A blast to our military past :)

This is, after all, the place for our family journal, so especially for my kids sake and for their knowledge, I share.

I guess I could start with saying, you can't judge a book by its location. Yes, I have lived on the west coast, my dad was stationed there but I was not raised to "hang loose dude",  quite the opposite. 

Almost all the men in my life growing up were hard core military men. I didnt use to like sharing this too much because you tend to get judged right off the bat as a disciplinarian, tough as nails, neat freak, perfectionist but I'm done caring about that anymore. Although I care about my testimony 100% I choose not to care about what the haters or skeptics think, if they don't like you, they'll find something wrong with even if you were perfect, so you're best to let those folks judge away and you keep climbing, keep running, keep smiling. 

So anyway, born and raised with men all around me who were trained to fight, protect and serve their county and they enjoyed it. And for us at home, they would lasso the moon if they could. 

Here's most of them at my wedding.....

Below is the Pastor of my youth-

 He too was a special forces-recon officer in the Marine Corp, he got out and serves the Lord now and has for 40 years. He was like my second dad and could read me like a book. 

My dad was also a Marine and is pictured to the left of our pastor in the picture below. Well, obviously you see what side of my family has the Blackfoot Indian in it. He literally has red undertones in this picture. He too was a Staff Seargent in the Marine Corp, served as a military policeman overseas, was a sharp shooter/expert, rifle range instructor etc... In this picture he hadnt long retired and got really involved in Gods service as well. 

He's got that tough "Chief Sitting Bull" kind of face on as he just gave away his first daughter in this picture, we were also close. I saw tears in his eyes for the first time in my life at my wedding. 

The hubs pictured below.

I'm not going to get into what his ribbons and metals and all that mean. John asked me not to. He doesn't talk much about his military successes or exploits ever actually but he served well and ended 10 years with high marks but that's all I will say :)  When you are faced with the tens of thousands who have lost their lives fighting, who never came back, it's humbling to still be alive. 

So as far as aspirations go, John says when he dies he just wants to hear His father say,  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

All his groomsmen were Marines and the orchestra leader was a Marine 

These guys were our dear friends and some even stayed at my families house regularly on the weekends to get away from the barracks life. Some of these groomsmen were either just heading out to war or just coming back.....(9/11 had just took place 8 months prior to this photo). 

My Scottish Grandpa and my younger cousins are in the group picture as well, in their "dress blues" :) can you spot them? Ha! Anyway,  my Grandpa actually also served in the British military which have good relations with America. He loves America. He used to tell me stories about it and said our country was great because we supported and backed Europe against their enemies in wartime and they feel forever indebted. 

Most of these Marines will tell you now  that fighting the good fight of faith is the hardest warfare of them all and spiritually, it's the mind where battles are first won or lost.

I appreciate all our military both here and abroad and the life long lessons on warfare that are still making an impact on my life and on my children's lives every single day.