{"id":1556,"date":"2014-12-10T14:52:37","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T14:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2014-12-10T14:52:37","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T14:52:37","slug":"17-days-christmas-far-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=1556","title":{"rendered":"17 days: Christmas far from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we went with the Boy Wonder on a college tour as he is narrowing down his choices for next year. Door decorations on one door stopped me in my tracks. In bold black and gold lettering, the suite door read, \u201cMY AIRMEN IS CURRENTLY DEPLOYED!\u201d Below the lettering was a small chalkboard with \u201c148 days left\u201d written in beautiful penmanship. The village (which is the name for the building) was absolutely stunning, but those holiday decorations made my eyes fill with tears.<\/p>\n

During my blog\u2019s long hiatus, I was filling in as a long-term substitute teacher at a school I hold dear for a teacher whose family had recently gone through a trial eerily similar to the one my family has walked. My heart was to help in any way I knew how \u2013 even if it meant I had to stretch. And stretch I did as I was teaching Social Studies (which I love but which is not my area of expertise). Science and mathematics \u2013 like riding a bike, I tell you.<\/p>\n

In my first hour of the day, the last unit we studied was World War I. On a few of my final days, we reenacted the Christmas Truce of 1914 when German and British soldiers not only held a cease-fire for 24 hours, but also celebrated Christmas together by entering No Man\u2019s Land. They exchanged rations as presents and sang carols in native tongues as well as collaboratively in Latin. So far from home, yet a piece of home was present in their hearts in the humanity and generosity of the moment.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

From The Illustrated London News of January 9, 1915: “British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Headgear: A Christmas Truce between Opposing Trenches”<\/p><\/div>\n

A year ago, my family was \u201csupport staff\u201d to our dear friends while their Captain was mobilized far from home. We prayed, encouraged, called, texted, e-mailed, visited, and prayed some more while our soldier was away from his family. I don\u2019t know if it was his recent and safe return home that made my eyes a little more weepy when I saw this door or if it was the reminder of so many families who too were paying an often forgotten sacrifice to keep my family free and safe. The\u00a0families on the home front pick up the pieces left by the absence of a dear one while serving on active duty while all the time hoping that their loved ones are safe. Life doesn\u2019t stop back at home.<\/p>\n

Families soldier on.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It is not easy. It is not fun. It is dang hard work. It is emotionally exhausting. It is physically, mentally, and sometimes spiritually draining.<\/p>\n

There is no other choice except to keep living.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

The families of our military service men and women do IT every day \u2013 without recognition, without fanfare, and without hoopla.<\/p>\n

This Christmas, I am asking each of you to do something kind \u2013 boldly, bravely and courageously, for a military family. If you don\u2019t know of one personally, I am including\u00a0the link for Holiday Mail for Heroes <\/a>(which is now completely organized by the Red Cross). \u00a0If you think that a card doesn\u2019t matter, I personally invite you to my house for a glass a sweet tea and a trip down memory lane with my husband, who for over twenty years\u00a0has saved\u00a0every (I mean EVERY) card, letter, or drawing he received when he was on active duty during Desert Storm.<\/p>\n

Be Brave! I know me and my peeps will be!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we went with the Boy Wonder on a college tour as he is narrowing down his choices for next year. Door decorations on one door stopped me in my tracks. In bold black and gold lettering, the suite door read, \u201cMY AIRMEN IS CURRENTLY DEPLOYED!\u201d Below the lettering was a small chalkboard with \u201c148 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[105,1087,1088,1089,1090],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}