Another Uplifting Patriotic Service

I am a patriot. I think I am never more aware of that as when our country and our men in the military are honored in our church services.

Sunday, May 25, we had such a service in our church. I wish someone had videotaped at least the opening. In additon to our normal "worship team" of 4 or 5 people along with the the piano and organ, 4 teenagers joined them with trumpet, sax, guitar, and drums. The first hymn was "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." As many times as I have sung that, I got choked up a bit and couldn't even sing at first. Then, when I finally got my voice under control, two men walked down the aisle, one carrying the American flag, and the other carrying the Christian flag. After they had placed them in the stands, they stood behind them for the reminder of the opening. So I "lost" my voice again. The next hymn was "America, the Beautiful." I started imagining what those words stood for, and still couldn't sing. I finally got my voice back (pretty much) for the last hymn, "America."

When the pastor called the children up front to give them a short lesson before dismissing them to children's church, he told an anecdote about Abraham Lincoln. He told how he had made an appointment with a man to meet him at 5:00 am one morning. The man arrived 15 minutes early, and asked if it was possible to see the President a little ahead of the scheduled time. The person who received him told him it wasn't possible. The man said he knew he was there, he heard sounds from his office. The secretary (or whatever he was) responded, "The President comes into his office at 4:00 every morning, and spends that first hour reading the Bible and praying." What a great example given by one of the leaders of our country!

Addendum: The special music was done by 4 teenagers, one on piano, one on drums, one on guitar, another (along with the pianist) singing "Letters from War." All 4 were wearing camouflage jackets.

Blogs and websites

I hope you are checking out my links from time to time - especially the Campbell Family Journal and Kathryn's Keepsakes. These two blogs chronicle the medical problems and triumphs of my nephew's two adopted daughters. These blogs are very inspiring!

If you are a regular viewer of the Richardsville Road web site, you may have noticed that there have been no changes for a few days. I don't know how long this condition will last; Danny, who created the site, "lost" his computer during a bad storm. Let's hope he's up and running soon. I don't have any real authority here, but I have a suggestion, that if you wish to RSVP for the reunion in July, Pat Davis might be able to keep records for you. If you wish to contact me, for that matter, I will make sure Danny gets the info when he's back on line, but I think Pat is more in the loop than I am. If you have never looked at this site, there is a lot of info there. It took me quite some time to get through it all, and meanwhile, Danny was adding more. Particularly interesting are the pages he posted from the 1926 Echo (Brookville High School Year Book).

I suppose I shouldn't mention this, since I was somewhat instrumental in its being posted, but Paul Campbell's story on the Richardsville site is excellent! It can be found through either Bios or Recollections. He is the father of my nephew I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post (same name, too).

I have been spending so much time submitting info and corrections to Danny's site, that I have rather neglected my own; however, I don't usually post here unless something specific comes up that interests me. But I did get to see pictures of my 2 great-granddaughters, finally!

Keely (almost 1), and Briana (2 1/2)- I believe they were a little younger when these pics were taken: