Showing posts with label Supporting our Soldiers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supporting our Soldiers. Show all posts
"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."
-Cynthia Ozick-
To all of our veterans and active military members and their families and loved ones: I am forever grateful for your service and sacrifice today and everyday. May you experience the gratitude our nation feels on this Veterans Day and beyond.
Ten years ago when I received this flag in September by "M". I was truly overwhelmed & carried this flag with me through difficult health days, different moves, and it even spent the night in several hospitals with me reminding me to be brave and how grateful that I am to live in a country that gave me the freedom to have my biggest concern be my life and health. Thank you to all of the soldiers (and spouses) who have (and are continuing to) served.
And thank you "M" for serving our country, for showing me over all of these years what it means to be brave in deep ways and for fighting, for fighting for things that need to be addressed and most of all for changing my life. Twice.
"Freedom is NEVER free."
To those who have served our country and sacrificed more than we could ever imagine...thank you.
Seven years ago when I received this flag in September by "M". I was truly overwhelmed & have carried this flag with me through difficult health days, different moves, and it even spent the night in several hospitals with me reminding me to be brave and how grateful that I am to live in a country that gives me the freedom to have my biggest concern be my life, choices, and health. Thank you to all of the soldiers (and spouses) who have (and are continuing to) served.
And thank you "M" for serving our country, for showing me over all of these years what it means to be brave in deep ways and for fighting, for fighting for things that need to be addressed and most of all for changing my life. Twice.
"May God give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy over your victory...May the Lord grant all your requests."
"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."
-Cynthia Ozick-
Several years ago, as I prepared to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday I realized that I was embarrassed to admit that I didn't know the history behind the particular day. So I decided to look it up and learn about it. As many of you know, Memorial Day is a patriotic holiday that is intended to honor the Americans who have protected our country throughout generations. Memorial Day started as a way to remember those who had died in the Civil War. At this time it was called "Decoration Day, and was first strted in Carbondale, Illinois in 1866. Over the decades celebrations spread to different towns and cities across the United States, and eventually in 1971 it became a formal national holiday.
If you visit a grave site, you may see people placing coins on top of a grave. Each coin symbolizes a different thing. Pennies mean that you stopped by the grave site, dimes symbolize serving with the deceased and quarters mean that you witnessed the deceased death.
If you visit a grave site, you may see people placing coins on top of a grave. Each coin symbolizes a different thing. Pennies mean that you stopped by the grave site, dimes symbolize serving with the deceased and quarters mean that you witnessed the deceased death.
Having lived in different parts of the country, it is interesting to me how different areas celebrate this holiday. For example, when I lived in DC there was always a service held at Arlington Cemetery and always different concert options, while in NYC there are parades. Texas, Alabama, and Virginia also celebrate Confederate Memorial Day which honors Confederate soldiers. Different sections of the country offer all different ways to celebrate and last week I shared about different Memorial Day activities offered around the Lake Champlain area. No matter what you do to celebrate on Memorial Day don't forget to stop at 3pm to remember the deceased. Under an act signed by President Clinton in 2000, Americans are supposed to stop and remember the deceased at that time.
I am so grateful to live in a country that takes time to honor the men and women who have served and our serving our country and their families. To all of our veterans and active military members and their families and loved ones: I am forever grateful for your service and sacrifice today and everyday. May you experience the gratitude our nation feels on this Memorial Day and beyond.
"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."
-Cynthia Ozick-
Several years ago, as I prepared to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday I realized that I was embarrassed to admit that I didn't know the history behind the particular day. So I decided to look it up and learn about it. As many of you know, Memorial Day is a patriotic holiday that is intended to honor the Americans who have protected our country throughout generations. Memorial Day started as a way to remember those who had died in the Civil War. At this time it was called "Decoration Day, and was first strted in Carbondale, Illinois in 1866. Over the decades celebrations spread to different towns and cities across the United States, and eventually in 1971 it became a formal national holiday.
If you visit a grave site, you may see people placing coins on top of a grave. Each coin symbolizes a different thing. Pennies mean that you stopped by the grave site, dimes symbolize serving with the deceased and quarters mean that you witnessed the deceased death.
If you visit a grave site, you may see people placing coins on top of a grave. Each coin symbolizes a different thing. Pennies mean that you stopped by the grave site, dimes symbolize serving with the deceased and quarters mean that you witnessed the deceased death.
Having lived in different parts of the country, it is interesting to me how different areas celebrate this holiday. For example, when I lived in DC there was always a service held at Arlington Cemetery and always different concert options, while in NYC there are parades. Texas, Alabama, and Virginia also celebrate Confederate Memorial Day which honors Confederate soldiers. Different sections of the country offer all different ways to celebrate and last week I shared about different Memorial Day activities offered around the Lake Champlain area. No matter what you do to celebrate on Memorial Day don't forget to stop at 3pm to remember the deceased. Under an act signed by President Clinton in 2000, Americans are supposed to stop and remember the deceased at that time.
I am so grateful to live in a country that takes time to honor the men and women who have served and our serving our country and their families. To all of our veterans and active military members and their families and loved ones: I am forever grateful for your service and sacrifice today and everyday. May you experience the gratitude our nation feels on this Memorial Day and beyond.
"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."
-Cynthia Ozick-
To all of our veterans and active military members and their families and loved ones: I am forever grateful for your service and sacrifice today and everyday. May you experience the gratitude our nation feels on this Veterans Day and beyond.
"Freedom is never free." What a sobering and true statement. I received this flag from a soldier I supported through AAP (Adopt-a-Platoon) last year & have literally carried it with me as it reminds me of the heroes that are tirelessly fighting for our country. I have been with AAP for 10 years this July & each soldier I interact with reminds me how much our military does for our country and for places around the world. "M", thank you again for changing my life and for this tangible reminder of sacrificial freedom. To all of the 37 soldiers (and their families) that I have met through AAP you know who you are and you have my gratitude & humble thanks. For sweet friends who sacrifice so much as their loved ones have served and continue to serve our country, we celebrate you and the freedom that you help ensure for our country today, tomorrow, and every day. Thank you so much. Happy July 4th weekend dear friends!
(This post was taken from my instagram account but wanted to share with you my sweet readers and friends. Praying for each of you.)
To all of the Veterans and their families, I want to say a BIG, humble, and grateful thank you to your service and sacrifice for our country! Thank you for ensuring freedom for our country and for consistently sacrificing so much for us! May you be blessed today and everyday. We as a country are so grateful for you!
Happy Veterans Day!
Did you know that the quote above was written by John Adams to his wife Abigail from Philadelphia in 1776? How proud I am of our country and those who have fought for it and ensured our freedom. How proud I am of those who have sacrificed so much to prove this statement true. For all of the differences in our country we remain resolute in the knowledge that we are free.
p.s. - Want to see some additional July 4th quotes? Check out this post HERE!
Happy 4th friends!
p.s. - Want to see some additional July 4th quotes? Check out this post HERE!
Happy 4th friends!
**I first shared this on the Twinery's blog last week!**
In honor of Memorial Day today I wanted to share it with y'all on here! I hope y'all enjoy and have a wonderful day today!
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It is no secret that I love the products from The Twinery and I love finding ways to thank the servicemen and women who are serving America around the world. I often use twine to add a little bit of “happy color” to the packages that I send abroad and love to take time to honor those who have worked so hard to defend our country. As we approach Memorial Day and July 4th (later on this summer) I was looking for a way to combine these loves. This project was delightful to make as an adult to use to display patriotic sentiments but easy enough for children to make as a sweet summer crafting project.
First I gathered my supplies- Mixed Media (acid free) cardstock, craft tape, and the twine that I was going to use, and an old atlas book with vintage maps inside.
Second, I gathered all of the colored twine that I needed for the project. I specifically ended up using Solid Midnight Blue, Natural, and Maraschino for this project!
Third, I attached the vintage map to the mixed media cardstock to give it a firm background and allowed the finished product to be displayed in a variety of different places without needing to be framed.
Fourth, I used the Solid Midnight Blue twine to complete the solid section first before starting the stripes.
Fifth, after completing the Solid Midnight Blue section I started to work on the Natural, and Maraschino stripes sections. To be honest I started off with sketching out the lines and gave up after two! (hahaha) I ended up liking the “free hand/rough” better than it looking perfect. Honestly y’all this project took some time but was easy enough for young children to do. I cut strips of the crafting tape and then added the Natural and Maraschino twine to create the finalized look.
Finally, I attached the ends under the map and then attached it to mixed media cardstock to give it a finished look. I loved the final product and think y’all would really have fun trying it too!
I have loved the twine from the The Twinery for quite a while and hope that you will continue to come back to see all of the fabulous ways that you can use twine in your everyday life!
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Happy Memorial Day y'all!!
A BIG, humble, and grateful thank you to all of our veterans and their families! Thank you for ensuring freedom for our country and for consistently sacrificing so much for us!
Happy Veterans Day!
As many of you know one of the passions that I have is supporting our military and their families. I am so incredibly thankful for each and everyone of our servicemen & women who are protecting our freedoms, ensuring our country is secure, and who sacrifice so much for the sake of others. I shared in a post last winter that during my first graduate program I had the amazing opportunity to live in a "military town". I had always had a high respect for the military and the way that our service men and women serve our country, but after living in a military town my respect grew in leaps and bounds. I had the opportunity to meet, work with, teach kids of, and life life with military families. It was such an honor and I was incredibly inspired by each person who I met who sacrificed so much to serve and protect our country. I wanted to find a small way to tangibly thank those who were serving and I was introduced (through a former student) to the organization Adopt a Platoon . While I have volunteered with other organizations over the years I have been so honored to be apart of Adopt a Platoon for over nine years. I am in my 9th year of being apart of Adopt-a-Platoon and have had the privilege and honor to support over 29 soldiers through the pen pal adoption program. What an HONOR! If you are looking for a way to support our service men and women then I highly recommend looking up Adopt-A-Platoon. There are opportunities for everyone that require a variety of different time commitments. Just click HERE to see the website if you are interested in supporting AAP!
Last time I shared with y'all about this I was putting together a birthday box for my soldier at the time. My previous soldier thankfully completed that mission and so I have been assigned to another soldier. I can't tell you what a delight it is when the soldiers that you are supporting are in contact during their employment. It is not a requirement, or an expectation with AAP that you will hear from your soldier at any point and so I am always so honored by the ones that take time out of their incredibly difficult and demanding schedules to drop a note, an email, etc. My last few soldiers have done this and it has blown me away. One of my current soldiers is honestly amazing. As I said above, I am so honored to know that we have such men & women in our military who are sacrificing so much!
A couple of weeks ago I thought it would be fun to put together a "football box" for my soldier and their friends. Many of the soldier miss Saturday/Sunday football times and so I hoped that this would bring a little bit of cheer to them!
I gathered a couple of football movies, candy, and football themed items to add to the box. I also made one of the cupcake garlands so that they could "decorate" a little to bring a more "homey" feel to the day.
I found some of the cutest decorating supplies, including the cupcake wrappers from Michael's! I used some white elastic cord from my grandmothers sewing box to string the cupcake wrappers together.
It was small, but there is not a lot of room on bases (or in the box!) so this is the perfect size!
Last time I shared with y'all about this I was putting together a birthday box for my soldier at the time. My previous soldier thankfully completed that mission and so I have been assigned to another soldier. I can't tell you what a delight it is when the soldiers that you are supporting are in contact during their employment. It is not a requirement, or an expectation with AAP that you will hear from your soldier at any point and so I am always so honored by the ones that take time out of their incredibly difficult and demanding schedules to drop a note, an email, etc. My last few soldiers have done this and it has blown me away. One of my current soldiers is honestly amazing. As I said above, I am so honored to know that we have such men & women in our military who are sacrificing so much!
A couple of weeks ago I thought it would be fun to put together a "football box" for my soldier and their friends. Many of the soldier miss Saturday/Sunday football times and so I hoped that this would bring a little bit of cheer to them!
I gathered a couple of football movies, candy, and football themed items to add to the box. I also made one of the cupcake garlands so that they could "decorate" a little to bring a more "homey" feel to the day.
I found some of the cutest decorating supplies, including the cupcake wrappers from Michael's! I used some white elastic cord from my grandmothers sewing box to string the cupcake wrappers together.
I enclosed a small note with the box that I hope will bring a smile.
Here is what the box looked like before I closed it up with the note inside!
After I closed the box up I used the remaining cupcake wrappers to decorate the outside of the box. Hopefully this brought some joy and happiness to our soldiers! Thank you to each of you (and your families) for the incredible sacrifice that you make for us everyday!
During my first graduate program I had the amazing opportunity to live in a "military town". I had always had a high respect for the military and the way that our service men and women serve our country, but after living in a military town my respect grew in leaps and bounds. I had the opportunity to meet, work with, teach kids of, and life life with military families. It was such an honor and I was incredibly inspired by each person who I met who sacrificed so much to serve and protect our country. I wanted to find a small way to tangibly thank those who were serving and I was introduced (through a former student) to the organization Adopt-A-Platoon. While I have volunteered with other organizations over the years I have been so honored to be apart of Adopt-A-Platoon. I am in my 9th year of being a pen pal and have had the privilege and honor to support over 27 soldiers through the pen pal adoption program. What an honor! If you are looking for a way to support our service men and women then I highly recommend looking up Adopt-A-Platoon. There are different opportunities for everyone that require a variety of different time commitments. HERE is the website if you are interested.
The soldier that I have been supporting for the past 5 months is almost halfway done with this tour! {Yea!} "R's" birthday is coming up in the next month and knowing that he loved beef jerky I thought it would be fun to send an entire box of beef jerky. {By the way every soldier that I have supported since 2004 has loved beef jerky so if you are looking for something to send try that! *smiles*} Of course I wanted the inside to look festive so I put sparkly, fancy paper for the bottom of the box and then cut out comics for the sides. Yes, I justified the comics made the box look more "manly" *smiles*
The beef jerky looked a little plain to me so I decided to add some simple tags and ribbon to each bag with a variety of different "happy birthday" sayings.
I purchased the white and kraft tags at Michael's and then used some gold and brown stickles to make them more "happy looking". I found brown and blue ribbon at Michael's that I added to the tags and then attached them to each beef jerky bag.
After I attached each tag to each bag I put them in the box and then boxed it up and it is ready to send out!
Thank You again to ALL of our service men and women (and to their families) for your incredible sacrifice for our country!
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