HUMBLED...

Wow. Have you ever had a total stranger tell you they are praying for you? 

Today I took two boxes to the local post office to mail to my son overseas. They were the first of what I anticipate to be many boxes we will ship in the coming year. These two boxes were plopped on the counter and a friendly, familiar face said, "These for your son?" I said yes. She helped me work on the customs forms and labels and while doing that we talked about how moms deal with deployment. She was prior Navy. Said she wondered how her mom did it when she was in the service. I said, "We pray through it."

The elderly woman standing next to me at the next counter said, "You tell your son I said 'THANK YOU' and that I'm praying for him."  That humbled me and I valued that expression of gratitude! And if that wasn't enough, the man behind me spoke up and said, "She's not the only one praying.." 

The three of us stood there and I got weepy. Two people I didn't know reached out their prayers for my son and the men and women he serves with. I couldn't speak. My emotions were on my sleeve and all I could say was, "Your kindness is going to make me cry! Thank you.." And I walked away and wept all the way to the car, and after I got in the car I just sat there a minute. I totally wasn't expecting that, Lord!

I wasn't weepy today. I was rather cheerful as a matter of fact, happy to finally be mailing my boy these items I've lovingly thought through and planned and packed. The support that was shown in those few moments of time  totally hit me down to my core! And it was a moment I will never forget....

After running home to blow my nose and fix my makeup, I moved on to my next errand for the day. I needed to make copies of a flier regarding donations we are collecting for the boxes. Again, the worker is familiar to me as I've done business in this place on a number of occasions. She made the copies and came back and said she'd like to post one up in the store for me. And then proceeded to give me some suggestions for other stores to approach for the same. There was just something "understanding" in her voice. A nice looking young man standing next to her, about late 20's I'd say. Close to my son's age. She then pointed to him and said, "This is MY son. He just got back from Africa." I looked at him and just said, "Thank you." Again, I was ready to boo hoo. I found another local military mom and soldier to support and pray for. He told me who he serves with and that he has another two years to serve.

I hope all military mothers experience support for their children in the service. These willing servants deserve a lot more than they receive. Many have to struggle to get or keep benefits earned in a very difficult way. Many have sacrificed so much more than we will ever know. The entire family does.

So from me to you....THANK YOU. Know I am praying for your child each and every day. And if you shed a tear or two when people say that to you, it's OK. It's from your mamma's heart. No matter how old that "child" may be....

LCain

I KNOW WHO HOLDS TOMORROW...

Saying goodbye to my son just prior to deployment was one of the hardest days of my life! I wanted to hold him tight and not let him go. Words weren't easy to speak. My throat closed up. The words wouldn't come out. There were so many I wanted to say! All I could squeak out was, "I love you son..." He knows my heart. And I knew his.  Not easy for him either, but he's a true genetic carrier of being a "man of few words."  When it comes to emotional things, that is. Socially, he's a talker! And can make people laugh...and he loves kidding around. :)

That day happened to be my grandkids' last fall soccer game. We all gathered at the soccer complex and took scads of pictures! I even took two art canvases and had my son do his hand print on each of them with art paint in blue. The kids will do their hand prints in red. Something fun to hang on the wall...

One by one, family members started to leave and it was just down to his family, my daughter and her family and the two of us. Soccer games were going on and here we were saying goodbye to our soldier for a year. Our own private thing going on in the midst of others who didn't have a clue what was taking place....I wanted to shout it out, but knew he just waned a private family affair. I wanted everybody to know what he was about to do (for them) for the next 12 months! But he silently walked away...

Tough day for all. I sat at home watching the clock. My husband had to work. He's arriving at the airport about now...the kids are having to say goodbye to their daddy now....he should be boarding the plane now....Jesus help him. He's the one who will miss his entire family. He's the one who will be so far away from home. He's the one who will face the unknown each and every day for the next 365 days. God be with them ALL. Til they all come HOME....

We won't know what his day involves. He won't be able to tell us. That's the hard part. Not knowing what he's going through and how he's dealing with it. But Jesus knows...and while we won't know what tomorrow holds for him (all of them) we know WHO holds tomorrow. Without that assurance this journey for us as a family would be so much more difficult than it already is.

That's how we said goodbye. On the soccer field with the kids running to and fro laughing and giggling and waving their flags. Eating peanut butter crackers and bananas. Drinking juice boxes. Getting all hot and sweaty. 

A lot will transpire in the time he's absent from us, but we will keep a diary and take lots of pictures to make sure he doesn't miss anything this family does. :) We hope we can skype. We hope we can hear his voice, see his face, reach out and touch that computer screen every once in a while....and blow kisses to the one we love. The kids will mail pictures they draw, crafts they make, and lipstick kisses on napkins. They'll help me make cookies and fudge to send in boxes.

We're on a new journey. One we will take with Jesus for sure. He knows what's ahead of us, and He brings up the rear. His presence will be felt no matter where we go or what we do. And we pray our son feels that same presence thousands of miles away.

LCain 

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON....

We see them all the time. Magnetic yellow ribbons with the term "Support Our Troops" printed on them. Yellow ribbons tied around tree trunks in the yards of military families. 

 Here's a little history behind that customary expression of support...

 From Wikipedia
During the Iran hostage crisis, the yellow ribbon was used a symbol of support for the hostages held at the United States embassy in Tehran. In November 1979, a committee headed by Suzan E. Garrett of the Jaycees ladies service organization in Leitchfield, Kentucky organized a campaign to "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" around public trees as well as encouraging people to wear tied ribbons on lapels in support of the U.S. hostages being held in Iran. She was interviewed on ABC-TV by Ted Koppel on the newly created Nightline late-night news program and later by Peter Jennings for ABC's World News Tonight.
This symbolism continued and gained further notoriety in December 1979, when Penelope Laingen, wife of Bruce Laingen who was the most senior foreign service officer being held hostage, tied a yellow ribbon around a tree on the lawn of her Maryland home. The ribbon primarily symbolized the resolve of the American people to win the hostages' safe release. Yellow ribbons featured prominently in the celebrations of their return home in January 1981.
The yellow ribbon saw renewed popularity in the United States during the Gulf War in the early 1990s. It appeared along with the slogan "support our troops", in the form of yellow ribbons tied to trees, and countless other contexts. It often had the implied meaning of "bring our troops home" from the Desert Shield and Desert Storm troop deployments. It appeared again during the 2003 invasion of Iraq with similar meanings, most prominently in the form of a yellow ribbon printed on magnetized material and displayed on the outside of automobiles.

In the United States military, the symbol of the yellow ribbon is used in a popular marching song. The first version copyrighted was the 1917 version by George A. Norton, which he titled 'Round Her Neck She Wears a Yeller Ribbon" (For Her Lover Who Is Far, Far Away). While he tells in the song about the love between Susie Simpkins and her soldier lover Silas Hubbard, his chorus goes:

'Round her neck she wears a yeller ribbon,
She wears it in winter and the summer so they say,
If you ask her "Why the decoration?"
She'll say "It's fur my lover who is fur, fur away.

The lyrics were altered and the song was titled She Wore a Yellow Ribbon by Russ Morgan for the 1949 movie of the same name. This was performed by several popular musicians of the 1940s, including Mitch Miller and The Andrews Sisters. The Tanner Sisters recorded their version in London on December 30, 1949. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9873.
The text of the Army version approximates the following, with local variations:

Around her hair she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore it in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you ask her why the heck she wore it
She wore it for her soldier who was far far away

Far away, far away
She wore it for her soldier
Who was far, far away

Around the block she pushed a baby carriage
She pushed it in the springtime
In the Merry month of May
And if you ask her why the heck she pushed it
She pushed it for her soldier who was far far away

Far away, far away
She pushed it for her soldier
Who was far, far away

Behind the door her daddy kept a shotgun
He kept it in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you ask him why the heck he kept it
He kept it for her soldier who was far far away

Far away, far away
He kept it for her soldier
Who was far, far away

On the grave she laid the pretty flowers
She laid them in the springtime
In the merry month of May
And if you asked her why the heck she laid them
She laid them for her soldier who was far far away

Far away, far away
She laid them for her soldier
Who was far, far away

Another wonderful site with more history of the yellow ribbon tradition:
http://voices.yahoo.com/history-importance-yellow-ribbon-662036.html 

My favorite yellow ribbon expression...

TIL THEY ALL COME HOME!!!!

How do you don your yellow ribbons in tribute?

LCain