Have you ever walked into Mom’s
kitchen and had all of your taste buds suddenly attacked
by delectable, lip-smacking smells? Mmm hmmm…
That’s exactly how it was Saturday when you walked
into the room after the Moms got the soup crockpots set
up
and the grilled cheese skillet going.
Add the brisket to the mix, and oh my!
There was also the buffet
table with the Snowmen keeping watch…
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Smoothies – these are
now a staple for our luncheons, and we have been
told many times by family members that Deb’s
smoothies really “hit the spot” with
their guys.
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Honey and sorghum from Tennessee..
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Seated massages
by Jess of
“Peace at Hand”.
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| Gift bags and Arbonne goodies for the families. |
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Patriotic t-shirts sent from Colorado by
Embroidery Friends for the patients.
And of course we left the pantry stocked
with drinks and grab-and-go food.
However, the absolute best
part of the day was… are you ready?
We moms outnumbered the patients.
In October 2005 when Janelle and I began visiting Bethesda,
this was not the case. I will never forget on our first
visit there, looking down the hallway after being told
all the rooms were filled… feeling all kinds of
emotions. My first thought was – that’s an
awfully long hallway, and my second thought was, we needed
to do whatever we could to help these families who were
so far from home if it was at all possible. Over the past
two years, we have evolved from visiting moms we know
one-on-one to full spreads like what you see in the pictures,
with support from all over our great United States of
America.
One of the things that really impresses
me is the care our wounded warriors and their families
receive at Bethesda. When there are a lot of patients,
we rarely see any staff until we are very close to packing
up to go home. They want to make sure the families and
patients are taken care of first. Saturday was not the
case though, with so few patients. We had plenty of food
to share and we served a lot of staff - A special treat
for them on a holiday weekend, very far from home.
A special thank you to the Sergeant who
was our escort for the day, and a most special thank you
from the bottom of my heart to all of the people who made
the luncheon possible. Words can never describe the appreciation
of those on the receiving end of what you do to show your
support to our
Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen at Bethesda.
Girl Scout Troop 122 made the snowmen
and snowflakes used to decorate the room and the buffet
table.
They also decorated and donated the gift bags, and gave
us eight boxes of Girl Scout cookies for dessert.
Thank you girls! You did a great job!
To Embroidery Friends - the Sergeant told
me the guys really like the kind of shirts you sent -
Patriotic.
I left them in his care to give to the patients since
we weren’t able to go back and visit them.
To Roxanne and the Gang at Paul's Produce in Dayton, TN
- the sorghum that wasn’t eaten at the luncheon
is in the pantry.
To Ann and her Arbonne Friends, if this keeps up, and
I hope it does, the niftie-gifties you all sent will last
a very, very long time!
Ronnie and Friends sent some coffee mugs as nifty gifties…
more about those after the January luncheon… they’re
very nice... and yeah… I like flowers.
And to my friends that I do this with
– you all are the Absolute Best!!!!
And then there’s more…
Carrie was at the luncheon with us and
had the Operation Santa stockings, gift cards, and Christmas
cards to hand out.
I’ll save the details of that project for her to
talk about.
All I will say is this – Operation Santa at the
Hospitals exceeded our expectations. Thank you all so
much for your generosity and for caring!
All the best to you and yours in 2008.
Until next time,
