I Can't Think of a Fitting Title for This Post

This morning, as I lazily sit here and eat my Cheerios, I checked the news on foxnews.com. I'm not sure why this is just now being posted as a news story. But in a world where I can personally say I take everything for granted, including my freedom, I am reminded that there are men and women out there fighting to make sure that I remain free and can raise my child in a free world. There are men and women out there who unselfishly give of themselves to do what the rest of us cannot do. And I thought this story was one I should share. Yes, I am a bit more emotional than I would be under normal circumstances, but things like this just make me stop and be thankful of the world I know and the world I hope I never have to know.

Here is the link to the www.foxnews.com story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376243,00.html

And you can get to the you tube video from that story, but here's the you tube link just in case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfK2BQCIIes&eurl=http://www.blackfive.net/main/2008/03/us-navy-seal-mi.html

I noticed that this man was not married and had no children. This especially made me sad for him, knowing that he apparently gave his life to his country and his fellow men and did not know life as the rest of us know it on a day to day basis. He did, however, leave behind a mother, father, sister, and nieces and nephews. How many of these kinds of stories are day to day stories for these battle-men that you and I never hear about. There has to be a whole bunch.

When I see the prayer list from church or I get an email asking me to pray for soliders, I stop right then and I say a prayer for their cause, their families, their safety. But do I ever think of them again until the next time I look at the church prayer list? Of course I don't. I can't imagine, can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have a brother, sister, dad, or husband away fighting like that. I can't imagine what these people go through. But I can promise you that I will not forget them again after watching this.

I've been following the story of the little 12 year old named Brooke from Vermont who had been missing since the end of June and was found Wednesday night, dead. According to the stories I've been reading and the newscasts I have watched, she apparently was tricked by her uncle as he abducted her and took her to be initiated into a child sex ring. This story is sad and I know many of you are probably thinking it's bizarre for me to be following it so closely. But what gets me is the kind of life this child must have lived before she was killed, being around family members like this. There had to be some issues somewhere along the way and I just can't imagine children living in that kind of environment. Of course, I followed it to begin with because I wanted her to be found alive and safe. Early reports said she was meeting someone from myspace. But reports now indicate that the uncle hacked into her myspace account and posted the fake postings so it would "appear" that she was meeting a stranger. Again, surely if my brother or Sid's brother was involved in something like this, we would know something was up, but apparently this little girl was in day to day contact with her uncle and ended up dead because of it. I just can't imagine.

Maybe I should just stop reading the news. But yesterday, there was a story of a dad who had put a cage in the back cab of his pick up and kept his children locked in the cage everyday while he was at work because he didn't have a babysitter. WHAT???? What goes through people's minds that make them think something like that is even remotely ok to do???? I can't imagine. The story said that the children had already been removed from the care of their mother, that's why the dad had them. I just can't imagine what these children lived through on a day to day basis. What they must have felt being locked in a cage like that in their dad's truck. And the only way he was caught was because he was at a gas station and a by-stander heard the cries of the children coming from the back of the truck and saw the dad push their hands back inside the cage. The person called authorities and the man was arrested before he left the gas station-Thank God!!!! The man had put a piece of ply-wood up on the back window of the truck so no one could see inside, he knew what he was doing was wrong. But he still choose to do it. I just can't imagine.

But what I can imagine is how thankful I am to know peace and love and support and happiness. I don't suppose I'll stop reading the world news. It's real life things that happening all around us. But in a place where I'm enjoying life to the fullest, I won't forget these stories of real human beings who don't know life as I've always known it. Or these service men and women who so freely give so that I don't have to, so that my family doesn't have to, so that my baby can be born with it's daddy here.