Strength and Support for our Soldiers: Countdown

Strength and Support for Our Soldiers

My little brother is a Marine and has served in Kuwait and Iraq. He's teaching me so much about freedon, and faith. I am constantly praying for his safety. I am relentlessly pleading with God to keep his spirits high, and his courage strong. I hope that he feels my love and support no matter where he is in the world.
I know these feelings are not mine alone. In this day and age, we all have a family member or friend serving our country. Many of us know of someone's father, husband, wife, mother, brother or sister, or worse, someone's son or daughter, that has died serving our country. As a nation, we are grieving and celebrating all at once. It's a surreal feeling.
We all differ on our policital views, we all have mixed feelings on the War in Iraq. But I think we can all agree on one thing. We want our troops to be safe and sound. We want our troops to return home with honor. We want to support them one way or another. This is why I am creating this blog. I want to dedicate it to all the men and women who are serving our country, who have served our country, and to those that WILL serve our country. I want this to be a place for people to praise their friends and family, to share in the heartache of losing someone, a place to vent and share the emotions felt nationwide. Our nation has been rocked by the war, and again, regardless of our different feelings about it, we could all use a little support.
Please share your stories and photos with us! I would like to post your stories on my blog. Email your stories, thoughts and feelings, and pictures to SupportAllSoldiers@gmail.com

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Countdown

I have been really horrible in the past months about updating this blog! I am happy to report that Blaine is on the last leg of his tour in Iraq. He has deployed from Kuwait and is "somewhere out there", nearing Hawaii. I am so excited to have him home, safe, for the holidays. I know it's unrealistic to think that he will always be able to make it home for the holidays, but I'm grateful that this year, I don't have to learn what it's like to be celebrating my favorite time of year, while worrying about death and destruction for my little brother. Extremist...I know. :) This will be the first year in about 3 (i think) that my family will all be together again for Christmas. Blaine will get back to California and have debriefing for a few weeks, and should be home to Idaho Falls sometime in early December. He's working out plans to MAYBE be in IF for Thanksgiving, but no plans yet.

I am so grateful for a brave little brother, and I can't WAIT to see him and hug him and ask a million questions about Iraq. I'm excited to learn what kind of country it truly is, and what wonderful people he met, without media influences! (I believe the heart of life is good...and I'm CERTAIN that our brothers and sister's in Iraq have good hearts too!) Extremist again?! who knows....

But I am extremely excited to see Blaine SOON. What a great reunion lies ahead! My heart goes out to those that will not be having a soldier make it home for the holidays, and they will remain in my prayers, and hopefully YOURS.

A great reunion and lots of pictures to follow soon...in December!