Life in Holland: Awesome Things

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Awesome Things

I had a great birthday today but there were far more awesome things going on! It was also Father's Day and that was great, too, but still not the most awesome thing going on today. My brother in law has been in Iraq for 6 months. He is a surgeon and had the task of caring for wounded soldiers and Iraqi's also. My sister got word a couple of weeks ago that he would be coming home but she was somehow able to keep it a secret from the kids. Today, on Father's Day, my sister pretended it was business as usual and took the kids to Sunday school. She then left and went to the base and picked up Anthony. She got back to the church and Anthony picked his kids up from their classes- much to their surprise. Ainsley and Sam were overjoyed. Charlie was only 5 months old when Anthony left so I am not sure how excited he really was. I cannot imagine my sister's excitement. I am so proud of how she has kept everything under control while he was gone. They are a family to be admired! I must confess there was a time when my sister first married Anthony that I did not like him very much. I was so jealous that he had my sister's time and that I was no longer her #1. As with all things, time makes it better and now he is a person I love and am so proud to call my brother! If these pictures do not make you proud to be an American then nothing will!

1 comment:

tonyaJune 20, 2010 at 11:22 PM
My husband wanted to do that and surprise our kids when he got back from Iraq, but he was too excited to be coming home that there was no way that he could keep it a secret.
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I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this....When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.