He telephoned tonight!!  Thank the Lord for international calling cards and the still-in-existence pay phone!  He sounded very good, upbeat.  Finally, as of this past weekend, they were allowed to leave the base, in company with a buddy, to see Okinawa in all its present gray.  It’s the rainy season there, days on end without sun.  But he’s enjoying listening to the locals, eating their food, visiting their mall, and taking some photos.

He was supposed to have boarded ship yesterday, but true-to-the-miliary, it’s been put off another week to 10 days.  His unit’s been whilling away the hours mostly bored, and doing a little grunt work, cleaning arms, PT.  Today was a 6-mile run.  Just a warm-up for a Marine.  They can eat up and spit out a marathoner.  (The only running I’m personally familiar with is en route to the little girl’s room when there’s no grace period. Go, Mom!!)

Care package:  his first one is… “Somewhere, over the wild blue yonder…”  So much for ‘delivery confirmation’.  Last notation on the tracking was January 12, stating that it had departed it’s last location (1.5 hours from us!).  It will be interesting to see when and where he actually receives it.  It’s in his favor, care package time-wise, that he’ll be on land another week or so, increasing his changes of getting it a little quicker than if he was out to sea. 

I can’t imagine what months at sea will be like…  as “cargo’, which is what I understand ship-bound Marines are  He’s excited about it, though – from the standpoint of port-to-port, seeing that region of our world.

The USS Denver, below,  is the sixth AUSTIN – class amphibious transport dock and the third ship in the Navy to bear the name.  For those of you who enjoy the fine details of a Naval ship, see beneath ship photo below.

So good to talk to you tonight, bud.  It was good to hear your light-hearted voice.  We are so proud of you.   Love you so much…    Mom

• Launched January 23, 1965
• Length: 569 feet (173.4 meters)
• Beam: 105 feet (32 meters)
• Draft: 23 feet (7 meters)     ballasted: 34 feet (10.4 meters)
• Displacement: approx. 16,900 tons
• Speed: 21 knots
• Well deck capacity: one LCAC or one LCU or four LCM-8 or nine LCM-6 or 24 amphibious assault vehicles (AAV)
• Aircraft: none, but telescopic hangar installed aboard. The hangar is not used to accommodate helicopters but on the flight deck there is space for up to six CH-46 helicopters
• Crew: Ship: 24 officers, 396 enlisted     Marine Detachment: approx. 900
• Armament: two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, two 25mm Mk 38 guns, eight .50-calibre machine guns 

 ____________________________________________________________________________

It’s 7200 miles between Mayberry Midwest, USA and Okinawa, Japan.  I feel every mile.  This is a time when I greatly appreciate the advances in communication technology.  I thank God for the wonderful men and women who keep military families so well informed of their children’s whereabouts and well-being.  And I thank God for Facebook!  This is the means by which I’m able to chat live with my guy from 7200 miles away, across an ocean and continents I’ve only seen through the eyes of National Geographic and cable TV. 

Unfortunately, they’re not allowed to leave the base, and therefore can’t see God’s handcrafted beauty of Japan.  He’s disappointed – OF COURSE – and bored out of his head.  He’s already looking forward to our first care package which will depart our post office first thing Monday morning.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the package to get to him, and if he will still be in Okinawa or neatly stoyed away on the USS Denver. 

Miss you, my guy.  So thankful to ‘hear’ your voice, albeit silently, through cyberspace.  God will be your hope and your anchor, and I will be forever…. your  Mom.  All my love…

 ____________________________________________________________________________

My son deployed today.  He’s right now en route to Japan, then a week or two later boarding an MEU on which he’ll travel port to port, inching his way closer to dangers I can’t allow to play in my mind.

He ranked up to Lance Corporal on December 20, trained as a Heavy Machine Gunner.  This job title alone hits my emotional ceiling.

I’ve cried non-stop since hugging him good-bye at the airport last night – the end of his 16-day pre-deployment leave at home with us, coinciding with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.  I’m thankful for every moment of our time together as a family.  It was a very good 16 days – the first time we’d seen him in 7 long months.  Now, we’re counting toward his next leave after this 6 to 7-month deployment.

I’m back to sighing a lot through the day – though today was full of fresh and flowing tears.  I found myself sighing a lot  throughout his boot camp experience, extended by 3 months in medical hold.  A continual rhythm of deep breaths, exhales, prayers.  

The tears are here as they were when he left for boot camp, always on the brink of overflow.  That’s okay.  I’m way beyond caring if I cry – except in front of him.  It eats him up inside to see me cry, so I’ve done my best to suck it up around him in the last two days.  I just couldn’t hold out by the time we stopped at the curb for departing flights at the airport last night.

Now, I’m extraordinarily tired.  Pint up emotions will do that.  They demand a greater supply of energy. Like an open window in a blazing building, the tears grew stronger with each ticking minute toward his departure.  Extraordinarily tired is due to a combination of intensifed emotions extending over two weeks: seeing him for the first time in 7 months, sitting close to him in the familiarity of his childhood home, listening to him, talking with  him, watching him, revisiting all the familiar subtleties of his facial expressions each time his thoughts and moods shifted.  I’ve grown to recognize so keenly those subtleties over his 20 years.  

Watching movies together, eating together, hugging him… being hugged by him, now a super-strength man towering head and neck above me.  Watching him nap, cooking for him (a lot; a gift he LOVES that I can easily keep giving to him whenever he’s home), and… totally being out of my normal routine for 16 days. 

Nothing has been of greater importance to me these past two weeks than he and his little sister – our whole family reunited again, and at Christmas!  All professional work halted, ministry was slowed, and friends patiently and graciously stayed at bay as I picked up the fulltime mantle of mothering my two kids.  Treasured, priceless memories that I wish could be bottled up to bathe myself in when I’m missing him so much.  Not possible, though… just the memories and the anticipation of his next leave when he’ll come back home to us for a few days.

As the clock ticked closer to carrying him away from us for another 7 months, deeper grew the tearing of my mother heart, demanding more energy to suck it up and be the strong woman I’ve grown to be.  The volcano of swelling emotions was going to fully erupt at some point, though.  I tried to hang on until after he turned his back at the airport to walk toward his gate.  Uh-uh; I didn’t quite make it.  Just as we slowed to a stop along the flight departure curb, the tears burned and blinded my eyes, flowing down my face. 

EIKKKKK!  I didn’t want him to see me cry, making it even harder on him to leave. It was hard enough for him without my added emotions. 

I climbed out of the front seat while he clamored with his bags out of the seat behind me… then the big, long hug.

“I love you, mom.”  We clung together, him bent forward and me up on my tip-toes to wrap my arms around his neck.  My throat was clogged with tears so that I couldn’t respond for several seconds, struggling uselessly to reign in the storm of tears.  He knew by my non-reply that I wasn’t holding out afterall, as he’d hoped.  That was confirmed to him when I etched out a gravelled ”I love you, too,” and kissed his bearded check. “I miss you already.”  Then I pulled back to look at his face one more time.

“Mom, are you crying?!”  Exactly what he didn’t want.  My tears tear him up - and this was not the picture I wanted to plant in his memory as he was leaving.  Couldn’t be helped, though.  I had tried.  God knows I tried – for days before.  I just couldn’t hold the dam back any longer.   It’s a mom thing, how deep our babies are part of us; and when they must leave us, each step away is a ripping of our hearts attached to them, trailing behind them.

I saw the slight transformation in his face as he steeled and shielded himself against the havoc my tears were creating inside him.  As he would say, “My bad.”  He’s tough.  Very tough.  As tough as they come.  And I’m so proud of him, proud of who he’s become and who he is becoming.  His toughness has served him well, and will continue to serve him well through difficult times ahead of him. 

I quickly chippered up, sucked it up, as he gathered his things and hugged his dad… and I told him again that I love him. I don’t remember what else I said - something upbeat and encouraging about his future, the adventure he was about to embark on, seeing the world, and doing what he needed to do…   Then we watched him saunter down the sidewalk toward the next blank chapter of his destiny. 

It was a 2.5-hour drive back home.  I wept all the way.  Stock in the Kleenex industry will be on the rise this week.  Admittedly, naturally, this time when he walked away, it was more scary than putting him on that bus to boot camp a year ago.  That was a terribly painful time, but as difficult as those weeks were, boot camp seems like child’s play compared to deployment.  It carves an altogether sharper and more deeply painful crevice in a Marine Mom’s heart.  Boot camp not only prepares our Marines, but it serves to prepare and strenghen Marine Moms.

There’s such unrest overseas where he’s headed; a different world than the one we’re so very blessed to know and love.   “Home of the free, because of the brave.”   Thankfully, he’s not yet headed to Afghanistan… but to a simmering Korea.  A lot can happen in a single moment; how much more in 7 months?!  The thoughts of what might be naturally plow unrest through my mind, unearthing my heart to lay exposed to whatever will be.

Contrary to the recital above, I’m a strong woman, deeply rooted in faith and the promises of God’s living and supernatural Word, having again and again been tried, tested, and “refined as though by fire” for 50 (l-o-n-g) years.  So, I know I can do this thing - just like I’ve done every other really difficult thing in my life, all serving to strengthen me for the next challenge.  I dig deep and muster up (like someone else I know), and with determined purpose in my heart and mind, I choose to BELIEVE.

My daily mantra about my son’s 5-year Marine contract is this:  I’m believing he will come home from his entire Marine journey ALIVE, WHOLE, HEALTHY, HAPPY, WISE, and MATURE in EVERY way, in the name of Jesus, a man wholly God’s own.

I imagine this mantra will be tested and tried repeatedly over the next four years, so I also continually ask God to be gentle with my ”mother heart.”  

Go with God, my guy. Enjoy the journey, seeing and experiencing the world at large.  I love you terribly, miss you terribly already, and terribly PROUD of you.  Mom

 ____________________________________________________________________________

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• Out of 3 companies of 70 (210 guys), he was one of only a “handful” who PASSED Swim Week!!!!!   YEAH!  He’s VERY jazzed!!  

To his advantage, he’s always been highly motivated by challenge, especially physical ones.  

• In the ‘high obstical’ race – 3 stories high - (and a RACE, no less!), against another guy, climbing up logs that are gradually further apart the higher up, he won! He said the height and gradual widening of the logs was ‘eerie’, but he won!!  Said he didn’t want to fall on his back into the pit of green water….  (EIKKK!!!)
• In his latest strength test, he ran 3 miles in 24 minutes, 103 crunches in 2 mins., and 14 pull ups.   Was rated ’First Class PFT’.  
• Said his goal for the next strength test is to achieve Ironman PFT:  run the 3 mile in 20-21 minutes; 100+ crunches in 2 mins and 20 pull ups.

That’s my guy!! 

Hey, bud… we’re SO, SO, SO proud of all you are accomplishing in this mind-boggling training!  All this intensive physical stuff – and liking it and being motivated by it, no less, is ALL from your daddy!!  We’re alike in a lot of ways, but not this kind of stuff!  YOU GO!!!!!!!   Love you so much.  Mom 

LATEST PHOTOS AT:  www.moms-of-marines-support.com

YEAH!  GOT A LETTER from our guy!  Long time in coming!!  It was good news for the most part.  Very positive letter, which says a lot for mid-way through.   HE WAS A SQUAD LEADER!!!  ‘Til he got sick…  Yep!  Back in Medical!  Ugh..l. but this time only for four days; poor guy.  Lost his squad leadership.  Disappointing for him, but maybe that’s something he can earn back – I’m not sure how that works.  The rest of his news was really good…  But, he misses us and home a LOT.  Interesting, though, he’s no longer ‘home sick’.  He’s been there so long now that it likely feels ’normal’, leaving him missing his family and home, but not homesick.

LOVED (funny!), his list of things he can’t wait to do when he gets home (my commentary in parenthesis):

1. Take a showers, alone, for more than 120 seconds.
2. Eat real food!  Mom’s home cooking, (Yes, Lord!  That’s the way to keep my baby coming home!!), biscuits & gravy (There’s some Southern in him!), Gracies Pizza with a Coke.  
3. Drive
4. Sit on a couch, watch sports center
5. Nap (I bet!!)
6.  See Dr/ Frank and Massage Therapist  (Uh-huh… I bet you need those!!  Probably feelin’ a little rough by now.)
   AND MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE:
7. Spend all my time with my family & K.  (YES!!!!!!)

One of the best things of all?  Not only is he in a prayer group of 16 (out of 68), but HE APPLIED TO BE A PRAYER LEADER!!!!  (Had to fill out an application….)  WOW!  He wrote about how much Sunday worship recharges him, picks him up and gives him peace and strength.  YES, LORD!!   YES!  Talked about being proud of the man your child has grown to be!  ANSWERED PRAYERS – so early in life!  THANK YOU, GOD!!  He’s grown SO much spiritually, and across the board, through the longevity of this experience.  Readily I acknowledge God’s promises FULFILLED: 

• “In ALL things God works for the GOOD of those who LOVE Him and are called according to HIS purpose.”  YES!! Thank you Lord for proven promises!
• “Train up a child in the way HE should go ( nurturing the unique ‘individual’ GOD created him to be, as opposed to pushing him to be something other than that unique individual), and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  YES!!  Thank you, Lord for proven promises!

And, the other AWESOME things he shared is just so, so, SO awesome for a parent to hear – but treasures I choose to embrace privately from the world.  Just know that YOUR prayers with ours has been, and IS, powerful!!  Thank you… thank you.  Thank you for continuing to cover him in your prayers, and ALL our men and women in service.  Another promise fulfilled:  “The prayers of a righteous man (pure-hearted before God), IS EFFECTIVE!”   YES!  Thank you again.

PRAISE BE TO GOD the Giver of ALL good gifts, the sustainer, Provider, Protector, Empowerer, Healer, Deliverer, Encourager…

We are so, so very thankful to God for ALL the amazing things He has done in and through you – by your willingness, your faith, your trust… your choice.  We are SO proud of you!  So proud of the man you have allowed God to mold and grow you to be so earlier in the journey of life.  We miss you, too… very much.   41 DAYS ‘TIL GRADUATION!!  Love and hugs.  Mom

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nearly 100 days on base; and today wraps up only his second full week of boot camp with the Alpha Company.  

We received our FIRST letter from him since re-entering training.   YEAH!   His letter sounded good.  He mentioned his mental attitude advantage over his team mates as they are all new to the base and militar life.   

Down news?  He’s sick – pneumonia with temp!!  And… suffering from a half torn off big toenail!  OUCH!!   Poor guy.  Any of these three would make the rigors of boot camp a greater challenge.  Thank you for your prayers for him.

You can do this, bud!  It’s who God created you to be!  His healing and protective hand is holding you and you will be okay.  Dig deep and do this thing – because you want it and because God has gifted you to be a U.S. Marine.  We miss you so much and are praying for you.  Mom   

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One week down, 11 to go toward our guy’s April 2 GRADUATION from MCRD SD!!  That will be one proud day for this Marine Mom!

Whew…

Friday’s training was Marine Corp History and Saturday’s was a run…    I can’t imagine the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual challenges this all must be for him and all the other recruits.  Thank you for keeping them all in your prayers with us.

THIS WEEK in MCRD SD training, our guy will be doing:

• Monday: Upper Strikes
• Tuesday: Pugil Sticks I
• Wednesday: Circuit Course Bases
• Thursday: Obstacle Course
• Friday: Counters to Strikes
• Saturday: Circuit Course Bases (again)

Can’t tell ya what all that means, but I’m sure he’s loving the challenges!

We haven’t received a letter from him yet, since he re-entered boot (except for the form letter giving us his address), but hope to hear from him soon.  I’m sending him mail everyday, of course…. but not journaling here everyday ’cause there’s nothing much else to report until we’ve heard from him.

Thank you for prayers for his KNEES (issues do to flat feet)… and overall for GOD’S BEST for our guy!

Thinking of you everyday, bud…throughout the day, continually praying for you, missing you…  Much love!  Mom

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Got the standard boot camp ‘form letter’ from our guy today, giving us his address to write to him.  YEAH!!  It arrived much earlier in the process than we were told to expect it, so this is yet another blessing.  Not only did we get his address today, so we can resume writing to him, but we got a BONUS BLESSING….

Our son signed on with a friend.  They shipped out together on October 19.   For privacy, I’ll simply call him N.  He is graduating TOMORROW!!  Naturally, his parent’s and siblings are right now on the base in San Diego for the graduation.  Today was ‘Family Day’ for them, and they got to see N. for the first time since he and our son shipped out.  Well… THEY SAW OUR GUY today, doing a drill with his platoon, and snapped his picture with their phone, and sent it to us!!   It’s hard to point him out in the picture, but it gives us comfort just looking at it, knowing we’re looking at our son in training action:

We’ve put the arrow pointing to the young man we think is our son, by the look of his form.  It was so exciting to get the photo text from our friends who were just a few feet from him… and with all the recruits there, in various phases of training, for them to see our guy and snap his picture is just a GOD THING!  There have been a lot of those through the past 88 days. 

Today, the training matrix says:  Intro to MC Map.  Yesterday (Day 3) was First Aid, and Day 2 was Interior Guard.  Don’t know anything more than these training day titles.  We can only surmise what he’s learning.  Whatever it is, he’ll do great. 

It’s good to see a glimpse of you from afar, bud… I hope you’re enjoying this courageous, tough thing you’ve been so excited to engage in toward becoming a U.S. Marine.  No matter which career field you choose, we’re proud of you, just because of who God created you to be as YOU, and the privilege to have you as our son.  We love you very much.  Mom

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Got a letter from our guy today – from last week when he was still in Physical Training, reconditioning to merge back into boot camp.   He asks for prayer for his health, loneliness, and his knees.  A continuing challenge for him is that he’s flatfooted and consequently has trouble with his knees, even with arch supports, especially with all the intensive running and marching he’s doing…  Thank you for your prayers.

Today was ‘Intro to MT6′ (arms).  I’m sure he loved that!

I’ve thought of you attending church today, bud…  I’ve thought of your worship of our God, who He is in your life, who you believe He desires you to become through this training and beyond.  We’re so proud of you!  All my love – and hugs!   Mom

Visit our web site:  www.moms-of-marines-support.com

Today is the Lord’s day – even for Marine recruits in boot camp.  Praise God we live in a country whose military still not only allows but encourages the personal practice of religion / faith. 

Today, as with every Sunday, Marine recruits are not simply allowed to attend a church service of their choosing on base, they are encouraged to practice and grow in their faith.  It’s one of the most significant things I appreciate about the U.S. Marine Corps.

It has brought us much joy and peace knowing (often shared from our guy), how much he looks forward to worship during this time on base.  

Sundays are also more relaxed in regiment, giving time to write letters, shop for basic needs at the boot camp store…

Did you know?  Marine boot camp is sectioned off from the rest of the Marine base because recruts are not yet ’Marines’.   They are segregated to their own world for those 13 weeks of training to earn the right (and grave responsibilities) to be known a U.S. Marine. 

I’ve thought of you attending church today, bud…  I’ve thought of your worship of our God, who He is in your life, who you believe He desires you to become through this training and beyond.  We’re so proud of you!  All my love – and hugs!   Mom

Visit our web site:  www.moms-of-marines-support.com

Our son re-entered Boot Camp ‘Receiving’ today after sitting in Medical Hold awaiting surgery, then recovery and re-conditioning – now at Day 82.  It’s been a LONG journey exceeding the standard 13 weeks away. 

He re-entered at the typical Day 5 of Receiving week, called ‘pick up’.  The day Marine recruits are assigned to a platoon and drill sergeant.   Precursor to the 12 weeks of intensive physical, mental, emotional, and psychological training  – known as MCRD – to earn the title (and grave responsibilities) of  U.S. Marine.  The proud. The Few.

Is he ready?   As ready as he could be, especially after being in so long in Medical Hold.  Time not wasted at all spiritually.  Above all else, the Creator of the universe, His Father, His Protector, the One who created him for a distinctive purpose and empowers him to carry out that purpos, his God who makes his path straight is ever beside him, with him… 

Am I ready?  Only with the knowledge above, that my God is with my guy and is all things to him.  He hears and answers our prayers.  Faith.  It’s the only way to gain peace – the supernatural peace “that surpasses all understanding.”

So, here’s the nitty gritty of training, according to the training matrix, this 4th day of Marine Boot Camp, following receiving, is ”Pick up”.   He’s in the 1st Battalion (red), Alpha Company.  Symbolized as:

1st Battalion (red)

Read training details – Day 1

VIEW DAY-BY-DAY TRAINING MATRIX

Well, bud… at Day 82, you’re finally back on track where you’ve wanted and waited to be.  Your goal, your path, your journey full force into Marine manhood and the realities of real life in the real world.  You’re gonna do GREAT!!!  We are praying for you, thinking of you, cheering you on… We love you very much and we’re very proud of you.  I miss you – terribly.  Mom 

Visit our site:  Moms of Marines Support

I’ve wondered all day how my guy is doing, how he’s liking boot camp now that he’s actually back in and busy.  He was ready to roll after sitting in Med Hold for 2 months.   A loooooooong wait, but not wasted!!  “In ALL things God works for the GOOD of those who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose.” 

Today, according to the training matrix, is ‘In house Procedures’.  Can’t find any details on this…  but it sounds like policies.

Got a letter from him today – from last week when he was still in PT for re-conditioning after his surgery.

Thinking of you and praying for you, bud…   12 weeks and counting!! Love you.  Mom

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HAPPY NEW YEAR to our son who today, January 1, 2010, entered PT1 (Physical Training).  YEAH!  While it’s only been four weeks since his surgery, in light of the average 6-8 week recovery, we were prayerfully concerned that he might be re-entering boot camp a little too soon, so we’re thankful he has an additional week of physical strength re-building to ensure his readiness for the physical rigors of Marine boot camp.  

THANK YOU for your prayers as he prepares this week to retake his strength test on Wednesday.  If he passes, he will merge into the Alpha Platoon to continue the 13-week boot camp.  His graduation would then be slated as April 3.  If he needs an additional week of PT, he will enter a different company, slated for an April 10 graduate.

He is VERY glad to be out of Med Hold and working toward his Marine training goals.  THANK YOU all so much for your prayers through these past months and for your continued prayers and thanksgivinging for God’s evident hand on our son in so many ways.  HE IS A VERY PRESENT AND ATTENTIVE GOD!  Nothing escapes Him.  We are ever thankful.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, bud!!  We are SO excited for you that you are moving toward your goal.  YOU WILL DO GREAT!!  We miss you and love you.   Mom

Visit our web site:  Moms of Marines Support

It’s been only 4 weeks since his December 1 surgery.  He said he’s doing well physically and ready to re-enter boot camp.  Toward that end, he was able to do his strength testing on Wednesday this week.   He did very well and just needs another week to gain further strength re-building.  He will re-take the strength test this coming Wednesday, giving him 5 weeks of recovery out of the normal 6-8 weeks, with the hope of merging into a platoon to complete the 13-week boot camp training. 

Happy New Year, my guy!  You’re gonna do GREAT!  DO IT!  Be all God created you to be!   Mom

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Yes…. 49 days in Medical Bay.  It’s been awhile since I’ve written because we’ve been very busy writing long letters to our guy to boost his very low morale.  Surgery dates had been changed on him four different times.  Finally, on Tuesday, December 1, last week, he had his surgery!  Boy, were we ever glad!  We were able to speak with him in the hospital that evening and the next morning.  His spirit had soared, feeling like he was finally moving forward toward his goal again.

I tell ya…  after 40+ days in ‘holding’, nothing to do but read, write, pray, and wait, living with 5-6 others guys who were wanting to go home, thus very low morale, the fact that he still wants to be there and get into boot camp – as low as he’s gotten – hones in on just how badly he aspires to be a Marine.

We’ve see God so amazingly at work for good during these long days of waiting.  One of the positives is the fact that he’s so used to the base now, the environment, the DIs, that when he merges in with new recruits, fresh off the bus, he will be at a great advantage toward his goal to make honor guard for his platoon.  Either way, we know there are many ways in which God has and will continue to make GOOD things out of the extra 3 months he’ll be in over the standard 13 weeks of boot camp.  GOD DOES NOT WASTE OUR TIME OR OUR PAIN.  HE MAKES GREAT THINGS FROM GREAT PAIN!

We’re very proud of you, bud….  YOU GO GET ‘EM!  We’re here cheering you on toward your greatest hopes and dreams.   I love you.  Mom

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Proverbs 13:12 - Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

My son’s medical evaluation for his pending surgery was today.  We learned that his surgery date is further delayed to January 5.  To further add to his discouragement, anger, and frustration, he was told that they would have him recovery no less than SIX MONTHS.   It was supposed to be 6-8 weeks!

There are many critically good things that has happened within him during these past 28 days being in ‘the desert’ to think, reflect, read, and pray over. Things that grow one from a young man into a wiser one, a more focused one on what is most valuable and important in life; a refining fire.

This shared, and not knowing which way the scales will tip in the next two weeks toward him either being discharged to come home, or facing what could an interminably time in this desert.  Our comfort is in ONE thing:  the knowledge that our God is FAITHFUL and will honor the prayers we’ve said over our boy since he was a speck in my womb, and will honor the specific blessings we spoke to him and over him the day before he flew from our nest.  We will continue to stand firm only on GOD’S truths, His promises, and His principles that include:  ”In ALL things (ALL!) HE works for the GOOD of those who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose.”

If you are reading this blog… we are very grateful for your prayers for God’s VERY BEST for our son.

This will all work as just as it is supposed to for your best, my guy.  BELIEVE it.   I love you.  Mom

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Boot Camp – Medical Bay – Day 21

I must admit, the years have gone by with Veterans’ Day being a sort of distant sadness mixed with passing thought on the wings of vague questions – never really ‘close’ to me, personal.  It’s drawn closer now, a little more stark in the fog by the light of our family pushed closer to what it means, what it is really, so very, very personal to so many.  Countless.  A horror mix of extremes – unending sadness and blessed relief, unabashed pride and glorious achievement, gripping and stripping fear and grief…

What does it mean to those who ARE ‘the’ veterans of war?  What would they share with us from the core of their remembrances, carried back to the moments seared into their humanity, a branding of the heart and psyche.  What would they say about war, peace, pride, fear, relief, joy… the love of another that carried them through… ?

It’s hard, really hard to be kept at bay from one you love who needs you, but doesn’t – not in the way he had before…  he grew up.  It’s hard to carry such intensive feelings for one you carried, literally inside you, and through all the growing up years to just… let ‘em go.  A part of you and your heart, mind, emotions, spirit, goes with them.

My guy is really struggling, but his GOD is right there.  Right there standing beside Him, reigning over his heart and his thoughts, and the angels that He has surrounding him until ‘that day’.

Again, I share a most profound quote I recently heart that has embedded itself into my heart and mind.  There are only two days for the Christ-follower:  This day, and That day – the day we will stand before HIM and give an account of ‘this day’.

Make the most of this day, bud.  That is what counts.  I love you.  Mom

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Since I last journaled, we’ve received a letter from our guy almost everyday.  20 days he’s been sitting in Medical Hold making no progress toward boot camp training, and no progress toward surgery.  He has been very discouraged, but GOD has a purpose in this, and I believe I now understand more  clearly what that is.  I believe (by his letters), that  God presently has him in spiritual boot camp and he’ll get out and enter boot camp in God’s perfect timing.

In the meantime, in addition to eating, sleeping, studying his boot camp ‘knowledge’ materials, getting screamed at, and reading his Bible, he can now have books and DVD’s sent to him along with photos and our continual stream of letters to encourage him during the wait.

I’ve sent him a small, flat photo album and lots of photos, several DVD, and a book by Max Lucado that he sucked up the very first day he received it.

He telephoned last night and got to talk with his little sister and dad  for a while.  I didn’t get to talk with him, which is okay, because I’m the one who got to talk to him each time previously that he’s called.  Last night was the first call his daddy and sister has had.  It did their hearts good.

And we’ve learned that he will now have phone privileges once a week.  Thus, the call last night.  PRAISE GOD FOR PHONE CALLS.  When someone you love is separated from you by circumstances beyond your control, that prevents contact or easier access to contact, it really impacts how you value those you love.

If you are reading this blog, thank you for stopping and saying a prayer over our son and all our military men and women serving on OUR behalf as citizens of this great country, our country as a whole, and our world.  We know the times are growing harder and harder, and the Word says that “the prayers of the righteous avail MUCH!”

Hang in there, my guy.  You WILL get your opportunity to work toward becoming a Marine.  I love you.  Mom

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