An American Child

The other day I was in Office Depot...dragging all four of my children on an errand. I got up to the register and the woman said I looked like she was going to look the following week. I said, "oh, really?" She went on to tell me that her daughter in law was having surgery and her son was on his third tour in Iraq and couldn't be there to help take care of her and the kids so she was going to go do it. I wished her good luck and we went out to the car and got in, buckled up...the first song on the radio was I'm Already Home by Tim McGraw. Well, if you haven't heard it, it is a letter written by a soldier to his wife...he has died, and this is the letter that he has written to her in the event of his death. His home is Heaven...only a one way ticket over there. I sat in the parking lot and listened to a song I have heard dozens of times. I like the song a lot and I always sing along. But in that moment I heard it a little differently...those men and women carry letters...written to their loved ones so that when they die, they can say I love you, just one more time. And I am so thankful for all of them, serving, sacrificing their lives, time with their families, seeing their children be born, being halfway around the world while their wife has surgery...with chains around their necks that will identify their bodies, with letters in their pockets that will be mailed or carried to their loved ones...

Since Ellie turned two while she was still in the orphanage, we decided to have her birthday party and welcome home party a little late...what better day to welcome her to the USA than July 4th?So, friends and family brought coolers and chairs, towels and buckets, shovels and sunscreen and we all converged on the beach on the most crowded beach day of the year! We brought out tons of chicken, chips and cake and we played and had such a good time in honor of our little girl being home. Ellie got to see her first fire works show, hold sparklers, and sport her country's colors celebrating right along with the rest of her American brothers and sisters...this year, I am a little more than proud to be an American, I am thankful I am an American child and so are my kids...Happy Independence Day.