Welcome Home, 4th BDE!

Everywhere I look the last week I have seen cars like these:

(and some that are MUCH more elaborate, with flags and children's handprints, etc.) That's because this just happened:


(These aren't actually pictures of 4th BDE - I have no idea who they are pictures of. It's for effect, people!)

4th Brigade came home from 15 months in Iraq!

I watched lots of my friends suffer through this time (which seemed like an eternity even for me, who wasn't going through it at all), and I can only say they are MUCH stronger women than I. I have no idea how they did it, especially the ones who waited here in Kansas instead of going home to their families... I would never be that strong!!



Anyway, I need to say I'm proud of you, my incredible friends. You've done it! And thank God he's safe!! (by he I mean all your husbands, of course..)


This, of course, brings me to the flip side and forces me to think of those who didn't make it through. This brings tears to my eyes, as always... but I need to say, for those who lost someone...

I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THEIR SACRIFICE... AND SO DEEPLY, DEEPLY SORRY FOR THEIR LOSS.

Please know that we are praying for you always... the soldiers who fell and their wives and children and parents they left behind. They have fallen in the name of the United States of America, in an effort to make our planet a safer place. For that I say THANK YOU, and urge you all to pray for those men a restful sleep and their families for the strength they need to carry on.


4th BDE returning of course also makes me think of Jade. Her husband was a part of 4th BDE before he came home from Iraq early. I've been out of contact with Jade for months now, and I miss her more than I can stand. I try not to think about her because it gets me close to tears, but this forces me to remember that she would just now be getting her husband home if it weren't for his early return. (Is it evil for me to wish he was just now coming home, because I would have had much more time with her? Probably. Please don't tell anyone I thought that, and I'll pray for my salvation.)


I miss you, girl. Of course, that's not news though. I'm praying for you and your sweet boys, hoping all is well out there in Georgia.