June 21, 2005
-
Another Hero in my Life
Shannon, we call her “Shane”, is our youngest daughter. At eighteen……she is full of spirit, kindness and love. She has always been “Daddy’s Girl”, very independent, headstrong, and stubborn…..well, those are the traits she get’s from me. She also has an incredibly kind heart…which she got from her mother. Last year she got a job at McDonald’s and had a friend that was seventeen that really had a tough home life. Shannon helped her get a job. Her friends mother and step father refused to help her or even give her a ride to or from work, and so Shane volunteerd to be her ride even thought they did not always even work the same shifts. I was proud as all get out that she would be so kind. 
PIC Right: Shane at her Senior Year Band Banquet, 2005
Two years ago she announced that she wanted to go into the Air Force upon graduation from High School. This is a decision that she made on her own (it was a surprise to us) and I must say, she has stuck to her guns. Last year for months she woke me up 2-3 times a week at 4:30 am just to go running and exercising with her so she could get in shape. While Kelly and I will both be sad to see her leave on September 13th this year, we are incredibly proud of her decision to serve her country. The one thing that I told her that she had to remember was a question that she is to ask any male friend that she meets before accepting a date….”Are you from Florida?”. If the answer is yes, then she can go out with him, if the answer is no….well the answer is no…sorry. You see, She is going to make some man very happy some day and when she does, I want her back home with us so we can see our grand kids!
Shannon’s sense of adventure, her kindness and her spirit make her my hero! God has blessed us with two wonderful children that are loving, talented and kind. Shane plays the flute, the picolo, loves kids, country music, and like her old man……COFFEE! One of our favorite things is to go to Starbucks for a Mocha Frappucino with an extra shot of expresso!
Comments (4)
Thanks for sharing, Jan. I do have to take exception to one thing though… The kind heart is definitely the result of the union of two of the kindest hearts i know — your’s and Kelly’s. You guys are truly amazing.
God bless you all.
Jan,
Talked to Dan and he told us what a great time he had visiting your church. Jim and I would love to get up there sometime in the next couple of weeks…we’ll see how it goes.
I don’t know if you knew this, but my husband, Jim, retired from the Air Force in 2003 after 21 years of service. When he was ready to retire, he felt that the only thing he could do that would be more fulfilling than what he did in the AF (he took care of people in the squadrons in a kind of human resource capacity) would be to serve in ministry (he’s currently an Asbury student).
I joined him on the adventure with the Air Force after he’d already served for almost 10 years–and we’re from the same home town (known each other since we were teens). It was a great experience for both of us; Jim learned so much about leadership and so did I. I had the privilege of working for the Air Force for a few years in a civilian position before relocating to Florida.
I have to tell you that the AF really cares about its people–they are very focused on quality-of-life issues and do their best to not only take care of the active duty folks, but their families as well. I was always very impressed by the attention given to taking care of people.
I will keep your family in prayer as Shane embarks on this new adventure. We’d love to hear about where she gets stationed…it may be some place we’ve been. Best to you and your family.
We would love to have you visit LifePoint. I am blessed to attend a church full of people that so passionately love the Lord.
I retired from the Army in 1997 and like Dan felt called (April 2003) into the ministry. When God calls….we can only obey I’m happy to hear all the good things about the Air Force. Shane is the first of our children to leave the nest and I am confident that she will be taken care of while she is growing in independence. I am sure you will be hearing in my blog about her as she gets about.
By the way, I enjoy your “blog throught the Bible”