Hinterhof by Ja…

Hinterhof by James Fenton

Stay near to me and I’ll stay near to you —
As near as you are dear to me will do,
Near as the rainbow to the rain,
The west wind to the windowpane,
As fire to the hearth, as dawn to dew.

Stay true to me and I’ll stay true to you —
As true as you are new to me will do,
New as the rainbow in the spray,
Utterly new in every way,
New in the way that what you say is true.

Stay near to me, stay true to me. I’ll stay
As near, as true to you as heart could pray.
Heart never hoped that one might be
Half of the things you are to me —
The dawn, the fire, the rainbow and the day

“Hinterhof” by James Fenton, from Yellow Tulips: Poems 1986-2011. © Faber & Faber, 2011.

Be an Angel

When I first decided to adopt a soldier I had no idea how to go about it, so of course I did what I always do…research!

Now that I have a lot of experience I thought that it would be helpful to create a Guide to Supporting a Troop.

You can do something to support a member of the armed forces no matter how much money or time you have. From sending a card, writing a letter, sending a care package, donating $1 or more, all the way up to adopting a deployed service member and committing to sending them care packages and letters every month. You can even sign up just to write letters, or get an email friend.

Let’s start with the very least you can do: donate money.

There are lots of military charities out there, but how do you know which ones are trustworthy and which ones will do what you want them to do? Well here’s where I donate money when I have it.

1. Magazines for Troops: This organization is a Mom and Pop shop run by a couple who gets magazines to deployed troops. You can submit the information of your service member and they send a big box of all kinds of magazines to them. They’ve done this for all my adopted service members and it’s been such a wonderful treat for them. There is no charge for this, but they ask for donations to help defray shipping costs because it’s $13.95 for every box they send. I try to send them money whenever I can to help contribute towards the shipping they’ve paid for my guys at the very least. A very worthy cause and you can contribute any amount.

2. Homes for Our Troops: This is a very highly rated charity who builds free specially adapted homes for disabled veterans who have just returned from combat. They also have a store whose profits go towards the charity. I bought this year’s Christmas Ornament from there, stickers for my car and try to pitch a few buck their way whenever I can.

3. The USO: The USO is known worldwide for providing comfort to deployed and traveling troops and their families. I know this firsthand as my soldiers have Skyped and chatted with me from USO’s where they’ve gotten Internet Access and a place to sleep while deployed. They also have on base centers where many of my soldiers are deployed with Facebook pages and I love being able to keep track of what’s happening locally. So I donate to them and help them when they are fundraising.

4. The SemperFi Fund: This is the highest rated Military Charity bar none according to Charity Navigator and they provide immediate financial relief in the wake of catastrophic injury.

5. The Battle Buddy Foundation: An organization that focuses on PTSD and Service Dogs for those that have it. This is a passion of mine and I particularly like the way they are using technology and their Facebook to share stories.

When I first decided to send care packages, at first I couldn’t find a way to adopt a soldier. I found other things though. I found a way to send cards to injured Marines who were recovering and just needed cheering up. So that was one of the very first things I did. It’s not hard to send a get well card.

Next I found a place where you could send a single package to Any Soldier. This was an especially great organization because it focused on Soldiers and Marines who don’t often get care packages. You go to the site, go to this page and read the rules, then go to this page and pick your contact. Every unit who has signed up has a representative who receives care packages sent to the address you pick, and then distributes what you send to the soldiers who need it most. This way you have no commitment to a specific soldier. Some of the representatives post pictures of the unit so you can see a little bit about them and get updates.

Next I found Adopt A Hero where I adopted a Marine. I inundated him with letters, cards and care packages after looking him up on Facebook. I also used something called MotoMail which you can only use to send stuff to Marines and some Navy people. It basically sends an email to a post near where your Marine is, prints it and then hand delivers it. This is useful if your Marine is far away from a main Forward Operating Base or FOB for short. The Marine I adopted through this program is in a primitive area and has only sent me one email. It can be hard to maintain your excitement when you are reaching out to someone, writing letters, sending treats and things and getting no feedback but this can actually be the norm. You may never hear back. They are in combat situations, they don’t have time to write letters to strangers. If you do this, remember you are not doing it for you, you are doing it for them.

I wanted to write more letters and I had heard about Soldier’s Angels so I went to their site. In order to get on their Letter Writing Team I read that you have to sign up and adopt at least one soldier through their program. They have a $5 sign up fee to qualify you and make sure you are a real person. I signed up, adopted a soldier and also got on the letter writing team. My soldier was from Mississippi which is near me so I was excited. I did a search on his name and even found a mention of him at a deployment picnic the town threw for his unit and then found his Facebook page and looked at anything I could see publicly as a way of sparking ideas on how to write my introductory letter.

What I’ve discovered is that Soldier’s Angels doesn’t explain the process of adoption to the soldiers so I usually do that myself now. The first thing a soldier will receive once he signs up are letters from the letter writing team. Eventually he will be adopted by his own personal angel but it might take a little time because there is a waiting list… as I write this 187 Heroes are awaiting adoption. When I joined it was almost 400. So, eventually they get adopted and their personal angel will contact them. I also include this information when I send a letter on my Letter Writing Team assignments now. But when I adopted my first soldier, I didn’t know this. When my current soldiers come home and I get a new one, I will be sure to explain it all to them up front.  As an angel my job is to send one package a month and a letter a week to my official adopted soldier. With my current adoptee, I send a package a month, but we talk almost every day on Facebook or Skype and I also send cards and include a letter or card in his packages. Sometimes I send him little extra stuff too if he mentions something… like his feet are really cold, then I find some extra warm socks for extreme weather because Afghanistan and Mississippi are very different.

When you send a package you can include all kinds of things. I like to include specific items the person likes of course. I wheedle that information out of them. There are tons of lists out there to start you out, just search “care package advice.” But mine is this… start with the basics. The first package you will probably have to send blind. So send a box of assorted candy bars, assorted snack size chips, protein bars or powder, tuna packets, gourmet beef jerky and some basic toiletries. Only send high quality toiletries. No hotel minis. Gillette Fusion Razors and shaving gel, deodorant without a strong cologne, small shower gels, chapstick, mini vaseline, new toothbrush. Things like that. Don’t send home baked stuff, don’t send too much junk food.

Since Priority Mail service supplies are the packaging of choice for families preparing care packages for service members overseas, the Postal Service created a “Mili-kit” based on the items most frequently requested by military families.
The kit contains:  Two Priority Mail APO/FPO Flat Rate Boxes. Two Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Boxes. Priority Mail tape. Priority Mail address labels. Appropriate customs forms.  To order the kit, call 800-610-8734. It will come free to your house. Once you pack it up take it to the post office. Sending the full package costs $13.95

Instructions for filling out the customs forms are attached to the form itself. You can’t send pornography, liquor or anything under pressure or flammable.

Once I was a member of Soldier’s Angels and writing letters, I also found out about their ePal program where you could have an email friend. So I signed up for that. My ePal became such a close friend. He had a baby while he was deployed around the same time my grandson was born. We had great long conversations via email and then on Facebook chat. I enjoyed hearing about his family and his future plans and brainstorming with him. I sent him books and care packages too, even though it wasn’t a requirement, but because I cared about him and wanted him to have what he needed. He sent me things too. I know that I will very likely meet both my adopted soldier and my ePal when they come home.

The Letter Writing team has also been amazing. I signed up to send out 6 letters a week and got 2 names 3 days a week. For a long time I got no replies, but eventually I got one. Then another and another. Most replied via Facebook or email and I always included instructions on how to do that. Now I have several Facebook friends who are deployed who I met through the letter writing team. 2 of them I have become special friends with. I send them treats and talk to them almost every day on Facebook and sometimes on Skype.

During the holidays I went down to 2 letters a week, you can adjust the number of letters you send according to how much time you have to give.

I think I enjoy shopping for care packages and sending them off the most, and getting to Skype my soldiers and see them enjoying the things I’ve sent makes me very happy. At Christmas I did send some homemade candy that kept very well and was a big hit. I really loved watching one of my adopted soldiers eat one.

So you can do all kinds of things to support a troop. From the smallest amount of time, to a way of life, like me. If you ever have questions or know a soldier or Marine who wants to be adopted or needs help, just email me at stjonclark@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to jump in.

I have to caveat my endorsement of Soldier’s Angels because they have terminated my membership simply because I created this page and shared my experiences in hopes of encouraging more people to join their organization and adopt. Apparently the founder mistakenly believed I was attempting to set up a competing organization and didn’t bother to read or understand the purpose of the page and simply had me terminated. Because of this kind of thing, along with their failure to communicate effectively with the soldier’s enrolled, I’d say their biggest weakness if this lack of communication. I still think they are a great organization and they have access to so many deployed soldier’s and provide support for new people that they are worthwhile. I am disappointed that they have treated an advocate of their’s so poorly.

I will be exploring additional options going forward and will add to the list as I review them.

You can Like my Angel for Soldiers page on Facebook if you want to get the latest tips on supporting troops at home and abroad.

Loving Forward

It’s a new year and it’s time to catch up. I have spent the latter part of the year in a kind of grand experiment. In addition to adopting 2 soldiers and a marine and sending 6 letters a week through Soldier’s Angels, I decided to offer to listen to anyone who needed someone to talk to online. I did this in a limited and controlled fashion and also talked weekly with my rector about the experiences I was having. 

I started this experiment for a number of reasons. The first was that I discovered a site where there were many lonely and desperate people who seemed to need someone who cared and who would just be there and be present for them. I am made to care and love so it was a perfect fit. It called to me so strongly.

I have also been considering whether to go into counseling in some form as a career once my books are published and this seemed like a way to see whether I would be able to deal with some of the emotional requirements of that role. 

If I even helped one person it would be worth whatever grief I suffered. 

So, did I suffer grief? What was the result of my experiment?

Well it hasn’t concluded, because when I signed on to be present for people I signed on for good or as long as they needed me. Again, that’s just part of how I’m made. Loyal and devoted to a fault. 

But I have met some people who became very dear to me because of their sorrows and their triumphs. Some just needed to talk over decisions that were weighing on them and they had no one they could seek advice from. Some sought a parental relationship, guidance, support and encouragement. Some were just lonely and wanted company. Some were in crisis and because I have been there myself I was able to reach out and take their hand. Some have become friends I know I will keep because our relationship grew from me listening, to me sharing in return. Some have already said goodbye because they no longer have need of what I offer. 

I think that was the hardest thing. Letting go when they are ready to. Because of course, I get attached to each person I help. I fall in love with each person a little bit. I can’t help but see the beauty in each person when they share themselves and it is captivating. The more time I spend with them, the more I care. I don’t look for anything in return of course. But to no longer see their face or hear their voice when they are ready to move on is the hardest part. To no longer be able to check on them or worry for them when for weeks they were my concern all day, every day is painful. To no longer be allowed to care. This is where the grief comes in. I knew it would happen up front and that makes it little easier to bear. I gladly pay the price for having known each person for even a short while. They were a blessing in my life as I hope I was in theirs. But it still ouches.

You know I’ve written about loss and accepting it, how it is such a natural part of life. The thing to do it stay open, accept and love anyone you feel love for. Know that it will hurt when you lose them and spend your energy on learning how to recover from loss effectively instead of building walls to protect you from caring. Walls don’t work anyway. You end up caring and hurting no matter how hard you try to keep your distance. 

So I let myself have a few days watching marathons on TV and sleeping in. I stare at their pictures and talk to them through my prayers. I think of all the things I wish I could have done with them or said to them. I carry a memento of them with me that I can touch as I go through my day. These little things help me move forward. I might not “get over” people or be able to stop loving them, but I can let them go on without me. For myself, I can keep my memory of them close and honor the feelings I have by paying them forward, always ready to love again. 

 

The Kiss

Some of you may not know I am a fan of comics. Recently DC relaunched Justice League and I’ve been hearing things. Superman is the ultimate hero for me, I love that he’s so pure. I also like WonderWoman, I pretended to be her often. Underoos, anyone? So I was amazed and thrilled to discover that they had ditched the always needing rescue Lois Lane and had Superman and WonderWoman fall for each other! WHAT?! That is AWESOME. Here’s a the cover for the most recent issue:

The Kiss Cover on Justice League 12

So I  stopped by a Comic shop while in Montgomery today and picked up the first 5 in this series, yeah #12 was completely SOLD OUT and I was a little bummed because I HAVE to get it. The owner of the shop is apparently at DragonCon in Atlanta and hopes to get a few there. The man at the shop today offered to put one aside for me if he gets any, so I will stop in on Wednesday to check when I go to tutor. Here’s today’s haul though:

My Justice League Comics 1-5

I love Sundays. I am enjoying the church I am attending in the Montgomery area and am looking forward to my first tutoring session on Wednesday. Attendance was light today due to it being Labor Day weekend but my mother was able to join me which is always a treat. Afterwards we had brunch together and then did a little grocery shopping. There is a Fresh Market in Montgomery as well as a Publix and I like to stock up on things like fancy tea, Turkey PerkyJerky and my favorite chocolate bar. You most definitely will not find these things in Troy at the Super Wal-Mart, Piggly Wiggly or Food World.

We aren’t doing anything too special for Labor Day. I’ve been  laboring quite a lot lately so I hope to relax, see a movie, and finish setting up my new Marine/Afghanistan Care Package project. Fun stuff in other words.  I just need help getting a logo together for it and then I’ll launch the blog/Facebook page/Twitter as well as start advertising it locally on cable access and at local businesses.

In fitness news, I continue to meet my goals. I’ve added more Yoga to the mix after discovering I could do some pretty amazing poses. I’ve always been super flexible, and in Yoga this can really be used to my advantage to get into advanced positions that not only give me a great workout but feel amazing too. I can do two pull ups now which I am quite proud of. I will consider myself really impressed when I get to five.

On September 7th I am going to see Tony Bennett in concert in Biloxi which should be fantastic. My mom scored free tickets and we are staying the night. That’s a nice little vacation to look forward to.

A Prayer for the Lovelorn

Recently I was listening to a friend describe some challenges in their love life and I was filled with empathy and sadness for them. The person they are in love with is what I refer to in my own mind as a “transactional lover.” To them love is an exchange. They provide their idea of love to get something in return. Sometimes what they are seeking is affection, rescue, financial security, comfort, friendship, even company… it can be many things. In exchange for it, they will be your lover, your partner, they will try to give you what you ask for.

The problem with these relationships is that both partners end up feeling that they are trying to earn each others love. On the one hand, the transactional lover feels obliged to give in to the partner to appease them to earn what they need from the relationship all the while resenting it. In their minds, they are earning, buying and paying for that “love” and they want whatever they feel they’ve negotiated.

The less transaction based partner who is unaware of this may just love unconditionally, gives freely and doesn’t really understand the dynamics at play. It may seem to them that no matter how much they give, reassure and love, it never seems to truly satisfy the transactional lover. They aren’t reassured, they can’t seem to really just settle down and commit to the relationship. It might feel that they always have one foot out the door. It’s true, because for the transactional person, the earning and striving to transact IS the relationship. The need to maintain the ability to walk away is how you maintain the power to renegotiate terms as needed. With a transactor, power always resides with the one who is most willing to walk away.The concept of loving unconditionally is foreign and unbelievable and the idea of willingly giving up power and being vulnerable to a loved one to demonstrate commitment seems a special kind of insanity.

The mismatch between these two styles can be incredibly painful, primarily for the person who is capable of unconditional love. Because most transactional lovers will see someone who is strong enough to love this way as weak, will view them as easily manipulated and have little respect for them. Their indifference, power games, inability to recognize the gifts they are being offered are deeply offensive to the psyche of the more open and vulnerable unconditional lover who is laying their whole heart out in a display of remarkable courage.  Unconditional lovers see this relentless manipulation and game playing by the transactional lover and often choose to overlook it and give anyway, out of love. They hope that somehow security and repeated demonstrations of acceptance, reassurance and love will eventually soothe the soul of the person they love. Alas, in my experience it doesn’t happen.

If someone doesn’t believe in unconditional love, they are not only unable to return it, which is what my friend really deserves, they are unable to see it, believe it, even accept it from someone else.

The hardest part when you are in such a situation is acknowledging that there is nothing you can do to help them see the world the way you do. If you think about real love, true love…think of your mother, father,  your children, of course they don’t have to do anything to earn your love. They just are, and that’s enough. You’ll know someone is important to you when it’s not what they do for you or how they make you feel, so much as when you think of them you are just so happy and filled with warmth and joy that you know them. Their existence is enough for you. That’s real love.

It’s hard to let go of people. It’s hard to learn how to lose. Accepting loss is one of those things I’ve written about before. It’s just a part of life that has to be faced, embraced and lived. It will hurt. It will heal. It takes time. I personally work hard to stay in a place of acceptance every day. I choose to believe that those of us who love unconditionally are blessed. I know I found my way here through many struggles and losses. I finally believe I deserve to be loved the same way in return. God loves me this way. I have him if no one else. I love people this way and that’s OK. If someday, God wills it, perhaps someone will look into me and find me that lovable as well.

I pray this for my friend. I hope they come to believe that the ability they have to love deserves that kind of love in return. I hope they come to believe that happiness and joy can be their lot in life. There is no one I know that deserves it more. They have been through so much, learned how to make good decisions from making bad ones, drawn close to God and they have one of the most generous and giving spirits of anyone I’ve ever known. I hope that they can trust that God will see them through.

So I’m sending out a special poem/prayer for my friend. It always makes me feel better, find a little peace:

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,

For you are my Father.

prayer of abandonment – charles de foucauld

Invisible Hugs

In my last post I mentioned that at a very difficult time in my life I had prayed for God to let my life be useful to others. It’s still a prayer I say every night and it sustains me daily. Every time an opportunity appears for that to happen, it’s almost like I’m receiving a special invisible hug from God. It really can transform the way you experience your daily life.

It reminds me of an experiment I once tried that was so successful that I have just adopted it as my modus operandi. Pick a person in your life, or it can be a random colleague or co-worker. Preferably this would be someone who you find challenging to get along with. Now, the experiment is to find one thing a day to sincerely admire about that person and then find a way to mention it or compliment them about it. I know! It’s REALLY hard at first. Especially if you are angry and resentful at that person, or if they have hurt you.

You have to force yourself to drop that stuff for a bit, step back and look at them with open eyes. At first just find something easy. Maybe notice some task they are good at, or their vocabulary, or attention to detail! Maybe they notice what you do or don’t do all the time, darn them! Well, that can also be a strength. Think about that until you believe it’s one. Then let them know how you’ve been meaning to tell them that you really admire that attention to detail. It’ll be awkward as heck at first. They will be suspicious. They will think you are being insincere, flattering them, trying to get something from them. Just keep your cool, mean it and leave it at that. Then do it again the next day. Find something else, mention it and move on. It’s a discipline, like any exercise it requires effort and practice.

After a few weeks, don’t be surprised if they confront you and ask you why you are acting so nice to them. They might accuse you of secretly hating them and want to know what you are after. Just tell them the truth. Tell them you realized you hadn’t really taken a good look at who they were, and the more you got to know them, the more the “real them” began to shine through. Be sincere. What you will discover is that being honest, sincere, and vulnerable with people and just making yourself look into them and then talking about their positive traits will change everything in the way you see them, the world and the people around you. Try it. I dare you.

Switching gears a bit, I am going to talk about some kind of mundane stuff for a change now. At my consulting job a couple of the gentlemen I work with have started calling me by a nickname which I confess totally delights me. I just LOVE nicknames. My name is so unusual and I am fond of it and I guess it really suits me so people don’t generally give me nicknames. A couple of my best boyfriends figured this out about me and gave me sweet endearing ones and I was total goo. I especially liked the ones that liken me to cute animals. Who doesn’t right? I am fond of Otters for example. They live in the water half the time and so would I if I had the chance and who doesn’t want to be considered as adorable as one? Then there’s variations on the term Smidge because I’m kind of little. So nicknames are cool. They call me Cinnamon at the office here …which is great because it’s my favorite spice, I’m a total cinnamon junkie and because it sounds a bit like my name sounds:  Cinnamon= /SinJun/ So Yay Nicknames!

I got sent a few of those “greatest proposal ever” videos with these big elaborate dance numbers or intricately choreographed moments with family participation and it seems sweet and overwhelming and everything. Then I was nearby when my Mom was watching a show she follows called “The Glades.” In it, the main character is struggling with his feelings for his girlfriend in the season finale. She is in Atlanta studying while he is in Miami working. They are dealing with long distance relationship issues. Other women are hitting on him. She is guilty for taking this time to go to school for herself. But they love each other. She finally passes this big test and she is out celebrating with the women who have been training her. She decides not to call and tell him, but to drive home and tell him in person the next day as a surprise. She doesn’t have to though because he walks into the bar they are at, smiles, congratulates her and asks her to come outside. He tells her they need to talk and starts to explain that he can’t do this anymore. She objects and says she loves him, she knows they can figure out a way to work things out. She has this horrible he’s breaking up with me look on her face. He shakes his head and says he doesn’t know how they’ll work it out, but he does know he can’t do this anymore. He looks down, then he gets on one knee, pulls out a ring and proposes!

Jim Longworth Proposes to Callie Cargill on the TV show “The Glades” on A&E

He says, I need to know that however we work it out, we know we are going to be working it out together. Will you marry me? She is stunned and that’s how they end the show/season.

Why do I bring this up? Well, I think this is one of the more romantic proposals I’ve seen. That may sound crazy, but here’s why. He is full of anxiety about this relationship but he finally has an epiphany that what is bothering him is that he doesn’t ever want to lose her. So what does he do? He doesn’t waste a minute, he drops everything, he goes right then to a store, buys a ring, flies to Atlanta, tracks her down and basically falls at her feet to beg her to marry him. I mean…that is ROMANTIC. That’s what I want. I don’t need or want elaborate, fancy or prepared. I want someone who is crazy in love and desperate for me to say yes and can’t wait to get to me and ask for me to be his for the rest of his life. No dance, lip sync, art gallery opening or trick will ever top that. Do you agree?

Moving on to my next mundane topic…the show Political Animals: If you missed it, get ye hence and go watch it. Especially if you are a lady. Sigourney Weaver is amazing as always.

Lastly I have noticed that since I have moved back down to Alabama my total crush on big trucks has come back. Plenty of them around here too. Sikorsky, the helicopter plant is here and there are lots of truck driving men around here. They take good care of them too. A very entertaining young lady who works at the plant where I am consulting drives her boyfriend’s massive Dodge truck to work every day with its Hemi and shiny rims. It’s very intimidating when I park next to it. I think I am just feeling bad because my beat up little Nissan is really starting to sputter a bit. I’m afraid it may not last much longer. I do coax it and talk to it daily. It does its best. I miss my Audi. I really shouldn’t though. I am afraid the car buff and technology junkie in me are the pieces that cling the hardest to the materialistic mindset. Of course the girly girl within whines about my formerly frequent mani-pedis, the fancy salon and my shoe budget but I am quite the frugal fashionista now and proud of it so I can shrug that stuff off. Easy to beat that back simply by thinking of other things that money could go to, charitable stuff!

But the part of me that lusts after a nicer car with a powerful engine and smooth suspension, along with a jack for my phone so I can play Spotify through the speakers? The eternal whisper of the need for a faster, stronger laptop, an upgraded phone soon…oh and how am I even living without an iPad? Those are the hardest to ignore.

I prefer to leave such acquisitions in the hands of God now, I would rather let him provide. Not at my pace, but his. It helps me practice another discipline I mentioned not long ago, that of patience. Practice as you know, is the only way to improve.

Speaking of improving, I had my tutoring orientation for church today and it was super exciting. I met new people, I got this book

Tutoring Your Elementary Child with TLC

I volunteered to maintain a Facebook group. I already got assigned a student! We get to have dinner with them and then spend about an hour helping them with homework. How awesome is that? See? Another invisible hug from God.  How can an iPad compete with that?

Let my life be useful to others…

I got excellent news today, the artist who is designing the cover art for my upcoming book sent me the comp today and it is GORGEOUS! I am so thrilled. I did a little happy dance and promptly began showing it off to everyone in my immediate vicinity. We all agreed that fans will be tattooing it on their bodies in no time. Well, we thought it would not be at all surprising if they did.

The big news where I am is Tropical Storm, sure to be upgraded at any moment to Hurricane Isaac. Accuweather.com which is my preferred weather source is much calmer than the others so I recommend their site in the event of Weather emergencies. I can hear the wind blustering outside even though he’s just brushing by us. My sister and aunt came to stay with us to get out of harm’s way in Mobile where there’s more likely to be unpleasant power outages and wind and water damage. We might get some power outages here in Troy but they will likely be brief and a few squally storms and blown down limbs isn’t out of the ordinary. It’s nice to have them visit. I’ve missed them.

Meanwhile in other projects: I’m doing a little something to make me happy called OperationPAL through MarineParents which aims to send support and encouragement to wounded Marines. Here are the first two cards I am sending. I plan on picking up a couple more tomorrow to mail.

My first two letters to OperationPAL

I included my new Personal Cards from Moo.com so they would know who the card came from. I recently printed both business cards from VistaPrint and Personal Cards from Moo.com and they both arrived today. The difference in quality was really stunning. VistaPrint’s were on thin shoddy paper with weak inks. Moo.com’s were on thick over sized card stock with vibrant colors on both sides. No contest really.

So I’ve mentioned the other projects I am actively working on: The book, the consulting, the Veterans project. While researching the Veterans project I came across another thing I can do now so I will be rolling that out in a day or two. It will involve sending care packages to Marines in Afghanistan. My first contact represents a small group and my second represents a battalion, both from North Carolina that is hoping for some support. The small group is of 50 males and his description says:

Their electricity is provided 220 generators, they live in tents and have very few supplies to cook. They do not have electric stove tops.

The other contact represents a battalion also from North Carolina and they have over 500 males and 40 females and the contacts descriptions says:

75% live in cans (I investigated and this is some kind of hut or could be just cargo containers retrofitted to sleep in) / 25% live in tents and sleep on cots. They have 110 electricity in 90% of the areas their power source is generator. They have no cooking ability. 25% have refrigerators. They have no microwaves.

I will be creating a new page on my blog about this and providing a list of things I will be collecting as well as providing a link if you can pitch in a few bucks to help buy stuff to add to the boxes. You can help with money, or you can pick up or collect the stuff I am accumulating and send it to me… that would be awesome as well. I will make sure it gets packed correctly with the right customs forms and that nothing illegal gets sent. I will also be soliciting donations in my local community. One thing they hope to get are things like Magazines. I know I can collect those at my fitness center and it’s likely some of the other items they want might come in through there too.  So look for the new page with all the details on my blog to go live soon, I’ll be taking pictures of the packages and posting them as I send them! It should be fun.

While continuing to research the *big* Veterans project, I discovered that my regional VA office has an interesting training program and I have inquired into it. Hopefully I will be able to share more details soon but it’s one of those discoveries where you are like, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?! because it is so right up your alley and everything you want to do.

I also heard from the church I’ve been attending in Montgomery about transferring my membership there, so I went ahead and got the paperwork together today…I was hoping to go to a tutoring volunteer orientation there on Wednesday anyway so the call was serendipitous. It allowed me to sign up for that.

Lots of very meaningful stuff! Thank God for answering my deepest prayer, let my life be useful to others.