Honoring Those Who Serve...

Friday, November 16th, Claude was up and out of the house by 6am. This is one really good Grampa. Oldham County Middle School picks one day close to Veteran's Day to honor the Veteran's in any of the students families. They are invited to the school for a day of recognition of their service, a nice lunch, musical tribute by the OCMS Band and a parade with their student family members. This year Hayden and Bailey are both in OCMS. This year Hayden is in the 8th Grade and that is the band that plays for the Veterans. These youngest grandmonsters were super excited to have their Grampa come to the school as their invited Veteran. I talked to Bailey on the phone the night before and she asked me to tell her Grampa if he got there a little early he could have extra snuggles. Even though we had very cold weather and snow on the ground the night before, this Grampa was going to be there for his Grandmonsters.

They did something different this year that was especially nice. A plane flew over the soccer field while the guests shivered and looked on. A Veteran parachuted out of the plane. As he descended to the soccer field, he unfurled a huge Flag of the United States of America. There were people on the ground to catch the flag and then the Veteran landed and walked on two artificial legs through the crowd. If that doesn't move you and touch your heart, I just don't know what to say. Here are some pictures Claude took. The first is the crowd waiting. The crowd went on down the edge of this parking lot. The second is the parachutist with the U.S. Flag unfurled. The third is the Flag. The fourth is the Veteran parachutist. Absolutely amazing. 

The OCMS kids make a poster for each of the Veterans to march with in the parade.  This is Claude's poster and him with Bailey and Hayden getting ready to march in the parade. He had a great day and always enjoys supporting his Grandmonsters.

After Claude got home, we attended the baptism service of an 8 year old boy in our congregation, Elijah Grant Werner. I helped bake a few cookies and mini-cupcakes for part of the refreshments and also played the piano. These are always sweet services and a joy to watch these little ones make covenants with their Heavenly Father.

Then we hurried across Georgetown to attend a dinner to honor the service of Scott County Judge Executive George Lusby. He has served as Judge Executive for 29 years. I am so impressed with this good man. Claude and I often sit with him and Barbara, his wife, when we attend the dinners and events that government leaders are invited to attend. I have always found him to be a morally grounded and good man to the core. He is a Democrat and I am a Republican and I have voted for him every time because he is a man with good values. We need that. This dinner was simply wonderful. They had prepared two videos that paid tribute to the man. These told of a life well lived and full of good things. It was a delight to pay our respects to George Lusby. He did not run this time and it will be sad to see him not serve. He has left Scott County debt free and many, many projects completed to meet the needs of the people and serve our community. 

It was a full day. But one that, when we got to the end of it, we both said what a good day it was. A day well filled and lived.