I need some, and I don't mean the kind you get from sitting in a therapists office, but I need some help from my friends. I need your inspiration. I need your trust. I need your faith. I need your hearts, and above all I need you to be accepting of me and listen to me. I don't mean that surface listening that so many of us do to each other, but really listen to the words coming out of my mouth.
I am getting ready to embark into a world that I am not sure of. I have been asked to help and offered to assist a wonderful woman with a project. Her name is Susan and she started Operation Give a Hug (http://ogah.org/). Susan, not this Susan, saw a need to help military families connect with their loved ones that are in deployed locations with these dolls that hold a picture of their mom or dad that gone. Some of the dolls can record the parent’s voice too. The Army a few years ago started helping Susan and her friends with these dolls, and so far, the Army is the only branch to really utilize this amazing resource.
Well, here’s where things get interesting: I live by one of the largest Army posts, my Army wife network of awesomeness told me about this resource, and the Air Force has asked for a few dolls here and there, but nothing serious. Last night Susan asked me to help her “cross into the blue” so to speak. She wanted to know if I could get the AF to help sponsor some of these dolls for their families. I felt as if the entire AF world was on my shoulders, and I said yes. Honestly, I can’t see why the AF would say no. So, I have emailed the Airman & Family Readiness Center (AFRC) to let them know what is going on. I want to get in touch with the Air Force Aid Society too. But now I’m wondering if I should go to someone else in the AF, another office. Send me your ideas, suggestions, thoughts, whatever. This is something that I have to do. Children don’t understand deployments and if there is something that exists that can help them get through it a little easier, then I say let’s make it happen!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
You Are Not Alone
I would like to dedicate this to some friends that are going through some tough times right now. Remember these words and read them again and again if you need to. Know that you have people that would do anything for you. I’m one of your people that would do anything for you.
Faith: firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust. Do you have faith? In yourself, in others? Do you believe in something, whatever that something is with absolution? I do. I believe in me. I believe in people, I believe in my husband, but above all I believe in our marriage.
Hope: desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment. I have hope as well. Do you? I have hope that one day my family will be together. I have hope in people and believe that they have hope as well. Hope is always ignited and burns in a person's soul.
Kindness: tender and benevolent affection. Share this, and share it often. Kindness is not something that should be bottled up and kept away. It is something that you openly give to others and to yourself. Be kind to one another. Be kind to all. Have kindness, but know that like a bird it must fly to be truly happy. A person cannot cage kindness.
Love: strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. The Beatles said that love is all you need. It really does seem to make the world go ‘round. Love, it drives people into madness, or can comfort them on long, cold, dark nights. Love is what I see when I look into my child’s face, and love is what I receive when my husband holds me close.
These are my four pillars. My “things” that make me who I am and make me get up and face each day. My Jeremy will be leaving again for places that are far away. I have friends that will be sending their husbands away too. When I got that call today from my friend who was crying; I wanted to cry with her. I’m so sorry that your husband has to deploy sooner than anticipated. I know that this is the life that we chose and you will be strong and make it through this deployment, but remember this dear friend: you are not alone. Stand up and say it out loud! “I am not alone!!!” Pre-deployment trips will be canceled and family time will seem forced and strained, but you will not be alone. You will hug him so close and pray more than ever for your husband’s safe return, but you will never be alone. When someone stops you and thanks you for his service and your sacrifice, you will smile and be polite, and in your heart you will know that you are not alone.
Hold onto these attributes, dear friend, hold onto them until you feel like they could break. Know that faith, hope, kindness, and love will never break; they will bend to your will and always be what you will need. Keep faith, hope, kindness, and love with you, and you will be fine. Remember these four words, You Are Not Alone. None of us are.
Faith: firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust. Do you have faith? In yourself, in others? Do you believe in something, whatever that something is with absolution? I do. I believe in me. I believe in people, I believe in my husband, but above all I believe in our marriage.
Hope: desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment. I have hope as well. Do you? I have hope that one day my family will be together. I have hope in people and believe that they have hope as well. Hope is always ignited and burns in a person's soul.
Kindness: tender and benevolent affection. Share this, and share it often. Kindness is not something that should be bottled up and kept away. It is something that you openly give to others and to yourself. Be kind to one another. Be kind to all. Have kindness, but know that like a bird it must fly to be truly happy. A person cannot cage kindness.
Love: strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. The Beatles said that love is all you need. It really does seem to make the world go ‘round. Love, it drives people into madness, or can comfort them on long, cold, dark nights. Love is what I see when I look into my child’s face, and love is what I receive when my husband holds me close.
These are my four pillars. My “things” that make me who I am and make me get up and face each day. My Jeremy will be leaving again for places that are far away. I have friends that will be sending their husbands away too. When I got that call today from my friend who was crying; I wanted to cry with her. I’m so sorry that your husband has to deploy sooner than anticipated. I know that this is the life that we chose and you will be strong and make it through this deployment, but remember this dear friend: you are not alone. Stand up and say it out loud! “I am not alone!!!” Pre-deployment trips will be canceled and family time will seem forced and strained, but you will not be alone. You will hug him so close and pray more than ever for your husband’s safe return, but you will never be alone. When someone stops you and thanks you for his service and your sacrifice, you will smile and be polite, and in your heart you will know that you are not alone.
Hold onto these attributes, dear friend, hold onto them until you feel like they could break. Know that faith, hope, kindness, and love will never break; they will bend to your will and always be what you will need. Keep faith, hope, kindness, and love with you, and you will be fine. Remember these four words, You Are Not Alone. None of us are.
A Little Inspiration and A Little Fire
I love it when I wake up and want to know the answers to the big questions in life. It feels good...gets the blood pumping! I'm so excited that I have to dive right in.
1. How many of you have actually read the Constitution? Where in the Constitution is the claim that the only people that protect my freedoms are the US military? Last I checked, they to help protect and defend it, but they aren't the only ones. Why can't we? I'm a citizen and I have read this document and know that the military can't do anything without legislative or executive branch approving their actions.
2. Why do people get caught up in the petty crap at church? The whole reason I don't go to church is because I don't like most people that go. They get upset about the lamest crap. To me, it's a distraction from the real message and that is love and tolerance. Aren't those the things that Jesus preached??? Last time I read the Bible, that's what he was talking about. Also, why is it that Christians pick and choose the parts of the Bible they want to follow? Let's hate homosexuals, let's try to convert people to "our" way of thinking, and let's judge everyone that doesn't follow what we want. I don't remember reading, that Jesus would damn people to hell if they didn't follow "his" way.
3. Because I'm a liberal, I viewed as some Communist freak that must want a super large gov't that will strip away our rights. Last I checked, we get our rights from the gov't. How is it that people don't know this stuff? Not because the gov't "allows" us to, but because we are all an instrument of this country and we should be proud of our differences and tolerant of each other.
It's hard to turn the other cheek and rise above. It's really hard when people won't even listen. Since some of you here are a little more on the conservative leaning side, did you know that it took GW Bush 5 years to go and see the troops he sent to Afghanistan? He didn't go and see them until 2006. Get your facts right, do some research; come at me with something good and worth my time.
Oh, and one last thing that has been burning my ass lately...how is it that people join the military, no matter the branch, they can't believe they're deploying when we've been at war for almost 10 years!!! I have two good friends that I've met here and all of us have husbands that are deploying, we all have new babies and are first time parents. By no means do I want to see Jeremy go, or my see my friends pack up their husbands and send them off. It's not a good time, I think a root canal is more fun, but it's their job. It’s what we do.
I am working on getting myself a job, a master's degree; I'm raising a child, and keeping a pretty clean house. These are the things that Jeremy and I talk about. I wake up thinking about them, I research them, I try to figure it out. All I know is this: I'm going to do right by my family, smile, and have fun.
1. How many of you have actually read the Constitution? Where in the Constitution is the claim that the only people that protect my freedoms are the US military? Last I checked, they to help protect and defend it, but they aren't the only ones. Why can't we? I'm a citizen and I have read this document and know that the military can't do anything without legislative or executive branch approving their actions.
2. Why do people get caught up in the petty crap at church? The whole reason I don't go to church is because I don't like most people that go. They get upset about the lamest crap. To me, it's a distraction from the real message and that is love and tolerance. Aren't those the things that Jesus preached??? Last time I read the Bible, that's what he was talking about. Also, why is it that Christians pick and choose the parts of the Bible they want to follow? Let's hate homosexuals, let's try to convert people to "our" way of thinking, and let's judge everyone that doesn't follow what we want. I don't remember reading, that Jesus would damn people to hell if they didn't follow "his" way.
3. Because I'm a liberal, I viewed as some Communist freak that must want a super large gov't that will strip away our rights. Last I checked, we get our rights from the gov't. How is it that people don't know this stuff? Not because the gov't "allows" us to, but because we are all an instrument of this country and we should be proud of our differences and tolerant of each other.
It's hard to turn the other cheek and rise above. It's really hard when people won't even listen. Since some of you here are a little more on the conservative leaning side, did you know that it took GW Bush 5 years to go and see the troops he sent to Afghanistan? He didn't go and see them until 2006. Get your facts right, do some research; come at me with something good and worth my time.
Oh, and one last thing that has been burning my ass lately...how is it that people join the military, no matter the branch, they can't believe they're deploying when we've been at war for almost 10 years!!! I have two good friends that I've met here and all of us have husbands that are deploying, we all have new babies and are first time parents. By no means do I want to see Jeremy go, or my see my friends pack up their husbands and send them off. It's not a good time, I think a root canal is more fun, but it's their job. It’s what we do.
I am working on getting myself a job, a master's degree; I'm raising a child, and keeping a pretty clean house. These are the things that Jeremy and I talk about. I wake up thinking about them, I research them, I try to figure it out. All I know is this: I'm going to do right by my family, smile, and have fun.
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