Proud Sister

I've always been proud of my brother. He's made it pretty easy. He's a great husband, dad, uncle, friend... This weekend is no different as he heads to Afghanistan on a voluntary deployment. He works in homeland security and, although because of his security level he doesn't talk about it (you know, the "if he told you, he'd have to kill you" type of work) I know he does things on a regular basis that keep my family and the rest of us safe. The things that he has seen and done in his daily work led to a decision to make this sacrifice and put boots on the ground in Afghanistan. He truly feels that he can make a difference for the soldiers and our country. Although it isn't easy, I am proud of him for making this decision and am thankful that he is willing to do it.

Please keep Mike, Brandy, Addison and Devin in your prayers. They'll all be needing it. I can honestly say that this is the first 4th of July that I've gotten a truer sense of what the holiday means. And it has nothing to do with apple pie like the lady at Costco said yesterday... We love you guys!

And if you want to read a book that was inspiring to Mike, here it is:

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell

This picture was taken by Addison!