Winnie the Pooh and Friends are alive and well in Valley Station, KY.  Pick out your favorite characters.  This was a real fun project for a young at heart lady that is doing this for her great grandchildren.

Sailor Phillip Bordeaux served his country in the US Navy.  He was a participant in an inter-service “Stand at Attention” competition 4 years ago.  While competing a young neighbor friend, Poppy, 3 years old at the time, returned his salute during the competition.  A newspaper photographer caught the moment on camera and it was published.  A touching story that unfortunately does not end there.

2 years later Phillip was tragically killed in a car accident while deployed in Italy.  Active Heroes heard of this story and wanted to honor Phillip and other Naval veterans with carvings of Phillip and Poppy.  It was an honor for me to have been commissioned for this project.

This last Sunday I was further honored with a visit to the site from Phillip’s Mother, Father, brothers and other family.  Poppy, her Mother and Grandmother also made the journey from North Carolina to the retreat site in Bullitt County, KY.  Meeting these people will stand out in my heart as a true God moment.  It was a heart felt day for all.  I feel truly honored and blest to have been a part of this project.

My gratitude and respect go out to all of our veterans.  I applaud Troy and Marieke Yocum for their dedication and success with Active Heroes.

It was an honor to be asked to return to Campbellsville University for the dedication ceremony for the “Praying Hands” carving. A memorable service with prayer, the presentation of a painting of the praying hands by another artist, special recognition for the donors and myself, and beautiful music was very special.

In addition I was asked to carve a Campbellsville mascot tiger and a globe from the same tree as the praying hands. The globe will be used to recognize over 40 countries that the foreign student body has represented over the years.

See the special section titled Campbellsville under carvings for more photos.