Carolyn

It's intriguing how friendships begin.  Carolyn and I sang on the worship team together over a decade ago, but I never got to know her.  She married the son of one of my very special friends, Julie, but still we were not acquainted.  Steve and Carolyn moved away, Ellie was born, Julie went home to be with the Lord, and Carolyn was still someone I knew of, not someone I really knew.  A few years ago Steve and Carolyn moved back to the area with their two children.  Ellie began to participate in our children's programs at church, and Carolyn and I became facebook friends.  That's where it began.  She joined the worship team again, and this time a friendship blossomed and grew.  Carolyn is a caring and giving person.   She is very open and honest.  She is truly a devoted wife and mother, and the spiritual growth of her children is of utmost importance to her.  Carolyn is a Thirty-One consultant, and is very passionate about her business.  She is a true friend, the kind that can be trusted with anything and everything.  My whole family was sad when it was time for her family to move again.  My kids had become very attached to her's.  My boys, who were all much older and bigger, adored her son Micah, and would search him out at church.  My daughter enjoyed spending time with Ellie, despite their age difference, as well.  Eric and I also became friends with Steve, who we had not really known before either.  I thank the Lord for bringing them back here for that short time.  We miss them, and hope that they will be able to return one day, but our friendship will remain despite time and distance.  Thanks for being such a great friend, Carolyn!!!  ♥

Uncle Rod

A cherished member of our family has moved on from this world. Uncle Rod loved Eric and I, he loved our kids, and we loved him. Aunt Peg and Uncle Rod were probably the first of Eric's family members that he introduced me to beside his parents. They welcomed me immediately into the family as a shy 16 year old girl. They loved me and made me feel like I belonged. That was 20 years ago. We have spent wonderful times together since then. Uncle Rod and Aunt Peg have been like another set of grandparents to our children. Uncle Rod took time to come and visit with us. We spent weeks and weekends together at cabins in the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia. We visited places together such as New Market Battlefield, Horseshoe Curve, and Shenandoah Caverns. He helped us on many of our home improvement projects like our roof, our chimney and our bay window. He loved to tell us stories of when he was in the army, and about his friends from the 82 Airborne Division. He was so proud when Cody went to NYC to march in the Veteran's Day Parade, and he gave him a challenge coin to commemorate the occasion. Cody will cherish that always. I know that he was special to all who really knew him. I wasn't born into his family, but he was, is, and always will be as dear to me as an uncle can be. We all will miss him. I am very glad that we had a chance to spend one last hour with him on Friday. Sunday morning he left the pain of this world behind him. We are still here to face the separation, but we have the hope in Christ of seeing him again one day. We will carry on and remember the good times as something sacred. They will remind us not to waste the time we have here on earth, but to invest it in those we love, just as Uncle Rod invested in so many of us.