My niece Marly is somebody really special. She joined the Air Force and served her country flying around in those giant AWAC planes that look like flying fortresses. I think back on her teenage years, freckle faced and strong willed, dealing with all of the challenges that our kids are faced with; and I marvel at the woman she has become.
Marly met and married her husband Jason who is also in the Air Force. They both have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times. The separations are hard, although it seems they have found acceptance, and their love and marriage endures what it must. My sister worries. She planted red, white and blue containers of flowers in my backyard when the war started and put flags in the planters. The flowers bloom each year. The flags are very faded and tattered now, but we will not remove them until this God-awful mess is over.
I thought I would share an email from Jason.
Subject: my day out
Date: Wed, 2 May 2007 07:14:29 -0400
From: Jason
Here are some pics from me going out today. Us driving out on these dinky roads, a big village we passed (almost everything is made of mud, crap and straw here), my new friends (school children), and a panoramic shot of the view (the grassy area in the foreground is an old minefield from back in the day, the roads are clear though).
We went to the school on a humanitarian visit and stayed a while. The kids were really cool and had been trying to learn English. One taught me how to spell my name and we taught them how to play rock, paper, scissors and the hand slapping game. Once we broke out the toys and shoes things got way too crazy though. I saw some kids get the beat down. These kids beg for ink pens and water, you through a soccer ball and shoes out there and they lose their minds. It’s probably equivalent to throwing about $5,000 in a crowd in the states.
Well, that’s what I did today.
After my sister received this she started gathering crayons and coloring books to include in her next package to Jason. Sometimes all you can do, is wait, try to help others, and ask God to Bless them all.
