Blue Star Banner

You have probably heard of the service star flags, or seen them displayed. I have one in the front window of my home and a sticker version on the back of my van. Mine have two stars because I have two sons who are Marines. Others may have one, two, three, or even more. These flags first came about during World War I and were hand made by mothers. They are displayed during times of war, and each blue star represents a son or daughter currently serving our country. A gold star represents a service member that was either killed in action or died in service. Recently I have also heard of silver stars to represent a service member injured while in service. I bought both my banner and my sticker at my second son's bootcamp graduation, but they can also be ordered on the Internet. To me, the banner means that not only am I proud of my sons, but I am also proud of my country.

On the sidebar to the right you can see a list of "Blue Star Blogs". These are blogs by either parents or family members of our service men and women, or others who support our troops. Beth at Blue Star Chronicles has helped me post the list. I've botched her instructions I'm afraid, but she is patiently helping me work it out. :) Be sure to visit these blogs!

Snow

Who says it doesn't snow in Texas? Look what we woke up to this morning. Hope everyone made it to work and school OK. The streets are very icy, so be careful.

More on the Packing Party

I received a whole CD full of pictures of our packing party today from Tom, the Elks District Vice President. He and his wife took some great pictures for us and got some better shots than I did, so I thought I would share some of them with you. This one shows Becky and Tanya being interviewed for the channel 11 news.

Here's our Lubbock Marine Parents banner. We used it for our booth at the 4th on Broadway and the Wolfforth Harvest Festival. Be sure and look for us again next year at both.

Look how full these boxes are! Some of them took two of us to get closed and taped shut.
Thanks again Elks and all of you who helped! We love you!

Spotlight on Dustin

Dustin is the son of Lubbock Marine Parents member Curtis, who is himself a former Marine. He is a 2006 graduate of Frenship High School and left for bootcamp only a week after graduation. Some Summer vacation, huh? He has wanted to be in the military as long as he can remember, but decided in his Sophomore year that he wanted to be a Marine. He lost 40 pounds while in the Delayed Entry Program and another 30 pounds in bootcamp. He is currently at 29 Palms, CA for his MOS school and is at the top of his class.

Give Thanks

"O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."
-Psalm 107:1 (KJV)

We wish you all a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow. We have so much in our country and in our city to be thankful for.

More Pictures

I just couldn't resist adding some more pictures of our packing party. This one shows all the hygiene items that we placed into gallon size plastic bags so that the food items would be separate. When the boxes were being filled, all we had to do was put one of the bags into the box. Each bag had soap, razors, deodorant, shaving cream, toothpaste, a toothbrush, mouthwash, q-tips, wet wipes...you get the idea.

Look at all the elves filling the packages!

Here are all the goodies ready to be loaded up. Isn't it an awesome sight? I don't want to forget to mention that in addition to the 251 individual boxes, we are also sending 2 large boxes to the company commander that he can distribute. One contains all the games and footballs that would not fit into the flat rate boxes, and the other is a huge box full of Starbucks coffee and coffee grinders.

Ralls Elementary

Thank you Ralls Elementary teachers and students for all the goodies you donated, the help packing, and all the letters. You are a great group and I know the Marines and soldiers will love those precious letters!

251 Boxes

We met the mail carrier at the Elk's Lodge this morning and he picked up 251 boxes! His truck was full to the top, but he managed to get them all. Hope he didn't have to stop suddenly on the way back to the post office! ;) Unfortunately I forgot my camera this morning, so I didn't get any pictures. Above is one of all the boxes loaded and ready to be taped up and labeled yesterday. They are now officially on their way!

Packing Party

The packing party went SOOO well today! We had so many wonderful helpers and so many donations. We have 250 boxes, stuffed full, ready to go out in Monday's mail. We never expected this much. The Elks were just the BEST and have our never ending gratitude. They made hamburgers for all of us, and were so sweet and helpful. Well, if you can call all those big, burly men "sweet"! ;) We would never have been able to pull this off without them. They have even offered to let us have our next packing party at the Lodge. We plan to do a Valentine's mail out, and will let you know the details on that as it gets closer.

We had an assembly line set up and it went like clockwork. Each person grabbed a box, and went down the rows of tables putting something from each category into the box. We also had Christmas stockings for each box. We will have 250 happy Marines and Soldiers in the next few weeks. We just can't thank you enough for your help. We are humbled by all the love and support you have shown to our group and to our Marines.

Here's Tanya doing her Vanna White impression to show off all of the boxes. This isn't all of them though! Believe it or not there were about 30 not yet in the pile.

Wow!

We are overwhelmed by your generosity Lubbock! We met tonight to start sorting the items to get them ready for our packing party and we just couldn't believe all the items that have been donated. We are so blessed to be a part of such a loving, giving community. Please join us, if you can, this Sunday at 1:00 at the Elk's Lodge at 34th and Milwaukee for our packing party. Bring a goodie to share and your Christmas spirit!

Psalm 91

This is one of my favorite Psalms. It is one that I pray often for my own sons as well as all of our military. Two of my favorite verses in this Psalm are verse 2 "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.'", and verse 4 "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler." I can just picture the wings of God hovering over our loved ones and gathering them to Him. My Bible opens itself to this page! :) Please remember our military in your prayers, especially those unable to be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Nathan and Caleb

Nathan and Caleb are good friends who went to bootcamp together. They are also good friends of Crosby who was three weeks ahead of them in bootcamp. We are so proud of them both! Caleb is currently at Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton and is getting ready to head to Pensacola, Florida for MOS school this week. Caleb is on the left in the picture and Nathan is on the right. The following is from Nathan's mom, Cheryl.

Nathan has talked about being a Marine since he was about 12-years-old. That has been the only career goal he has talked about.At 17, he joined the Delayed Entry Program and began working out and participating in
Marine activities. His best friend's brother became a Marine the previous year and his best friend had also signed up for the Delayed Entry Program. They were joined by other close friends and became a strong group with the same goals and interests. After graduating from Lubbock High School in 2006 and turning 18 in June, Nathan headed to boot camp in July. He became a Marine Oct. 13, 2006. After his leave and a few weeks as a recruiter's assistant, he is currenlty back at Camp Pendleton getting ready for Infantry Training.
His family, including Mom and Dad , two sisters and extended family, are very proud of his accomplishment. His paternal grandfather( whom he never knew )was a Marine during World War II, and his maternal grandfather served as a Marine in the 1950s.

Happy Birthday Marines!

On this day in 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to create two battalions of Continental Marines for the War of Independence from Britain. Today they celebrate 231 years of serving our country with tradition and honor and President Bush will dedicate the National Museum of the Marine Corps. It is located in Quantico, Virginia.

Happy 231st Birthday Marines!

Spotlight on Chad

Chad is a 2005 graduate of Lubbock High School where he was a member of the Naval Junior R.O.T.C. During his senior year, he was part of the Delayed Entry Program for the U.S. Marine Corps. He graduated Boot Camp in October 2005. Chad is currently assigned to the Lubbock Marine Corps Reserves as part of the 6th Motor Transport Battalion and is serving a tour in Iraq. Chad comes from a long line of military family, most recently including an Army grandfather, an Air Force uncle and a Navy uncle. Chad would like one day to become a 2nd grade teacher. We are all so very, very proud of the young man he has become and the choices he has made for his life!!!!

Chad is the son of Lubbock Marine Parents member Sherry.

Another Great Recipe!

Here's another great recipe. This one is from Becky. I think it will ship really well and our Marines will love it.

Sweet n Spicy Nuts

1 egg white

5 cups/ 24oz Nuts

1 tbsp Pumpkin pie spice

1 Tsp Water

1 cup sugar

Beat egg white and water till frothy in a large mixing bowl. Add nuts and toss until nuts are coated. In a separate bowl, combine sugars and pumpkin pie spice. Pour over nuts while tossing.

Spread nuts in the baking dish in a thin layer.

Bake for 20 minutes @ 350. Cool 5 minutes. Spread over was paper. Serves about 32 servings.

Enjoy

Spotlight on T.J.

My stepson, TJ Wilson is a Corporal in the Marines and will soon be stationed at Bridgeport Mountain Warfare Training Center. He will be training troops in Mountain Warfare which will have him doing what he loves most in life (well second most), Mountain Climbing! TJ is married to Kiyana and has one son, Atreyu, and another baby on the way (I think raising kids and being a great husband is actually #1 on his list of what he loves most in life). To our great joy, TJ is becoming the man we had always hoped he would be thanks to the Marines! A big Oooorah! We sure are proud of him!
Becky Wilson

Christmas Poem

This is a wonderful poem from our Lubbock Marine Parents president, Becky.


T’was the month before Christmas, when all through the country

The stockings were filled by people who care

Knowing our troops would still be there


The Marines were nestled all snug on the base

Dreaming of home and snowflakes

When at the gate there arose such a clatter.


They all sprang up to see what was the matter.

The mail trucks arrived with gun protection on the side.

The moon shone on the opening doors

And all could see packages galore.


The Corporal so lively and quick,

Tossed packages out with a twist.

The quiet of night had eyes filled with mist.


For nothing had stopped Christmas joy from arriving

Love is what it all about and of that there is no doubt.