…and he’s my Dad!
With my Dad on his birthday last year
Dad…on this day I want to especially thank you for the foundation of strength, wisdom and hope you provide for our family. I’m forever grateful that God chose YOU to be MY dad.
May God bless you richly in this new year of YOU.
I love you,
Jan
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
I knew it’d been quite a while since I posted on this blog. I even realized it’d been several months! What I did NOT realize until just now…was that it’s been FIVE (5)…MONTHS!!
A lot has happened in my life. Shortly after my last post, I fell and broke my ankle. For a few weeks, life was a blur of pain, crutches, doctor visits, physical therapy visits, moon boot, eventually a modified work schedule and then even a complete job change. I still can’t do some of the things I used to do. I can’t work like I used to work. Range of motion in the ankle is better but is not back to the way it was. Life has definitely been altered.
The good in it? You KNOW I had to look for the proverbial silver lining. I had some good, quality, quiet time to reflect on life and life’s priorities. My life. My priorities. I’m setting my sails. Embracing change. Loving my family. And above all, realizing that no matter what…God is indeed good…all the time.
England cannot definitively determine a date of origin. It is simply too long ago.
China struggles with the same problem. It was developed long before history was seriously documented.
But we are extremely fortunate to know EXACTLY when our land truly became a country…July 4, 1776
~George Will
Happy Birthday, America!! I’m proud to be an American!!
YOLO!
Jan
“If you want something, go get it. Period.”
I absolutely love this video clip. Don’t let anyone steal your dreams.
In honor of Father’s Day – I’m sharing this clip of this wonderful advice given by a father to his young son.
We had an amazing Father’s Day here! First church, then lunch with our son, a wonderful phone call to my Dad, followed by dinner with our son, daughter and her fiancee. Our children claim they did NOT collaborate on gifts for their Dad; yet the gifts were perfect compliments to each other. An amazing coincidence? Or children who actually KNOW their dad? I choose to believe the latter. No matter what, the house was filled with smiles, laughter and love.
Richard has always been a dreamer and has followed his dreams without regret. I hope our children have learned the ability to do the same. Life is to short to do anything less. Enjoy.
YOLO!
Jan
Gives new meaning to my mantra… “livin’ in flip-flops”!
YOLO!
Jan
For those of you that don’t know…I am an “Army Brat”…my dad was a career “lifer” and retired from the US Army when I was about to graduate from high school. I’ve always said my blood runs OD green. That’s “olive drab” for those of you not in the know. My brother followed in my father’s footsteps and became a career soldier himself – he retired in 2010.
I am very proud of both of them…but this post is not about honoring them…the picture is simply to provide you with my personal military lineage. The manner in which I grew up, living on military posts, moving with my father’s change in assignments, living through my father’s deployments and tdy’s, all are woven into the fabric of “me”. I spent many a military holiday on parade fields witnessing how our military honors it’s members.
I love to see posts on facebook and twitter honoring our military members. They have and do collectively provide great service and sacrifice for our country and our freedoms; however, I become dismayed when it is apparent that the general American public does not understand our military related holidays.
This weekend, is “Memorial Weekend”, Monday, May 28th of this year is the federally recognized “Memorial Day”.
While the general populace embraces Memorial Weekend as the “official start of summer”, I find it disheartening that the majority of posts and comments supporting our military clearly do not understand the true meaning of Memorial Day.
So…I’ve dedicated my facebook and twitter posts this weekend to educating about Memorial Day…if even one person learns what the holiday is all about…then I will have been successful.
Simply put, Memorial Day is about honoring and remembering the FALLEN. Those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their LIFE, while serving our country.
I encourage you to read the information about the meaning of Memorial Day here.
Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May.[1] Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. (Southern ladies organizations and southern schoolchildren had decorated Confederate graves in Richmond and other cities during the Civil War, but each region had its own date. Most dates were in May.) By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.[2] ~wikipedia
There is also great information and history here: http://usmemorialday.org/
I challenge you to take a few minutes out of this splendid weekend that “opens” summer…and learn just a little bit about what Monday’s holiday is all about. Then share the information. There are many, many families who are dealing with the neverending grief of losing a loved one who was serving this wonderful country known as the USA.
As American’s we owe it to them to never, ever forget that sacrifice.
Yolo,
Jan
Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed. ~Linda Wooten
On this Mother’s Day I am thankful for my mother. She is my rock, my mentor, my guide in this journey called motherhood. I am forever grateful for the life she gave me and the principles she instilled into me. I hope I am doing her proud as I parent my own children.
Mom/Mimi
I became a mother with the birth of my first child, Meghan. Then just when I thought I had it all figured out…along came Alex and I realized there was much yet to learn about being a mother! Motherhood is filled with every emotion imaginable; highs and lows like a roller-coaster. The depth of love we are capable of is unbelievable. It is something you have to experience, trying to explain it doesn’t do it justice.
Motherhood is my highest calling. I’m forever grateful that God entrusted Richard and I with these two precious souls to raise. They are both beautiful, inside and out. I like to think I had a tiny bit of influence on that. I am so very proud of them.
Meg & Alex
I am richly blessed!
Happy Mother’s Day!!
YOLO!
Jan
There is work that is work and there is play that is play; there is play that is work and work that is play. And in only one of these lies HAPPINESS. ~Gelett Burgess
