A Tragic Loss

Today started out to be such a fun day for TJ and Tyra. Tyra goes to afternoon kindergarten but today got to go on the bus early with TJ because they sent the whole elementary school, K-2nd, to the highschool to watch the play "HONK!". The kids had so much fun and really enjoyed the play. Well, my little guy and I, were out doing some running around and were just going to make it home before the kids got off the bus when my friend called me. She said that the Junior High and High School kids were having a lock down. There were police at every entrance and they weren't letting anyone in or out of the school campus. The school wouldn't give any details other than there was a student missing and they were trying to find him. Well, in the mean time, they had sent all of the elementary kids to one of the other schools to switch buses. Usually they switch at the Junior High School. I was close to the school they were switching at so I ran and got them off of the bus to take them home. Otherwise, they would get home an hour later then usual, which would have been a little after 5 pm. TJ is usually soooo hungry and grumpy by the time he gets home that I figured I had better go get them. I also picked up my friends kids and brought them home too.

Well, sister-in-law's son, Trey, was text messaging her during the whole thing, and she kept us up to date the whole time. Apparently, some parents had noticed that their guns from home were missing and their son had been acting strange so they called the school and told them. I guess some students had seen the kid with a gun at school too. The school was unable to locate the kid, so they started the lock down. Eventually, they let everyone go home, but sadly they found the student dead just off of the High School grounds. He had shot himself. I feel sooooooo terribly bad for his parents. I can't imagine going through something like that. The only thing that was good that came from this, is that he didn't hurt anyone else before he shot himself. You know, everyone from small communities like this one, think that things like this will never happen around here. I know I did. But in this day and age, it is almost inevitable to have something like this eventually happen. This is one of the main reasons that I absolutely HATE guns.

Tommy loves to hunt. In fact, my dad is the one who got him into it. GRRR! But thank goodness he is safe with his guns. He doesn't even keep them in our house. I am not sure if TJ will ever want to hunt. He is an animal lover like me. Unless we are starving and need the food, I have a hard time feeling okay about killing a living thing just for the sport. Tommy did get an elk one year, with a bow and arrow, and we did have a lot of meat for quite some time. Although, I don't like it, I really am glad that Tommy has the skills to do so, in case we were ever in a situation that we had too. Anyway, today was a very sad day. I had a really hard time trying to quit thinking about what happened.

One of the things that I want so badly to teach my children is the value of life. We only get ONE chance here to prove ourselves. I want to make it worth it and I hope they will too. This morning I told Tyra that I love my life. She asked why and I said, "Because you are in it!" She then said that she loved life too.... because I was in it. How sweet is she? I hope I can teach them to love life, even through all of their ups and downs, by my example, if by nothing else. Please pray for this family who has lost their child.I guess we will see.«click here to read the rest of this post»