the Marine Corps Ball was awesome!

We attended the Marine Corps ball with our great friends from Bravo Company, 4th Landing Support Battalion last weekend.  Lake Tahoe's Harvey Resort and Casino was fun and awesome as always! 

Happy Birthday to the United States Marine Corps!!!  And thank you for all you do for us!

Wedding Dress Essay Contest

Due to a donation from a lovely bridal boutique, Soldiers' Angels has on hand sixteen gorgeous wedding dresses that will be awarded to sixteen lucky military brides! Dresses will be awarded by contest, with the brides who write the best essay about their own love story receiving their choice of dress.

Dress sizes range from 6 to 14, with a size 24 and a size 42 as well. Some are brand new, others have been rented, but all are clean and in superb condition. Most are very detailed, with additions of lace, cutouts or sequins, and styles vary greatly.


Originally offered to a high school drama department who refused them for lack of room, the dresses came to Soldiers' Angels thanks to Patreece, whose husband heard about them through his civilian job on a military base and alerted her. She took home all 16 dresses, cataloged and photographed them, and shipped them to San Antonio for dry cleaning and distribution.

For contest eligibility, procedures and more information, click here.

Contest ends April 21, 2011.

Half Staff American Flag Widget

Do you ever wonder why the flag is at half staff? 
Do you want to properly display your flag?

This half staff American flag widget will automatically display the American Flag at half staff on the days that it is appropriate to fly the flag at half staff. It will also give the reason why the flag is at half staff.

Click here to read the rest of what is on the website for the Half Staff American Flag Widget and download the widget.  Not sure you want it?  You can see it in action in the side bar of my blog.

Author Supports Soldiers' Angels

From the Soldiers' Angels website:

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Elementary school principal and author Megan Egerton-Graham is donating 5% of her individual book sales to Soldiersí Angels!
Egerton-Graham is fast becoming widely-known among military families in both Canada and the United States as a great resource for tips, insight and information that helps children and parents cope. Her "While You Were Away" series of books and journals are designed to support families experiencing periods of prolonged absence or deployment, moving, re-integration or just life as a military family
All of the proceeds from Egerton-Graham's books are donated to military support organizations such as Family Readiness Groups. She approached Soldiersí Angels after she was tapped as a keynote speaker at this summer's Blue Star Mothers (BSM) conference and the president of BSM suggested she reach out to support Soldiersí Angels and assist military families that way as well.
Besides school principal, Egerton-Graham has been a teacher and guidance counsellor for 15 years, teaching every grade from Kindergarten to 12. In addition, she brings to the table her experience teaching on military base schools and life as a Canadian military wife and mother of two.
For more information, see the While You Were Away webpage or purchase her books on Amazon.

Shop for a Cause!

Before you make your purchases (whether it be for something personal, or for filling those care packages to your adopted Hero), you might check out this list of vendors that support the troops and Soldiers' Angels through your purchases (either because you follow the link, or you tell them you are part of Soldiers' Angels) by donating a portion of the sales to Soldiers' Angels, or offering discounts to Soldiers' Angels shoppers. There's all kinds of things to choose from: cooling gear (the weather's changing over there!), coffees (multiple vendors), flowers, jewelry, books, clothes, food, the list goes on! So, if you're shopping anyway, maybe help Soldiers' Angels out while you're at it!

What does a Gold Star mean to you?

For me a Gold Star means pain.  It means broken hearts.  Dreams that will never come true.  The end of innocence.  It means that somewhere, some family has just been given the worse news anyone can get.

If you aren't aware of the meaning, let me start with explaining the service banner.  A Blue Star Service Banner is a small flag that families with an active duty member of the military displays in their home (usually hanging in a window).  The Blue Star banner has a red border and a blue star in the middle.  When a hero is killed in action, that family's blue star is covered with a slightly smaller gold star, leaving the edge of the blue star showing.


The Gold Star banner lets people know that the family has lost their hero and should demand the highest respect for their sacrifice from all of our nation's citizens.  However, that's not realistic to expect when most people don't even know what the Gold Star means.

I've spent this last week thinking about this alot as I prepared myself for the last two days.  I wanted to be as supportive as possible while I accompanied my best friend to a Gold Star Family Reception.  After spending a couple of days with the families here, my goal of educating as many people as possible about what a Gold Star means is even more important to me.  These people are strong and many work hard to make a difference in the lives of others.  They heal themselves and others while honoring the memory of their loved ones.  I am in awe of some of the amazing Gold Star family members I've met over the last few years.  They absolutely deserve the respect of America's citizens and that can only happen if people know what the Gold Star banner represents.

This isn't a new thought for me.  Since my son's deployment to Iraq in 2008, I have presented a few families with a Gold Star banner during military funerals.  I can tell you that handing a grieving parent a Gold Star banner is not always an easy task.  Reading the presentation is even more difficult to accomplish.   However, it's not the emotional hurdles of the presentation that are hardest to get over. The lack of knowledge you discover when dealing with the people in charge of assisting the family during the days that follow being notified of their loved one's death is what really gets to me.  As hard as it is to believe, even many Casualty Affairs Officers are often not aware of the meaning of the Service Banner. 

The need for awareness is growing and it's up to those of us who know the meaning to share it with everyone we can.  It's the least we can do for those who have sacrificed their loved one.

I realize that I can not educate everyone.  But I sure can start somewhere.  And guess who I'm asking to help me?  Yes, you go it.  YOU!  It's not so hard to do.  Here's what I propose to everyone reading this:

Now that you know what a Gold Star banner is, when you see one on a car or at someone's house, let them know that you are grateful that their loved one was an American Hero that sacrificed their own life in order to protect the freedom of those who live in this great nation.  Make sure anyone and everyone with you understands why you just did what you did.  If the person with the Gold Star banner isn't around, or you happen to be doing 55 down the highway, still take a moment to educate everyone around you. 

If you are a Gold Star family member, please know that I am personally grateful that your loved one lived as an American.  There are still people in this country that realize and appreciate that we are free because of Heroes like them.  Display your Gold Star Banner with pride.  I know that ignorance of the meaning of the banner has led to pain and frustration.  Educate those who don't realize what it is, if you are up to it.  If not...leave that to the rest of us.  We'll take care of it!

Wiihab

Last month, the community of milbloggers raised $95,205 for Soldiers' Angels Project Valour-IT. While this project started out with the goal of providing laptops with voice-activated software to severely wounded troops, it has since expanded to include other technologies. Personal GPS systems help build self-confidence and independence by compensating for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to severe TBI and severe PTSD. Wii video game systems provided to medical facilities to assist with physical rehabilitation.

You might wonder how a video game would help with physical rehabilitation:

Using the game console's unique, motion-sensitive controller, Wii games require body movements similar to traditional therapy exercises. But patients become so engrossed mentally they are almost oblivious to the rigor, Osborn said.

"In the Wii system, because it's kind of a game format, it does create this kind of inner competitiveness. Even though you may be boxing or playing tennis against some figure on the screen, it's amazing how many of our patients want to beat their opponent," said Osborn of Southern Illinois Healthcare, which includes the hospital in Herrin. The hospital, about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis, bought a Wii system for rehab patients late last year.

"When people can refocus their attention from the tediousness of the physical task, oftentimes they do much better," Osborn said.

This kind of therapy seems ideal when working with wounded troops:

The Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital west of Chicago recently bought a Wii system for its spinal cord injury unit.

Pfc. Matthew Turpen, 22, paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident last year while stationed in Germany, plays Wii golf and bowling from his wheelchair at Hines. Turpen says the games help beat the monotony of rehab and seem to be doing his body good, too.

"A lot of guys don't have full finger function so it definitely helps being able to work on using your fingers more and figuring out different ways to use your hands" and arms, Turpen said.

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the therapy is well-suited to patients injured during combat in Iraq, who tend to be in the 19 to 25 age range ó a group that's "very into" playing video games, said Lt. Col. Stephanie Daugherty, Walter Reed's chief of occupational therapy.

"They think it's for entertainment, but we know it's for therapy," she said.

While the big annual fundraiser by the milblogs may be over, the need for our wounded troops is always ongoing. If you can, please consider donating to Project Valour-IT.

Dinner with Warriors Cookbook Order Page

Dinner with Warriors Cookbook is available for only a $20 donation to Freedom Excursions!

Brent's son, HM3 James Ray "Doc" Layton is honored in this book with a favorite recipe, as well as Susan's son GySgt. Aaron Kenefick. The cookbook features recipes loved by those wounded and fallen Heroes within it's pages.

Donating to Freedom Excursions helps us continue to take our nation's heroes out on the boat as well as other excursions. These excursions are healing for all who attend and the experience is priceless for many.

Check out the website for more info: FreedomExcursions.org

Cooking with the Troops opens NASDAQ

Dinner with Warriors Cookbook Order Page

Dinner with Warriors Cookbook Order Page is now up on the website!

Dinner with Warriors is the perfect Christmas gift for your military family!

The recipes in this book are lovingly given to the publisher by families of the wounded or fallen so that organizations, such as Freedom Excursions, can help American Service Members and their families.

Browsing through the book will take you on a journey into the lives of these brave men and women who selflessly defend our country, defend our freedom, and paid the price...sometimes paid the ultimate price.

Purchasing this book will help pay for a portion of an excursion for a Service Member or their family. You can purchase the book on the Freedom Excursions website.