Monday, December 30, 2013

The Best Christmas Present of All for My Military Family

We have been busy celebrating Christmas since Christmas Eve.  If you include the Christmas Eve dinner we had with my confirmation mentee and our own Christmas Day morning celebration of just the four of us, we have had seven Christmas get togethers.  This holiday season has made us feel very blessed and we felt very fortunate to have my youngest sister home from her deployment for Christmas.

My sister during her deployment ceremony in November
(She is third from the right.)
In mid-November, my youngest sister was deployed on a peace keeping mission in Kosovo with her Aviation Support Army National Guard Battalion.  When they deployed in November they traveled to Texas for some pre-deployment training before heading overseas.  Luckily for us they won't officially be traveling to Kosovo until after the New Year and that one of the casinos in Iowa donated a bus to pick up all of the soldiers to bring them home for a few days for Christmas.  It really meant a lot to all of us to have her home for a few days because we won't see her now until November 2014.  The group is suppose to be home in time to spend Thanksgiving in Iowa.

This isn't the first deployment for my sister and most likely not the last.  Each deployment is unique and hard in its own way.  While in Kosovo we are hoping and planning on her having better access to internet so we are able to video chat.  This is a big deal to me and my family as LP and MP continue to grow.  My sister will not receive any leave during this deployment, so that is another reason why we all will want to be able to not just email back and worth, but hopefully set up video chats.  I know deployments of today are probably easier than deployments before the days of Internet access, but they still are hard on families at home and soldiers that are stationed away.  So as we all continue to celebrate the holidays, remember our nation's soldier and their families.

The best Christmas present of all - my sister home from deployment
My sister and I the night before she had to go back

5 comments:

  1. Very thankful for her and all who serve in the military. Kyle has enlisted in the Army and will leave as soon as he graduates from Iowa State in May. Praying for safe keeping for all the military and their families.

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