I want to join in and say thanks to Dr. Watson, Van Man...and R-gang helped on the event a ton as well!!! This was great event and there was also a lot of great food! I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due---Jenco98 is the one who posted that recipe 20 or 30 posts ago for those PB balls I brought today! And who made those wondeful lettuce wraps! GOO---OOOD! :0)

I came straight home after the event and completely unloaded my truck. My two oldest sons and my husband all came home after that 750-800 kid event they were working on and we all sat on the kitchen floor exhausted. My family could not BELIEVE how many bags of food and other items you all donated to send to our troops in Afghanistan!!! The entire extended cab of my truck was FULL!!! The barrell R-gang decorated got filled more than once!!!

There were so many wondeful cards and postcards again this time and JBBK---the handmade books that you and your students made were AWESOME. My oldest sons could not believe the support all of you have shown!!! Many of you gave generous money donations for the St. Barbara (Patron Saint of Field Artillery) medals going to each soldier, for the postage expenses and so much more.

I promised my son he would NOT have to go through this alone and that I would be there for him~~no matter what. I cannot begin to explain the true strength I have regained from your support today alone. That helps me stay strong for Greg and he then stays strong for the guys in his platoon. This is the truth.

I very much realize and appreciate you all have reached out and taken money from your own family finances to help these soldiers. Thank you all so much for your generosity of support!! EACH OF YOU MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!!! I guarantee, these soldiers will feel your kindness and the depth of your support! God Bless you all!

I also want to say that all the kids were just wonderful. I think they had as great a time as we did! Thanks for the great conversations, smiles, wonderful and creative stamps and hugs! What a great way to spend the day!

~Trailtracker

Hey speedsquare---I will definitely be there to receive postcards at the gathering on June 2nd. It is going to take me a while to sort through everything to send to the troops---if you wanted to mail the postcards in an envelope, that would work as well. I have been making piles distributing everything so that each soldier gets the same amount of goodies and cards...so there is definitely time. Let me know what you want to do. Either way is good. But, I hope you feel better super quick, first!!

Scoutdogs~ I just got done looking at the cards you made!!! AWESOME. Thank you so much for those.

Ahhh, one more thing from me.

I just saw that I left one of the TESS stamps off the cheat sheet----Made in My State: Reverware. The very first box, "Letterboxing Great Lakes" IS listed on AQ exactly like that and is under SpringChick's name. All the rest are listed under, "Made in My State" as either listed on AQ or "unlisted" on AQ.

I hope that makes sense!

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Thank you all so much for your generosity of support!! EACH OF YOU MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!!! I guarantee, these soldiers will feel your kindness and the depth of your support! God Bless you all!

When I was in the military and Junior in rank, I remember seeing my fellow ship mates receive parcels from home or 2-3-4 letters every single mail call and how little I or others would receive. It plays on your mind about what is going on at home.... It's an empty feeling. I'm just glad that we can help in some small way.

BTW, you are not going to believe what was waiting on the porch stoop when we arrived home..... Yep... A box with 24 packages in it. I'll let Dr. Watson make the arrangements to get them to you.

VanMan

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A Big Thanks to all of you for coming to the Schoolhouse event

I am just getting back on the puter after yesterdays hectic schedule. But I wanted to thank everyone who had a hand in pulling this event together. It was a lot of fun. There were so many cool stamps in so many neat containers, I didn't even get to all of them. Dana got a huge kick out of the cooties. I think she got more stamps than I did. Good thing we were working together. I know she got many I didn't get.

Thanks again all! See you in June!

BuckeyeMom of 3BuckeyeKids

you should also purchase some St. Michael's Medals (for he is the Patron Saint of Paratroopers)...
BR1

Wonderful - I printed the clues to all your boxes there and was planning on a trip next weekend. Glad to know you will have checked on them recently.

Thanks to all of you for making my first event so special. When Primitive Cin and I left yesterday - we were EXHAUSTED! Who knew stamping was such hard work. We loved every minute of it!

PS - Whoever put the cootie on the black Trailblazer's door handle - I salute you. Primitive Cin thought it was me, but I couldn't take the credit. However - I laughed my head off when she told me about it.

VanMan,

I really appreciate you adding your comments because it has a far more significant impact than my comments. Greg has mentioned to me that it tears HIM up when he sees that happening as well, especially under the horrible living conditions they currently live under. Being on a ship secluded has to be similar in many ways. Greg has said that there is nothing the other soldiers can say to someone who isn't getting mail or packages that can really help. That is why I am trying so hard to let everyone know how MUCH of a difference this makes!!!

That is awesome that someone left another box with 24 packages in it! Santa must not be on leave just yet!!!!

Also....Brandon's package is not waiting for the rest. His is going in the mail on Monday!!!! Thanks so much to you, Dr. Watson and VanMan for taking this young man under your wing!!!

Last, thank you VanMan for serving as well!!!!!
Trailtracker/barb

Hey BR1,

Thank you for your suggestion. I did look at those St. Michael's Medals also and debated which to get. Because of the initial story behind my customer buying Greg and me a St. Barbara medal, and because they aren't really jumping but are full-force back to firing the howitzers this deployment, Greg and I decided on these instead of the St. Michael's. There is a co-story that goes with St. Barbara in some ways and is about Molly Pitcher, as she was called. Her husband was in Heavy Field Artillery in the Civil War. He was on the cannon firing line....and his wife, Molly would assist him keeping black powder or whatever other supplies always at his ready. He got shot and killed....and once regaining her composure was said to have moved right onto the firing line taking up her husband's cause since she had seen witness what he did so many times.

Maybe down the line, we can get the St. Michael's medals too. Hopefully these St. Barbara medals will go out in the mail this coming week. I received the medals and prayer cards last week.

As always, thank you for serving BR1 and please stay safe in Iraq!!!!!! Glad to have you post on our Ohio board! We loved having your wife and 3 children spend the day with us yesterday---all the way from NC!!! NICE!

Trailtracker/barb

The kids thought the lipstick holders were cooties. There was a little girl wearing braces with a pink jacket on that I saw with them last. She came up to us and said, I just found out these are cooties. I'm not sure who she was with, but she gathered a lot of boxes and delivered them to people who asked her to.

Hales Angels

Thanks to you Dr. W! We collected 66 stamps yesterday and I know we missed alot! My newbie niece was a little overwhelmed I think! She said we were some stamp crazy people. (her first out-of-the-woods experience LOL). Wait til June I said!!!

The cootie was left on my van door, so I moved it to yours. Enjoy! =) Kudos to whomever left it for me

n.
drexel girls

i seemed to haved missed that cheat sheet could u e mail it to me? pleeease?

I will be happy to take them as well, Speedsquare. In fact, if you want to handle it as postal, let me know how many you need and e-mail me off the board and I will send you the stamp as well.

Patrick and Christina (Honeymoon in Iraq) will be there till September at least it seems.

Granny butterfly

I have at least 8 cards. I didn't put stamps on them yet; wasn't sure how to handle that. I can mail them out to you or Barb before June 2nd, or hand some to both of you then. How do I handle it "as a postal?" I'll be happy to pay postage.

I am sitting at the dining room table making logbook covers with some new Retro Prints papers I bought at Hobby Lobby today. I plan to give them as gifts or use them when I demonstrate book making at a future date. 162 sheets in the pack ... that's a lot of books! I love making them. I could make a few to be sent to our troops too.

speedsquare

Speedsquare,

When you get some extra logbooks made, could you send me one as a demo...I have been sending things to my hubby...and some better logbooks would be great to send to him. He has been carving stamps and placing the boxes at the MWR's in Iraq.

Have fun and I will chat with you later!

Jenny
keepersofthelight04

I CAN do that!