USO

How we have come to love the USO as a family. It's not because of the inexpensive tickets to fun things that we can get, but the outright love and care they as a group have for military men and women and their families.

Recently, during Chris' deployment, the USO has given us a special gift. They gave us Chris. I know - what does that mean?

Well, on the way to Chris' deployment base, he was waiting in a USO sponsored area. These areas are so nice (I hear). They offer a comfy place to wait, often free or inexpensive food, play areas for kids in the larger ones, and entertainment areas. Well the one in Baltimore where Chris was waiting also had a special treat for families of servicemen. Chris surprised us with a pkg the week after he left and we've been reusing the gift every week since.

This package contained three children's books and a dvd. I had not one idea as to what it could be until I turned on the dvd. It was Chris and he was reading the books to the kids! He read a specific book for each child and the USO recorded it and sent it with the three books. So every Wednesday (that was the initial day it arrived) we read with daddy!

Lizzy got a book all about animal mothers. Joseph got a Dr. Seuss book which he loves. And Evie got a book all about a hard working spider. It was so cute. I only took pix of the first time, but we do this every single week. The kids adore it and often switch books. Chris, as most of you know, is a fantastic storyteller. Even the boring parts of a book are funny with his voices, facial expressions, and how excited he gets just reading it to the kids. I've always said that it's important to marry a man with at least a little boyishness inside. It is a wonderful help with the kids.

So every Wednesday we see my sweet husband being a great daddy. The kids adore it, I miss him terribly every time, and, now that Chris has seen the results (I sent him a dvd of pix and video), you can see some of it too.

One of my favorite part was seeing Lizzy's rapt attention on her daddy. Had no idea she was so aware of who he was, but each time she saw him on the screen or heard his voice, she got all excited and shook with emotion.

Another favorite part is when Joseph tried to "show" daddy that he was on the same page. It was totally cute and the longest I've ever seen his attention stay on the tv.

Evie was a whole other story. She knew daddy couldn't talk back, that it was a recording, but that didn't stop her from answering all his questions and laughing at all his jokes.

The military continues to be a great blessing for our family. The sacrifice can be measured, but the experiences we've all had just in our first year and a half can not. Never in my life have I been blessed so much by a job!