Memorial Day -
I hope you all had a peaceful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.
My family and I attended a Memorial Day ceremony that honored those brave souls in our military who made the ultimate sacrifice and their Gold Star Mothers and families. As stories were shared of their courageous heroism, tears filled all of our eyes, giving our already grateful hearts a renewed sense of gratitude for the incredible sacrifices made on our behalf for our freedom today.
When I hear the stories of war, I am always grateful to those in my family who served, including my Daddy, Grandpa, several Uncles (one was a Navy Chaplain), and Cousins. All returned home, Praise God! However, growing up, I always heard stories of how my Great-Uncle was never the same after returning home from World War II. He was on the frontline of the battle, and I can only imagine the horrors he saw. My heart goes out to those who return with not only physical wounds, but emotional scars, as well.
I pray Memorial Day will always remain a sacred day of remembrance and honor.
Storms -
I also wanted to mention that my prayers are going out to those across the Heartland, Midwest, Ohio Valley, East Coast, etc... where the storms badly hit over the weekend. It was heartbreaking to hear about the loss of life. I pray all of you and your property were safe. This has been quite a brutal spring with storm outbreaks of Tornadoes and strong winds. In fact, one of the storms that came through last week had a burst of strong wind that took down a large old maple tree in our backyard. Thankfully, it missed our home, but when it fell, it also damaged some of our wood fencing, which extends around our pastures and fields. We are grateful our damage is small and can be fixed, and our hearts and prayers go out to those who lost much more.

When Calls the Heart -
Briefly, I wanted to express how much I thoroughly enjoyed Sunday night's episode of When Calls the Heart titled Brother's Keeper.
When Elizabeth's brother-n-law, Tom, is in trouble and cannot repay his debt, Nathan spearheads an idea to bring everyone together for a Hope Valley choir festival fundraiser—Voices of the Valley. In this episode, there is cheerful, lively music from that time period and a beautiful, meaningful rendition of Amazing Grace.
Overall, it was a delightful episode, and yes, it had a bit of romance with a very special dance, but more importantly, I appreciated how faith was an integral part of this story. Even the episode's title, Brother's Keeper, is a reference to scripture, Genesis 4:9.
Prayer Request -

Also, if you follow When Calls the Heart on social media, then you have likely seen this news, but for those of you who haven't, the When Calls the Heart cast members are sharing their love and support for one of their own, who has had an unknown medical emergency.
To support their medical bills, her mother and stepfather have set up a GoFundMe page, where they recently shared this tragic update: "We are deeply saddened to report that on May 26th, Mamie, who has been in intensive treatment for the past two weeks, was escorted out of a secure unit of the hospital and taken up to a balcony walkway from which she fell five stories. She sustained life threatening injuries, has undergone multiple extensive surgeries, and is currently on life support."
Please join me in lifting sweet Mamie and her family up in prayer.
*See update on Mamie from May 30th in my comment below.