A Glimpse of the Past......in the present......

The army life was one I thought I had seen the last of......until afforded a glimpse of my past in the present. When Aaron was enlisted in the military we lived a life unlike most everyone else....well except for those living the same life. We embraced the army life but what we discovered would far surpass all of our expectations.
The army life is shared by a community of others that are much like and much different than you and your family. It is a community of people that all come from different worlds....different values.....different beliefs and religions and traditions......different tricks and trades......different towns and cities and states and sometimes even different countries.....a HUGE melting pot of different and somehow in all of that different we find a common ground......the army. Our situations, while all very different, laid the ground work for what would become known as our lives. Somehow....while all so far away from everything that seemed familiar.....we became not just "friends" but we became FAMILY. I know it seems like that is a term that you just call someone you grew very close to but we didn't just grow close. We all learned to lean on one another for everything. Our lives became their lives and their lives became ours.....our children became theirs and their children became ours. Instilled in each of us was a primal instinct to not only love but to also protect one another. In those moments....in that simplicity.....that need to survive a bad situation where we had to move and start over AGAIN.....bonds were formed.......not just that but.......families were formed. Outsiders can't understand it......though, Lord only knows, they do try. The dependancy that comes with this family is VERY real......it is a relationship that starts on the basis of friendship and the distint ability to survive and blossoms into my family.
I thought this was a life I left behind when Aaron was medically discharged from the military. It was a thought or a memory that I would recall now and then over the last several years but not one I spent much time reflecting on because I figured that part of my life was over......gone.....in the past. Recently I had the opportunity to reconnect with my family and it was the first time I had seen them in about the last seven years or so and it was ABSOLUTELY amazing. We were all able to pick up exactly where we left off......it was as if time has stood still. Until today I had forgotten both how much I missed and needed my family. I am so blessed and so grateful to have been afforded this opportunity.

The Best Quote Posters - 1 to 10

Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Edgar A. Guest

"It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal." -Hellen Keller

Sometimes it is so easy to get wrapped in the pettiness of a thing....so much so that we loose our way....we loose ourselves. When we pray, we should not ask for that which so freely surrounds us for if it is easy to obtain then what makes it worth fighting for......we should always go forth boldly and pray instead for the power to equal our tasks.....for our will is great but our strength is barren. May your mission be so great that it will take a mounted army to aide and support........for our destiny awaits us....all the while it is gaining strength and momentum.........our hearts keep freely beating in our chest walls.......as we press forward to our desires-though we sometimes are not clear what our desires are-they always surround us. Our fight is for that of Christ's kingdom....some of us don't even realize that is what we are fighting for....but it is there...in front of us....whether or not we are aware of it....and everyday....we continue pushing back the evil that tries to deafen our cries...our pleas....all for humanity....but our cries still fall on deaf ears....so we continue to travel toward our distant goal..........we continue trying to reach the lost.