Life by the Lake (formerly Life on Upper 4th Street): So blessed!

My Marine deploys tomorrow. I'm concerned, as any mother would be, but I'm trusting the Lord to take care of my boy. HIS boy. The hardest thing I've ever done is place my son in the Lord's hands. We moms are supposed to take care of everything, right? Make the cupcakes for tomorrow's school party that we just found out about tonight at 8:30, kiss away the boo-boos, soothe the broken hearts, scare away the monsters, protect our kids from the bad things in the world. But when your son is going halfway around the world, heading right to where the bad things are, you just can't protect them from that. Only the Father can do that, but trusting Him with your baby while your Mother's Heart is still beating is the most wrenching thing ever!

Folks, I have to tell you, I'm more blessed than I could ever possibly deserve. My neighbors (Upper AND Lower 4th Street!) have been around for a long time, since before this whole Marine Corps journey started, and tonight they have once again stepped up to support my son and our family. My husband took me to dinner tonight after work. Nothing unusual about that - we eat out pretty regularly. On our way home, we slowed down and came to a stop at the stop sign at the end of our block.

And suddenly I saw it - a yellow ribbon on a tree. Then, another yellow ribbon on another tree. And I swear, it was just like the movies, when the whole scene just slowly comes into focus. EVERY TREE on my block had a yellow ribbon tied around it! I just sat there at the stop sign, stunned and sobbing. I'm so thankful I only had one more block to drive, because I'm telling you, I couldn't see a thing through the tears!

My sweet, wonderful, precious neighbors had been planning this for days. Bruce's job was to get me out of the house - they took care of the rest! I couldn't have been more surprised, and they couldn't have done anything that meant more to me than this. Just a hint: if you know someone who is deployed, or who has a loved one deployed, ribbon-up your tree. They will appreciate it more than you will ever know!