This is what Memorial Day is all about!

Let us NEVER forget:

Befitting John, it was a perfect cloudless day in America's heartland. The service highlighted his deep faith and that of his family and was emotional with eulogies from our lifelong friend, Kevin Morris, his comrade at arms Colonel Wolf, and John's daughter Kelly. Through the tears there were lots of laughs.
And then on a tree-lined hill in the Kansas country-side we said our final goodbyes to an American Hero who was so many things to so many people. With a 21-gun salute, a lone bugler playing taps and the strains of bagpipe's piercing "Amazing Grace" our friend was laid to rest. As the last notes drifted away Kevin's closing words echoed in my ears, "I am proud to have called him my friend". Quote from Michael Regan

The Loss of a friend

We have lost a friend this week. He was a soldier serving his country who was in Afghanistan for a very short trip. On Tuesday he was killed when a suicide bomber ran into his convoy. Very sad times here. Much pain and sorrow. Please pray for the family.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=7451912

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/05/20/2010-05-20_new_jersey_native_army_col_john_mchugh_among_dead_in_afghanistan_suicide_attack.html

We are so proud of Sarah and the young lady that she is. She and 3 other young ladies from church had a graduation ceremony at church yesterday. Here are a few (actually a lot because the computer is running quickly) pictures of the day:

Sarah and Megan before we left for church:
The 4 graduates played together. It was a beautiful arrangement of "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing"
Sarah receiving her diploma:





Three of the four grad dads!
Uncle Jon:


The G side of the family:The R side of the family:
~~Kathy~~~

Time flies

How time flies! Sarah is graduating today and it just doesn't seem possible! Here she is at about 5 when she was in a play at church:

And here she is now:

~~Kathy~~~~

Around here tonight

Tonight Becca and I have been having fun.

We painted our nails:We covered a notebook that I can use for organizing my notes for VBS. I offered to be the VBS director this year. I'm wondering what I was thinking when I said I would do that! :-0And we made a batch of banana bread! Smells good around here right now!~~Kathy~~~~

Lilacs.........at last.

I'm sure that many of you do not know this little secret about me. Lilacs are my favorite flower! OK, the secret is out. I have never had a lilac bush in my yard and have always wanted one. We had a Rose of Sharon bush in the front next to the driveway. Last year it bloomed VERY late and then when it bloomed only about 1/2 of the bush bloomed. I was secretly wishing that it would die. I don't believe that I ever shared that with anyone. I mean, what would people think of me if they knew that I wished death on bushes. Now, the only reason I wished such a fate on that one bush is that is the only spot (that I could see) in our yard that we could plant a lilac bush. Well, guess what we found this spring????? It was dead! Wahoo, jump and shout with joy. :) So my dear husband dug up the dead bush and this is now what is planted in its place:I'm a happy woman. :)

~~Kathy~~~~

Not much new

The picture above is a snake (unknown to us what kind it is) that Becca found right next to the neighbors hose. She was going to go water their flowers for them, but caught sight of this guy and changed her mind. If you look closely (double click on it to see a larger photo) you will notice that he is in the middle of his lunch. There is a small part of a frog in his mouth, the rest is getting ready to go in! UGH

Now to something a bit more pleasant ~ shots of the yard.

Bleeding hearts!

Some hosta and impatients by the back fence.

A look at the shed

A close up of my new guinea impatiens hanging on the patio

The oldest and the youngest

~~Kathy~~~

Happenings

Hi all,
I just uploaded a few more photos and I thought I would give you a glimpse of what is going on around here.
Sarah and Zach went to a formal dinner tonight. It was with the group of kids that went to Chicago together a few weeks ago. Here is what Kevin and Josh are doing tonight. They are both working on papers for school. Josh is working toward his BA in communications. He will graduate this fall. Kevin is working on a doctorate and he just started so I have no idea when he will be done with it.Becca at the recital the other night: Zach at the recital:Here is the group of young ladies that are graduating together in a few weeks. They all did a musical piece together at the recital. Here is Becca getting ready for pictures for her acrobat class. It was great fun for her because she got to have make up on. She has her recital coming up and she is very excited.And a glimpse of the yard.~~Kathy~~~~