My brother was also born in Georgia and he was 6 when we moved to Texas. Being so little, he didn't really seem to have the same objections that I did to moving. He took right to Texas and to this day claims to be a Texan, he refuses to claim any roots in Georgia. :)



Josiah went through the usual little boy stage of life of hating girls. However, when he came out of that stage he came out of it with a vengeance. There was one point where he was chasing every female in the youth group. B believe there was only one or two (literally) girls besides me whom he didn't ask to be his girlfriend. Even the girls who were years older than him. :)



Josiah was homeschooled through 10th grade at which point he started attending Hilltop Christian Academy full-time. However, he played basketball there starting in junior high and then also played basketball and football through high school, and he was actually pretty good, especially at basketball. His height gave him an added advantage. He got good grades in school, too, but he was never really happy with being at Hilltop, for his own reasons which I won't go into. In 2004, he went through American Academy, a correspondance course, and got his high school diploma early so that he could go ahead and join the Army.



Coach David Mixon is probably one of the most beloved and admired coaches in the history of Hilltop. He coached my brother through basketball and football and he also was my coach one year for basketball. I think that one of the reasons why my brother admired Coach so much is because Coach was a US Army Ranger Sniper in Vietnam. Coach was one of the few people and authority figures for whom Josiah had much true respect and admiration. Coach was not a pushover by any means but he was always there for his students and athletes and we all knew that he truly and genuinely loved each and every one of us. I believe that Josiah would have followed him off a cliff, and that's very understandable because I would too. Coach was one of the main reasons why Josiah stayed at Hilltop as long as he did. We both adored Coach and will until we die.

   

Ever since he was little he's wanted to be part of the military. He would often go back and forth between whether or not he wanted to be in the Army as a Green Beret or the Navy as a SEAL. Finally, in September 2004 he decided to enlist in the Army and went to Ft. Benning to be trained as an 11B (Infantry). From Ft. Benning he was sent to Ft. Hood where he's part of the 4th Infantry Division. In November 2005 he deployed with 4th ID and is now serving over in Iraq. I am very proud of him and I pray every day that God will bring him home safely.

This is something Dad wrote in an email about why Josiah enlisted in the Army...

"Josiah enlisted for a variety of reasons, but among
them is the fact that he is willing to fight for [your]
freedom...
 
And for the freedom of those in other countries as well.
He had long planned to go into the navy and try for
the SEALs.  But because of the war in Afghanistan and
Iraq, he switched to the Army, to go and fight for freedom,
knowing full well that he was likely to be sent there. 
Hoping and planning on it, in fact.
.... 
But I'm not sorry that he's doing what he wants to
do, doing something he thinks is right, doing something to
help people, that he's willing to die for something, or that he
happens to be doing those things in Iraq."
-Quote courtesy of Miles O'Neal

Did I mention that I'm proud of my brother? Perhaps I should say that our whole family is proud of my brother, we're proud of what he does, we're proud of the fact that he's serving, and we'll back him up on that any day to anyone.



Poquan was Josiah's dog. She was mostly black lab but had a little something extra thrown in there (we're not really sure what). She and I shared the same birthday (June 4) although she was quite a few years younger than I am.... However, on our birthday in 2004 she had to be put to sleep. She had chronic kidney failure and was suffering so we put her out of her misery. RIP, Poquan.