Veteran's Day 2011

In honor of Veteran's Day we took the girls on a field trip with their American Heritage Girls troop to the Airborne and Special Forces Museum in Fayetteville. They each made "thank you" cards to hand out to veterans. It was such a touching experience. We had never been to this museum, but my grandfather and my father in law were both part of the 82nd Airborne Division from Ft. Bragg, NC, so touring the museum was very special to us.

The girls really enjoyed themselves. They loved looking at the various uniforms, were respectful, engaged themselves and asked appropriate questions. I was so proud of them. Their favorite exhibit was a wedding dress. Why would a wedding dress be in a military museum? The story behind the dress was fascinating. The lady who wore the dress became engaged before her fiance was deployed for the D-Day invasion. Her fiance was an 82nd Airborne paratrooper and after his jump on D-Day, he saved his parachute and when he was able, he mailed the silk from the parachute home to her. She took the silk to a dressmaker and her wedding dress was made from his parachute. When he arrived home from his deployment they were married. The dress was beautiful and had such an awesome story.

The one thing that I didn't expect from our trip to the museum was the amount of emotions I would experience. I can't tell you how many times I became teary-eyed. Each time one of the girls walked up to a veteran and said "excuse me, thank you for all you do" and handed them a card, I could barely hold back the tears. The veterans were all so grateful for the simple card and word of thanks, and I really do believe at their young ages, Shaylie and Nevaeh knew why they were saying thank you.

We were humbled today...and we have hearts full of gratitude tonight. Thank you God for these special men and women who have sacrificed more than we know to protect our country.