"I Appreciate Your Son and What He Is Doing"

The very last thing I do every night is check one last time to see if I got an email from Chris or any news about our Soldiers...it's my closure to the day. Lastnight I received an email from my dear friend, Lidia who's son Anthony deployed at the same time as Chris. The email truly touched me and made me so proud of what our Soldiers are doing. It's so nice to know that the Soldiers are appreciated, not only by us but also by the Iraqi's... Thanks my friend for sharing!

Today started as any other day, off to the high school where I am a substitute teacher. The group today would be students learning English as a Second Language. These students are always eager learners for they have to learn English to survive their high school years. It was not until 3 period that I met a very interesting young man. There was something about him, maybe his smiling face but more so his spirit that seemed full of kindness and behind those beautiful eyes was a story. As I went around the class asking where they had come from, how long they had been here and what brought them to America their stories unfolded. One from Venezuela, one from the Dominican Republic, the other from Viet Nam and lastly one from Iraq. I immediately told this young man that my son was stationed in Iraq and his reply without hesitation was, "God Bless Him". His very words wrapped around my heart like a huge band-aid that gave me healing. Here an Iraqi child was giving my son a blessing and with a sincerity that I cannot convey through words. Later on in class I was able to speak with him about his feelings of the war and the troops that were sent to help the Iraqi people. He told me of the atrocities that were done to the Iraqi people by the , "worst dictator the world has ever seen" and how his family fled to Jordan to escape this dictator. How most of the Iraqi people are grateful for what our soldiers have done and are doing to help their country. He left behind many relatives that say ( he mentioned that he spoke with them just yesterday) things are getting better in and around Bagdad and how they now have running water most days and electricity. Before leaving class he stopped and said with such conviction that it brought tears to my eyes was, " I appreciate your son and what he is doing" Friends I believe that there is hope for the Iraqi people and that they are beginning to believe this themselves. This young man's spirit is filled with hope and I am thankful that I was placed in that classroom today.

May you and yours be Blessed in wondrous ways this Thanksgiving

Lidia PAM of Anthony