During the Holidays, Some Children Will Not See Their Military Parents

In April of 2009, on the way to a VFW meeting right before my husband, COL (R.) Randy LeCompte, deployed for war, our grand-son, Tristen, who was then six asked from the back seat, "Nana, how are we going to keep Papa Randy safe when he goes to war?"  I told him we would pray for him that God would keep him safe, because there was nothing that he and I could do, we are just human beings.  I told him we could pray that God would send angels to protect him.  I firmly believe that the earnest prayers of that little boy and others have been what has kept my husband safe for the past almost five years.

My daughter who served for eight years in the United States Army, married a Soldier.  After 9/11 she left the Arm,y worried that she and her husband might both be deployed at the same time.  She now works in the civilian sector of the Army.  Her husband returned from his fifth overseas deployment back in November.  They are both serving in Germany at this time.  Samantha and Gabby are my two grand-daughters who were born into this military family and have never known anything but the life of military kids. There are thousands of "military kids," and the people of our country, and other countries, should see to it that they do not stand in need of anything while their parent is absent at war.

One of the most defining moments of this conflict for me occurred when Samantha was about four or five and riding in the backseat of the car with her cousin Madie as we went to Walmart for things we needed to cook Thanksgiving dinner.  She was sitting quietly in the backseat, and asked a question that brought home to me the price of war for children who come from military families.  She asked, "Nana, does the enemy have families too?"  I knew I had to answer in honesty, and I replied," probably some of them do".  Then she asked a question I had no answer for.  She went on to ask, "Nana, if my daddy kills their daddy, who will take care of them?"

Samantha playing the Army Song at a school program, Ft. Hood, Killeen, Texas

I have wept many times, for many reasons, as I have thought again of those questions from such a small child.  I have thought of our own countries' children, the children of Coalition forces from countries around the world, the children from  Iraq and Afghanistan, and yes, the children of the enemy.  What a price these innocents have paid over the last ten plus years.

It isn't just the small children of military families that bear the burden of war.  Who more than a young teen needs their father or mother?  The older a child grows, I think the more acutely an absent parent is missed.  The award ceremonies where there is someone glaringly absent from the audience, the basketball games, the broken hearts, and the lectures that should sternly be given, fall to only one parent.  A phone call lecture just isn't the same. Nor is the congratulations offered over the phone, the same as that hug in person that says, "What a job well done!"  The suit picture of prom sent in an email doesn't feel the same as the kidding and smiling faces of proud parents as a young man leaves for prom.  There are pictures with mother, but not with father.  

 

 























There are even grown children who sacrifice holidays, birthdays, and the ability to call a parent on their cell phone for advice, or just to express their love, while a parent serves.  As with every age child of those in military service, some have had a parent return from war never to be the same again due to injuries sustained.   Some see their parent for the last time in a flag draped coffin.  Their sacrifice unnoticed or forgotten by most of the people that it was made for. 

Then there are the babies... infants born while a parent is at war.  I can't imagine labor and delivery without the father of the child I was bringing into the world at my side, but there are women in this country, and in the countries of all those who make up the Coalition Forces who have done just that.  I can vividly imagine however, the thoughts going through that woman's mind, and the state of her heart.  I wrote two poems about these babies who change everyday, who say their first words, take their first steps, cry through cutting their first teeth, and grow each day without the loving gaze of a proud father.  

 Rock Gently the Cradle Lullaby 

Rock gently the cradle of the Soldier’s baby where he sleeps.

Make certain he has no need that you have resources to meet.

Who would not with his life his son or daughter defend,

If an enemy stood in plain sight ready to make that child’s life end?

Somewhere across great oceans a Soldier tonight,

Stands for his country ready to fight.

Keeping watch to protect not only the son he left behind,

He keeps watch too for your son and mine.

For each of us, our children hold fast our hearts,

In order for them to grow up in liberty, someone to war must depart.

Remember the sacrifices of those left behind and take care should they weep.

Rock gently the cradle of the Soldier’s baby where he sleeps. 


I Came Home to My Daughter

There she lay, so warm, pink, soft, and sweet.
When first we finally did meet.

I saw so much of her mother there in her eyes,
The stamp of my own features on her countenance threatened to make me cry.

Wonder at the first sight of my darling daughter,
Swept my soul, and I knew my life she would forever alter.

Feelings too tender for the battlefield,
In that moment caused all my vigilance briefly to yield.

Then I realized more clearly than ever before,
I was called to war because of an evil good people everywhere deplore.

My newborn child and all the children of the world,
Need those of us in service, the flag of liberty to unfurl.

In my daughter’s face I saw the hope of our world and our nation,
Waiting for her contributions, which true peace will hasten.

I knew that in a land far away, where long I had stood the wall,
Children were seeing first hand our intent in the service of us all.

As they watch, I know they too will learn,
Their own hearts for peace and liberty will come to yearn.

In this the power of the enemy will disappear,
The truth of all our brotherhood will finally do away with all fear.

So though my heart longs to stay,
I will again return to the war zone in just a few short days.

In my mind, images of her gentle beauty,
Will give me strength and bring complete commitment to my sacred duty.

Talking by phone with my grand-children is always precious time to me.  I miss them more than I can describe.  Gabby in particular has such a devotion for the ministry we conduct at our little place called Soldier's Heart Ranch.  We didn't know when we first purchased the property and christened it Soldier's Heart Ranch that during the Revolutionary and the Civil War, Soldiers who suffered from symptoms of PTSD, (post traumatic stress disorder) were said to be suffering from Soldier's Heart.  We had, by accident, selected a name that would reflect the cause we would publicly dedicate our home to Memorial Day, 2012.  A statistic of war that you won't find just everywhere, for the statistics are managed so that they do not appear all together, but must be assembled to get the true picture, haunts my mind everyday, and prompts me to dedicate my life to serving families of the military.  In 2010, 462 men and women gave up their lives in combat, 468 took their own lives.  Many of those Soldiers had children too.
 


Our grand-daughters, whose family is stationed in Germany, will not be able to attend this dedication ceremony, and Gabby is probably the ranch's biggest fan.  When she calls me, (almost daily) all she wants to talk about is what is going on at the ranch.  Today when she called she wanted to write a poem about the ranch and "military kids."  So I helped her with making her words rhyme, and here are the results.  Read the words of a seven year old child who does not understand well the meaning of war, but none the less, has sacrificed for her country.  Someone's father or mother must go, for many of our military are women, and surely without the defense made by these men and women, none of our children will know liberty.

 Gabby's Poem  

 

Sometimes even a Soldier needs a quiet place to rest,

When he has worked hard and given his best.

Their children at home offer prayers to God above.

Asking Him to send His protection on wings like a dove.

God hears and answers their sweet prayers.

When their petitions are lifted for the fathers who dare.

To face evil enemies who against our country make war.

Freedom and liberty are what they are standing for.

They ask the Heavenly Father their mom or dad to defend,

As the struggle goes on to make the fighting end. 

I

In this photo you just have to note that Gabby insisted this day on wearing Papa Randy's boot... all day long.

Being in a military family involves many sacrifices.  The rewards can be equally fulfilling as well.  That happens if the one serving makes the time and effort to not only live a life of sacrifice and service before their children, but in that service they carefully communicate the importance of honor and devotion to sacred duty.  The other parent must also support and be committed to service.  That must be evidenced by both parents lives and all they say and do, as the reason they serve.  There is a special set of skills, a special identity, and the knowledge of how to live with purpose "above the common man," as General Douglas  MacArthur stated in his most famous speech, that is the reward that comes to the children of those who truly serve God and country.  They are empowered by the ideals lived before them, rather than being disadvantaged by the sacrifices required.  May God richly bless the children of those who serve, and may His mercy be with all the children who live with the reality of war.

 Samantha, Gabby, Brian, and Rebecca, thank you for your many sacrifices for our country.  Brian and Becky, your father and I commend you personally.  You are both persons of courage who have been through much. Thank you, and we publicly acknowledge all you have given.  Samantha and Gabby, Papa Randy and Nana have watched all you have sacrificed too, you have both done well.  We love you, are proud of you, and hope to see you all soon.

                                                      

How To Love a Terrorist

Previously I wrote about how the primary directive from God calls upon us to love God with all our heart, our soul, our strength, and our mind, and our neighbor as ourselves.  In fact, we are created to do this only by our own choice.  That directive from God emphasizes that God does not need mere men to wage war on His behalf.  The truth is, if He wanted all non-believers dead, they would drop like rocks at His command.  He doesn't need armies for His holy will to prevail, and to me it seems an insult to God for individuals to take up violence in order to force others to love and serve God.  That appears to me to be the ego and pride of individuals controlling their own lives rather than submitting to God's direction.  The leadership of  movements which promote violence and force project the idea that THEY wish to be in charge, to wield power, to rule over others in order to satisfy their own desires, ego, and self pride.

One principle that I am certain of, none of us can control others completely.   You can imprison a man, beat and torture a man, burn his home, kill his family, murder a man, but you cannot control his mind.  God will not allow anyone to remove the stamp of our being that is created "in his image."  With enough torture you can force a man to say things he doesn't really believe, but you cannot control what he thinks and believes, in the secret place in his mind that holds his true self, that part that will exist somewhere forever, cannot be forced. 

Look at God's answer when he was asked by the man, "who is my neighbor."  He answered with a story of a man of one nation, whose nation historically hated  another nation, and the people of the hated nation hated them in return. 

The story He told said that a man from Samaria was on a trip, his journey had him on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, a road so filled with danger at that time that is was known as the "Way of Blood."    On the side of the road he saw a man who had been robbed, beaten, and left naked  to die.  What God said next, he knew would shock everyone listening to his story in reply to the question "who is my neighbor."  It was shocking because he was from Samaria, and the man left to die was from a country with a long history of hating the nation of Samaria.  The people of the two countries were raised by their citizens hating one another.  God told of how a priest of the man's own country saw the injured man on the side of the road, and just passed on by.  Next a man who held a station in that day that was like our modern day  politicians passed by and he too ignored the man.  The rest of the story is best told in the original text I was read from my childhood on up.  "When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.  He set him on his own animal and bought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii and gave them to the host and said to him, "Take care of him.  Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return."  Then God asks the question, "Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?"  The man who had asked the question responded, "He who showed mercy on him."

I realize, I cannot impact nor influence the governments of this world.  I am a person of no importance to anyone other than my family and my friends.  The majority of us are in my same position.  I watch closely the governments of the world in interaction, and there are major differences between some of those governments.  The Coalition Forces are one of the only organizations with mufti-nation participation that I can see which has joined people from many lands in the common cause of standing against terrorism.  I think that is due to the very heart of God's reply to "who is my neighbor?" 
As I said, I have no power over how nations interact, most of us don't.  The man in this story only had control over only  his own response to the stranger on the road as well.  That suggests to me that our thinking toward one another, no matter  what nation we are from, should be controlled by our own response before God.  It also says to me that when others come suggesting violence as a response toward those whose theology is different than mine, they do not have as their motive service to God.

God tells us that He is not a "respecter of persons."   No title that you hold, no position, and no affiliation, impresses God.  Those who have titles given to them by other people that the rest of the world is impressed with do not have influence with God.  He is the only One truly possessing the power of determining standards and rules to live by.  His wisdom encompasses all, it isn't just wise opinion, it is what really is.  Which leads back to those two rules we are to live by everyday, not just the days when things are going well for us, and we are in the mood.   When we are in even the darkest of life, those two rules should be the anchor of our behavior and attitude.  In other words, measure every response of your life by God's directive to love him first, and next love our neighbor.

When the factions in the Middle East who murder and commit other acts of violence claim to do so at God's direction, they are lying, and acting out of prejudices not given them by God.  

The area where I have control is in my own response and to stand against the violence of those who claim their behavior is for God.  






 
  

Message to the Extremists of the Middle East

One of the things I am so grateful to God for is the gift of friendship.  Those women in my life whom I can tell anything to, and not worry about whether they will judge me, spread what I have shared as gossip, or in other petty little ways do mean things to me and others.  The kind of women I am talking about are those "salt of the earth" women.  We all know some of them, and if we are lucky, live our lives in their warmth.  I was privileged to call such a woman Mother.   My mother and her sisters have exemplified all that a woman should be before me my whole life   My father, and his sisters too have been such an example before me.  I have a half a dozen of these same kind of remarkable women as friends and  in close proximity to me at present, and I am more aware of the value of their friendship and care everyday.



My desire, and your desire, for we all possess this trait inherited from our Creator, is to know and be known, loved, and accepted.  That is how we are made in His image. No person can escape the fact that they are stamped in God's image.  That doesn't mean that my eyes get their hazel color from the color God's are.  Nor does it mean if we were standing side by side, you would observe that our smiles are just alike.  When God tells us we are made in His image, He is referring to the longing in God that caused Him to create all that He has, to allow our existence and tthe direction of our own lives to us, and to prove to each of us, our greatest need is to love and be loved by God.

That principle of being created in His image is the most profound truth of our existence, in fact of all of creation.  God longed to love and be loved by beings who could choose not to, if they so desired.  God wants to be chosen, He desiredsto be observed, and judged by us as the One and Only God worthy of love and total devotion, Ephesians the third chapter beautifully describes how He desires for us to know Him completely, the height, the width, the breath, and the mystery of all He  is.  It is sometimes difficult for me to think or ponder on that.  I begin to feel and know just a glimmer of what that truth means personally to me, and I feel overwhelmed, and love for My God fills all of me, and I know He is mine, and I am His, and when it comes right down to it, that is all that is needed. 

This concept was accidentally proven in a "scientific" experiment on human beings conducted at the order of King Frederick II of Germany, that went horribly wrong.  The king wanted to determine what language a child would develop in order to communicate with the world, if they never heard the spoken word.  Being that it was the thirteenth century,  and he was king, he, in his wisdom had 50 babies at their births collected and placed them in his experiment.  He assigned foster mothers to meet the physical needs of the babies.  They were to feed them, keep them clean, and keep them from harm, but never to speak to them, not to hold them  for any other thing other than necessity.  No cuddling, and no soft sounds that we mothers mummer instinctively to our babies.  No "This little piggy went to market," no Twinkle, twinkle little star," and certainly no "patty cake," was heard.   There was no rocking, no cuddling, no intentional touch from another that was made out of love.  He never determined the answer to his hypothesis, for all fifty of the babies died.  Medicine now has a name for this phenomenon of human beings, it is called failure to thrive, and the results are always the same when the same kind of conditions that the king ordered are present.   Human beings, like their Creator must have love.  That beautiful simple statement from the Bible contains the mystery and message of the Universe at its core, "God is love."











Going back to the attributes of God, He is all knowing, and that is a concept that is so profound to us in our limitations, and that is the reason people often question God's love.  Usually there is loss and suffering of some kind associated with this questioning of God's love.  Hurricanes, deadly diseases like cancer, and things like acts of terrorism against your own countrymen are thrown up at God and the question asked, how could a loving God allow such a thing?  There is truth in the question, for nothing happens that God does not allow, but He sees through to eternity, and proclaims to all beings of free will, one day His demonstration of the love will be complete, and all things which bring pain or disappointment, or rob us from our joy will be done away with.  We will no longer bear the separation  pain of death, and we will live forever in His presence and in His love, and with complete and pure love for one another.  Think about what that will solve. 

So many people have the idea that God is trying to fix a mistake He made.  That once Satan decided, "I will make myself like the Most High," and ditched God, convincing one third of the angels to go with him, He had to come up with a plan.  They think God had to figure out how to redeem all those who would choose to love and serve Him.  What God has done in creation is much more filled with amazing love than that!  God knew before He ever put together two molecules of anything exactly what would happen.   For the attributes of God include being all knowing.  He knows what your day is going to be like today, he knows where all the suicide bombers are, and who they will kill today.  He knows every sparrow that will fall and die today.  He knew of course. that Satan would rebel, and consider himself above God.  He knew too that when He put Adam and Eve in the garden and admonished them that they could eat from all the other trees, but not from this one special tree, that they were destined for failure.  However, He also can see out into eternity, what His plan will ultimately bring, and He has declared, you are worth the sacrifice.  As C.S, Lewis said, "You are a soul, you have a body."   Each of us will exist somewhere forever.  For as surely as there is a home waiting for the faithful sons and daughters of God, and the faithful angels of heaven, there is the place of ultimate and forever separation from God, for the only way to rid the Universe of sin, which is denying God's leadership, is to separate those who will not accept that leadership to the "blackness of darkness, forever."

In creating choice, for that is the only love that is satisfying to God or man.   Just ask anyone trapped in a marriage where the couple stays together for the children, or the mate of a cheating spouse, or a child who disrespects the direction of their earthly father, or the celebrity surrounded by people paying them homepage, for what is really loved is their fame, their  talent, and not the person.  There is only one love that is satisfying.  That is the love that is given freely and unconditionally,  for love cannot be forced, only won as we come to know  God fully.  We have to come, as described in Ephesians, into a personal relationship with Him.  That is the desired relationship that compelled God to create all  He did, in the complete knowledge of all that Satan, the fallen angels, and mankind would bring upon His Creation.

God is Holy and Just, He doesn't cheat or play favorites, and He will not look upon sin, or fail to act in complete justice.  The plan that God devised to redeem all who would choose love Him, and make Him King of their lives, was to offer His Perfect Son, to take the punishment due to each sinner.  As the Bible says, we are all sinners, born in sin, with the instinct present at birth.  The gift of salvation and redemption, was paid by God Himself, and because I personally have accepted that gift, and struggle daily to follow where He leads, I am His Forever Daughter. I attempt everyday to demonstrate the love of God, and I still fail, but as a Sunday School teacher taught me, it is an accident born of my human beingness, not a way of life.  By His love and grace, I who am so unworthy, I who fail so much, am pure and holy before my God, for the blood of Jesus Christ has washed me whiter than snow.


This I know of God, He is mighty in power and glory, no individual, no army,  nor any idea can prevail against Him.  Nothing, no video, no weapon, no blasphemy against Him. can overcome Him.  I see His glory and power all the time, and give testimony to what I have seen God do.  Nothing is out of His power, and He needs no man to defend Him.  He breathed the entire Universe into existence, and continues still today to create.  He can take out anyone or anything which stands against Him with that same breath.  He never loses a battle.  He has instructed us how we are to promote Him in this world before non-believers.  The instructions do not tell us to make war, to murder, or to torture.   We are not to brow beat either.  His directions are so simple, so concise, and understandable by all.  "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind."  That is the desire of God from His children, and He follows that with the second requirement, "and to love our neighbors as ourselves."  God says, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me."  We are to share the truth of His love, tell who He is, and He will draw hearts to  Himself.  He will not do it by force, it will be by His love, and by the convert's free will and choice.

God further clarifies that love we are to have,  by describing who our neighbor is.  Tomorrow I will tell you who my neighbors are, but now I have to get busy and go about lifting Him up, and loving my neighbors.  This post is part of my fulfillment to God's command, and if you find your way to this post here today, it is at God's personal invitation, sent to your heart by His Holy Spirit, speaking in the Still, Small, Voice, and He is calling directly to you in His love.

Marines Raising the Flag at the American Embassy Egypt

No Words Needed

 

She is From One Country, and I From Another

I know a woman who has become so important to me.  She is from one country, and I am from another.  She lost her husband in war,  and that makes us knit together, for it is my greatest fear.  Our lives are very different.  She is strong and brave and goes forward and this makes her a beacon in my life.   With great respect for this remarkable woman... humble words of admiration.

Missing Him So Much

Once a woman wrote to me words that my heart did touch.

“Missing my husband so much, missing him so much.”

An act of war took him, no matter how tightly she did clutch.

“Missing my husband so much, missing him so much.”

She and I know that nobility resides more deeply in men as such.

“Missing my husband so much, missing him so much.”

Once a woman wrote to me words that my heart did touch.

“Missing my husband so much, missing him so much.”

This Is Discouraging News to Me

To most Americans "it's the economy stupid" is resounding once again this political season, but the world is smaller and smaller, and we won't give a thought to economics when the bombings and killings are on our soil. 

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-33616361.html

 I am going to assume the reader is intelligent enough to think through this information themselves, and understand the War on Terror is not over.  Priority number one with the enemy is STILL THE WAR ON TERROR.

History needs for Artists to Go to War, They Won't Let Me, I've Already Asked.

They are letting this guy, probably has to do with the Marine thing, and how good his work is.  He needs a little help raising the money to go, so as you help know you are preserving the record of this very long and difficult conflict.  You gift will be a part of "never forgetting."

His name is Rob Bates and I have been to his site.  He is one of those guys who has taken to heart, "once a Marine, always a Marine."  He is going to embed with the troops in Afghanistan, but must raise $5k to do so.  The National Museum of the Marine Corps obviously holds him in high esteem as several of his works are a part of this collection.  He is  a freelance artist/correspondant for WUNC, The War on American Public Media.

I know the reason from my soul that artists must go to war... we see things...  things that a camera has only a one in 10,000,000 or so chance to capture... Those things we see go to our heart and soul, and they must come out, we cannot rest until they do, because we know others see and feel them too.  God has not given to everyone the gift of "seeing deeply," and then somehow the ability or curse of being compelled  and capable of sharing "the seen" with others.
 
Below is the link to give if you can.  If you have the resources, I am sure God will bless your gift, and use it to preserve the record of all that has been given, by "the few, the proud, the Marines."

http://igg.me/p/216213

Gabby's Poem and the Children of War

In April of 2009, on the way to a VFW meeting right before my husband, COL (R.) Randy LeCompte, deployed for war, our grand-son, Tristen, who was then six asked from the back seat, "Nana, how are we going to keep Papa Randy safe when he goes to war?"  I told him we would pray for him that God would keep him safe, because there was nothing that he and I could do, we are just human beings.  I told him we could pray that God would send angels to protect him.  I firmly believe that the earnest prayers of that little boy and others have been what has kept my husband safe for the past three years.

My daughter who served for eight years in the United States Army, married a Soldier.  After 9/11 she left the Arm,y worried that she and her husband might both be deployed at the same time.  She now works in the civilian sector of the Army.  Her husband returned from his fifth overseas deployment back in November.  They are both serving in Germany at this time.  Samantha and Gabby are my two grand-daughters who were born into this military family and have never known anything but the life of military kids. There are thousands of "military kids," and the people of our country, and other countries, should see to it that they do not stand in need of anything while their parent is absent at war.

One of the most defining moments of this conflict for me occurred when Samantha was about four or five and riding in the backseat of the car with her cousin Madie as we went to Walmart for things we needed to cook Thanksgiving dinner.  She was sitting quietly in the backseat, and asked a question that brought home to me the price of war for children who come from military families.  She asked, "Nana, does the enemy have families too?"  I knew I had to answer in honesty, and I replied," probably some of them do".  Then she asked a question I had no answer for.  She went on to ask, "Nana, if my daddy kills their daddy, who will take care of them?"

Samantha playing the Army Song at a school program, Ft. Hood, Killeen, Texas

I have wept many times, for many reasons, as I have thought again of those questions from such a small child.  I have thought of our own countries' children, the children of Coalition forces from countries around the world, the children from  Iraq and Afghanistan, and yes, the children of the enemy.  What a price these innocents have paid over the last ten plus years.

It isn't just the small children of military families that bear the burden of war.  Who more than a young teen needs their father or mother?  The older a child grows, I think the more acutely an absent parent is missed.  The award ceremonies where there is someone glaringly absent from the audience, the basketball games, the broken hearts, and the lectures that should sternly be given, fall to only one parent.  A phone call lecture just isn't the same. Nor is the congratulations offered over the phone, the same as that hug in person that says, "What a job well done!"  The suit picture of prom sent in an email doesn't feel the same as the kidding and smiling faces of proud parents as a young man leaves for prom.  There are pictures with mother, but not with father.  

 

 
There are even grown children who sacrifice holidays, birthdays, and the ability to call a parent on their cell phone for advice, or just to express their love, while a parent serves.  As with every age child of those in military service, some have had a parent return from war never to be the same again due to injuries sustained.   Some see their parent for the last time in a flag draped coffin.  Their sacrifice unnoticed or forgotten by most of the people that it was made for. 

Then there are the babies... infants born while a parent is at war.  I can't imagine labor and delivery without the father of the child I was bringing into the world at my side, but there are women in this country, and in the countries of all those who make up the Coalition Forces who have done just that.  I can vividly imagine however, the thoughts going through that woman's mind, and the state of her heart.  I wrote two poems about these babies who change everyday, who say their first words, take their first steps, cry through cutting their first teeth, and grow each day without the loving gaze of a proud father.  

 Rock Gently the Cradle Lullaby 

Rock gently the cradle of the Soldier’s baby where he sleeps.

Make certain he has no need that you have resources to meet.

Who would not with his life his son or daughter defend,

If an enemy stood in plain sight ready to make that child’s life end?

Somewhere across great oceans a Soldier tonight,

Stands for his country ready to fight.

Keeping watch to protect not only the son he left behind,

He keeps watch too for your son and mine.

For each of us, our children hold fast our hearts,

In order for them to grow up in liberty, someone to war must depart.

Remember the sacrifices of those left behind and take care should they weep.

Rock gently the cradle of the Soldier’s baby where he sleeps. 


I Came Home to My Daughter

There she lay, so warm, pink, soft, and sweet.
When first we finally did meet.

I saw so much of her mother there in her eyes,
The stamp of my own features on her countenance threatened to make me cry.

Wonder at the first sight of my darling daughter,
Swept my soul, and I knew my life she would forever alter.

Feelings too tender for the battlefield,
In that moment caused all my vigilance briefly to yield.

Then I realized more clearly than ever before,
I was called to war because of an evil good people everywhere deplore.

My newborn child and all the children of the world,
Need those of us in service, the flag of liberty to unfurl.

In my daughter’s face I saw the hope of our world and our nation,
Waiting for her contributions, which true peace will hasten.

I knew that in a land far away, where long I had stood the wall,
Children were seeing first hand our intent in the service of us all.

As they watch, I know they too will learn,
Their own hearts for peace and liberty will come to yearn.

In this the power of the enemy will disappear,
The truth of all our brotherhood will finally do away with all fear.

So though my heart longs to stay,
I will again return to the war zone in just a few short days.

In my mind, images of her gentle beauty,
Will give me strength and bring complete commitment to my sacred duty.

Talking by phone with my grand-children is always precious time to me.  I miss them more than I can describe.  Gabby in particular has such a devotion for the ministry we conduct at our little place called Soldier's Heart Ranch.  We didn't know when we first purchased the property and christened it Soldier's Heart Ranch that during the Revolutionary and the Civil War, Soldiers who suffered from symptoms of PTSD, (post traumatic stress disorder) were said to be suffering from Soldier's Heart.  We had, by accident, selected a name that would reflect the cause we would publicly dedicate our home to Memorial Day, 2012.  A statistic of war that you won't find just everywhere, for the statistics are managed so that they do not appear all together, but must be assembled to get the true picture, haunts my mind everyday, and prompts me to dedicate my life to serving families of the military.  In 2010, 462 men and women gave up their lives in combat, 468 took their own lives.  Many of those Soldiers had children too.
 


Our grand-daughters, whose family is stationed in Germany, will not be able to attend this dedication ceremony, and Gabby is probably the ranch's biggest fan.  When she calls me, (almost daily) all she wants to talk about is what is going on at the ranch.  Today when she called she wanted to write a poem about the ranch and "military kids."  So I helped her with making her words rhyme, and here are the results.  Read the words of a seven year old child who does not understand well the meaning of war, but none the less, has sacrificed for her country.  Someone's father or mother must go, for many of our military are women, and surely without the defense made by these men and women, none of our children will know liberty.

 Gabby's Poem  

 

Sometimes even a Soldier needs a quiet place to rest,

When he has worked hard and given his best.

Their children at home offer prayers to God above.

Asking Him to send His protection on wings like a dove.

God hears and answers their sweet prayers.

When their petitions are lifted for the fathers who dare.

To face evil enemies who against our country make war.

Freedom and liberty are what they are standing for.

They ask the Heavenly Father their mom or dad to defend,

As the struggle goes on to make the fighting end. 

I

In this photo you just have to note that Gabby insisted this day on wearing Papa Randy's boot... all day long.

Being in a military family involves many sacrifices.  The rewards can be equally fulfilling as well.  That happens if the one serving makes the time and effort to not only live a life of sacrifice and service before their children, but in that service they carefully communicate the importance of honor and devotion to sacred duty.  The other parent must also support and be committed to service.  That must be evidenced by both parents lives and all they say and do, as the reason they serve.  There is a special set of skills, a special identity, and the knowledge of how to live with purpose "above the common man," as General Douglas  MacArthur stated in his most famous speech, that is the reward that comes to the children of those who truly serve God and country.  They are empowered by the ideals lived before them, rather than being disadvantaged by the sacrifices required.  May God richly bless the children of those who serve, and may His mercy be with all the children who live with the reality of war.

 Samantha, Gabby, Brian, and Rebecca, thank you for your many sacrifices for our country.  Brian and Becky, your father and I commend you personally.  You are both persons of courage who have been through much. Thank you, and we publicly acknowledge all you have given.  Samantha and Gabby, Papa Randy and Nana have watched all you have sacrificed too, you have both done well.  We love you, are proud of you, and hope to see you all soon.