{ Veterans Day and My Own Captain }

It is fitting, I think, that Veteran's Day should fall in November, the month we are most likely to be thinking about what we are thankful for.  I know I am extremely grateful for the men and women who serve today and who have served in the past.  Today I am thinking about my grandpa who served in WWII, my dad who served in Vietnam, and my husband who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many, many more that I know who have served.  I want to stop for a few minutes today and say "Thank You"! 

 { One of Tim's photographs }

It was an early morning for us today.  I have been sick this past week and just couldn't sleep anymore so I got up and helped Tim prepare for the speech he is giving this morning at a local school assembly.  I am hoping he enjoys it and feels honored as the guest speaker on this day of recognition.  I've heard his accounts from service before, but they struck home in a new way today.  I realized just how important it is to have a perspective of gratitude throughout the year.  I so often take for granted what is behind my ability to be thankful for simple things.  

There are no doubt arguments on both sides, but I was thinking this morning about how our military is completely volunteer.  For the most part, those who serve want to be there and want to do a good job.  I know Tim was glad to go.  I also know and see everyday the toll it took on him.  Every soldier comes back with wounds, physical or mental.  When he talked in his speech about returning from deployment  to American soil and being met by protesters while exiting the plane, it just made me so sad.

A few weeks ago, our pastor preached on the account of Jesus and the ten lepers.  They were all set free to once more live a normal life.  Of those ten, only one came back and thanked Jesus.  Jesus asks him where the other nine are, but the Bible doesn't say they were punished in any way for not coming back.  Tim used this account as the close to his speech and I think it is very fitting on a day like today.  As he said, "turning around to say thank you is just the right thing to do".