Our hometown/ The true heros

I haven't posted anything about the Carthage Nursing Home shootings yet, b/c I have been trying to figure out how and what I wanted to say. I am sure everyone by now has heard about the man who walked into the Pinelake Rehabilitation Center Sunday morning, killing 8 and injuring 3 more. Thank you to the ones of you who have emailed us to say you are praying for our town. This whole situation is pretty unbelievable, especially since we literally live less than a mile from this nursing home and all 5,000 (obvious exaggeration, wink) police, ambulances, and firemen flew by our house Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church.

Though everyone that we knew of in the nursing home is safe, my heart is still extremely heavy for the victims family, our town, and the sense of security that was stripped from the residents and staff at the home that day. This was a senseless act of violence that has really shaken our town.

Every press conference that our chief of police and DA have conducted, they have both seemed nervous, unrehearsed, and at a loss for words (little town dealing with big town issues). We know a lot of our friends don't understand why we live here, but that is exactly the reason we do. I am thankful that I live in a town where our chief of police is at a loss for words over something like this, b/c things like that don't happen here. I would much rather live here where this is a tragedy vs. the desensitized norm. As funny as they may sound and look dealing with big time issues, I am actually pretty proud of our small town law enforcement.

I really wrote this post though, to say I believe the true heroes in this situation were the nursing home staff. I haven't heard one word on the news about the staff members who were getting residents in rooms, bathrooms, and out of hallways. Yes, Justin Garner, the policeman who shot Robert Stewart, is definitely a hero. What about all the staff risking their lives to secure these defenseless residents though? The one staff member who was killed was actually running back and forth between the main building and the locked down Alzheimer's hall to secure as many residents as he could. On one of his trips back to get more people, Robert Stewart killed him. These are the people we need to be touting as heroes.

Not to sensationalize anything, but please do remember our little town, especially the ones who have lived here their whole life.