Thank You to Our Veterans

America! America!  God shed his Grace on thee.

And crown thy good with Brotherhood

From Sea to Shining Sea!

Thanks to our veterans for our "sweet land of liberty."

May our liberties always remain and may they never be taken for granted.


A special thanks to some of my personal favorites:

Hubby, Karl J. Duppstadt a/k/a Dupp & The Duppster

 

 

 

Daughter, Tiffany Martschink - US Army

 

 

Dad, the late Ryan Shealy - USN

The Dawg, the late Carroll T. Smith - USAF

Numerous family members/relatives,

 including Ross Shealy, Ted Koon, Jack Buyer,

Steve Buyer, Pat Spence, Jud Spence, the late Judson Spence;

Veterans in my Sunday School class and church;

Countless other friends and acquaintances.

To ALL Veterans,

THANK YOU!



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Lindsay, Michael, Brian, Matt and More

This is what my oldest daughter, Tiffany (pictured on the left), posted on Facebook several days ago: Can you believe the news coverage being given to a spoiled 20-something this week? Lindsay WHO? Here are a few 20-somethings worth knowing about: Justin Allen, 23; Brett Linley, 29; Matt Weikert, 29; Justus Bartett, 27; Dave Santos, 21; Chase Stanley, 21; Jesse Reed, 26; Matt King, 23; Chris Goeke, 23; and, Sheldon Tate, 27. These 20-somethings gave their lives for you this week.

Tiffany hit the proverbial nail on the head, didn’t she? Where ARE our values? Far more people know the name of Lindsay Lohan than the names of those young members of the military who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Has the loss of life in the military become something that is just a number, just a statistic in the news? And are our values as a society such that we idolize celebrities like Lindsay Lohan?

Similarly, does the name of Brian Bradshaw ring a bell for you? No? He was the 24-year-old soldier who was killed in Afghanistan on the same day Michael Jackson died – June 25, 2009. A Pacific Lutheran University graduate, Bradshaw was, according to his aunt, "…a search-and-rescue volunteer, an altar boy, a camp counselor … [who] carried the hopes and dreams of his parents willingly on his shoulders. What more than that did Michael Jackson do or represent that earned him memorial 'shrines,' while this soldier's death goes unheralded?"

I am not questioning Michael Jackson’s talent or that of Lindsay Lohan. What I question is the attention given to them and the lack of attention to our young people who are true heroes.

PH: Triangles: They're Everywhere!

This week's theme for the blogging world's Photo Hunt is "triangle."  My first thought was that I didn't have pictures of triangles, but then I looked in my files and found them in all kinds of places.

This is in the lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott in Washington, DC.  Do you see the triangles in the light fixtures?  In the chains holding the fixtures?

                                                                                                   

 This house that's for sale has triangular features, as do many homes and other buildings.

 

This gorgeous photo was taken by a friend, Sparky Witte, and shared on Facebook a while back.  Dramatic photo showing triangles under the pier, huh? 

  

                                   

Daughter Tiffany's napkins were folded in triangular shapes when she prepared a delicious Thanksgiving meal for us. 

                                                                                                 

Sticking with holidays, there are triangles in some of the Christmas stockings we hang each year.    

  

One of our local newspapers did a feature on our two-faced governor, Mark Sanford, last year.  Do you see a triangle formed by his nose in the profile photo?

What about famous triangles?  Here's information (from Wikipedia) about two of them: 

BASS RED TRIANGLE

The Bass Red Triangle is one of the world's oldest logos but the brewery's labels had been copied without permission, both at home and overseas. The Red Triangle was the first trademark to be registered under the Trade Mark Registration Act 1875, as trade mark number 1. The 1875 Act came into effect on 1 January 1876 and that New Year's Eve, a Bass employee waited overnight outside the registrar's office, in order to be the first in the queue to register a trademark the next morning. In fact, Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton Limited received the first two registrations, the first being the Bass Red Triangle for their pale ale, and the second the Bass Red Diamond for their strong ale.

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels are alleged to have disappeared in mysterious circumstances which fall beyond the boundaries of human error, pirates, equipment failure, or natural disasters. Popular culture has attributed some of these disappearances to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings.

A substantial body of documentation exists showing numerous incidents to have been inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have gone on record as stating that the number and nature of disappearances is similar to any other area of ocean, however proponents of paranormal phenomena claim that many incidents remain unexplained despite considerable investigation.

Spooked Van?

Several years ago, my mode of transportation was a van. It was a typical car-pool vehicle, especially for moms who hold the title of “transportation director” for their families.

Late one afternoon, daughter Tiffany and I were in the van, heading to a church youth activity, when we found ourselves in a sudden thunderstorm. There were booming blasts of thunder and bright, electrifying bolts of lightning. As the lightning zig-zagged down from the sky, the bolts seemed to hit the ground.

And then I heard the click of the door locks in the van. I asked Tiffany why she unlocked the doors; she replied that she hadn’t.

A few minutes later the door locks clicked again. This happened several times; the locks went up, the locks went down.

Maybe lightning struck my van, causing a problem with the door locking mechanism only. I don’t know. Soon it stopped, or so I thought. We went home and called it a day.

By the next morning, the storm and the door locks were no longer on my mind.

Until I went outside to get into the van. As I walked to the driver’s side door, I heard the doors unlock. I reached for the door handle but the doors locked themselves before I could open the door.

Getting in and out of the van remained a challenge: I never knew when the doors would lock themselves. Fortunately, I was never locked out more than several times a day, and those times were not long-lasting.

There was never a need to lock the doors. Or perhaps there was a need but just no use to do so – because the doors would unlock themselves. It didn’t matter whether I had a laptop computer or gifts or anything else inside; I could not lock the doors and have them remain locked.

As Christmas holidays approached and as I spent more time shopping, I worried about having packages in an unlocked, parked van. My dad said not to worry about it. He said if someone intended to try to break in and steal packages but heard the doors start locking and unlocking, the person would either think there was someone inside the van or that the van was “spooked,” which, no doubt, would cause the would-be thief to turn and run away as fast as possible.

Maybe that worked. Nothing was ever stolen from inside the vehicle.

There are days when I really miss that van. It brought a whole new meaning to the term “automatic door locks.”

Great Minds Think Alike - Perhaps Unfortunately

When I’ve gone out to Denver to babysit my grandson, I’ve enjoyed driving daughter Mandy’s car because it has one of those great gadgets known as a GPS.

Mandy had hers programmed so that it told me verbally and showed me on a map how to get to the nearest grocery store, to the post office, to the airport and various other places. I felt like a child with a new toy!

I decided that one day I would splurge and get one for myself.

A few weeks ago, there was a one-day “gold box” deal on amazon.com with an almost half-price sale on a particular GPS – while quantities lasted. Ah, this was my day. I clicked and ordered one. After all, who can ever find something like that for half-price, even after Christmas?

Besides the great deal, this one had a wide screen, something my old eyes could actually see!

Bear in mind, though, that, while I like gadgets, I am not technologically inclined. I was able to use the GPS but didn’t know everything about programming it. So, I e-mailed Mandy, told her I gotten one but would need her help when they were in town for Christmas. This was her response:

“Well, I don't want to help you. I want to punch you in the face. We all went in together to get you a nice GPS for Christmas. I hope you like it, because now you are going to have two!”

She later e-mailed again, saying she didn’t really want to punch me in the face, although I knew she did. She and the others (Tiffany, Tree and Adam) were disappointed – and I was heart-broken that I had ruined their wonderful surprise.

I offered to return mine, but she said later they had come up with an alternative.

And that’s how it came to be that this grandma is now the owner of an iPod nano.

What I’ve figured out thus far is fun!

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I Am SO Thankful: For These and So Much More!

    

I am thankful. Not just today but every day.

For three fantastic children who are wonderful adults - Tiffany, Tree and Mandy shown here just after Mandy's marriage to Adam.

For a fabulous mom and for memories of a fabulous dad.

For two sisters (Christy & Lorri) and two brothers (Rod & Shawn) I wouldn’t trade for anything (most days.)

For a great son-in-law, Adam Brantley.

For an adorable grandson, Harrison Cothran Brantley.

For remarkable friends, both old and new.

For a warm and caring church family.






For 60 good years of life.

For God-given talents and abilities.

For health.

For a wonderful extended family.

For a sense of humor.

For our military who serve us.

For law enforcement and firefighters who protect us.

For educators who touch and help shape the future.

For the power of prayer and faith.

For the freedoms we enjoy in our country and for the hope those freedoms will be around for a long time.

For volunteers who give so much of themselves in so many ways.

For the beauty of nature - colorful rainbows, glorious sunshine, majestic mountains, rolling oceans, chirping birds, laughing children, refreshing rain, seasonal changes and so much more.

And, this year in particular, I am thankful for the time I had with Carroll a/k/a “The Dawg.”

As odd as it may sound and as much as I would like for him to still be here with me, I am thankful for the way in which he left us – a peaceful death; opportunities to say good-bye to family and friends; no lingering, on-going suffering. I am thankful I was with him and in his arms as he took his last breath. What a blessing!

May you enjoy counting your blessings today - and every day!
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WW: Thank You, Veterans!

In Thankful Appreciation

Veterans Day 2009

With special appreciation to two of my favorite veterans no longer with us:  Dad (Navy) and the Dawg (Air Force); and to active military daughter Tiffany (Army.)

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Wordless Wednesday participants here.

It's About Sex

I don’t write about sex very often. Maybe it’s because I don’t know very much!

But I just read that October is National Family Sexuality Month, an effort to promote open communication within families about sexuality.

Well, this reminded me a particular day many years ago. I’ve written about it before, so if you’ve already read it, just bear with me.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I was at home with the three children, all of whom were quite young at the time.

According to the newspaper’s TV schedule, a show was coming on late that afternoon about teaching children how to say “no” to strangers.

Excellent, I thought. As a mother of youngsters, I wanted them to stay away from strangers and not to be tempted ever by candy or any other enticement. Without being pushy, I had us all in the room with the television when the program began. And so, we sat down and casually tuned in to watch the show.

After a few minutes of discussion about saying “no” to strangers, the conversation changed somewhat. It went from saying “no” to strangers to just saying “no” in general. And then, finally, the program’s focus turned to relationships between teenagers and beyond. The talk was about saying “no” to “doing it.” Should a person wait for love? True love? Commitment? Marriage? What? When was the right time?

As one might imagine, the children were engrossed in the discussion. Then all of a sudden, Tiffany blurted out, “I’m confused!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because,” she replied, “they’re talking about when to do it and I don’t even know what it is!”

Keep watching, honey, just keep watching.

And there you have it - our celebration of National Family Sexuality Month!

PH: ORANGE - in Sports, Recreation, Nature and Even Politics???

What fun I had with this week's Photo Hunt theme.  It's orange.  What in the world would I find that was orange?

As it turns out, there's a whole lot of orange around us.  And I even came across a picture that's over 25 years old that has orange in it. 

Sometimes there's orange in beautiful sunrises and sunsets. 

Do you see the orange halo around this Summerville street lamp?

I just happened to see an orange bike in a local parking lot.

Heavy machinery might be orange, like these two pieces of equipment at a local rental place.

The name of my blog might be "EX Marks the Spot" but, in these next three pictures, orange marks the spot - or spots - for work to be done.  Orange paint, orange flags, orange signs.

Okay, here's the really old photo - over 25 years old.  Tree, my son (now an attorney in DC who will kill me if he sees this photo) is wearing an orange life jacket.  Behind him are nephews Ross and Rodney (partially hidden) and daughter Tiffany.  Yep, they'll ALL kill me!

Yes, I'm being grandma again.  Orange gave me the opportunity to share another picture of grandson Harrison.

Quite a few sports teams have orange as one of their colors.

In South Carolina, orange means the Clemson Tigers.  Their blood runs orange.

And speaking of South Carolina, here's a picture from The State newspaper of Mark Sanford, our "Luv Guv."  If you're not from South Carolina, "orange" you glad he's not your governor?

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To see other Photo Hunt participants and their orange posts, click here.     

PH: Surprise!!!!

Surprise is the theme for this week's Photo Hunt. Life is full of 'em!!!!

Several years ago, the folks at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, were surprised to have the tallest soldier and the shortest soldier to ever go through MOS training there at the same time. The short one is Tiffany, one of my daughters.



I was surprised when part of my eBay purchase arrived like this!

I was surprised when I forgot that I was boiling eggs on the stove!

Grandson Harrison is surprised about something!

Sometimes people are surprised to learn how one of my brothers, Shawn, teaches children to water-ski. He pulls them on the ground first, behind him running!




This is Shawn's daughter, Kendall. Can't tell if she is laughing at the joy of skiing or at how tired her dad is getting while doing the running & pulling!

My dad took the easy way out years ago, but folks were just as surprised to learn that he pulled us on skis behind a car!!

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Photo Hunt participants are throughout blogland. Click here to see other surprises this week!