Robin Williams encourages you to make a 2010 Tax-Deductible Gift to USO to Support Our Deployed Troops

Robin Williams Urges 2010 Tax-Deductible Gift to USO to Support Our Deployed Troops


Here's an email from Robin Williams that the USO has asked to be shared with as many people as possible:



I'm writing today with a renewed sense of commitment to our troops serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world. I've just come back from a tour with the USO that has once again inspired me to do everything I can for those brave men and women -- men and women of all ages and all nationalities doing some extraordinary things for us and our country.



And let me tell you, they truly deserve it. They deserve to have someone come over there and say "you rock -- you're the best." And, especially as they spend the holiday season thousands of miles away from their loved ones, they deserve to have all of us keep them at home in our hearts.



Make your At Home In Our Hearts gift today and help the USO bring support and comfort to our troops all around the world.



The USO's At Home In Our Hearts campaign is about bringing a touch of home to our troops and our wounded warriors all around the world. And it's all made possible thanks to the support of passionate Americans like yourself.



With your gift today, you and the USO can help our troops make a holiday phone call back home for free, help bring all the things that remind them of home to the front lines thanks to USO2GO and give them some much-needed comfort and a place to relax at USO centers right there in the war zone.



I've seen firsthand how much these services mean to our troops and I can't thank you enough for your past support of the USO. I hope you will lend your generosity once again as part of the USO's At Home In Our Hearts campaign.



Please make your gift today and keep our troops At Home In Our Hearts.



Thanks again for all you do for our troops. And thanks for joining with me and the USO in this critical campaign.



Robin Williams



 
This is shared on behalf of : http://mrslieutenant.blogspot.com/2010/12/robin-williams-urges-2010-tax.html

A Different Kind of Christmas Poem

I am borrowing this from my friend Renee at
http://www.myspecialks.com/




A Different Kind of Christmas Poem




The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.



Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.



My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.



The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.



My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.



A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.



"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"



For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he sighed and he said "It’s really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."



"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"

Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.



Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.



I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."



"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son."



Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours!

Kelsey's senior pictures

Ok by now everyone that we mailed Kelsey's senior pictures out to should have them, so I can share them on here. :-) Since we sent some with Christmas presents and what not I didn't want to ruin the surprise by posting them before they got to them.
(I didn't not print this one, but still thought it was cool.)



I didn't warn her the wave was coming in. ;)




By the way did you know that the company that goes into the schools to take Senior pictures charges a $15 sitting fee, then expects you to pay $69 for 8 proofs and a portfolio to keep them in? For less than that I printed enough of the pictures that I took, and edited and got more than enough to send to the family, and extended family. Plus have some left for Kelsey to give out to friends. I think we did a pretty good job, but that's just me.

My year in photos

Let's make cake

A diaper cake that is!

DJ's teacher Mrs. Owens is expecting a little girl soon, and the staff is throwing her a baby shower this afternoon.  Since she is DJ's teacher, I decided to go a bit further than I normally would for a work shower and attempt my first diaper cake.

For the sake of prosperity I took pictures of each step. :-)

First I took a bottle of sparkling red grape juice and hot glued it to a cake base.

Next I wrapped two diapers around the bottle, and held them there with rubberbands.
Then I started wrapping and rubber banding size two diapers, and made rounds around the bottom of the bottle.  With a wee bit of help from DJ.
After we had enough to make a decent sized base DJ helped me hold the diapers in place while we used another rubber band to hold the layer together.

Next I took four sheets of tissue paper and made a "frosting layer" over the diapers (I ended up taking this off, because I didn't like the look once I got it "frosted", I couldn't seem to get it "smooth enough")
Second layer, same as the first just a bit smaller around.

And again with the third layer, this is about the time I decided I really didn't like the tissue paper frosting, and took it all off.
Next up was to use wide white ribbon around all of the layers, if I had left the tissue paper in place I would not have done this step. I am glad that I bought the ribbon when I was planning the cake. ;) Then I took orange and yellow gingham ribbon and put two pieces on each layer.
Then I made a small bow, and then using the bow wire, I went down behind the white ribbon and up through the middle of the top layer. Using the bow wire, I secured the cake topper to the layer. I wrapped the bow wire around both of the duck's legs and then back down through the top layer and out to the bow.
I then took some of the bow wire and wired the book to the cake in much the same manner as the topper, however instead of through the middle of the entire bottom layer, just through the ribbon. I also added ribbon and a button to hide the bow wire.

I added a box of wipes and Desitin using ribbon and hot glue.

I also made baby sock roses, by taking baby socks, rolling them individually into roses. And a baby washcloth lollypop (with a pencil for the stick).
Last but not least, because I felt I needed a bit more color on the cake to tie in with the colors on the ribbons I took buttons and hot glued them onto the white ribbon to make "frosting dots".
Its not perfect by any means, but I think I did a pretty good job for my first attempt.

One Last Christmas

With the loss of Leroy Williams, a junior at our local high school, and the older brother of one of my students today to Hodgkins, this song is so fitting.


RIP Leroy, and to the Williams family and friends you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Dear Santa

Christmas activities at Bass Pro Shop in Macon

This past Saturday we went to Bass Pro Shop in Macon to visit Santa. We got there about 1:30 and got a "ticket" to be in line at 2:30. The nice thing about this, was 1. you didn't stand in a line that wrapped around the store. and 2. they had lots of free activities for the kids to do while they waited. I know that they were all aimed at selling more "stuff" as it was mostly products that they sell, but it was not a high pressure sell. Plus they had the crafts away from the "toys" so you could avoid the "toys" if you wanted to.

Writing a letter to Santa

Painting his snowman sun catcher

Mailing his letter to Santa

Building a log cabin

The finished product

Waiting for his turn at the train set

I know what game I will be watching on New Year's. How about you?

Capital One, Alabama (9-3) vs. Michigan State (11-1), Jan. 1: Nick Saban gets to go against another former employer; Saban already lost to LSU this season. Michigan State is ticked it's not in the BCS. Can the Spartans prove their point against the defending national champs? One thing is for sure: Because the Citrus Bowl stadium now has artificial turf, we won't have a repeat of last season's turf debacle when LSU and Penn State met in this bowl.

And I will be rooting for the Spartans, as one of the boys that graduated from Twiggs last year now plays for Michigan State, and has had a pretty darn good season. GO DARQUEZE!  :-)

More Savannah before Thanksgiving