How often do you say goodbye?

(Our soon to be friends in far off places: 

Adam, Kyle, Caleb, Jake, Seth, Brent, Sheila, and Mike)

"Barb, why do we do this?"
"Because we love these people."

Goodbyes are hard for most people, and they should be to some extent. But they are even harder when you're sending good friends to dangerous places. They are harder when you're temporary, they're temporary, and who knows when the winds of change will cause your paths to cross again.

We are safe and sound back in Alaska! We jumped right back into the swing of things, last night we had a crowd over for dinner and to watch "The Office", and tonight we had a swelled crowd at the Hospitality House. It's amazing to see how many new faces have arrived on the scene in just 3 weeks!
We had an evening of send-off tonight for our guys who are deploying within the month. There are about eight of them from our little community. We gathered and honored them, we shared insight on the things we appreciate about each of these guys, and ways they have impacted us. Then we prayed for them individually along with their families. It is such a hard task to send these guys off, but encouraging to know that they are all our brothers in the Faith. God has a great plan for them and their service. As much as we prayed for our friends we prayed for those that they would come in contact with.

This is just the beginning for me of remembering what military life is like. Several of our men have been evacuated with their aircraft because of the simmering threat of Mt. Redoubt erupting. They left for 30 days with only hours notice, their families are still here. And many of our Airmen are already deployed to the middle east. If you think of celebrating Valentine's Day this weekend remember that four of our five military mothers will be spending it with their children alone, without their husbands; the fifth husband/father leaves next week. That's just one simple practical example I can think of to relate the impact of military life to you.

We said goodbye forever tonight to a good friend and a brave man. Why do we do this? Why will we have to do this repeatedly for years to come? Because we love these people.

Thanks for letting us be here,
Elaine