Happy 2010!

To all my dear classmates - I want to wish each one of you a prosperous and wonderful New Year!

The Reason For The Season

I will be leaving soon to go and visit my daughter and her family for Christmas in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I want to take this opportunity to wish all my dear classmates and blogging friends a Blessed Christmas and a Peaceful New Year! Marian

The attached link is a beautiful story of the origin of the "candy cane" which is such a part of almost every one's Christmas. It's a wonderful story to watch with the kids or grand kids as it beautifully explains "The Reason for the Season."

Christmas Song by Tennessee Ernie Ford

This is priceless...watch the little boy next to Ernie Ford (speakers needed). Ernie Ford could barely keep from laughing...Enjoy

A Little Christmas Song For You!

Click Here - Santa and Reindeer

Health Reform Bill

Dear Classmates and Friends,

I'm bad! I heard Nelson amendment and assumed it was Bill Nelson of Florida. The Pro-Life amendment was offered by Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Joining Nelson in sponsoring the amendment was another anti-abortion Democrat, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. This will force Reid to troll Maine's senators Snow and Collins to get the 60 votes for cloture. Contact these senators and ask respectfully that they support the Pro-Life amendment. Susan Collins is a Catholic who has voted against a Pro-Life amendment before. In Jan of this year she voted against an amendment which would have reinstated the Mexico City Policy which would have insured that no U.S. tax dollars would fund abortions in any other countries. Contact Claire McCaskill who is a Catholic senator from Missouri asking her to support the Pro-Life amendment. We have to fish or cut bait. Are we Catholic or not???

Ed

Health Reform Bill

My Dear Classmates and Friends,

This is the day and this is the week and this is the time to contact your Senators and Representatives to voice your opposition to the Federal funding of abortion in this health care bill. The language must be specific and included within the bill. Remember the words of Pope John Paul II in "Evangelium Vitae." My Senator from Florida, Bill Nelson, is submitting the amendment. Write him an e-mail supporting his effort. God Bless.

Ed

Why Email Was Invented!

Message from Ed Habert

Dear Friends,

I hope and trust that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a lot of wonderful food with your family all the while remembering why we have this great country and all of the folks who sacrificed for us. Judy comes oust of retirement once a year to cook on Thanksgiving. She is still a great cook. I cook all the meals otherwise and having been doing that for about 15 years. I love it. We spent the holiday in St. Louis this year with two of our families and six of our grandchildren. We never fail to catch some crud from them to bring back to Destin with us. The joy of our family always reminds me of the terrible carnage of abortion- 50,000,000 of them. I have two grandchildren today who wouldn't be here if it were not for their parents who stepped up to their responsibility fifteen years ago. God bless them. My 18 y/o Purdue freshman loves to out her parents by reminding folks how long they have been married and how old she is. She was a two year old flower girl at her parents wedding. That was a tough sell at that time to an older conservative pastor. Monsignor doesn't really like it when I tell him what a great job he did. They are still married.

I hope that all of you will go online and become familiar with the "MANHATTAN DECLARATION" and Fr. Pavone's web site "Priest's for Life." I couldn't believe it. I sent you my e-mail and the next day this document surfaces on the web. We are Christian or we are not. Get on board. Have a great holiday season and keep the faith.

Ed

In Memory of Kyle Coleson

Kyle Coleson, a Vicksburg teen remembered by friends and family as someone who persevered through challenges with humor and compassion, died Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009, at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson. He was 19.

Kyle was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia about 14 months ago. In recent weeks he had suffered complications including an infection, fluid in his lungs and kidney damage leading to heart failure, said his mother, Lisa Coleson, who along with other family members was at Kyle’s side when he died.

Kyle was a strong person who enabled others around him to be strong, she said. “He was a fighter. He fought so hard. He never wanted anybody else to feel bad.”

“He was a better person than I could ever be,” said his father, Mark Coleson. “He was in so much pain and he would try to make everybody else feel better.”

Since Oct. 28, Kyle had been heavily sedated and needed a ventilator to breathe. “The day before they put him under he was hurting so bad, but he was more worried about the nurses feeling bad,” Mark Coleson said. “So he was telling them jokes.”

Kyle attended St. Aloysius High School until his junior year in 2008, when he enrolled briefly at Vicksburg High School. He had always been healthy, his mother said, but about a month after school started he began to feel like his bones were hurting, and she noticed that he seemed to bruise easily.

Doctors ordered blood tests, which revealed the blood-borne cancer. He withdrew from VHS and began treatment. Apart from one bout of serious complications that required at least a month in intensive care in March, Kyle’s health had improved enough for him to enroll again at St. Al this fall.“He’d had a good summer,” said family friend Patty Mekus.

He’d been able to take a trip to the Gulf Coast with his mother and brother. In the fall he was so happy to be back at St. Al, said Mekus, who is development director for Vicksburg Catholic Schools. “He loved the school and the people at the school, and they loved him.”

“Kyle was very much a part of our family here at St. Al and he will be greatly missed,” said Principal Michele Townsend. She said students were coping well today with the news of his death.

Many St. Al students, learning of Kyle’s illness, participated in fundraisers for the family, including selling “Prayers for Kyle” bracelets throughout the city and organizing a benefit concert in June. When Kyle had to be hospitalized again this fall, St. Al’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes held a candlelight vigil.

Kay Kay DeRossette, student body president, said Kyle’s illness brought the school together, like a family. “People who didn’t even know him were moved by his attitude during his whole illness,” she said. “He was still smiling, even after the diagnosis. He was never worried or afraid.”

At St. Al, Kyle played first base and designated hitter on the baseball team and a variety of positions on the football team, said senior classmate Ryno Martin-Nez, also a St. Al athlete.

“One thing all the people who played sports with him knew was that he was the biggest fighter,” Ryno said. Through even the toughest running and conditioning drills “he never gave up. He never complained about running, ever.” He also joked around and liked to “mess with people,” Ryno said. “He was real funny.”

That kind of spirit served him well when he became ill, said junior Victoria Mekus, 17. “I don’t remember him ever being mad,” she said. “He always had a smile.”

When St. Al’s mascot, “The Flash,” became a finalist in a statewide competition staged by WJTV and Zaxby’s chicken restaurants, Kyle “hounded the nurses” at Batson to go online and vote for him. The Flash won the top prize. “He was so proud to be a part of the team,” Patty Mekus said.

Lisa Coleson stressed how grateful she and the family are to everyone who prayed for Kyle and helped the family throughout his illness. “I appreciate so much all the love that people showed us.”

In addition to his mother and father, Kyle is survived by a brother, Cody, 15, a freshman at Vicksburg High School; his maternal grandparents, Jack and Estelle Jordan of Yokena; his paternal grandfather, Jesse Douglas Coleson and his wife, Carol; his great-grandmother, Hazel Coleson; three uncles; two aunts; and 10 cousins. He was predeceased by a grandmother, Mary Sullivan Brooks.

Riles Funeral Home will direct services. Visitation will be Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Bowmar Baptist Church, and the funeral at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the church. Burial will follow at Green Acres Memorial Park. Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com