Honoring those who served

(Thank you to all of you who commented on my walk down memory lane...and OK... especially to those who said I hadn't changed much along the way! Extra blogging points for you!) ;)

In honor of Veteran's Day, in our school days here at home we've been learning about those that have served in defending our nation over the years.

My daughter interviewed her own daddy just a few hours ago, with sample questions that I found on the internet. As some of you know, he served for four years in the Navy during the first few years of our marriage...and it was fun to see her with her list of questions, pencil poised, asking questions of her daddy in which brought back a lot of memories- for both of us!

While I was doing some research for things to incorporate into our Veteran's Day "theme", I found a website called,
Operation Gratitude.
This site is dedicated to bringing letters and care packages to both soldiers who are currently deployed, as well as a special section for distributing thank you letters to veterans. I immediately wanted to be involved in this somehow!
I'm hoping we can participate closer to Christmas by sending something to a deployed soldier, but this week I thought it would nice to have my nine year old write a simple thank you note to someone who had once served.


The folks at Operation Gratitude will receive the letter first, check it to make sure it is appropriate, pick a name on their list, and then send it on from there to a veteran somewhere in the country that will walk to his (or her) mailbox, peer curiously at the envelope, and hopefully be blessed as it is torn open and read.

We don't know who this veteran will be...a man or a woman...a recent veteran of Iraq or an aging WWII survivor.
We probably won't ever know. But God does. And we're praying for whomever receives it.

Years and years ago, I wrote a narrative poem with old fashioned style stanzas, as I thought about the WWII era in particular. I thought of the soldiers who came home, wondering if they still possessed everything that they held dear.
Unfortunately, I can not find that poem, but I still remember the first stanza:

In shades of golden moonlight hues, a lonely soldier steps

To reach a destination known within a memory kept,

Past homes of glowing fire light, and sounds of laughter near

He only hears the echo of his footsteps in his ear.

Remember to pause and remember...and perhaps thank someone who helped protect and preserve the freedom that we hold so dear.

Blessings!