"I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom."~Abraham Lincoln

It seems that in the busyness of every day life it is so hard at times to just take time to your self. I cannot count the number of times I have wanted to sit and blog about something amazing that happened in my day. Like around Easter when i found out that my Stepdaughter is going to have a baby, when Nathan turned 7 and looked like such a grown up little man when he chose to wear a suit to his birthday party. Over spring break we took the boys to the aquarium at the beach and Zakary insisted we played on the beach even tho it was freezing. The girls were at the beach with Grandma and Grandpa and Kaitlynn was getting driving lessons in the dune buggy. Or when Bekkah's Powder Puff Derby car won best paint and she was soooooo excited. It was an Oregon Ducks car =]  My favoritest of all tho was when I took my mom to go see Wicked the musical. We are both wicked witch fans and our fifth row seats were nothing short of amazing!

So why today do I make the time to blog? Today I feel like my emotions are much bigger than I am. Today is Memorial Day. I went to the different cemeteries where grandparents are buried, our first stop was to Willamette National. My mom's parents are there. We seemed to time it just right that we got there as the 21 cannon salute went off and the jets flew overhead. It was a neat feeling to be there for that. There are so many flags, it really is an amazing sight. Even though Memorial Day is meant for those who our in memory, I think about the people that are sacrificing so much to keep us safe. Now don't get me wrong, I have more appreciation that I could put into words for our military who have fought for us over the many many years. Without them I wouldn't have my very own senseless corner of the world wide web to dump my thoughts into, to say the least. I have a friend who is serving in Africa right now, and it was him that I thought of most today. He is far away from his wife and kids, only gets to talk to them every once in a while, and is risking his life every day to help keep us safe and free here at home. If my grandfathers and friends would never have made the sacrifices they had and continue to do, I wouldn't be able to tuck my little ones into bed each night knowing they will be safe and sound. I wrote that friend an e-mail right before I started this blog entry. I wanted to tell him how thankful I am for what he and all of the soldiers do for us. My Girl Scouts wrote letters to the boys in his unit, I'm sending them tomorrow along with some much anticipated Tagalongs. I wish I were delivering them to his house so he could share them with his kiddos, maybe I'll keep a box out and hopefully he will be home soon to do just that. Freedom isn't free. such a true statement. For all of those who have fought and continue to fight for out freedom I cannot say THANK YOU in big enough letters. I wish all that are away a safe and soon return home to their loved ones.

I do not know who the man is in this picture, but I have a feeling that the words he is reading from that piece of paper are meaningful enough to make some tears fall.