Thanksgiving thoughts & Soldier's Christmas

Good morning! As I was rushing my kids off to school this morning, and it was a rush today... I was so thankful to return home to my little house all cosy and protected. I was thankful to have breakfast to eat where so many do not ever have food to eat in the morning. I was grateful to be pain free today and know I can work on more slippers for Red Cliffs later. Thankful my husband still has a job even though he can't live at home with us right now. Grateful for the many trials I have been chosen to receive will on this earth... all designed just for me to make me stronger and more Christlike.

I know I take so much for granted, so many things I consider my 'right' when they really are deep blessings from a loving Father in Heaven... not from some anonymous spirit being, without body parts and passions, but from a real, true, loving Father in Heaven who knows me better I know me... we were in fact created in HIS image... not just our spirits but our bodies too. He IS real and His Son is real. They are separate, one in purpose, but not in being and that makes it so much easier to comprehend how they could really, REALLY love and know me. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit has allowed me to have this knowledge as it brings lasting peace to my soul.

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CHRISTMAS Slipper PROJECT... wanna join me?

I know many people read my blog who knit or crochet and I would like to extend an invitation to each of you to please make 1 (or as many as you want!!) pair of slippers for a grandma or grandpa who is currently living at Red Cliffs Nursing home in St. George, Utah.

I have been asked to make 50 pairs, Crafting Angels and I have been asked, I should say. I have one pair done so far and really could use some help. Even one pair of knitted or crocheted slippers will help tremendously. Maybe as you are watching the game on TV or the Parade, you could start working on a pair? Here are some patterns:

http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/winter.html

If you would like to join me in this endeavor, I would need them by Dec 12th.

Please mail to:
Bev Qualheim
(Crafting Angels-slippers)
PO Box 427
Logandale NV 89021-0427

And PLEASE include your email address in the box or on the outside by your addy or somewhere so I can let you know when they arrive. One of the ladies I normally ask just lost her sister to cancer on Monday and she is out of town. So Crafting Angels is short handed as most of our volunteers don't knit or crochet. I know everyone is super busy at this time of year. I am in the midst of making scarves for family members for Christmas, so I have slippers on a hook and scarves on knitting needles in my house right now. =)

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Hope all of your Turkey Day activities are planned out by now and that everyone on here has somewhere to go tomorrow to eat and be with friends or family.
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I would like to share a poem that was emailed to me. I am including all the info that was on this email as I am not sure who wrote it... thinking the person at the bottom did so I don't want to miss out on giving him credit cos it really says it all! God Bless Our Military. We love you!!!

Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest,
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight,
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve,
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold,
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, my wife and my child,
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "It's really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my father s before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother,
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long,
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can.
Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S.service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. 
Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think
of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrifice themselves for our freedoms
back home, protect us from terrorists and countries creating weapons 
to destroy America and other free countries!

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

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Hug the ones you love today, and reach out to those who maybe don't get so many hugs...

Love and much thankfulness and joy to all
BevQ