The Last Full Measure of Devotion

Today our family is together, enjoying a day away from the routine. But it is not just a day for mattress sale and eating good food. It is also day to honor the sacrifice of millions of men and women who paid what Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion so that we could be free. And if we ever lose the spirit of gratitude, it will not be long until we also lose the willingness to sacrifice to defend liberty...and it will not be long after that until liberty is lost.


In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

-- John McCrae, 1915

Commencement, the Sequel

It is our pleasure to announce that Rhonda Alyssa Byers has done it again. She's pictured above at her graduation from the University of Oklahoma with her Masters Degree in Human Relations.

It's been a diffcult journey for this precious young lady. Because we found out she had cancer just before her graduation from college and she could not be covered by our insurance unless she was a student, she had to begin her graduate degree while doing chemo. And she did...and got a 4.0 that first semester. Now she's completed the program, and will be taking more classes (what else?) to qualify for her license as a counselor.

God has some very special things in store for our little girl...and I can't wait to see what they are. Congratulations Bear.

Hold the Mayo

Yesterday (Cinco de Mayo--a Mexican celebration of an old miitary victory...and really who celebrates beating the French?) a group of high school students in California were sent home for a "disruptive" act. No it wasn't the students waving Mexican flags or wearing green, white and red. It was five students who were wearing American flags. The principal didn't want there to be trouble. So he sent them home.

This country is in a heap of trouble.