Grady Montgomery Holland

March 1, 2011, my Papaw, Grady Holland, the Patriarch of our family, went to live with Jesus. Just so I can have it recorded, I have included his obituary on the blog. Blogger would not let me copy and paste, therefore, I typed the whole thing out myself.

As I typed it out, line by line, I couldn't help but think of what injustice these words are. Though these words are all true, as any obituary, these words do not even begin to tell the story of this man's life.

I am thankful however, that my family is the family that has the privileged to tell the story of this Sweet Man's life as we live our own. Throughout our lives - the choices we make, the values we cling to, and by serving those around us, we will be telling the story of Papaw, loud and clear.

I have blogged about Papaw before. You can read about the 64th Wedding Anniversary that he and Mamaw shared, his 95th Birthday that we celebrated last summer, and about Papaw receiving his medals from WWII on Veteran's Day, 2010.

Grady Holland, 95, of Franklin, passed away Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

Born in Macon Co., he was the son of the late Jerry Marr Holland and Hettie Jane Dills Holland. In addition to his parents, he is proceeded in death by a son, Jesse Grady Holland; grandson, David Wayne Holland; four brothers, Charlie Holland, Jack Holland, Dewey Holland, and Watsel Holland and a sister, Gertrude Hughes. Grady was an US Army Veteran and served during WWII under General George Patton. He loved to farm and was a member of Pine Grove Baptist Church.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Betty Margaret Stuman Holland; two sons, Gary Holland and wife Edith, and Randy Holland and wife Christine both of Franklin; daughter, Marianna Solesbee of Hiawasee, GA; nine grandchildren; sixteen great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; several step grandchildren and great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be held at 11:00am Friday, March 4, in the Chapel of Macon Funeral Home. Rev. Wiley Gibson, Rev. Brandon Breedlove, Rev. John Rogers will officiate. Burial will be at Pine Grove Baptist Church Cemetery with full military rites conducted by VFW Post 7339 and American Legion Post 108.

The family will receive friends from 6-8:00pm Thursday, March 3, at Macon Funeral Home.

Pallbearers will be Barry and Lane Cabe, Cameron and Michael Holland, and Michael and William Hamlin.

Memorial donations can be made to Pine Grove Baptist Church Building Fund, 7454 Highlands Rd, Franklin, NC 28734

Macon Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Baseball

This Spring Season, we have enjoyed watching Lucas play baseball. He seems to enjoy it, but there are still those moments of playing in the dirt on the field, watching an airplane fly over, and an occasional water break, by running off the field while the rest of the team is out on it. :)

I took these pictures at his very first baseball game. As you tell by the people in the background, it was a very cold day, but a great time was had by all!

Go Cardinals!

Sooo Cold.


Up to bat!

Go Lucas! Ready to score.
Pep talk from the Coach.

"Good Game...Good Game..."

And the reason why he is playing baseball....SNACKS!

A Weekend with Rachel

Towards the end of March, I got to visit my friend Rachel for the weekend. Rachel and I met in 2004 as we served on the same World Changers Summer Staff Team. On each SS team, typically there are 2 girls and 2 boys. The four of us ride together to the states that we are assigned to. Basically, for the entire summer, we are a family. It is crucial to be able to connect with all your teammates, but it was especially important to connect with your same gender teammate, for obvious reasons.
The day Rachel and I met, we became great friends. Not only did we serve together in 2004 in Illinois, Indiana, & Missouri, but we also got to serve together in 2005 in the state of Texas. I do not have a single memory of those two summers that Rachel is not a part of.

Rachel lives in Lawrenceville, GA - about 2 hours away, but entirely too close for me not have seen her for a year and a half!

The weekend was just what I needed at that exact time. Conversation was about World Changers, Teaching, Life, and started over again. Thank you Rachel for a weekend that was good for the soul in so many ways.

This is the only picture I took of us together. It is hard to see, but oh well.

This is the apartment complex that Rachel lives in. It was my home for the weekend.

Unbelievably Behind on Blogging...

We have had a great Sunday afternoon. After church this morning we had Chloe's Gymnastics Exhibition. She did a great job. We don't get to watch her do gymnastics all that often so when we do see her, we can really tell how much she is growing as an athlete. I loved getting to watch her today.


We then went to Brandon's parent's house, where everyone jumped in to help me make my students' End-Of-Grade Test encouragements. 125 of them in all. Testing begins tomorrow.


Then for the rest of the day, Brandon and I have just hung out at home. I sat down to blog, I went through my pictures and oh my! I am crazy behind on posting about anything in our lives. I am actually pretty embarrassed to admit it, however, by the time I am caught up, I will have to go back to March 1st! Oh. My. Goodness!


Anyhow, let the catching up begin....

Chloe's Gymnastic Exhibition

EOG Eagle Encouragements

"You are one smart cookie!

Do your best. I believe in you!

Mrs. Breedlove"

Inside the baggie, there is an Oreo. It is in the corner of the picture.

Sunday, May 1, 2011 - Osama Bin Laden

For records sake, I feel as though I need to take some time to reflect and document what exactly this day means in the life of our nation.

September 11, 2001, I was a high school senior. The cap and gown had been ordered, the prom dress search had officially began, and all was well in the lives of the seventeen year olds that filled the Algebra 2 class we were in. I had not been feeling well that morning and was running late getting to school. Mom & I were in the living room and before I left for school, we saw the breaking news that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York City. It had appeared to be an accident. I left for school, which was less than half a mile away.

As I got onto campus, I headed for Algebra 2. Walking down the hall of the Main Building, I knew something had occurred. It wasn't the news on the television that told me, nor was it the discussions that poured from the teacher lounges and other classrooms that told me, but it was something else. There was something else on the inside of my normally chatty Algebra 2 classroom: silence & fear.

The students in my classroom along with every other classroom in the school, were glued to the televisions. Another plane had hit the second tower and as more news came across the airways, one thing was certain. This was not an accident, but instead, it was a carefully calculated plot with a man by the name of Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind it all.

Along with the rest of the world, we watched. The hearts of America were broken and scared.

Security increased for a little while and although the we were all aware of "The War on Terrorism" eventually, the lives of most Americans found their way to normalcy - most American civilians that is, as the lives of American soldiers and their families were increasingly anything other than normal. This has been the case for the last 10 years as soldiers have spent their days and nights fighting for protection and freedoms for our nation and searching Osama Bin Laden.

*10 Years Later*

Monday, May 2, 2011, I woke up to the news that a group of Navy Seals had killed Osama Bin Laden the day before. As I got on to work, I again found myself walking through the hallways of a school, hearing this same name coming from classrooms and teacher lounges that I had heard 10 years ago. I even heard students talking to one another about the death of this man that they had led in the 2001 terrorist attacks, the year they were born.

Throughout the day, I checked the news. I have read about the celebrations taking place across the nation as this man has been brought to death. Yes, there were emotions in my heart throughout the day like relief and thankfulness, however, I can not say that "rejoicing" was one of them.

I have struggled with how to word my thoughts, but when I came across J.D. Greear's blog, I felt as though he sums up my heart today. Please click the link to go to his blog, which is much more powerful and shorter than this one.