This month the focus is on the kids! Here are some ideas of things you can do to celebrate!

Take those kids out for ice cream!

Take a spring walk or bike ride, and don’t forget to take pictures to share with a deployed parent.

A celebration picnic could be fun!

http://soldiersangels.org/gift-for-month-of-the-miltary-child.html go to this link for a free gift (while they last) of a bracelet of dog tags to those children who have a parent that has served in O.I. F. or O.E.F.

Send some We Serve Too! books to your local base as a gift for a class or FRG group of children, or give one to your local library.

Invite the military kids you know who have a deployed parent to a movie or other activity ( this actually makes it Military mom’s day)

Whatever you decide to do, with your own family or for a Military family, remember that the kids do serve too. They are making a sacrifice of missing a parent who defends this nation. To all you Military kids out there, thank you for your sacrifice , and Stay Brave!

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Tonight I am listening to Christmas songs from a CD, playing in the upstairs bedroom. An attempt to lull my grandbabies to sleep, which, thank goodness, is finally working. I think about the last few days that we have been together. We have just had a weekend event that was both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was hectic but fun. Now things are hanging in the balance. Life is about to take some of those hard swings of change.

From the next room , a soft melody, “Mary did you know…“? So true. We do not know the next step, or the next breath if we are honest.
As Paula and I tried to come up with a good analogy for Military life, one from my past seemed to fit best. A mobile.

When my husband and I adopted our baby girl from Korea (the baby is now 23) a caseworker told us that life would be like a mobile. If something is added, or removed, the mobile swings wildly. It begins to settle though, and each person finds his or her own space, and then the mobile balances… for a time…until something is added, or taken away. It helped to know it was not a bad thing, just a normal part of life.

Life feels like that now. We will all have to readjust, balance our weight ,and see how it all settles. Our children are going different directions. Do we stay where we are? Do we take on retirement or another whole new adventure? I wonder if you too are living this analogy? Are you facing deployment? Reunion? A new family member? A move?
Just remember, if you are not now, soon you will be. Change for sure, for all of us. Remember too, the wild swinging is normal, don’t worry, hang on tight, it will be Ok!

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Here it is! We are so excited! This is a great coloring book, substantial in size and feel, and just fun!
We think that kids will love these. The Military phonetic alphabet is great for them to learn, the coloring pages full of humor , with the well loved characters of We Serve too!

Since my grandkids are the We Serve Too! kids, I can’t wait to give them each a coloring book of their own tonight, so cool to have a coloring book with you as the star!

These books would be great for a birthday party, a pre-deployment kids day, a way to keep military kids busy on vacation, a fun way to introduce civilian kids to some things military, a way to teach kids a new way to clarify what they say , a way for new recruits to have fun learning the military alphabet! On an on I can think of ways these coloring books could be used.

The books are 3.00 each, which makes them an affordable way to entertain the kids.
To order call Complete Book and Media at 1-800-986-1775

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Here is just a little taste of the new  Military Alphabet coloring book we are about to release!

In the back, we have this little ditty, written by Paula Johnson, another clever way to help you learn the letters. It goes like this:

Military Phonetic Alphabet

A is Alpha, Bravo-B

C is Charlie Horse and me!

D for Delta , Echo-E

Foxtrot-won’t you dance with me?

G is for Golf , H is Hotel

I is for India (the Taj Mahal). J is for Juliet (she’s Romeo’s dream)

K is for Kilo, Lima is L (that’s the city and not the bean)

M is for Mike as in microphone , N is for November when we love to come home.

Grouchy O is Oscar. Papa-letter P,

Q is for Quebec where saying yes is said, “Oui, Oui!” (pronounced we , we)

R-where art thou Romeo? Sierra-S you see!

T-Tango in U-Uniform

V-Victor…victory!

Whiskey, whiskers W

X-ray-I can see through you! Y -is yankee doodle doo

Z for Zulu- now we’re through!

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The coloring books are on their way! Lots of fun for kids and parents!

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Troop tube has a video for everyone in the Military Family. I came upon this one on service dogs for wounded vets. The story of how these dogs can help is a good one for children who may be coping with a wounded parent…of course they will want a dog to join their family, so make that adult decision before showing the video to the kids! This is a program well worth exploring if you or a loved one are in this situation.

Paula and I are in the research and development phase of our third book for children. This book will address the experiences of a parent returning home wounded.

To those Families living this, we just want to say thank you for the sacrifices you have made and are making. We also want to offer our prayers for the recovery of your family.

Therapy Dogs Help Wounded Warriors Heal

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Today we had lunch with our dear friend Elaine Dumler. Her books   I’m already Home… Again, and her newest, The Road Home, are staples in the Military world. These books give helpful tips, advice and stories of real life Military Families and how they cope with deployment and reunion.

Paula and I are blessed with not only a great business relationship with Elaine (she carries our books in packages with her books),but we share the passion to help and address the struggles common to all Military Families. http://www.imalreadyhome.com/cart.htm :this link takes you to Elaine’s store page that features several packages that have books on deployment, reunion or both, for adults and children to help smooth the rocky road of being separated from loved ones.

If it were not for Elaine’s support and coaching, we would never have had the joy of publishing books that reach the littlest members of the Military Family. We hope you will visit her website and check out all the helps and offerings there!http://www.imalreadyhome.com/index.html

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Paula and I have had the privilege this week of meeting many from the Military Ministry as they have gathered in Ft. Collins at a conference this week. We were invited to attend to get to know this Ministry and the work they are doing supporting Military Families. The commitment and heart of this Ministry is so inspiring! They truly love and honor our troops and the family members that hold down the home-front.

http://www.militaryministry.org/

On the website above you can access help with all the commonly experienced problems that Military Families face . They have materials and people to help you with your marriage, parenting, PSTD, combat trauma, substance abuse,  spiritual growth, devotionals that you can do as a couple  and for the whole family.  They do marriage conferences, Bible studies to strengthen you as you face deployment and reunion, and many other resources that can help you stay a strong , intact family. This is not an exhaustive list of what they offer, so please make contact with this wonderful ministry and see how they can help you and your family.

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I wanted to share with you a new tool Paula and I created, to give a view of the family in transition. A mobile is such a great picture of what it is like to go through the ups and downs of deployment and reunion!

We Used the We Serve Too! characters

to illustrate the family. The mobile sways and dips as things are added or taken away (much like real life). It takes time to regain balance ,and to allow things to settle into a routine that works.

The good news is, all that feeling of unbalance is normal, and when we realize that it takes time, and adjustments (sometimes a very small adjustment ) to rebalance things, it gives us both hope and encouragement to see it through.

One important thing we wanted to express in our mobile, was leaving space for the family member who deploys. This we illustrated this way:There is an empty place, but there is still a presence there. One we suggest not be filled with other things. The danger is, that in our loneliness and need to get on with life, we fill the space, making it difficult for the person who is returning to fit in. To keep this space takes an awareness that it needs to be preserved.

The rest of the mobile is filled with the things of life: parents , friends, lessons, meals, finances, pets, errands, and yes…sleep!

We discuss things that can wait, things that can be taken off, or added (such as support through FRG’s, friends etc..) to make life balance again. If you look closely you will see there is an anchor at the bottom of our mobile. The mobile will work even without the anchor, but is much less stable. Though the mobile may still sway and dip, it is still better balanced with it than without it.

The anchor is what you believe. The thing that is bigger than you are. It transcends your circumstances and gives you a rock to stand on. It is the thing you base you life on. It encompasses the things that you want to pass on to your children. The faith that there is more than just ourselves. We hope you have such an anchor. If you don’t, we hope you will seek diligently with all your heart for what that is. Seek what is true and what is important. When you find that anchor, you will find the priorities will be easier to define, and life will have a new stability.

We hope that this analogy of family life during deployment and reunion will be of comfort to those of you facing these times. That you will be able to balance and re-balance each and every time!

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Paula and I and our small team, (the two of us, Ramona Baker and Beth Johnson), had a fabulous time in Wyoming last week!

We had the privilege of spending two days with 11 military kids at Warren AFB . One part of our program, consisted of preparing and making the Homecoming Boxes. We have a game we play with the Homecoming Box Paula and I have made. Inside are 15 items, and as the kids pull out the items that remind us of stories, then we tell them. After a day and a half, the kids still could recite every item that had been in our Box, and the story that went with them. Just goes to show that the Homecoming Box is a great tool to keep those memories alive. The memories will be even more meaningful, when they belong to them!

We also watched the DVD of the first book, and read the second book to the kids. We learned that age is of no real consequence with the We Serve Too! series. Even our oldest kids, age 12, loved and responded to the books, and the conversations about the content.

Our program ran 6 hours, and the kids loved every minute. At one point we showed them how a book was made (” a behind the scenes”, one child said) and then they did what we call “The Book Game” and created and book of their own complete with “blurbs” written by other children in the group.

Each child received a copy both We Serve Too! A Child’s Deployment Book, and a copy of We Serve Too!2 A Child’s Reunion Book. The parents received a Parent Pack: a copy of the Parent Guide for each book, directions to make The Homecoming Box , Tear Bottle, a sample copy of the Sticker Packs and some website information.

We had so much fun, and really enjoyed the wonderful kids we were with. Our best compliment came from one young man, age 11, who turned and said “I sure hope this program is here for my kids!”

Well, you can’t get a better review than that !

Thank you so much, to Denise Rampolla , Robin Gorsuch, and Bill Breckenridge, for inviting us!

I am posting the photos of a couple of the children’s finished Homecoming Boxes, pending permission to post the photos of the children at our Wyoming National Guard Weekend.

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We finally have it in our hands, and it is everything we had hoped it would be!

It is vibrant in color,  is of good quality ,and we are really proud to offer it to the Military Families whose children serve too!

This book is also good for those civilian children as well, who also have hard times missing parents, or coping with difficult feelings.  I will be writing soon about this past weekend, when we were invited to present a program to children at Warren AFB in Wyoming. We met some wonderful kids there. We learned alot of things. One thing was that even older children, age 12, loved the books. This  confirmed what we had hoped… that the whole family can relate to our simple stories, and that it is a catalyst for family conversations.

I can’t wait to post some pictures of our adventures with books, Homecoming Boxes, and all that went into a wonderful weekend! Right now though, we are celebrating our new release, and are thrilled with the reponses we are getting!

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