Trees for Troops

Christmas time is the most wonderful time of the year!  For most people, the family is together and everything is special and magical. Military families often have a different take. Often a piece to their Christmas puzzle is missing. Even if they don't have a servicemember deployed,  many times they are stationed away from their families and are unable to travel home  to celebrate.

There are several organizations who that really bless military families during the holiday season. Amongst those are the USO, Operation Homefront, and Trees for Troops.

This year, our servicemember is  deployed. It's an extra special Christmas because it's our baby girl's first, and it's the first in our new house.  And it's extra sad because daddy will miss it.  What a blessing it was to be able to take the kids to Ft. Story and pick out the perfect tree.

When we brought  it home and got it all set up to drink up some water, I discovered the sweetest little drawing on the card attached. It must have been from a child about 5 years old.  I instantly got misty-eyed. How sweet to have a link to the lovely family who blessed us with such a beautiful tree.
Our tree brings an extra sense of comfort to our little family, and is a reminder that we are thought of by others. We will be sure to pay it forward.  On behalf of all military families who have received trees, I'd like to thank Trees for Troops and all the families who have donated for their kindness, and pray that they have a blessed Christmas!

Conformist Revolution

Well, I decided to cave. I am now...a blogger. Maybe now my family can read what's going on with us.

The big thing that's been on my mind lately is the up and coming deployment. I was looking through some military support sites today, and stumbled upon http://www.sesameplace.com/. Now, we recieved the deployment kit from http://www.militaryonesource.com/, but this site has a whole lot more resources to help children through their parent's deployment.

I, at first, was getting excited for the fun things they offer, but then, I got a bit nervous. I wonder how Jacob will act? I wonder if he'll be ok? I don't want him to be emotionally scarred from daddy being gone. I know that thousands of kids deal with this across the country and turn out just fine, but it doesn't make it any less scary for me. Jacob already went a year without a daddy. I also realize that just because Paul will be away doesn't mean he's out of Jacob's life. I'm just priming him with prayer. "Lord, please guard his heart from being wounded by this temporary time of being away. And please help them to manifest their relationship in the unorthodox ways that one must use when in two different countries."

Also, there is so much preparation that needs done. It's truly overwhelming. From taking care of the bills, to getting a job, to childcare, to planning what I'm going to send him for Christmas, Anniversary, Valentines Day, his birthday, Jacob's birthday, Easter...to how I'm going to get our taxes done. There are plenty of worksheets, and even classes on pre-deployment prep, but Paul and I suffer from avoidance behavior. We'd rather be relishing in the time we have than putting the blade to the stone and planning. I know, it probably seems childish or immature...or just foolish. We'll probably do it next month: take an entire day and just sit down with the worksheets and plan everything. However. Still scary.

I would be a little less anxious if the Ombudsman or FRG president would get in touch with me, even just to give me a sense of: Ok, we're gonna get through this together. But I've heard nothing.

On the same token, maybe it's not a bad thing that dealing with everything can be delayed. As a family, we just have to remember...God knows the beginning from the end, and He is always faithful.