Serve by Design

Our grandsons, Klay and Karter DeFrees, just participated in a Memorial Day service project at their local cemetery in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Churches and schools have promoted the value of such projects to encourage students to “give back” to their communities. Our guys are active in their youth program at Paragon Church. I’m so proud that these beloved grands always “stand in the ready” to help and serve when given the opportunity! Klay and Karter - hard at work! Their church recently featured the guys with this “shout out” on the church website: “Today, two of our youth (Klay and Karter) joined Bob Monclova and Jim S. to clean eight hundred veteran head stones during six hours of service on Memorial Day. Karen, from Daniel’s Family Funeral Home, shared these comments, ‘The guys from Paragon were amazing, respectful, patriotic, and hard working! Thank you gentlemen for honoring our fallen vets!’” There was a moment of levity that Klay, our fifteen-year-old, shared with me about wh...

The Remembrance Poppy of my childhood was passed out for a donation at intersections in my hometown during the Memorial Day holiday weekend by men who belonged to service organizations. It was a way to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and was used as a fund raiser for local causes as well. The poppies were always artificial and made from a red, sturdy fabric with a green stamen in the center of the petals. These handcrafted symbols held up nicely if they were displayed on a suit lapel, affixed to a shirt collar, attached to a ball cap, or partially tucked into a pocket as a memorial badge of sorts. As a kid, we liked to enthusiastically wave them in everyone's faces like they were toys to be enjoyed. These symbols often never lasted the entire weekend and if they did, after the holiday had passed, these artificial poppies went the way of most passing things... they were disposed of! We have been living in the French countryside during these days of vacation. As ...