As you have read the past few days I have been drawn to reading about the soldiers that are serving in the Middle East and going to welcome them home at the DFW airport when I can. Lately I’ll admit that I’ve watched numerable shows on the military channel. Yikes where did that come from?  It has become a mini-obsession and I wasn’t quite sure why. I never have really been that interested in the military. Yes my dad made my brother and I watch old war movies while we were growing up as part of our weekend tv entertainment package! Games like Battleship just frustrate me and I want to reach over and look at my opponents board to see where they have “hidden” their ships.

There had to be a reason that it so caught my attention. Tonight as I read through a hundred or more posts from soldiers needing supplies it was became crystal clear to me. Two posts caught my attention or should I say GOD caught my attention and provided the “light.”  I didn’t want to detract from helping underprivileged children on an international level – the focus of Trinity’s Angels aka The Cornerstone of Angels. Yet there was a military influence that kept speaking to me over the last week.  Not sure how to blend the two and stay true to our original intent but the way was provided at 12:15 am!

Nicky got the call – poor thing at 12:30 am. She should get an unlisted phone number and never give it to me. I told her about the two interesting posts that were from soldiers asking for items to be sent for the children! One does volunteer work on his off duty time at orphanages, shelters and cancer centers. He was asking for school supplies, toys and candy for the kids. Darn those tears if they didn’t start up again. A perfect match. There are boxes sitting in a room in my home waiting, just waiting to be sent out for a fantastic purpose. Our first project will be to send a few boxes to Miller and Davila – the 2 soldiers that requested children’s items. We are set to go – a total 5 boxes each. I’ll get them sent by Friday.

There is a flat rate fee for each box of $11.85 depending not on weight but box size. Amazing what you can learn when you are surfing the Internet! No – I just was guided through this process not of my own knowledge or hand. No international postage needed as the box is sent within the US and then the military transports it to the troops. Yay, yay, yay. When we started this we all knew it was greater than one individual. We knew that coordinating the shipping of gift boxes and negotiating rates was an area none of us had been involved with. It was going to take time and research as it is the costlier part of our venture and we knew it would factor in. Yet we knew that it would be taken care of. Something keeps telling me to hurry, hurry, hurry.

Now the answer is in front of me – the boxes can be shipped flat rate – fairly reasonably – no international rate – no customs for us to deal with – no negotiations – no container or airline shipping regulations and rules and rates to deal with. The military will transport our first venture. It all came together. So simple really when I let the worry go! Amazing how that works isn’t it?

Well – off to sleep – it’s 1:30 am. Got to be up bright and early at 6 am to get ready and go welcome the soldiers at 7 am. Don’t you know this welcoming process will take on a more deeply significant meaning and fuel the passion even more knowing that some of those soldiers headed here for temporary R & R may one day be delivering Trinity’s Angels gift boxes to children in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kyrgyzstan. Can’t wait to post the letter or email we get from the soldiers telling us the boxes were delivered into the children’s hands.

May each of the troops remain safe and secure. May their guardian angels be ever vigilant and protective of them, returning each of them safely to their family, friends and all of us back in th U.S. who support their efforts on our behalf.

 

Serving Him,

Stephanie