Yes! I will be flying out in September! Woo hoo!

awww ~ how wonderful That is sooooo cool !

Congratulations!!! Proud Grand Papa & Family!

Thank You for Your Brave Service in the Military

I'd like to also thank your Sons & Daughter for their Service

Sending Blessings for them & their Families

Prayers & Love & Thanks from all of us here

< our Online Family on JustSayHi/Mingle2 >

Thaks Vanessa!

Weapons

There are many types of weapons

But the ones that hurt the most

Are the weapons made of memories

And the deadly midnight ghost

Not all wounds are red and bloody

There are wounds that touch the mind

These are wounds that always fester

They're the never healing kind

Why are we who've done our duty

Plagued by wounds that never heal

Made by weapons of our memories

Which are worse than lead and steel

Medals

Don't envy a man his medals

All those ribbons on his chest

He did not try to get them

They're not there at his request

They were earned in stinking hell holes

Where no man would like to go

Or in cold and wintry places

Where there's only ice and snow

He did not know he earned them

Till they were awarded at parade

And they were bright when he first got them

But in time the colors fade

He was told he had to wear them

And to wear them all with pride

But when the memories come to haunt him

Those same medals make him hide

Cause those medals will not bring back

All those guys he left behind

And he would trade them all forever

For a little peace of mind

So don't envy a man his medals

You don't want to take his place

Thinking back to long gone battles

And meeting dead friends face to face

Of course, Anytime, Steve !

Love and blessings to all our military personnel! and yes, even to the commander-in-chief Bush, cause he needs our prayers too. His job is hard and he made some bad decisions and he is going to need a lot of prayers and support when he leaves office

BAGHDAD — Nearly twice as many U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq so far this month, marking the lowest death toll of the Iraq war and the first time that the American military has suffered more casualties in Afghanistan than it has in Iraq .


As of Tuesday, 11 U.S. service members had been killed in Iraq and 20 in Afghanistan in July, according to icasualties.org, which tracks coalition casualties in both wars.

If the July statistics hold for the next two days, they'll mark the lowest American military death toll in Iraq since February 2004 , when 20 service members were killed, and the second highest toll in Afghanistan , after June, when 27 U.S. troops were killed there and 29 Americans were killed in Iraq .

In all, 29 NATO and U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan this month.

The American military is debating shifting more troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and expanding its counterinsurgency strategy there. Adm. Michael Mullen , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that the military can't send more troops to Afghanistan unless it draws down more in Iraq , despite the surge of violence around Kabul and southern Afghanistan .

"I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach, to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq ," Mullen said earlier this month at a briefing at the Pentagon. " Afghanistan has been and remains an economy-of-force campaign, which by definition means we need more forces there."

Some in the Pentagon have suggested that the U.S. send a strategic reserve unit of Marines based in Kuwait . On Tuesday, Geoff Morrell , a Pentagon spokesman, said that while there were "pockets of problems we are concerned about" in Afghanistan , the situation wasn't yet dire enough to send a unit that usually was called up as a last resort.

The numbers suggest that the biggest threat to U.S. troops in Iraq is Sunni Muslim extremists, not Shiite Muslim militiamen. In Afghanistan , the threat is from Taliban fighters, who've reorganized and are using the same kinds of explosives to target coalition forces that once dominated Iraq's landscape.

Of the 11 deaths so far in Iraq , two were soldiers who were kidnapped nearly a year ago and whose bodies were found July 9 in Jurf al Shakur, south of Baghdad . One midshipman died in a nonhostile incident. The remaining eight were killed in predominantly Sunni areas, places where the U.S. military thinks that the group al Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni extremists are trying to reconstitute.

In Afghanistan , 16 soldiers were killed either by explosives or rocket-propelled grenades, nine of them in an attack on an outpost in Kunar province. The remaining four died in nonhostile incidents.

In Iraq , violence is at its lowest level since March 2004 . Earlier this month, the last of the five "surge" brigades left, leaving about 140,000 American troops in Iraq . Gen. David Petraeus , the top U.S. military commander in the country, has said that he'll consider further withdrawals this fall.

In an interview earlier this week with McClatchy , Petraeus said that it was premature to declare victory in Iraq . Sunni and Shiite extremists are trying to reconstitute themselves, and the Iraqi military will need American support for some time, he said.

The U.S. military began supporting Iraq in an offensive Tuesday in Diyala province, one of Iraq's remaining hot spots, composed of nearly all of Iraq's sects and ethnic groups. That could lead to a spike in American deaths next month.

Petraeus, who this fall will become the commander of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan , is expected to employ his counterinsurgency approach— which many attribute to the dramatic security turnaround in Iraq — against the Taliban.

More troops in Afghanistan may not be enough, however. The country's tribal system is more complex, its terrain is more rugged and the coalition structure is more complicated than in Iraq , and Taliban and al Qaida fighters have a haven in neighboring Pakistan and are sustained in part by profits from the opium trade. Only 30,000 troops will fall under Petraeus' command there; the rest are under NATO's authority.

Last year, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sent the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, roughly 2,200 troops, to southern Afghanistan to bolster struggling British forces. But the Pentagon has stressed that the deployment was an "extraordinary, one-time" commitment.

In all, 4,124 American service members had been killed in Iraq as of Tuesday, and 561 have died in Afghanistan .

Lord God, I don't know why these horrible wars must happen


i don't understand why people must endure so much pain & suffering & die


You are The Giver and The Taker of Life

You & only You created us & have the Master Plan


You know all the answers


& will judge us & bring justice in the end



Mold us into the very best that we can be

Let us all become bright shining Mirrors of your Heavenly Light


Restore peace, & love & respect

for all of mankind on our Mother Earth

& love & appreciation of the Planet

and for all living things ,


end suffering & bloodshed

on this planet for all of eternity


please God , help us...

Enlighten us and brighten our paths !!!


I ask that you daily Bless & Protect Those Brave Warriors


Serving in the Mighty Military


Giving their All to Protect Our Lives & Freedom


We Pray for our Soldiers & All of our Troops

the Men and Women overseas, & those here

Protect them always, when they are at War

Keep them Safe when They return Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0fLlvRsjc&feature=related
James Taylor's exquisite rendition


The Water is Wide

An Irish song


The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I

A ship there is and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not so deep as the love I'm in
I know not if I sink or swim

Oh love be handsome and love be kind
Gay as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew

when cockle shells turn silver bells
Then will my love come back to me
When roses bloom in winter's gloom
Then will my love return to me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4TtUP_QmZQ&NR=1
Long ago & Far Away

James Taylor

Long ago a young man sits
and plays his waiting game
But things are not the same
it seems as in such tender dreams

Slowly passing sailing ships
and Sunday afternoon
Like people on the moon I see
are things not meant to be
Where do those golden rainbows end?

Why is this song so sad?
Dreaming the dreams I've dreamed my friend
Loving the love I love
To love is just a word
I've heard when things are being said

Stories my poor head has told me
cannot stand the cold
And in between what might have been
and what has come to pass

A misbegotten guess alas
and bits of broken glass
Where do your golden rainbows end?
Why is this song I sing so sad?

Dreaming the dreams I dream my friend
Loving the love I love
to love to love to love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AaGZEzUz0M&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkIiaaXUjlE&feature=related




You Can Close Your Eyes

Album: The Best of James Taylor





Well the sun is surely sinking down,
but the moon is slowly rising.
So this old world must still
be spinning round
and I still love you.

So close your eyes,
you can close your eyes, it's all right.
I don't know no love songs
and I can't sing the blues anymore.
But I can sing this song
and you can sing this song
when I'm gone.

It won't be long before another day,
we gonna have a good time.
And no one's gonna take that time away.
You can stay as long as you like.

So close your eyes,
you can close your eyes, it's all right.
I don't know no love songs
and I can't sing the blues anymore.
But I can sing this song
and you can sing this song
when I'm gone

Psalm 9: 9-10

The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble,

And those who know Your Name
will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken
those who seek You.

On Wings of Eagles

But they that wait upon the LORD

shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as Eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Psalm 91:1

{{{ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High God ~

shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty }}}