Nick Bloem & The Marines of Lima Company

Last night I tuned in to a documentary on the A&E channel featuring the Marine company that my cousin was serving with when he was killed in action last August. Sure enough, with only about 20 min. left in the show, there was Nicolas on home video footage, surrounded by his Marine buddies, trying to scarf down 15 pizzas. My heart jumped as I sat up to see the story unfold of how the amphibious vehicle that he was in was destroyed by a roadside bomb blast so huge it actually flipped the 30 ton vehicle over. When they cut to a slow motion shot of Nicolas munching on pizza with his friends, that's when the tears began to flow.

Please continue to pray for Nick's family in Montana, where his twin brother, Alcedes and 7 younger sisters live with their awesome parents, Al and Debbie. The oldest, Juliana, lives with her husband and two kids in the Seattle area. They are a remarkable family that have always brought so much energy and liveliness to family holiday celebrations. Whenver I hear someone say that people are crazy to have 10 kids, I always argue, "Unless you're gifted at it, like my cousin Debbie and her husband Al. They make it look good."