blinking, and now my son is an adult.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

We love you and are so proud of the young man that you've become!

This and That

It's been awhile since I've posted; not a whole lot going on, and someone in our family lost the camera.
( I later found the camera in the bottom of a bag of mine I had taken on a trip. oops! sorry kids!)


Days are going by quickly - tomorrow's the last day of school! YEAH! I am so ready to be done this year! Of course then comes the fun of picking next year's curriculum. My youngest is already complaining about being bored and wanting to get started on next year's work. Oh no, this mama's taking a break!

We went to Six Flags a couple of weeks ago and that was the most fun we've had in a while. I actually got my oldest two on the Shock Wave with me! I've got to say that Tony Hawk's Big Spin is an absolute blast! The cars spin around as they go down the track. I don't know when I've laughed so hard! ( I need to stop here and thank the Lord for continued healing of my back. Compared to where I was 2 years ago, I was absolutely thrilled to be enjoying roller coasters again! I'll have to do a post later on the path the Lord has been leading me down.)

Let's see, what else has been going on? The garden is in and growing, my niece graduated from high school this week, Bethany's mission trip to Mexico has been postponed due to violence down there, and my dear husband was laid off from work 4 weeks ago.

The Lord is so good! A couple of weeks before Mike was laid off, the Lord told me one day to fast. I asked Him what specifically to be praying for and I heard Him say, "Your husband's job". So I knew something was going to happen, but didn't know what. Later in the day He told me "Pray
big". So I started praying that Mike would either get a big raise where he was, or the Lord would place him in another job with a big pay increase. ( So we can do some things the Lord's been speaking to us about!) Well, then he got laid off and I got excited! I can't wait to see what the Lord has planned! In the meantime, the Lord's stretching our faith - this is definitely a growing time!

Fun stuff!