John 15:3

I have the utmost appreciation and respect for those who have given their life for our country and I am thankful for a chosen day to honor them. Words cannot express my gratitude, yet I hope heaven gives me the opportunity to thank you face to face. You are the very best kind of people. Those who live sacrificially and courageously for others.

My prayers are with our troops everytime I hear the National Anthem. Their families are also in my prayers as they, too, sacrifice so much. I'm reminded of this often on the days the boys are nutty and I wonder how military spouses do it when their partner is far away. Your families, your marriages, your contentment, your safety, your leaders...these are all on my heart when I pray for you. Thank you, with all my heart, for laying down your freedom and, sometimes, your life, to protect mine. Thank you for protecting my freedom to worship as I choose, to speak out when I disagree, to own a gun if I so choose, to vote as I feel led and so on. Thank you for laying down your life for mine. It's hard to wrap my mind around that.

God bless and keep our fallen soldiers and their families. God bless and keep our troops that stand ready to protect our freedoms and our families. Including my brother, Scott. He's a Green Beret stationed in Okinawa. And, for all the years our Dad served our country before he retired from the Air Force, thank you, Dad.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:3

We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us. George Orwell