Heather Hodges

A very thoughtful couple at Garnett gave our sons a tire swing yesterday. Wade held the ladder while I climbed the tree to attach the rope to a branch that we thought would hold two rambunctious boys. We did not tell them what was in store for them as we called them outside to see the new surprise. As soon as Caleb saw it he exclaimed, “Is it for swinging or spinning?” Elijah hugged Wade around the leg and said, “You’re the best Daddy ever!” I was standing there thinking, “Wait a minute, I’m the one who put her life in danger to climb the tree.” We were a picturesque family. Wade grilled steaks, the boys were swinging and spinning and I went back inside to finish dinner. I heard spurts of laughter coupled with “Faster, Daddy faster!” I ran to get the video camera to capture the moment. I arrived outside just in time to see two wobbly boys stumbling towards me. Caleb had just enough time to say, “Daddy made us sea sick” before he and his brother were both violently sick. Way to go Dad. Perhaps the new tire should be for swinging not spinning.

During this weekend as we are remembering our fallen heroes, I want to tell you about my own fallen hero. His name was Paul Heflin, my grandpa. He married grandma, Ola Mae Gorman, 70 years ago while our country was recovering from the Great Depression. They struggled to make ends meet for many years, then in 1945 he was drafted into the US Army to fight in Europe leaving behind a wife and three small children. Many of you have seen the mini series, Band of Brothers. That movie has special significance for my family. Easy Company from Band of Brothers defended and fought in Hertigen Forest in the Battle of the Bulge. My grandpa was also there at that same battle. He was wounded but survived WWII and received the Purple Heart and was decorated with the Bronze Star for bravery. He returned home to his family in Texas where he made a living driving trucks for Safe Way. My grandma has been a Christian for many, many years and faithfully serves the Lord. A little over 10 years ago grandpa gave his life to Christ and was baptized; this was a significant event for our whole family. On February 14, 2006, after months of illness and struggle, he was buried with military honors at Heflin Cemetery in May, Texas. “The Greatest Generation” lost one of it’s best and brightest that day.

Several years ago, my dad along with my brothers and cousins took him to see the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC. I painted this for my Grandma last summer and it now hangs in her apartment in Abilene, Texas.

As you are packing the campers and coolers for your trip to the lake this weekend, please take a moment to remember why we have the Memorial Day holiday weekend. It was officially proclaimed as Decoration Day on May 5th by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on May 3o 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). Many Americans use the day to remember their loved ones who have passed on, but it was originally meant to honor the men and women who have died while defending our country. At 3:00 on Monday, May 28, pause for a moment to remember those who have died protecting our freedom.

In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

There is a Mediterranean food restaurant across the street from the Garnett church building called Shish-Kabobs. I have enjoyed their gyros, lamb musaka and hospitality for the last several years. I did not know until a few days ago that it is owned by a man from Iran, named Fred. Meeting him this week brought back memories of when my family lived in Isfahan, Iran in the mid 1970s.

Picture #1 my family in front of the Azadi Tower (Freedom Tower) in Tehran that was built by the Shah in 1971 to celebrate 2,500 years of the Persian Empire. It was previously called the Shahyad Tower (meaning “Remembrance of the Shahs” (Kings) but was renamed in 1979 after the revolution.)

Picture #2 Heflin and Navaie families on a picnic. The scruffy-headed blond girl in the front is me. The Navaies lived down the street from us in Isfahan and were our adoptive Iranian family.

Picture #3 my brothers, Heath and Houston, and me on a monument at Persepolis. No, I don’t know where my pants were. Persepolis was the capital of the second Persian dynasty and was began during the reign of Darius the Great. The ruins were excavated in the 1930s.

World Wide Youth Camps  is a missions focused organization that aims to “Plant the seed of Christ in the hearts of children of every tongue, tribe, and nation.” This organization was invited to work in the Pioneer Youth Camps in Ukraine in the early 90s. These camps were set up by Lenin and Stalin to indoctrinate the children of the Soviet Union with communist beliefs. Today the camps are a place for children to make friends, play games, make arts and crafts, and most importantly to hear about Jesus and to be loved unconditionally.

American missionaries travel to the camps where they team up with Ukrainian and Russian mentors to work with the orphans of these countries. The Americans stay for at least 2 weeks teaching and ministering to the children. The in-country mentors commit to serving for one year with the orphans. This past weekend while I was in Atlanta, I heard story after story of how God has used World Wide Youth Camps to impact the lives of children in Ukraine and Russia. The seeds that were planted 10 years ago are coming to maturity while new seeds are being planted every year.

I am so honored to have been asked to travel to Kiev this summer to debrief the missionaries who will be working with the orphans. My dear ACU friends, Rob and Traci Browne and their children, have served in Russia for the past 10 years. (However, Traci will not be able to travel this summer since she is soon to deliver their fourth child.) Their love for the children in Ukraine and Russia has inspired many others to exit their comfort zones, travel for 2 days on uncertain airlines, learn a new language, and eat unusual foods in order to share the love of Christ with orphans.

“But before people can ask the Lord for help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in him, they must hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them; and before someone can go and tell them, that person must be sent.” - Romans 10:14-15

I am in Atlanta for the debriefing training for a mission trip to Ukraine this summer with World Wide Youth Camps. I am blessed to be the guest of Nancy Browne, the mother of Rob and Phil Browne and the “Nan” of 6, soon to be 8, grandchildren. She has opened her home to the four women who are participating in the training. I can’t recall a time when I have felt more welcomed and nurtured by a woman who was a complete stranger less than 12 hours ago.

Upon arriving at her home I was greeted by the sight of rose bushes and pine trees. Her home is nestled among enormous trees at the end of a short circle driveway. The sunlight was pouring through the canopy of leaves onto the cottage as if to say, “Here it is, you are home.” Elizabeth Bennett could not have said it more perfectly when she said of Mr. Darcy’s home, “I’ve never seen a place more happily situated.”

Inside the cottage was even more charming. Nancy has chosen rose wall paper, lace, antiques, and china tea servings to decorate her home. I immediately sensed that this was a place of peace, not just because of the exquisite surroundings, but because the presence of the Lord was near. I felt like whispering and giggling simultaneously.

We will spend tomorrow in preparation and training for the work in Ukraine, and I will return to Tulsa in the evening. I feel blessed to spend one more day surrounded by Christian women and roses. Thank you Nancy for teaching me the meaning of hospitality and for sharing your home and your faith with me.

At the Garnett Bilingual Preschool (www.garnettbilingualpreschool.com) we enroll students who speak either Spanish or English and put them in a classroom together with a bilingual teacher. Our school is a dual immersion program in which the kids hear not only 50% of each language every day but rather 100% of both. When a teacher gives an instruction in one language, she will then repeat what she just said in the other language. For example a teacher might say, “Let’s all sit down to hear a story.” She would then say in Spanish “Vamos a sentarnos para leer un cuento. ”

It has been an incredible experience for my own son, Elijah, who is in his second year of preschool. He has soaked up the language adventure and made friends across cultural and language lines. He and his best friends alternate between Spanish and English while they play. They will interject a Spanish word in an English sentence if they are not sure of the English word and never skip a beat. At home he sings in Spanish and will make comments like, “Look, the grass is verde and the perro is blanco.”

I have spoken with some concerned parents who are worried that teaching their child a second language will confuse them. Research absolutely refutes this. Children who learn a second (or third or fourth) language in early childhood will read sooner than monolingual children, score higher on standardized tests (ACT/SAT), are creative problem solvers, perform better in math and logic, and are more culturally sensitive. Some parents are concerned that the vocabulary of their bilingual child is delayed. In reality if you will count and add the words a bilingual child knows in each language it will usually be greater than a monolingual child’s.

Language acquisition is a fascinating subject and one that requires more study and conversation. I have the opportunity this summer to go to Europe to visit a childhood friend who speaks at least 5 languages. She is from Spain and we met in Paris in 1986. After university she moved to Germany where she met and married a Polish man. She now has 4 children. On a daily basis the children hear four languages in the home, English, Spanish, Polish, and German. Fortunately for me, all of her children are fluent in English.

This blog is a medium for me, and those of you who have chosen to join me on this quest, to find out “how it all fits together”. We are all walking, dreaming, planning, aspiring, regretting, loving, working, praying, learning, teaching, and hoping. Everything we do is connected with the world around us and those with whom we share our world. I am a mother, wife, preschool director, professor, artist, and minister’s wife. In Uganda, a woman named Ida, is a mother, wife, preschool director, teacher, artist, and minister. She and I are not only connected by our life experiences but by our faith. I cannot extract or separate my love of tennis, art, family, or even shellfish from who I am in Christ. Please join me as we walk together and explore the nuances of living a life completed connected with each other and our Lord. “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord.” Col 3:17.