Thank you to those who serve!

According to the National Coalition on Homeless...
"Far too many veterans are homeless in America—between 130,000 and 200,000 on any given night—representing between one fourth and one-fifth of all homeless people. 
The US Department of Veterans Affairs says the nation's homeless veterans are mostly males. The vast majority are single and most come from poor, disadvantaged communities. 45 percent suffer from mental illness.  More than 67 percent served our country for at least three years and 33 percent were stationed in a war zone."

Karin and April at home in Montana

Our gingerbread houses

April ready for her concert

We had the honors this week to travel to Montana. My niece, April, was in a high school concert at the local Civic Center and she invited us up to watch it. She is a senior this year and we have been able to get to few of her concerts and performances because of distance so we decided that yes we would love to travel up to Montana. We had a wonderful visit, we made cookies, gingerbread houses, played games, opened Christmas gifts, had laughs and of course went to the Christmas Concert that April was performing in. 

There was someone missing though, he had no choice in missing all the family activities, my brother-in-law, Jake. He is an active member of the Air Force and was away at training. Jake has served our country for about 16 years now and gives up time with his family to do what the Air Force requires of him. He misses things like seeing his daughter, who is a senior, perform at the Civic Center for her last Christmas concert but he got to hear the concert. 

Picture this, me and my sister trying to keep Payton (2 years old) quiet during the concert- a chore all on it's own and when the band got on the stage my sister got on her phone. She was calling Jake! He wasn't going to miss the whole concert just because he couldn't be there, no he got to listen to the concert through speaker phone. We did have some issues of course like Jake not understanding he was on speaker phone and trying to talk to us and Karin hanging up with her nose but he got to hear the concert. 

As I held the phone for Jake to hear the concert all I could think about was the sacrifice that Jake was making by serving our country and that many people who have served our country have made many sacrifices. They give up time with the families and friends, they miss birthdays, holidays and concerts. They give everything and still we often meet many homeless veterans. 

Many of the homeless veterans have served in some tough places and come back with PTSD and struggle with daily activities or finding peace to be able to sleep. As I held the phone during the concert I prayed for those that serve our country and I prayed for the homeless veterans that I know personally here in Northern Colorado and those that I don't know around the country. I prayed for all active and veterans to know that I appreciate their sacrifice and I respect how much they give to keep me and my family safe. 

The question of who are the homeless is a long list... the veterans that we meet are just an example of some of our homeless friends but it is hard to understand how they could give so much of themselves and now have so little. 


Thank you Jake, thank you all who are serving and who have served. Thank you for all that you have given of yourself, your families, and to our country!

Karin, Jake and April