Warrior Weekend, August 2011 Matthew's story

I'd like you to meet Matthew.  He is one of our recovering Warriors from BAMC in San Antonio, and he is also one of my true HEROES.

Matthew is 21 years old.  He returned from Afghanistan in March, 2011 after stepping into an IAD. (land mind).  He is a super sharp minded young man.  So, what happened?

After hearing about a member of his squad stepping on an IAD, he was part of a search party to rid their area (which is not mentioned) of IADs.  After hours of searching, he found one....

Until this weekend  I had never met him, never knew anything about him.  Fortunately for me and our volunteers at Tonkawaya Ranch, we had the opportunity to spend the weekend with him and his mom.  What a great blessing for us!

The reason I am writing about Matthew is because I know there are many young Warriors like him.  Bright, attractive, young men and women with the world ahead of them.  AND THEY VOLUNTEER TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY TO KEEP OUR FREEDOMS!  Need I say anything else?

But I will.  I will say that Matthew is an amazing young man, again.  I will say that his attitude is better than mine.  He lost part of one limb, and shattered his other leg.  He is healing.  His mom is healing.  His life will be different.  And he is ready for that challenge, that new time, that change that comes without asking.....

I learned from Matthew and his mom.  I hope that Joe and I and our wonderful volunteer family gave a small gift to him compared to what he gave us.  He has a beautiful smile.  He is an awesome marksman (wish I could show you the skeet shoot this time, but I didn't photograph!  Matt out-did everybody! He didn't miss a shot- which I thank God for as I know he was protecting my life in Afghan!)  He has the best attitude, determination, and plans for life.  I would be proud to name him a member of my family.

Matt's mom raised him well.  Polite, articulate, knowledgable, and more worldly than I will ever be.  And POSITIVE.  He will do well in this life.

And he blessed mine.

Please say a prayer for our soldiers.  Most of them are as awesome as Matt.  I say most, because Matt is so special, it is hard to imagine an army of folks like him.  God Bless.  Thank you, Lord, for Matt and others who serve as he does. Amen.

And the final part of the June 2011 warrior story....

Wrapping up our journal on the first of our Wounded Warrior programs... so here is the rest of the story-

Recap:

Friday night, Jerry Biesenbach, Chief Chef of the best fajitas you ever put in your mouth;  Mike Blakely, providing his wonderful Texas music; Phil Bob Borman, Cowboy storytelling and music:

And here are two special gals who contributed Saturday morning:

Margaret Fletcher and Donna Lafferty, artists-  set up for a Saturday morning watercolor session for anyone who wanted to learn to paint while waiting for breakfast...

Every man, woman, and child present chose to learn to watercolor.  Donna and Margaret are amazing teachers and tutors.... nobody wanted to quit!

And Breakfast was pretty darn cool, over a campfire with Cowboy cook Jay Jones...

Then on to LBJ State Park for a free fishing trip, transportation donated by Stonewall Baptist Church:

Saturday afternoon began with the skeet shoot... then another amazing dinner hosted by Cowboy Chef Steve Sweeney, music by TJ Broscoff, and ending with an amazing starry night...

Sunday morning breakfast: thanks to Gene and Lyn Winkler, Steve and Diana Honea, and others:

The Honea's after Sunday morning serving up breakfast...

Sunday morning Service for Warrior families:  Thomas Michael Riley provided the music along with Randy Brown.... Thank Goodness, because I can't carry a tune in a bucket!

Warriors, families, and musicians on Sunday morning

Lisa Ellerman was here to share an inspirational message...

And wrapping up with a hayride before heading back to Brooke Army Medical Center and home for the families....

And a good time was had by all.

Thanks to all involved, including those unmentioned who gave time, donated money and food, hands and hearts... You all know who you are and this could not have been the success it was without you!

And to our readers:  America is not lost... there are those who are defending our rights and privileges.  And there are those who support our warriors.... there are those who want to be a part of giving back to  them and their families who have sacrificed so much to ensure our quality of life... and there are those of us who - when reminded, are grateful for every day, every moment we have the opportunity to make our own choices...

We are a people whose ancestors cherished freedom to worship, freedom to choose our own paths, freedom to raise our children in a safe environment, freedom to begin our own businesses, to work where we choose, to lay our heads down in a home of our own....

Let's not let these things slip away... forever we should stand to uphold our Constitution, forever we should support our Warriors, forever we should not forget those whose families are sacrificing their own security to ensure ours....

God Bless our Warriors, and God Bless America!

Cowboy Campfire Breakfast for wounded Warriors June 2011

Waking up in the country, sitting on the porch listening to the quiet...  Sounds you haven't heard in years- birds chirping, cattle lowing, dogs barking in the distance - Watching the sun, a deep orange orb rising above the horizon, streaking the skies with pinks, rubies, and tangerine.... Distant views of trees and hills and sky... and the wonderful aroma of breakfast and coffee cooked over a campfire...

As our warrior families began stirring inside the cabins, these images greeted them Saturday morning when they wandered outside their doors.

Jay Jones,  expert Cowboy campfire cook, was here at 6:30 a.m. to begin the day in the Cowboy way for our warrior families...

Bacon in the frying pan, coffee on the coals - good morning, all!

Cowboy coffee:  two tbsp. coarse ground coffee per cup, fill pot with water and place on hot coals.  Bring to a boil for two or three minutes, and remove from direct heat.  Allow to steep a few minutes, add a couple tbsp cold water to settle grounds, serve.  UMMMM  (that's Bill Bush next to Jay who volunteered as second to Jay for breakfast, checking out the fresh coffee...)

Menu for the morning:  Coffee, bacon, fresh sausage, and biscuits and gravy...

 Checking out the biscuits for doneness...

Using the stick to beat away the crowds..... LOL!  Just kidding!  Not sure what the stick is for, but it's a good photo...

Breakfast line!  Great way to start the morning....

 Thanks, Jay!  You were a hit!

And morning Cowboy chef greets evening Cowboy chef over the fence... Jay Jones, and Steve Sweeney, two great men who gave their time and talent to bless our warrior families...

Thanks, yall!

Sweeney & Jerry

When you relocate your life to a new place, one of the most difficult things to leave behind is your friends. You know, the ones that you can count on for just about anything - like the time I volunteered for a Room Makeover in our previous town and I knew who would immediately give their time and talents to be a part of blessing someone.

Or the time when we decided to form a Mardi Gras Krewe  and, you guessed it, you just KNOW who is going to pitch in to help make it happen.

That's the kind of neighborly friends I'm talking about here...  you know the ones... when you say "I'm going to..." they say "count me in!".  Well, that's Sweeney. And that's Jerry.

And here's Sweeney, doin what Sweeney does. He cooks.  Actually, he COOKS, on the Texas size scale. 

When I met Sweeney, we were serving on the Stonewall Texas Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.  (He is third generation on the Board). And he is a doer.  Not afraid of a little challenge, like feeding a few hundred folks for breakfast...

Happened to see a photo on Facebook recently of Sweeney fixin' a BBQ for a couple hundred folks, and I commented I was doing a Warrior weekend - he fired back immediately to count him in.

Dang good thing too- mighta missed this!

And here's Jerry. (and Donna, Sweeney's sweetheart of a wife.)

When I met Jerry, I actually met Joni, his wife.  She, too, is on the Board of Directors for the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce.  Because she's sweet and smart and giving and helpful. And she's, well, Joni.  And she's married to Jerry, who is wonderful too.  And he can COOK!

We contributed our four cabins.  We were already here, working on our place to get ready, and planning the event.  Sweeney and Jerry, on the other hand, immediately began working, and came from "over there."  

Sweeney has rings to make coals for the fire pits.  He brought truckloads of wood.  A SERIOUS Cowboy Chef, he has pits in assorted sizes.  Each do different things.

Like this big one... and the little one on the far left.  And a couple of sizes in between (see metal boxes in above photos).  They brought it all to here.  And worked. And helped. And GAVE.

That's the thing: they gave.  Their time, their commitment to our convalescing warriors through food and fun, sharing and cooking, they GAVE.  

 

I wanna be on their team any time.

Here's the result of their efforts:

Better yet,  here's the payoff: 

It's still America. We Do support our troops.  Nice people live in America.  Like Sweeney, and like Jerry. 

PS- and our Warriors asked when the cookbooks were coming out!

The End. God Bless America.

Warrior Weekend Part 2 - The Skeet Shoot

Need to say I've never shot a skeet.  Or a clay pigeon, or whatever those little crunchy disks are.  Never really knew what a Skeet Shoot was until a friend had one.  I went.  I saw.  I would love to have had the courage to try - but not with 50 other good shots present!

So, when a Volunteer offered to set a skeet shoot up on the property for our Warrior weekend, well, it's the Hill Country!  How could I not?

The photo above is a necessary item.  It hurls the clay pigeons into the air, for any willing body to shoot.

This is Mike Tally.  He is the skeet-shooting instructor.  Thank Goodness, because every man, woman, and child present for the Warrior Weekend chose to learn to shoot skeet.  Turns out, nobody in the group had ever done so.  Shoot an AK whatever, sure.  But not a skeet... I mean, clay pigeon...

Mike did good.  Really good. Everyone had a blast.  oops...

Some of us watched.  In the shade.  With earplugs.

It was a great afternoon.  A real hit. (oops again).  For a first time here at the ranch, it went extremely well. Mike did good.  (Did I say that already?)  We had proper use of a firearm instruction, earplugs, signed waivers, and a pellet gun for the kiddies...

It was awesome.

And no one went hungry, either.  Many pigeons were shot.  None were eaten.  We had a Cowboy barbeque waitin' in the wings... (oops again)

Warrior Weekend June 2011 - The Beginning....

Planning any event, no matter how small, turns out to be work........
And after months of government calls, information leading to other information, and paperwork, we were approved to host convalescing warriors at our Tonkawaya Ranch B&B.

Setting up -  a week long process.... up and down the hill with every imaginable extra tool, electrical device, object for seating, and (really!) including the KITCHEN SINK!  Joe worked with a pick axe for four days in the hard ground, sans rain for months, burying water lines...

 Day of -  antsy with anticipation - how many would come?  Would families show up?  What would they think?  Keeping busy with set-up and details...
We had a great number of people volunteer their talents to make this event what it turned out to be - amazing!

Lesson #1 - learned a long time ago, don't ever turn away anyone who volunteers to help.  And lesson #2 - allow the talented to "flow" in their talents without micromanaging... there's enough to be done for everybody to be in charge of something....

So, at 2:00 (check-in time) we were all at our posts, standing and waiting. And waiting, and waiting, and wondering, and by 5:00 maybe some were imbibing... and cooking, and wondering.... "no one here but us chickens" ....

I had to laugh when the first group rolled in and parked... volunteers outnumbered Warriors by 20 to 1!  It worked out well.  Our first couple was assigned the Honeymoon Cabin.  Found out later they were celebrating an anniversary (which was June 2), and his birthday - June 5.  Funny how things work out perfectly. Second couple showed shortly thereafter - here to spend an early anniversary together, as he was being deployed back to Afghanistan, prior to June 24, their First anniversary....

Volunteers brought out a full size walk in cooler - good for two things: first, kept all the food the whole weekend, andsecond, a good place to run inside an cool off in the heat!

 Families trickled in - and the food came off the grill, the entertainment and music showed up, and the weekend was ON... nothing like the smell of good food, crickets chirping, rockers on the porch, and views for 30 miles to settle everybody in and create a relaxing atomosphere...

Some of the best fajitas I ever ate!  Thanks to Jerry Biesenbach and wife/sous chef Joni and friends...  Fajitas, beans, salad, Mexican cake, queso with chips, and Banana Pudding.  Of anything that could fail, I had an electric ice cream maker going, and going, and going, and going, and going.... forgot to watch it, looked like cream sauce after three hours- didn't matter... we all had so much good food and good company we all forgot about it anyway.. (Whew!)

Mike Blakely, Texas based entertainer, came out to play for the Warrior families,

sang some original songs, visited with the warriors, played a few of their favorites.  Thank Goodness he brought CD's!  Signed a few autographs and stayed to visit awhile.

     Phil Bob Borman, true cowboy, artist, sculptor, storyteller, and Cowboy Preacher joined in with tales of his travels and played a little music, too.

And as the day waned, the moon rose, and folks leaned back in their chairs to gaze at the stars, we all pronounced it a good day.

Job Well Done.