SEAN HANNITY'S FREEDOM CONCERT

This last week was an eventful one. On Sunday night my Mom and Jack (step dad) took Ed and I to see the Freedom Concert that benefits fallen soldiers' children by raising money for their college tuitions. The tickets were all sold out when my Mom checked into getting them, so she entered a drawing for free tickets and actually won! It was only for 2 tickets, so Mom asked if she could have 2 more for us and they said yes.

It was a great experience. We like Hannity, and he and Oliver North both spoke of American freedoms and the other things that have been going on in our government. And there was some great entertainment too. First was Lee Greenwood, who sang several songs topping it off with his famous one "God Bless the USA". Everyone stood for the whole song, singing and waving flags. I had a hard time singing because I was so choked up with emotion. (that probably was a good thing!) Then Rich Little came on and did some great impersonations. He did John Wayne, Jack Nickolson, Ronald Reagan and Johnny Carson being Carmak. After that a singer I had never heard of came on. His name is Michael W. Smith. He is a christian contemporary singer. And has 22 albums released. He was awesome. He also sang several songs and came out for an encore. Then actor Jon Voight came out. He's one of the few actors who's not a liberal and not afraid to say so. He gave a very inspiring speech. Next was Charlie Daniels and his band. They played like there was no tomorrow. When he did "Devil went down to Georgia" Sean Hannity did the singing and it was alot of fun. Then Oliver North came on and talked about the Freedom Alliance and what it does for military families. He brought out some college kids that parents had died or been badly wounded and they told about their college grades and opportunities. At the end was Billy Ray Cyrus who also did several songs too. The last one was "Achy Breaky Heart" and Hannity sang with him. All in all it was a very patriotic night-one that reminded us not to take our freedoms lightly.

Then the next morning my Mom and Jack picked me up at 3:45 am and we went to Cliff Castle Casino. It was and hour and half drive north of here. Ed gave me some gambling money and I had a really good time. Jack and I ate breakfast and did some bowling . My mom's favorite keno machine was gone, so she played a different one, but was not happy. I took home $50 and was excited about that. When I got home I found out our air conditioner was broke. Not good, it was over 100 degrees. Thank God we extended our home owner warranty another year. They came out this morning and it was a coolant leak. We only pay $49 for a service fee, so that took care of my winnings! Oh well, All's well that ends well! And that's it. We miss all of you out there, bye for now, Vicki and Ed

OUR NEW BEST FRIEND IS GONE

We had Bentley for a year and a half. He was Ed's mom's dog and she couldn't care for him, so we did. We had walks every morning and night (until it got too hot), we discovered he had an obsession for squeaky toys (he never had one before) and he liked to lay on your feet or as close as he could to you. He never begged or barked and he always made sure he had one of us in his sights. In our minds he was the best dog ever.

Last month he developed pneumonia and we discovered he had an enlarged heart. Being sick accelerated it and his heart was pushing on his trachea so he was always coughing and had a very hard time breathing. His heart also made liquids in his abdominal cavity and he felt full, so he never ate and went from 13 pounds to 10 in just a few weeks. We had to make the decision to put him to sleep. I don't think we ever had a more difficult one. So he's in doggie heaven now, and there's a big hole in our hearts. We miss him a lot. Ed and Vicki