Veterans Day 2012 ~ Remember and Honor

 

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On this day of remembrance, please be thoughtful of all of our veterans who bravely served so that we can live in the greatest country in the world, with all the freedoms that enjoy.

 

Please also keep in mind those who are still serving and are away from their families, and say a prayer that they all come home safely, soon.

 

I would like to give a shout out to my father and Uncle Raymond who served in the Air Force, and of course my son, Nikolaus, who is in the Army Reserves now, and spent a year in Afghanistan. I am so proud of you and thank you for your service and am so blessed that you all came home safely to our family.

 

Uncle Ray in Korea

 

 

Nikolaus in Afghanistan

God bless all of you who serve and have served to protect us and our country, and God bless America.

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Veteran's Day ~ 11/11/11

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On this very unique Veteran's Day, I ask you all to take a moment during the day to remember all of those who serve our country, to thank them for all they sacrifice so that we have the freedoms we have.

Please take a special moment to remember those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms.

Also keep in mind their families today as they remember the loss of a brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter, etc. What an unselfish thing they have done for all of us. They must be hurting today with their memories. God bless them all.

As for my favorite soldier, I am grateful that you made it home safely from your tour in Afghanistan and I am so proud of the man you have become.

So to all of our troops serving now and who have served, thank you so much for all you have done. I am praying for all the active duty troops to come home safely soon. And a final prayer for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, God bless you and your families.

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Wordless Wednesday: Three of my Babies at Veteran's Day Ceremony

WORDLESS

Nano Bytes

Mandie Kathryn

Lady Mia

To see more Wordless Wednesday posts, visit the WW Hub (along with several other places throughout the blogosphere), link up and don't forget to leave a comment.

 
{Thank you to my good friend Jan for these wonderful photos of my precious babies - love you, Jan!!}
 
 

Monochromatic Monday: Proud to be an American

Welcome to Monochromatic Weekend... Join Aileni on Monochrome Weekend and link your post here.

During our Veteran's Day Celebration in town, when the flag was lowered and changed the WWII veteran standing in front of me stood ram-rod straight saluting the flag with a tear rolling down his eye. It made me so proud to be there and proud to be an American, and made me cry. When the ceremony was over, I thanked him for his service to our country, and he just smiled and said it was his pleasure.

God bless you and God bless America.

Until next time..... Lorie

A Lesson for All Young People

Something that was passed along to me by a friend of mine that touched my heart and I wanted to share with you all:


A lesson that should be taught in all schools . . and colleges!

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School did something not to be forgotten.

On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent,the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks
out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks..

'Ms.Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'

'No,' she said.

‘Maybe it's our behavior.'

She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior..'

And so,they came and went, the first period, second period,third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said,

'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along side the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks
had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

By the way,this is a true story: http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp

Please consider passing this along so others won't forget that the freedoms we have were earned by Veterans.

Until next time..... Lorie

Visit with my Son, Nikolaus

Here are some photos of my son's visit. We hung out around the house just talking - that was actually my favorite thing, just listening to how grown-up he has become and how proud he is to be serving our country.

He and Nano got along so well, they played together every day, and Nik was just like my little boy again, it was so adorable. It was really nice having Nikolaus along with us during our walks, too. Nano kept turning around to make sure all of us were together, he was so excited he was running around our feet and jumping on our legs. I think he was just as happy to see Nik as I was.

We visited the Veterans' Memorial in Celebration on Veterans Day and took a couple of pictures in front of the Army emblem. Nikolaus and I talked again about his deployment... I am so nervous for him. I reminded him {actually LOTS of times during his visit} to be careful and to remember his training. Of course his reply was that he will be fine and for me not to worry about him -- Oh, to be 21 and invincible again...

And... of course we took him to EAT... he is, after all, still a growing boy! Applebee's was very gracious to give all veterans and active duty military a free signature meal on Veterans Day. {Thank you very much Applebee's} He was also craving wings, and we have the best wings around at a great restaurant/pub called the Town Tavern here in Celebration. I also made Nik his favorite cake for him - isn't that what mommy's are for?? I made him a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, he LOVED it!!

Then on Thursday, we had to take him to the airport to head back to Connecticut to get ready for deployment. It was really HARD!!

He leaves Sunday, Nov. 15th, to load up all the equipment for his unit, and they head out to Indiana for a few weeks - they may get a few days off at Christmas to head back to Connecticut. Then they fly over to Afghanistan right after that.

I had a wonderful time with him, I am amazed at the man he has become, and I love him dearly. I am also SO proud of him for the choices he has made.

So, to Nikolaus: Please remember your training, be careful, look out for yourself and your brothers and sisters in arms, come back to me safe and soon, and remember I am SO proud of you and I love you deeply!

Until next time..... Lorie

Remember our Veterans

Just wanted to remind everyone to remember our veterans today.... There are many in our country who gave so much so that our country could have all the freedoms that we enjoy and so many times take for granted.

If you see a soldier or a veteran today, please take just a minute out of your day to say thank you. I know it would mean a lot to him or her.

Until next time..... Lorie

Outback Restaurant Thanks our Veterans on 11/11/09

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