COMMITMENT.... and ADOPTION.


Laurie is very nearly finished with the first phase of her program - the most difficult part which is the exam and bookwork part of it. In keeping with my privacy policy of not giving out too much specific information about my soldiers, I can only say that the program is unique, nearly impossible, (both to get into and to stay in) and very demanding. Most soldiers need to be there without their families to make it through....which is maybe the most difficult part of it all. This is why we had guardianship of Kasey during the year that Stephen was deployed. Most students who have their family with them do not fare as well in their exam grades - many do not make it.
For the entire time she has been in school, Laurie has found that getting up in the wee hours of the morning to study has been easier than cramming til midnight and then getting up to go to school. She has found that she is just too tired at night to do more than two hours of studying and have it stay with her. But the year's nearly over and she will be returning home to live with Stephen and Kasey very soon where she will complete the second part of the program. We are so proud of their commitment to each other and to their goals - not an easy thing to be loyal to the demands of the Army and to their marriage with all the demands of their career. But there will be a time of adjustment for them all no doubt. It's been a time of constant prayer for this mom and grandma..
Along the way, in our conversations with Laurie, she has mentioned many of her friends. Some because she has taken an afternoon to go to a movie with one of them, others because they are having issues with classes or exams. It's' nice to think that she has good friends with whom she can commiserate and study with. Sunday night she told me she was going to study for a little while with a girl who needed to get a 92 on Monday's exam to pass the course. So I added a few prayers for her friend Emily - not to mention an extra prayer for Laurie that she would concentrate on the exam and not on how Emily was doing.
Last night I got an email - Laurie got 98 and Emily got the grade she needed as well. One more exam tomorrow and they will be done.
After I read the email from Laurie I found that I was giving thanks for two young women - my own soldier and another young woman I have never met. Not that my little prayers made the difference, but it was the fact that, along the way, in Laurie's military career, God has brought us in touch with so many soldiers and their families who we come to know - some only through Laurie mentioning them.
So is it all about adoption of these families? Maybe not.
I think it's just a deep respect we have for the commitment these young men and women have, and the sacrifices they make which endear them to us.
Whatever it is, and whether we ever meet or not, Ron and I are thankful for their presence in our children's lives, and feel privileged to "know" them all...if only through conversations with the Father of us all.
God bless our troops - and those who love them.