Graduation at West Point

The first word that comes to my mind is AWESOME! I am not original and I am the first one to tell you this. But our time spent at West Point was awesome! John excitedly told Justin and me about how every time they visited the campus they learned something new, how every tradition or event has a history, the statues a story, even the cannons relate history. Justin and I, at one point, simultaneously expressed regret for not coming up there sooner for visits, with time to take the tour and see more sites. Speaking of sites, the vistas from West Point are incredible, magnificent, picturesque, without getting the Thesaurus!

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Our shared pride for JR rather goes without saying, but I said it anyway, telling him we were so honored to be there and that I was busting with pride. He thanked us for coming and I told him it was important for us to be there, for him and for ourselves. All citizens of the U.S. should make the pilgrimage to West Point or our other military academies, so see, hear, and feel the great history and strong sense of patriotism. He looked amazing in his dress uniform, grey jacket with white slacks, a maroon cummerbund tied to the side and a white belt which held his saber. And the white "covers" which they toss in the air after the ceremony and little children from the crowd are allowed to go pick up. The "cadets" place a small amount of money into the band of their hats for the kids, like a silver dollar or similar, traditionally. All is tradition!

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Robert Gates was the speaker yesterday and that was pretty spectacular, too. He gave a rousing speech, with some eyebrow raising thoughts not normally heard in a military setting, like "sometimes you will have to stand alone" and "question authority". I would like to reread the speech some time and revisit the context, but regardless, it was thrilling. The portion that received the greatest ovation was the part about taking care of our wounded warriors, which is something Justin and I have supported in the past, and will continue to do. The night before at a banquet John, Mona, and Allie attended, General Wm. Casey was the speaker and we would like to have heard that, too. We were resting in our hotel during that event, thankfully so.

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Once we arrived at our hotel from the Stewart/Newburgh Int'l. Airport, after arriving late and waiting without end for our luggage (probably offloaded by the pilots!), we checked into our room. It ended up being a smoking room, even though my paperwork indicated we wanted non-smoking. The manager took Justin to check out the room first, which was a great gesture, but we were stuck anyway. I had my little Lysol can along to spray surfaces and the manager had housekeeping bring us a bottle of Febreeze. The room was tolerable, with us catching only occasional wafts of old smoke. We were just sooo tired! Getting up at 3:30 a.m. after not sleeping the night before in anticipation of sleeping through the alarm....yeah, I was bushed!

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At one point, I got up off the bed to do something and OUCH!, my right knee locked up and I could not put any weight on it. Justin grabbed the desk chair and put it behind me so I could sit, and I was totally freaked out. Now what??? I worked the knee forth and back, rubbing on the place where a knee cap would be and eventually things seemed to settle into position again. Unbelievable! What was I going to do now, if I cannot walk? Besides the obvious complications, what about graduation? What about New York City? I could not even imagine getting in and out taxi's, could not imagine getting to the bathroom from the chair! With my mind busy making alternative plans for an injury, several ideas passed through my brain. I have one day after this trip to my next----how could I get an x-ray, injections, treatment, and cure in one day? Would not happen. Mona's sister works for an ortho doctor in Manty so that is an option, too. I am using utmost care not to over-extend the knee, which is what I think happened. Keeping in mind this is not the knee I injured in 2004, this really freaked me out. Perhaps a contact with my upstairs neighbor, Jessica, the physical therapist, might be in order....Mona has a torn meniscus and said my situation sounds like hers. She plays volleyball and other sports and told me she has braces to wear for every body part! And I get hurt getting out of bed!

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We walked miles and miles yesterday, climbed hills and steps all over the place and Justin was extremely kind and beneficial to me, lending me his arm and hand at every step. I thanked him for this at the end of the day, because he could have been so annoyed with me and was not openly so. We had a wonderful dinner with the Hackmann's all at a steak house next to their hotel, and then John and JR drove us to Beacon to catch the train. Another experience for Justin and me, to ride the train for about 1 1/2 hours to Grand Central Station. We were awed by the Station, Justin moreso, and we stood in the "center" taking it all in.

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After some nice police officers pointed out the door to the taxi stand, we purchased some sodas from a street vendor, and then hailed a cab. There was one waiting for us immediately and he took us for the wild ride (Lynn, remember the cab rides???) through the streets toward Times Square for our hotel. Only, there was a glitch----I had the wrong hotel! I thought we were at the Marriott Marquis, the Powell's favorite hotel, when, at registration, we were told we are registered at Marriott Courtyard on Times Square. As often as I looked at this paperwork, it never occurred to me it was two different places. Back to the taxi stand for another wild ride, 6 New York blocks or so to the other hotel. The lady at the first place told me they were fully booked or she would have gotten us in, very nice to me.

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The next hotel and another cab fare later, we are in our room. But, not our room for long. They are moving us today to a different room because this one was a king-sized bed for which they offered a rollaway, and they will move us today to a 2 double-bed room. I was just so weary, I did not care. For our trouble, though, they gave us complimentary breakfast all three days! Nice!

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Today our plans will include going to the Met Museum because it is supposed to be rainy. Tomorrow we will venture out on our favorite double-decker bus tour, and hopefully the weather will support our plans! Justin had only a winter weight cordoroy jacket to bring along and I told him to leave it behind, so we will look for a lightweight jacket for him while we are here. Perhaps Macy's has a sale or even Kohl's, which is just across the street from Macy's.

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Pictures will be posted as soon as I can from this weekend trip, so hang tight, and I will try to post words as often as I can. Let me just say again, we were incredibly honored to be there for JR yesterday at his graduation. Wow, he is a second lieutenant and people were saluting him!

I am astonished!

Until we started making plans to travel to New York State for JR's graduation, I will confess never hearing about the city of Newburgh before in my life! And today, it is all over the news---not because I am going there or because of the graduation at West Point Academy. No, rather, terrorists, home-grown in American prisons, were plotting to blow up a Jewish temple in New York City. AND, they were plotting to shoot surface-to-air missiles from Newburgh at the Air National Guard planes based near the Newburgh/Stewart Int'l. Airport!!!!

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Martie likes to think she is a sleeper cell, because, different tragedies have occurred, coincidentally, right around her travels including being in New Jersey the day before the terror attacks September 11, 2001. She was also with Justin and me in New York City the same day that the London trains were bombed. The police used Vesey Street, right outside our hotel, as their drill base of operations, and the three of us got to see the robots used to sniff out and disarm bombs when one of the guys opened the back of his truck. We opted to forego our subway ride to Chinatown that day, feeling totally freaked yet fully confident, after the day's events.

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It just struck me as being wild that a city or town I had never heard of before, is now "the news"!

Happy Ascension Day, everyone!

Tomorrow morning at this time Justin and I will be in Philly's airport, waiting for the next super sonic jet that will take us to Newburgh, New York. Mona has assured me that the plane is teeny tiny so my expectations are for a tight squeeze. Good thing one of us is losing weight! Justin is on a diet and reported that he will need to have his tux for Jamie's wedding re-sized. He was measured for it in April on Easter weekend and already it will be too large for him. He is still a "man of size" and I, "a woman of size" so we can plan on being wedge into this sardine can of a plane to get to see JR's graduation. We can do it!

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Mona asked us what size luggage we will have because, in order to get onto the grounds where graduation is conducted, we have to pass through two security zones. In order to avoid trouble, John is going to pick up our luggage and us, take the bags to their hotel for holding, and then off we will all go to graduation. JR seemed to think it was okay to take my telephoto lens in with me as long as I do not have too large a bag (okay, okay, hold the jokes about me being a large bag!) and I pray he is correct. Justin wondered about dress code for this event but we have not been informed on that yet. Here is the fun part: we have to be ready to go Saturday morning at 4:30 a.m. in order to get through security by 7:00 a.m. for graduation which is at 10:00 a.m.!!!! Talk about a long day!

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This morning I am off to Bible study at Victory, my final one until late in June. Pastor is going to have an abbreviated version of the class on Sundays and incorporate the Bible truths into his sermons. I really wish for Justin to hear some of these DVD's, the one about the family especially. Actually it was about social order and how this "order" is shown in the Trinity, the Church, and then the family. I only wish it were WELS material, I would feel so much better about it.

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Tonight is worship, celebrating the Ascension of our Lord. This will be the last time I see some of my church family until I get back on the 14th of June. Boo hoo! Kelly T. came over yesterday and helped me wrap my gift baskets, having all the stuff needed to make them pretty and presentable. In nothing flat we had "biddable" gift baskets! The spaghetti dinner one I put together with the money from Monday Bible study consisted of a red checked tablecloth, supporting a shiny aluminum colander which served as the basket. In the colander went a jar of meat sauce, pasta, a pasta fork for serving, a cheese grater, Italian seasoning, plus a small container of shredded Parmesan cheese (sprinkling kind). The best part, I think, was finding a tiny cardboard container of wine, with a screw cap, looking sort of like a milk carton. I thought that was the icing on the cake! As Kelly and I were wrapping them up, I suddenly remembered my disposable wine glasses and we added two of them, bases criss-crossed, in the front of the basket. Voila! I would have liked to include some Andes candy but was afraid, if the baskets were outside any length of time, that the candy would melt, so omitted it. The total for all that was just shy of $30! I hope it goes for more!

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The other basket was my donation, scrapbook supplies. I found a kit for a smaller-sized scrapbook, and added a paper cutting tool, adhesive, some sticker embellishments, an archival pen, and a pair of scissors. I had a wicker basket on hand to use so there was no cost in that. All the winning bidder needs to add are the photographs, and I could have thrown some of those in, too! Kelly and I wrapped them in no time at all, and away she went with two completed baskets in tow! We were to include a tag or sign indicating the contents of the bag so when I did mine, I embellished with an image. The Italian dinner tag shows a plate of spaghetti sitting on a red checked tablecloth, just like the one included in the basket! $5 at Wal*Mart for an oblong table cover!

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Time for me to go now so will sign off for now. My time this afternoon will be used for packing and finishing up the newsletter for church, as I will be time-crunched between the two trips! Quack, quack, quack from a very wet Orange Park!!!

Glad I am on the 3rd floor!

While wind-driven rains can find their way into my house, fortunately none since Sunday, the river will not! I am up three floors from the bottom with little chance of the river rising enough to even threaten the first floor units. Not unless the wind pushes the water up and over with increased wave activity. My earlier posting shows photos of the nasty weather which cannot show the cold and dampness of the air. The thermometer reads 70 degrees, and some may think that is warm...NOT!

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Linda J. sent me a wonderful note via facebook this a.m. that reported at First German's staff meeting and devotion time, they sang "Jerusalem, the Golden". She said she was thinking of me, and paid extra attention to the wonderful message woven in that hymn. What tickles me is that this hymn already appeared in previous hymnals but set to a different tune. We discussed this in our Monday Bible study not long ago, where the melodies can evoke certain emotions or sentiments in us, besides the lovely message in the stanzas.

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The morning's e-mail brought some wonderful things including an article to use in the Flock Talk from the leader of the Little Lambs. Sadly, she has somehow deleted her pictures taken at their most recent event, and cannot find where she downloaded them onto her computer. I know just how frustrating that can be and I feel very badly for her, losing not only those photos but others as well. A few hours later, another mom sent me photos she had taken at the event, totally unaware of the previous situation! Talk about intuitive! I forwarded the 2nd e-mail with photos to the first mom who lost hers, hopefully filling in some of the gaps in her picture taking loss.

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As grumpy a day as it is out there, I must venture out into it to Wal*Mart, having not finished yesterday because Justin needed my car for work. When Justin and I went later in the day to get his car, (completed with the brand-new tires, $500+!!!), the wind was blowing the rain sideways. Instead of finishing the shopping, I decided to just come back home and get dried off. Yeck! My friend, Kelly T., is going to come today and help me wrap the baskets with the clear wrap and shredded paper, things she has in stock like a good mama does, so I had better be ready when she gets here! The Tuesday night Bible study donated some money and Kelly has some partial baskets ready to go, so I am giving her the collected money which she will apply to the baskets. Rather than combining the Monday and Tuesday Bible studies into one basket, having more baskets to bid on will be better, even if they are smaller or lesser in value. Makes sense to me! I will miss the whole thing because I will attending a church picnic in Manitowoc WI instead that day!

Ahoy, there matey! Where is Mandarin today?

Here is yesterday's photo, with Mandarin still visible on the horizon. The winds were more fierce at this time, as you can see by the trees in the basin.
This morning, May 20th, does not allow for site of Mandarin, nor does it show the rock barrier to the left of the palm trees. The water is so high that the grass is covered, and Joanne wonders what the birds and fish are doing, and the raccoons, trapped on that island in the basin!

Just as I snapped this one today, the wind blew the mist against my lens, which made for an interesting photo, I think. It sort of illustrates better just what we are up against here. Some areas in our county have roads underwater making it impossible for the school buses to do their pick-ups. Other neighboring counties have had nearly a foot of water, but we in Clay are not that deep---yet!

Oops! Got carried away there....

I must have had words leftover, rambling like I did on the previous posting....I tried to remove some using cut and paste but it would not come, so get a cup of coffee and start reading. Sorry!

It is raining spam!

It is raining real rain, too, but I have noticed recently that my gmail account is being bombarded with spam messages. Fortunately my filter catches them but I always check to see what is in the spam file in case something which is not truly spam does not end up dumped. Crazy stuff in the filter, prescriptions available for body parts I do not even have! Ricky told me he gets those advertisements on his blackberry phone, too, and is horrified that they are even sent to him. What and who thinks people will actually open those misspelled and "taunting" e-mails in the first place? They even try using people's names to lure one into clicking it open. Do not do it! Delete, delete, delete!

This is my table, all dressed for the monthly dinner, Cinco de Mayo-themed, in May. Beautiful, if I do say so myself!

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Joanne is finally back home in this nest and wondering why in the world is the house torn apart like this? Justin was going to come over yesterday to put it all back, hang up my tapestry again, move the furniture, etc. but with the continued threats of winds and rain, nope. We might even leave it like this the entire time I am gone, since Joanne will be going away part of the time as well. My neighbors will have authority to come in and check on things for me while I am away, and Justin will have access, too, if need be.

This is a shot taken this morning, May 19th, as Joanne and I watched the winds whip the trees and throw water around the breakwater. See how gloomy it is out there?

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Joanne was ensconced in my bedroom desk chair and eating her supper while watching the finale of "Dancing with the Stars" when I came home last night. The TV in the family room was still unplugged and she was desperate to see this show. Wow, she has got it bad! Immediately I plugged the TV back in and turned the family room over to her to watch this show, while talking with her sister in Atlanta who is also a fan.

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Many years ago when I was newlywed, some of my sisters and I were involved in watching a spinoff of "Dallas" with Joan Van Ark as the star, I simply cannot remember the name of it right now. One of the main lead actors died in a season finale and Jill called to tell me that Sid had died. I was all upset and talking about someone dying, and my spouse thought it was a real person. He got upset because here it was a TV show, and we had a brother-in-law named Sid....Guess he had a point, but still, that is how "real" it was for us, at the time. As a married couple, we were "hooked" on "Dallas", pre-VCR days, and scheduled our Friday nights around the TV show. After that series was over, we never really got attached to TV shows like that anymore, it was so empty and we were too busy working to have our lives revolve around TV. How did I get into this? Oh, yes, "Dancing with the Stars"!

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Despite Monday's wretched weather, a nice group of us met at church for Bible study before we take a recess until July. We did not finish or even come close to it, our study of "Come, Worship Christ", because we got off on a tangent about the role of women in the church. The passages we started looking up were about keeping worship orderly, no speaking in foreign tongues unless there was someone to interpret, only one or two or at most three speakers in worship, and so on. One of the ladies proceeded to read further into the chapter, hence, taking us widely away from learning about organ music in the church! We did not even get to view the video segment planned for the class but Pastor said the conversation and questions confirmed the plans for an upcoming Bible study on this matter. We went to Longhorn (really?) for lunch, having seven of us in our group this time, and at the end of the meal, "our" waitress, Patty, treated us with a dessert which we all shared. Yummy! We will not be going as a group to eat there again until July but certainly individually or in twos or threes, we might!

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Sunday I sent my heating pad home with Paul for use on his sore neck and now I am thinking it sure would be nice to have it to help warm me! It feels quite chilly in the house, no sun since Sunday afternoon---brisk winds and rainy skies make for good nap weather! This morning I got a call from my little boy, asking me if I could buy his birthday present early....okay, now what? It seems his tires are quite bald and he got freaked out yesterday when his car swayed into another lane when he went from stop and around the corner. At first I was skeptical about it, but when he informed me that he has 45000 miles on them, I ran to the store to buy him tires! Ever since he did a 360 spin out on I-95 last year, he is extremely cautious when driving, especially on wet pavement.

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We met at the tire place near Wal*Mart, thinking I had to pay right away. He said not until it is complete and agreed to ride over to the store with me instead of sitting in the waiting room. He picked up a new pair of wipers for his car, too, saying he has originals on there yet. I replace mine fairly regularly because I have a low tolerance for poor wipers. Justin told me he had to be at a house in St. Johns county at 1:00 and hoped the tires would be on by then, but then he got a call that he needed to be at the house sooner. Oh, oh, now what? He was getting upset and I suggested he take me home and use my car to run his errands. Mom, the Problem Solver!!!! I checked out and away we went so he can do his work. He will just come back for me later and we will go together and pay for the tires. I told him that I really had not planned on tires for his birthday, and that I certainly would not have spent THAT much on him!!!! We are going to work out his paying me back for them as I have plenty around here that needs doing for him to work off much of the cost.

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I finished the washing and drying of the rain-catching items yesterday afternoon, and laid them back in place "just in case". The maintenance lady, Connie, said the storms were not over and I would rather be safe and messy, than sorry! Part of the afternoon was spent helping my friend, Suzanne, write some paragraphs to use for her application process at a job she is interviewing for today. She lost her job last week and is hustling to find a new one. Of course, I was incredibly flattered that she asked me, saying, "I need a writer!" As we spoke on the phone, I was also typing on the paragraph she e-mailed me, plus Instant Messaging with Justin about him not needing to come help me with the furniture repositioning....true multi-tasking! I should have applied for the job! One thing about that----I am not qualified!!!! And Suzanne is perfect for the job, I know she is going to get it.

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In the midst of our conversation, my doorbell rang, as I had cautioned Suzanne it would. I had an appointment with the ceramic tile cleaners who came to give an estimate for cleaning the tile for The Palace. Excusing myself from the conversation and typing with Suzanne, I put my jacket on and joined the cleaners as we visited each floor so Aaron could see what needed to be done. Each floor in the building has a different colored tile in the elevator alcove, some needed more care than others. He is even giving us a price on cleaning the lobby on the first floor in case the Board wants to go that far. As Hugh told me, the floor in the elevator is going to be replaced at some point, but in the meantime, it needs to be clean. With so many Units for sale right now, everything really should be looking its best. My opinion is it should look its best all the time for those of us already here, but I also understand the other thoughts.

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After walking the floors and getting the measurements, the three of us came back here because Aaron wanted to make sure my floors and walls were not holding moisture from the mini-flood. He has a metal rod with prongs which is a moisture-meter, as well as a handheld device which does the same thing. He was pleased with the readings from the drywall, wood floors, and baseboards, no danger right now of mold or other rot from the leaks. I was not worried until he said something about it!

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Being chilled to the bone after running around outside in the rain, I decided to climb under my covers to warm up. While there I thought about Sheila and her little grand daughter walking in the rain to get home that afternoon, and since I would be heading that direction later to have dinner with Kathy and attend some church meetings, I called Sheila to make arrangements for picking up Akeila. It was on my way, and if the day care would allow her to leave with me, that would be great! I got Sheila's answering machine and left her a message. Before long she called back to say she was in a job interview when I called but was glad I did.

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At first Sheila said she would walk from the interview to the daycare to meet me there, but I told her to stay where she was, since I had to drive right past her to get Akeila. I had to fly around to get myself ready and off I went to get her. She looked very nice for her interview, and Sheila said she has to call back in a couple days for a 2nd interview. We picked up her granddaughter and I took them home. I really must get a booster seat for use in my car, especially if I make a habit of picking her up from daycare. I think I have the child-resistant handles in the back seat but don't know if I want to enable that for when grown ups sit back there......Anyway, I dropped them off, complete with a bag of food from my fridge, including the fore-mentioned fruit. Since I will be gone, there is no need for my food to go bad when Sheila can certainly make use of it. As my grandma used to say: "Every little bit helps", said the old lady as she peed in the sea..."

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On my drive to meet Kathy B. for dinner, I called Kathy L. in Manitowoc to see how she was. Mom told me about the "performance" Gabe gave in church on Sunday. She laughingly said, "He can't just walk up to the front, he has to leap and dance all the way up the aisle!" This reminds me of Timmy, how he could not stand still either. She did not tell me about his song or any more info other than that his aisle dancing.

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Kathy and I enjoyed a lovely meal together and did some necessary chatting, the kind best done face to face. Joanne had given me a gift card for the Olive Garden which I used toward my meal. Thanks, Jo! Mom was envious that I was eating there, as she misses the Olive Garden. Unfortunately, since I had back- to-back church meetings, I did not have an Italian margarita. Certainly I had to have my wits about me when we are making decisions regarding summer Sunday school and VBS! We did end up choosing the same program that Victory is using and I already made some contacts with members over there to see what we can "share', as their VBS is before ours. I know one man is making a backdrop of some sort, looking like "Tool Time" from the Tim Allen TV show of old.

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During our phone conversation, Mom did tell about nearly missing a fabulous chorale concert by the Lutheran High choirs at First German. My sister, Jill, called Mom to make sure she was going and it is good she did! At first Lynn was not sure if she wanted to go out again that night but also was happy to see/hear the concert. The director, whose father-in-law had died that morning, was presenting this special concert as part of earning his advanced degree. The show must go on! Even his wife and mom-in-law were present and joined the choir for their final anthem, the benediction. No dry eyes in that house, the Lord's house. "Oh, for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by many a foe; that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or woe...", (used in Timmy's funeral service.) Mom said the memorial service for Dan Hennig is being held on the day prior to the trip to Lori's for Dusty's graduation party and I am sad to miss it. I will already be at Lori's, perhaps hanging out with Judy the day of the service. Again, the show must go on!