Memorial Day - Remembering The Fallen

Note: Picture and parts of the post taken from my Memorial Day tribute last year and the year before with the numbers of dead in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan changed. As of today the number of the fallen from the Iraq War stands at 4300 and the number in Afghanistan at 687. Last year, the numbers were 4081 for the Iraq War and 506 in Afghanistan. When will it all end? When will the bodies stop coming?

The picture moves me greatly. Some years ago, a video surfaced showing the deeply respectful manner in which the caskets were transported to and loaded upon the planes headed for Dover Air Force Base, but it soon disappeared due to directives from the Bush maladministration, for "security reasons" and "respect for the fallen and their families". I don't recall that names were visible anywhere, and I'd think that many families and friends of the fallen would have cherished the portrayal of the loving respect with which the brothers and sisters in arms treated the remains of their loved ones. But it was not to be.

President Obama lifted the ban on media coverage of the remains of the fallen arriving at Dover, so long as the families don't object, which is exactly how it should be. The families' desire for privacy must always be respected.

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance of those in all our wars who gave everything in the service of their country. We honor them for their courage and dedication to duty. We extend our sympathy to their families and friends, whether the loss is recent or from long times past. We stand with you. We mourn with you.

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. Micah 4:1-4

Lord God, Almighty and Everlasting Father, we pray for all those who have died in wars. We pray the they may rest in peace in the perpetual light of your love. We pray for your blessing upon the families and friends of all those who have died in service to their country. Console them for their aching loss. Bring them healing of body, mind, and spirit. Give them strength and courage to go forward, and Lord God, above all else, give them your peace that passes understanding to keep their minds and hearts.

They Wouldn't Pay Me

PJ, Fran, LJ, and Jane

I asked them for money, but they didn't pay up, so here it is. The photo is in very poor condition, blurry, with white spots, but it serves it's purpose as revenge because they would not give me the cash I demanded. I blurred the face of the precious boy, because I'm careful about pictures of children on my blog, but I wish you could see him. By all means, click on the picture to get the large view of the "grown-ups". You won't be sorry.



Dear Friend

It's hard to believe, isn't it. The man pictured in the previous post is in disguise. The picture above is what he looks like without his disguise. He would not give me money, either.

The pictures are from Dear Friend's birthday party which included music from the 50s. I can't tell you how much I wanted to dance, but, had I done so, I may have been in bed for the rest of my visit because of the sorry state of my knees, I enjoyed watching my friends and especially the children dance. Paul and I were going to have a slow dance, if the music had been right, but that didn't happen.

More to come.

Je Suis Rentrée Chez Moi

Dear Friend and Doxy at DF's birthday party

I'm home from one of the most beautiful weddings that I have ever attended. Just look at Doxy and Dear Friend. Isn't she the most gorgeous bride-to-be? And isn't he the handsomest groom-to-be evah? Paul's pictures from the wedding are better than mine, so I'll steal his later and post them here.

Yes, we partied, partied, partied at one celebration after another. Dinner parties, dance parties, birthday parties, wedding parties. It was a great trip. I'll write more later, probably much more, and post more pictures, some of which will embarrass my blogger friends. Paul scooped us all with his pictures.

It's good to be home.

I've Got To Leave This Town

I'll check out tomorrow for a few days, just a long weekend really. I shall return on Sunday, revived, refreshed, renewed, and rarin' to go.

I've got the low-dirty-livin-in-a-smalltown blues
And I'm runnin' out of things to do
I don't need no pity, just drop me in a city
I've got to feel the rhythm runnin' down in my shoes

I'll turn off comments tonight while I'm gone.

"Y'all come back now, y'hear?"

I'll Feed You

One afternoon a lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the roadside eating grass.

Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.

He asked one man, 'Why are you eating grass?'

'We don't have any money for food,' the poor man replied. 'We have to eat grass.'

'Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you,' the lawyer said.

'But sir, I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there, under that tree.'

'Bring them along,' the lawyer replied.

Turning to the other poor man he stated, 'You come with us, also...'

The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, 'But sir, I also have a wife and SIX children with me!'

'Bring them all, as well,' the lawyer answered.

They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine was.

Once underway, one of the poor fellows turned to the lawyer and said, 'Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you.'

The lawyer replied, 'Glad to do it.You'll really love my place.

The grass is almost a foot high'

Cruel!

Dennis strikes again. He's going crazy with the jokes. And his doctorate will be in psychology.

Can I Have A Bridge?

God appears one day to John and tells him: You have been a good man all your life. I would like to reward you. Tell me anything you want and I will do it for you provided it does not harm other people.

John: I hate to take the boat to go every day from this little island I live to the mainland to work. Can you make a bridge so I can drive to work?

God: well John, I could do that, but is there an alternate wish that will not upset the environment at this point?

John: Yes, I would like to understand why my wife goes shopping so often and spends so much money on useless things. I was never able to understand why she does it, despite the fact that we had extensive conversations about it.

God: John, how many lanes do you want on that bridge?

From Dennis, who just passed his orals for his doctorate. He will soon be Dr. Dennis, but if he thinks I'll call him that....

From Margaret - A Diagnosis For Joel

We have a diagnosis. --Hydrocephaly. We are relieved. There will most likely be surgery to correct the condition--but one of the leading clinics to treat this condition is here in our home town.

The strokes also did not cause damage and are treatable --may even by symptomatic of the hydrocephaly...

We are not out of the woods, but we found the path.

We are and have been so blessed with so many acts of kindness and the outpouring of prayer. Thank you.

And, yes, Joel is home tonight. Eating rice and beans. Happy campers!

Thanks be to God that Joel's conndition is treatable and that there was no damage from the small strokes. Prayers now for the treatment to go well and for a full recovery for Joel. Prayers for strength and hope for Margaret and Joel as they walk the path to the restoration to full health for Joel.

"Pickled Cabbages"

From Andrew Teather, an Anglican priest in Manchester, England, in a post titled "Pickled Cabbages" at Anglican Wanderings, "Passionately Anglican. Unapologetically Catholic".

Please read Teather's Parable of the Cabbage at his website first.

The Parable of the Cabbage holds true for Churches in this country, we see those around us, as they see us, with different ecclesiologies, but still part of the same Church of England, for better or for worse. There is an acceptance that in this climate we have at least some sense of shared mission, at least this is the narrative I hear time and time again.
....

This strained relationship is continually about to crack at the joints though. We see the American situation, with the Episcopal Church, GAFCON and their variants at loggerheads in the courts and from the pulpits and, to be honest, I despair somewhat, knowing that we will be in the same boat soon, whether we like it or not. Again, I stress as I have done before that we would be very foolish to import the American situation into the UK, as we have no tradition of 'continuing' Churches ever attracting much in the way of a congregation, and at this point in time it would be ecclesiastical suicide. However, come it has. On June 17th to the 19th our brothers and sisters in FiFNA are having a meeting at which it will probably be decided that there will be a split in FiFNA between those, like St Clement's Philadelphia, who are happy with the Episcopal oversight offered by TEC and those who are not, who will join the new Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) which will join the many, many denominations in that country.
....

Let us, once more, return to the cabbage. Cabbages, as we have discovered, come in many guises, but all sharing an essential family resemblance. We in FiF UK, I do not see, have a family resemblance with the Archbishop of Sydney. We are concerned with the Catholic Faith, branch theory, the faith delivered to the Saints presented in a way which - it has been proved, do not forget this - is accepted and loved by people of these isles. I do not feel called to be a Priest in FOCA, I cannot accept the Jerusalem declaration and my vocation comes from this Church, through which almighty God worked and works to this day, witnessed by our growing Churches. I have no interest in off shore morality havens and I do not want to go from being a minority in the Church of England to a minority in FOCA, for we know what will happen eventually. The end will come, we are poised to leap out of the frying pan into the fire and I, for one, do not intend jumping unless there is absolutely no choice.
(Emphasis mine)

Change the name of church to the Episcopal Church or the Anglican Church of Canada, and many of the priests in North America, of many different cabbage flavors, would very likely, agree with Teather.

Ever since the Archbishop of Canterbury began meddling in the affairs of the Episcopal Church, telling us what to do, with little understanding of our church polity, telling our bishops how to be bishops, as he did at the meeting of the bishops of the Episcopal Church in New Orleans, seemingly cutting slack to those who desire to spread division in our church, I have wanted to say to him, "Archbishop, take a look at the groups that are trying to divide the Episcopal Church. They will soon be at your church door. Do you really think that they will stop at the borders of North America. Do you really think that the the crown jewel, the Church of England, is not in their sights?" Unfortunately, I never had the chance. However, I have said it around the blogosphere time and time again.

As to Tether's desire not to "import the American situation into the UK", I suspect that neither he nor the Archbishop of Canterbury may have a choice as to whether that happens, as those of us loyal to the Episcopal Church had no choice. The groups intent on division come in and do their thing, permission or not.

I have quoted a goodly portion of Teather's post, but I urge you to read the entire post. It's quite good.

Thought For The Day

No one and no deed is outside the circle of God's forgiveness.

A Sick Girl And Rattus Norvegicus

What a fine finish to the day! Tonight, as I was walking, a rat ran out of the storm drain right in front of me. I screamed and scared the rat as much as the rat scared me, and he scurried back down the storm drain. I looked for a picture with a rat that was not too scary. Ain't he cute? He (I made him a boy) looks rural amongst the leaves.

Earlier, I picked up my granddaughter at school. It's her day to be at her mom's, but she is graduating from the 7th grade this year, and there was a party at school tonight. She wanted to get dressed at her dad's, because the clothes she wanted to wear were at my son's house. I was a little late to pick her up, but she was not the last child there. As soon as she got in the car, she began to cry. I said, "What's wrong?" She said that she was afraid that I would forget to pick her up, because it was not my regular day. That didn't compute. Even if I do forget, all she has to do is call, and I can be at the school in 10 minutes, tops. But I let it go. When she reached the house, she started to cry again. "What IS it?" She felt sick. She had a headache. I felt her head, and she was hot. We took her temperature, but the damned new-fangled thermometer wouldn't work for us, but I knew she had fever.

I gave her Tylenol and waited to see what she would say about the party, which I knew she would not be able to attend. She finally admitted that she could not go. To make things worse, tomorrow and Thursday, her class was going on field trips, and she was concerned that she would miss them, too. The grand wind-up of her time at her school, and she might miss most of the fun. Poor baby. She called her mom to pick her up, and off she went. I pray she feels better, and that she can make at least one of the field trips.

Image from Wiki.