Memorial Day...

I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day...we owe so much to so many who

have fought to preserve our freedom!

We had a nice dinner at our house-Bri made these special potatoes...

We saw a blimp go by :)

We spent a little family time playing Rummikube

(the kids had recently played with friends and were happy to hear

that we had the game)

Bri won alot

Brad really did a great job buying and decorating for the day

(He also put flags on the light poles in our neighborhood)

It's something he does every year.

Isn't there just something about seeing our flag flying that just "gets you"!?

Thanks Brad for decorating, and many, many thanks to those

that I owe my freedom to!

Long may she wave!

Memorial Day Thoughts

I'm so grateful for all of the veterans who have served this country to preserve our freedom...

Many gave the ultimate sacrifice, and so did their loved ones.

And of course I am also so grateful for those who are currently serving and sacrificing.

May God bless and protect each one and bring them safely home!

Memorial Day

Can you believe it's been a week since Memorial Day already!?

We had a nice dinner with my Mom and Phil's Dad...

(I was too busy to get pics of them though!)

We did snag some of the table and punch before they came...and after :)

Thought I'd share a few lines from a lovely Memorial Day Poem:

Thank God,

For the citizens,

Of the USA!

Who sacrifice,

Their life long stay,

To cut it short,

At any day,

For the Peace,

And the Freedom,

Of us,

Who in,

Homeland stay.

Thank God,

For the citizens,

Of the USA!

D.Alsup

An Honor...

We were blessed to have the honor of hosting two veterans

at our home on Memorial Day

Our very own "Pop" and our neighbor Jack (whose wife also joined him)

We really appreciate their service to our country!

And, we appreciated their company for dinner too. :)

The guys played some carpetball

Guess who else was happy? (Chippy loves Uncle Jack!)

Hope you had a nice day too!

Something to think about...

The question is: Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?

The answer is:
Memorial Day started off as a somber day of remembrance, a day where we in America go to cemeteries and place flags or flowers on the graves of our war dead. It is a day where we remember our ancestors, our family members, our loved ones who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

But now, too many people "celebrate" the day without more than a casual thought to the purpose and meaning of the day. How do we honor the 1.8 million that gave their life for America since 1775? How do we thank them for their sacrifice? We have 364 other days to celebrate and enjoy the freedom and life that we have because of their sacrifice. As Mr. Schelp says, "it's only by actions that we can repay those who have come before us." Let us take just one day to remember.

We need to put the "memorial" back in Memorial Day and observe the day as it was originally intended. We need to decorate the graves of the fallen, visit their memorials, and support the care of these cemeteries and memorials so that their ultimate price, their ultimate loss is not taken for granted. To honor our military dead does not validate war, leave that debate behind for just this day. Consider giving your support to restoring the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day to the 30th of May. "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day." -- VFW web site [www.vfw.com/amesm/memorialday.shtml], Feb 2002