Freedom's Price

 Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen, Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men. ~Richard Watson Gilder


Memorial Day weekend - the weekend that launches summer. Schools are out or will be soon. Seniors are graduating and getting ready to grab life by the horns and see what's next. Some young men and women came to that stage of life during a time of war. Their next thing was joining the military and fighting for freedom and their country. Many gave their all. This sign I saw at the traveling exhibit of the Vietnam War Memorial tells it all. The toll of dead and wounded and missing number in the thousands in every war. 

But a picture like this one brings home that truth in gut wrenching fashion. Row after row of crosses mark the graves of our soldiers who stepped up to the line for their country and did not come home. Tomorrow, Memorial Day, our nation pauses to remember and honor those soldiers.


These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest.  They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest.  Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead.  ~Robert G. Ingersoll

My father didn't serve in the army. He was exempted from the military in World War II because he was a farmer, but I've known many men, including two of my uncles and two of my husband's uncles, who did serve our country during that war. Then young men of my generation faced the challenge of the Vietnam War and many served with honor and courage. Still now, men and women are putting themselves in harm's way to defend our way of life and fight for freedom. May we ever keep them in our prayers. 

Do you have family members who have served or who are even now part of the military serving our country? 

A Day to Remember Those Who Gave Their All

"It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle." (Norman Schwarzkopf)

Do you know why we have a long Memorial Day weekend? Some people think of it as a day to decorate the graves of their loved ones who have died. And that does happen at cemeteries across the country. But actually Memorial Day began as Decoration Day back in the 1860s after the Civil War. Wives, mothers, and sisters began decorating the graves of the fallen soldiers. It's thought as many as 700,000 men lost their lives in the Civil War, a lot of graves to decorate. Perhaps the women, who began the tradition, picked a day in late May because they had many blooming flowers for the grave decorations. 

It wasn't until 1967 that Federal law changed the name of the remembrance holiday officially to Memorial Day. The next year the date was changed from May 30 to the last Monday in May. Not everybody was happy with that change because they thought the real significance of the holiday - remembering those who'd been killed in wars - might be lost when the day became part of a three day weekend. 

Most communities have special observances to honor our soldiers. In our town, we have what is called the "healing field" where soldiers from our area who died in wars are honored with a flag. When you think about how that kind of memorial could be repeated in every town all across our country, you begin to realize the sacrifice so many have made to keep our country free and to stand up for the freedom of other countries as well. This weekend, thousands and thousands of flags will be placed on veterans' graves in honor of their service and sacrifices.


At our church this morning, we had two Vietnam War veterans. Men who answered the call when their country asked for their service. They made it home. Many did not. Over 58,000 soldiers were killed in that war. 11,465 of those killed in action were younger than twenty. The Korean War claimed almost 40,000 American casualties. World War II saw at least 60 million people worldwide killed. U.S. Military casualties were 416,800. World War I, the war those who fought it thought would end all wars, resulted in 126,000 American soldiers' death. 

My books often have scenes of war in the stories, and in my research for these scenes I have read many great stories of the men and women who have served our country in time of war. Most of these soldiers were ordinary men, and sometimes women, who responded with extraordinary valor when they stood in the gap to defend their country. Wars throughout history have claimed the lives of some of the finest among us and are still doing so today. Let us pray for peace and for our soldiers to come home safely. May we never forget those who did not. God bless America and our soldiers and their families!

Arlington National Cemetery

A Day to Remember

"The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem." (Aaron Kilbourn)

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day after the Civil War when the wives, mothers, and sisters began decorating the graves of the fallen soldiers. Slowly as the years passed, Decoration Day, observed on May 30, began to be called Memorial Day, but it wasn't until1967 that Federal law changed the name officially. The year after that the Uniform Holiday Act was passed and the observance of Memorial Day changed to the last Monday in May. Not everybody was happy with changing the date just to give people a three day weekend. Many felt it would take away from the original reason for the day - honoring those who gave their all for our country. 

The picture above is of the Memorial Field in my county. The flags represent soldiers from our area killed in service to their country. The memorial could be repeated in every town - big and small - all across our country. Thousands and thousands of flags were put on veterans' graves this Memorial Day in honor of their sacrifices.

At church this morning, one of the men, who served during the Vietnam War, was wearing a pin showing the number of Americans killed in that war. 58,169. The average age of the soldiers killed was 23. 11,465 of those killed in action were younger than 20.

I looked farther back. The Korean War claimed close to 40,000 American casualties. In World War II, 60 million people worldwide were killed. U.S. Military casualties were 416,800. In World War I, the war that people at that time believed would be the war to end all wars, 126,000 American soldiers perished.

The dead in the Civil War is thought to be around 700,000. So you can see how there were many who were left behind to grieve for loved ones. They didn't want to forget and so they remembered by decorating the graves.

We continue to remember today. Tomorrow, Monday, at 3 p.m., a moment of silence will be observed for all those who died in service to our country. May we never forget the debt we owe to those men and women willing to give their all so our flag can continue to fly over a free country. America, the Beautiful!  

Remembering Loved Ones

Hope all of you are having a great Memorial Day weekend as you dwell on happy memories of your loved ones who have passed on. Of course the day originated in the years after the Civil War to honor those soldiers who died during that war. Now we honor our soldiers who have given the supreme price for their country in all the wars since that time as well. And the day has expanded to include our loved ones whether they served as soldiers or not. It's time to decorate their graves if you can and remember good things about them and why you loved them. Sometimes I think it's more important to share stories about our loved ones, our grandmoms and pops, and moms and dads, with our younger generation so that we can all know about our roots and what has been important to our family.

A lot of the people in my family - grandparents and others - liked books. That passed on to me for sure. When I was a kid, books were my friends. And they still are. I was at a book event on Saturday. It was a reading celebration for the Estill County schools and there were so many kids there. It was great! One young girl and her mother stopped by my table. The girl was looking at my book, The Outsider, and her mom turned to me and asked, "Have you read this book?" Well, I guess. Only about two dozen times. When she realized I was the author we both had a good laugh and she did decide to let the girl take the book home with her. I'm hoping she won't be disappointed with the story.

I always hope that and worry about that. I want readers to be glad they picked up my books. Anyway we had a good time in Estill County. It was like being at a giant fall festival only all the games and activities centered around books. That's my kind of festival.

I've had company the last couple of days. Four of the grandkids were here, but of course baby Raegan at five weeks old is too little to make much noise yet. The other kids had fun in the big empty almost built room. It echoes nicely and that made them a little noisy but happy. My grandson, Austin, caught two salamanders and a tadpole out of the pond, so that made him happy. My granddaughters got to play with their Uncle Gary and the dogs so that made them happy. My daughter is as beautiful as ever and she got to eat fresh strawberries straight out of the patch. That made her happy. I cooked and cooked, but at least the fridge is full of leftovers. That will make Darrell happy. And me too, if I can skip a couple of days cooking stuff. I got to see my family, play with my grandkids and hold the new little one. That made me happy. And blessed. It's fun taking time to count some everyday blessings of life.

Hope you are being blessed on every side this weekend and through the week ahead. Enjoy!

An Old-fashioned Frolic

Hi everybody. Have you ever been invited to a frolic? My father used to tell us a story about when he was a little boy and his granddaddy invited him to come over for a frolic. His young mind thought up all sorts of interesting and fun things his granddaddy might have planned, but when he got there, his granddaddy told him it was "a bean planting frolic." Somehow planting beans didn't sound like all that much of a frolic to my dad. But it made a good story and my sisters and I still talk about having "frolics" to this day many, many years later.

Well, we had a frolic Saturday at my mom's house. She has a summer room with windows all around on the back of her house. It's a great place for her plants and to sit and enjoy the birds. My mom has a green thumb and can grow anything, plus she loves watching the birds at her feeders. The only problem was that water somehow seeped under her door and ruined her rug. So me and my sisters decided the time had come for a flooring frolic. We tore up the old carpet and laid down vinyl squares. That sounds a lot easier typing it than it was actually doing it. The tearing up wasn't bad, but getting the glued down padding off the concrete floor proved challenging. Thank goodness the floor was nice and level when we finished and we almost did have fun putting down the new floor - except for the wear and tear on our not so young anymore knees and the fact that we didn't have very good scissors to cut the squares to fit. You'd think one of us would have thought to bring our good scissors. But we got it done and it looks great. We even joked around and said we should start a Three Sisters Contractors business, but I opted out on that pretty fast. I told them they'd better plan on Two Sisters. I've got a book to write. Actually I hope I have a lot of books to write.

I've been working hard on a new book about the Shakers to follow up The Outsider that will soon be on the store shelves. The early buzz and reviews have been good for the August 1 release, and I'm hoping that lots of readers will enjoy the story. The book is a different type of story than my Hollyhill Series, but then I've written a lot of different type stories and enjoyed writing them all. I did have fun writing about Jocie and her family in Hollyhill and I hope someday to maybe move along with Jocie and see what happens in Hollyhill down the road a few years. We'll see. Meantime I have already written another family drama type story that I'm hoping will make it out to my readers in the next year or so. Book publishing is sometimes slow business. It takes about a year to plan and write a book although I'm trying to be faster on the next two. Then the editor takes a while reading and deciding. After that it's a long process of editing and designing and publishing. Sometimes books make it out to the shelves in a year after a publisher buys it from the author and sometimes it takes longer. That can be hard on a writer who has so much of herself invested in the book. You want to see your words set in type. You want to see it with a great cover. (And I do love the cover of my coming book, The Outsider. They got Gabrielle just right in the picture. Thanks to the beautiful model who posed for the picture. If you want, you can see it at my website or at various booksellers out on the internet like amazon.com or christianbook.com.) You want to see your book on a store shelf. But even better, even more than all that, you want to see your book in a reader's hands. I thank all of you who have e-mailed me that you liked Jocie's stories. That means so much to a writer. That's like seeing you with my book in your hands.

Hope you are all having a great Memorial Day weekend. The weather is beautiful here this weekend. Great for picnics and fishing or whatever. Darrell and I took a long hike. Not unusual for me, but really unusual for him. But it was his idea. We trooped through the hayfields and woods and briars and brambles. The blackberries are blooming big time. So as long as we have some more showers along we should have some good pickings later on.

May the memories you have on this day of your loved ones who have passed on bring you smiles and that echo of love that never dies or fades away in your heart. And may we remember our soldiers and honor those who have fallen in service to our country.

Till next time.
Ann