Want to know a sure-fire way to be overwhelmed with the feeling of gratitude? Introduce yourself to a man in a U.S. military uniform in an elevator in order to thank him for his service. Then learn that he is just back from overseas where he served as a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Disaster Mortuary Personnel in Haiti. Yup. I’m a grateful woman, reminded again just how many people (and their families) are sacrificing greatly so that our federal employees and military personnel can serve those in greatest peril and need around the world. Welcome home, sir. Thank you for your service. I can’t…

HT: Challies.com for this link: Please do  keep praying for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen, and marines; their families; and all of the chaplains serving them too.  

We’re heading to our Memorial Day services in a few hours and I just wanted to post our THANKS and HONORING of all of the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We could never repay the debt we owe to their families and to them. I do hope that you are praying for our troops and that you will take time today to honor them all — the living and the dead.   “Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations, that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of…

A member of our church had the privilege of saluting President Bush as he departed D.C. We’re so proud of you, T.M.! And grateful for you both, President and Mrs. Bush. Please do continue to pray for our troops.   Yours, Tara B. PS If you haven’t yet read the gracious letter that Jenna and Barbara Bush sent to the Obama girls, I encourage you to read it today. It is precious.  

Blessed Veterans Day to all of our veterans! Please take a minute or two to read AND PRAY THROUGH this excellent post. It’s a great guide to pray for our troops and their families. Gratefully,  Tara B.  

Until today, I had not ready any books about 9/11. I did not go and see “United 93” and I doubt I ever will. The evil poured out on that day is just so awful and the lives of each victim so precious and real … well … it’s just not a topic that I’ve cared to “curl up with a good book” over. Until now. I just finished reading a book that kept me engaged like no book since Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission (which I literally could NOT stop reading until I finished it at like 4:30AM). The book is: Touching…

Oh that we, and the children we raise, will never forget Pearl Harbor. (5PM edit: Don’t miss PalmTree Pundit’s Post on Pearl Harbor too!)   (HT MilitaryMotivator for the photo!)  

I LOVE reading of heroism. The last book that kept me up all night (before my recent–wonderful find!–Aunt Jane’s Hero) was Ghost Soldiers. (If you love a GREAT READ especially about history and war and heroism, you CANNOT go wrong with Ghost Soldiers.) ANYWAY … I was reminded of Ghost Soldiers when I read the last page of my recent National Geographic magazine–the “Flashback” entitled FRONT LINES: “A Salvation Army “lassie” writes home for a wounded World War I soldier in 1918. “Ask an American doughboy if life would have been worth living at the front without the Salvation Army cook, comforter, and general utility cheerer,” noted a November 1918…