The man behind the Freedom Rock project found even more respect for the soldiers he honors this summer.Watch this storyRay "Bubba" Sorensen has made headlines for years first with painting of the Freedom Rock and now painting rock memorials in counties around Iowa -- all to honor veterans."For him to be able to have this talent and share it in this special way is just really wonderful," said Pat Eberly of Clarinda.Sorensen started painting the Freedom Rock every year, 15 years ago."Maybe kids going by the rock, maybe they'd ask their parents about it. Maybe they'd learn something about it," Sorensen told 糖心vlog in 2004.That interview was before 9/11 and before Iowans convinced Sorensen to create other Freedom Rocks around the state like in Earling, Diagonal, Bondurant, Corning and more. Eventually, he wants a Freedom Rock in all 99 counties."You know my three goals in starting the tour were thanking our veterans, promoting Iowa tourism and feeding my family," said Sorensen.He has been on the road all summer working to add a new county every couple of weeks, but on the Fourth of July that all changed when his 3-year-old daughter, Independence, had a seizure."I looked at her face and her eyes were just darting to the left and her left side was just shaking," said Maria Sorensen, Ray's wife."She ended up having an hour-long seizure, which Mayo diagnosed as complex fibril seizure," said Ray Sorensen.Bubba was working on the road and his wife was nine months pregnant."She had the seizure, five days later he was born," said Maria Sorensen of her son."It's kind of been extreme highs, extreme lows -- I'm gone, Maria's watching both the kids," said Ray Sorensen.Between his weeklong work stretches in Knoxville and Clarinda, Ray Sorensen said, "We've been to Mercy and then up to Mayo."Trying to make sure Indy's seizures don't return, he's just 21 rocks into the 99-county marathon, which he can only work on when the weather cooperates."I desperately try to focus on what I'm doing here. But as soon as the phone rings, 99 percent of the time, it's Maria and so I'm ripped back out of what I'm doing," said Ray Sorensen.If they had a family-sized RV, they could travel the state together, but for now Maria focuses on their kids while Bubba's bouncing from town to town for work. He said he knows a lot of families have have it so much harder."There are guys that if they ran into problems or if their daughter had a seizure, I mean, I can't imagine how suffocating it would feel being in Iraq, in a war zone and then having to get your head back to go out and serve your country and protect the guys you're around, knowing there are family problems back home," said Ray Sorensen."I think 'How are these women doing this?' You know, how are they going through each day without a husband and a father?" said Maria Sorensen.Every day, Iowans in uniform leave their families and pick up a weapon to honor and protect this country."I just don't want them to be forgotten, what they do," said Ray Sorensen.