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As you know, I have been a caregiver to my parents. I am thankful I was able to communicate early with my folks, in fact, 15 years ago we had the conversation and I am able to enjoy time with my mother, without the stress of being the day-to-day caregiver. She lives at Sunrise Assisted Living 10 minutes away and is enjoying her security and comfort brought on by good planning. The planning we did as a family has allowed her to have plenty of income and security for the rest of her life. It also allows me to follow my dreams of writing, speaking and traveling. If you want to learn how to be prepared for caregiving with your loved ones, please feel free to visit www.DesignatedDaughter.com and download your free copy of our Caregiver’s Manual which will take you through the steps I took 15 years ago, as well as our Designated Daughter ezine. No matter where you are in the process there is a plan and help that’s perfect for you and your loved ones caregiving needs. Please let us know how we can support you. If you are a caregiver for a loved one, please be part of our survey and tell us, “What is the single biggest challenge you are facing today as a caregiver?” You can submit your response simply by filling in the comment box below under “Leave a Reply”. We also would like to hear your questions on our blog.

by Katana Abbott
Founder, Smart Women’s Coaching

As women, we are often expected to fill multiple roles: loving mother, career woman, supportive wife or partner and for many, a new role – that of a caregiver to aging parents or disabled loved ones. For the last 20 years, I have helped clients create financial plans for their “golden years,” and address issues of aging and remaining independent.

We all dread the idea of that “call in the night” - the one that means we must step into the “Designated Daughter” role, manage our parent’s lives and make tough decisions about their care and welfare. But for many of us, that call will come, and it pays to have everything in place in advance. Here are five steps that you can take now to get prepared:

Step 1 - Get Organized
Before attempting to discuss financial, tax and estate planning issues with your loved ones, be sure to sit down with a financial advisor and get your own life plan in order.

Step 2 - Initiate “The Discovery Conversation” with Your Loved Ones
One way to initiate this conversation is to ask them what they would do if something happened to you. Do they know the names and contact information of your advisors? Your doctors? Do they know where to find documents such as your will, or medical forms? This may help lead the conversation into what your role would be for them. Are you needed as a caregiver, a trustee, or a personal representative? Who else might be involved? Knowing this up front will help you plan for your own future.

Step 3 - Start Planning as Early as Possible Don’t wait until the unexpected happens. It’s never too early to start planning for the unexpected. Meeting with an attorney, financial planner and insurance agent to create the proper planning may be all it takes to make sure your needs are met. Planning early when your have the most options makes sense – being proactive rather than reactive. Step 4 - Consider Purchasing Long Term Care Insurance
Start the conversation when your parents or loved ones are young and healthy and then suggest that they apply for long term care insurance as early as possible. We are living much longer and the need for healthcare and related services is exploding. In fact, seriously consider purchasing your own policy now while you are still healthy and the premiums are affordable!

Step 5 - Create a Team of Trusted Advisors This is not the time for-do-it-yourself-planning. Find a “key advisor” who is an eldercare expert and have them manage the team with you based on your loved ones goals, values and objectives. The final product should enable your loved ones to maintain their dignity, lifestyle and assets. It should also meet the needs of the caregiver. The end result: everyone involved should be able to sleep better at night knowing all concerns have been addressed and that a team and a plan is in place to meet the unexpected.

by Pat Samples, M.A.
Speaker, Educator, Author
Family Caregiving and Conscious Aging

Caregivers are artists at feeling guilty. Check it out for yourself. How many times a day do you sink into self-blaming thoughts such as, “I’m so terrible because I put my husband/wife/parent in a nursing home…because I just couldn’t stay up all night when he/she was sick…because I don’t know the right thing to do.” Sometimes I think guilt is the caregiver’s state religion!

For the most part, we’re not in control, and the good news is we don’t have to be. We can take ourselves off the hook. We do what makes sense in each moment, and that’s enough. (Really now, what more can we do?) In the end, we’re better off if we trust the outcome to a power greater than ourselves and kiss guilt goodbye.

Her newest book, which has been called “what our generation wants to read” by AARP’s magazine, is the Secret Wisdom of a Woman’s Body: Freeing Yourself To Live Passionately and Age Fearlessly. She helps people discover the gift that they are and the gift that life is — until their last breath.

By Jack Canfield
America’s #1 Success Coach
Co-creator, Chicken Soup for the Soul brands

The gift called “asking” has been around for a long, long time. One of life’s fundamental truths states, “Ask and you shall receive.” Kids are masters at using this gift, but we adults seem to have lost our ability to ask. We come up with all sorts of excuses and reasons to avoid any possibility of rejection.

Yet the world responds to those who ask! If you are not moving closer to what you want, you probably aren’t doing enough asking.

Here are seven asking strategies you can implement in your business (and in life) to boost your results and your bottom line:

Asking Strategy #1: Ask for Information

To win potential new clients, you first need to know what their current challenges are, what they want to accomplish and how they plan to do it. Only then can you proceed to demonstrate the advantages of your unique product or service.

Ask questions starting with the words who, why, what, where, when and how to obtain the information you need. Only when you truly understand and appreciate a prospect’s needs can you offer a solution. Once you know what’s important to them, stay on this topic and find solutions for them.

Asking Strategy #2: Ask for Business

Here’s an amazing statistic: after giving a complete presentation about the benefits of their product or service, more than 60 percent of the time salespeople never ask for the order! That’s a bad habit, and one that could ultimately put you out of business.

Always ask a closing question to secure the business. Don’t waffle or talk around it—or worse, wait for your prospect to ask you. No doubt you have heard of many good ways to ask the question, “Would you like to give it a try?” The point is, ask.

Asking Strategy #3: Ask for Written Endorsements

Well-written, results-oriented testimonials from highly respected people are powerful for future sales. They solidify the quality of your product or service and leverage you as a person who has integrity, is trustworthy and gets the job done on time.

When is the best time to ask? Right after you have provided excellent service, gone the extra mile to help out, or in any other way made your customer really happy.

Simply ask if your customer would be willing to give you a testimonial about the value of your product or service, plus any other helpful comments.

Asking Strategy #4: Ask for Top-Quality Referrals

Just about everyone in business knows the importance of referrals. It’s the easiest, least expensive way of ensuring your growth and success in the marketplace.

Your core clients will gladly give you referrals because you treat them so well. So why not ask all of them for referrals? It’s a habit that will dramatically increase your income. Like any other habit, the more you do it the easier it becomes.

Asking Strategy #5: Ask for More Business

Look for other products or services you can provide your customers. Devise a system that tells you when your clients will require more of your products. The simplest way is to ask your customers when you should contact them to reorder. It’s often easier to sell your existing clients more than to go looking for new ones.

Asking Strategy #6: Ask to Renegotiate

Regular business activities include negotiation. Many businesses get stuck because they lack skills in negotiation, yet this is simply another form of asking that can save a lot of time and money. Look at your vendors and suppliers and see if there are areas where you can be saving money. Just ask.

All sorts of contracts can be renegotiated in your personal life, too, such as changing your mortgage terms and rate, reviewing your cell phone plan and requesting a policy review with your insurance agent. As long as you negotiate ethically and in the spirit of win-win, you can enjoy a lot of flexibility. Nothing is ever cast in stone.

Asking Strategy #7: Ask for Feedback

This is a powerful way to fine-tune your business that is often overlooked. How do you really know if your product or service is meeting your customers’ needs? Ask them, “How are we doing? What can we do to improve our service to you? Please share what you like or don’t like about our products.” Set up regular customer surveys that ask good questions and tough questions.

HOW TO ASK

Some people don’t enjoy the fruits of asking because they don’t ask effectively. If you use vague language you will not be clearly understood. Here are five ways to ensure that your asking gets results.

Ask Clearly
Be precise. Think clearly about your request. Take time to prepare. Use a note pad to pick words that have the greatest impact. Words are powerful, so choose them carefully.

Ask with Confidence
People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you’ve figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence.

Ask Consistently
Some people fold after making one timid request. They quit too soon. Keep asking until you find the answers. In prospecting there are usually four or five “no’s” before you get a “yes.” Top producers understand this. When you find a way to ask that works, keep on asking it.

Ask Creatively
In this age of global competition, your asking may get lost in the crowd, unheard by the decision-makers you hope to reach. There is a way around this. If you want someone’s attention, don’t ask the ordinary way. Use your creativity to dream up a high-impact presentation.

Ask Sincerely
When you really need help, people will respond. Sincerity means dropping the image facade and showing a willingness to be vulnerable. Tell it the way it is, lumps and all. Don’t worry if your presentation isn’t perfect; ask from your heart. Keep it simple and people will open up to you.

© 2008 Jack Canfield

* * *

Jack Canfield is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar brand Chicken Soup for the Soul. The New York Times #1 best-selling book series has more than 100 titles in print and over 100 million copies sold in 41 languages. As an internationally recognized leader in personal development and peak performance strategies, Jack has spent the last 30 years teaching millions of people how to up-level everything they do. His bestselling book, The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be contains dozens of the most powerful secrets to success used by top achievers from all walks of life.

By Ruth Klein
America’s De-Stress Diva
And Author of “De-Stress Diva in the Kitchen”

In today’s economy, more Americans are choosing to eat at home. But in this time-crunched society, how can you find the time to prepare healthy, everyday meals at home?

Here’s how:
1. Hire Chef Crockpot. Crockpots are inexpensive and easy ways to prepare healthy meals in the morning that will be ready by dinnertime. These slow cookers roast meats and vegetables for six to eight hours, producing tender, tasty meals with fewer calories and less mess than frying on a stovetop.

2. Hire Chef George. As in the George Foreman grill (or any variation of the indoor electric grill). These grills are built with drip pans to drain unwanted fats and oils into an easy-to-clean drip pan, and most foods take only five minutes or less to grill. You can combine meats and vegetables, or just grill vegetables.

3. Stock your cupboard the healthy way. If you don’t keep unhealthy foods at the ready, you won’t reach for them when you cook. Include healthy staples such as non-fat chicken or vegetable broth, plenty of seasonings. Choose fresh vegetables over canned or frozen. Choose sweet potatoes over plain potatoes for extra vitamins. Choose organic over non-organic to avoid long-term threats to your health from chemical additives. An organically grown chicken might cost twice as much, but will taste 10 times better and be 10 times healthier for you. Aren’t you worth it?

4. Integrate other tasks into meal preparation time. Integrate other activities in your kitchen to make cooking and cleaning up less stressful. Invite your children to discuss their day and homework challenges with you while you chop, cook and clean. Practice deep breathing and stretching exercises while you reach for ingredients, plates and silverware. Listen to soothing music or tapes that teach you a foreign language while you work. Integrating important and/or enjoyable activities can double the rewards of preparing and serving healthy meals.

5. De-stress your dinner (and breakfast) table. Ban negative conversations at the table. If an unpleasant topic arises, say, let’s talk about that after the meal. Ask everyone at your table to share a pleasant memory from the day, or from the past month, or past year. Smiling is as contagious as yawning, so smile while you are at the table. Make your table cheerful with a vase of fresh flowers or fruit. On gloomy days, use silly paper napkins.

6. Have fresh water at the table. Keep pitchers of iced water on the table to encourage your family or friends to drink plenty of refreshing water with their meals. It’s a healthy, zero-calorie substitute for sugary or caffeinated drinks. Dress up your pitcher of water with thin slices of lime or lemon (or a dash of crushed mint) to make iced water an attractive treat.

7. Plan ahead for the next healthy meal. Invite family members to contribute to the next everyday meal using ingredients on hand. Ask younger family members to band together to create a fun recipe. Make meals a joyous, joint endeavor by letting the kids or your friends take over your kitchen one day a week.

Branding & Productivity Coach, Ruth Klein, is the author of “The Everything Guide to Being a Sales Rep,” “Time Management Secrets for Working Women,” and “The De-Stress Diva © in the Kitchen” and publishes The “De-Stress Diva” ™ bi-monthly with 6,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to de-stress your work, home, personal, financial and romantic life, get your FREE tips now at www.destressdiva.com for more information.

Summers are so short here in Michigan and this year I am determined to change my lifestyle so I can really enjoy more time with my famiily and friends. What about you?

Yesterday, I made the announcement to my family that I am committed to changing my lifestyle so I only work four days a week and only six hours per day. I also am committed to taking one week per month off for personal development or rejuvination. That’s only 72 hours a month  to run my business …do you think I can do it?  I believe it will work because I will be much more focused on how I spend my time.  And best of all, I will be living with joy and enjoying life, friends and family. Isn’t that what’s it’s all about?

What if there was no such thing as the 40 hour 9-5 work week?  How would you schedule your life…what if you changed your paradigm of what is normal?  Could you become more effective…eliminate or delegate things that you shouldn’t be doing anyway…things that drain your energy and don’t generate revenue?

I have always talked about Creating Your Perfect Life Week…but have never taken it to this level. Today I am committed to keeping this promise to myself, you and my family. This is My Perfect Week for My Perfect LIfe:

• 8-11 AM daily: Personal time for exercise, reading & meditation

• 11 am - 5 pm Monday - Thursday: Focus and Prep time for my business

• All day Friday through Sunday as well as my evenings:  Fun and Rejuvination with my family and friends…hobbies, adventure and connecting!

What is your perfect week? What are you willing to do to create Your Perfect Life? Do you want to join me in this challenge? I would like to hear from you.  Please click here to go to my blog and tell me what you are committed to. Remember the Law of Attractions says, “We get what we focus on…so Ask for What You Want & Then Take Action by Walking Through Your Fear.”

I will be posting my results on my Blog each week, and invite you to join me.  You are also invited to join me for a free preview call of my upcoming new book, “Secrets of a Midlife Millionaire - How To Create Your Perfect Life” on Monday, June 9 at 1 PM EST.  Click here to register.

Dear Family and Friends,

We made contact today with the geologist who will help us locate water for Menkhoaneng. His name is Dr. Gideon Groenewald. He’s a tall, gangling, redheaded, white South African who has been working on water projects in Lesotho for the past 35 years. In addition to being a water expert he is a self-proclaimed “dinosaur hunter”. There are many dinosaur artifacts in Lesotho – footprints in the sandstone cliffs, bones, and eggs with embryos still in them and Dr. Groenewald has them all in his rambling zoo-like home. There are animals everywhere – even a big collection of snakes!

As is true of many South Africans he has several jobs. For the last few years he’s been working with an international organization called the “Peace Parks Foundation” establishing parks throughout South Africa and Lesotho. In our initial meeting we found we know all the same people in the Lesotho Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture – swapping mutual contacts felt like old home week. His own business is called “Metsi Metseng” it means “water for the villages.” We think he’s perfect for the job.

Gideon is going to go with us to Menkhoaneng on Wednesday to look for potential well sites as well as to look at the possibility of piping water from one of the several natural springs that are high in the mountains behind the village. Piping the water may be the best alternative. We would cap the springs and pipe water to large storage tanks in the village. He said it would be as pure as bore hole water. He told us the equipment to dig a borehole weighs 14 tons and doesn’t like to tip going over roads. He is going to call the actual well-digger today and discuss logistics.

In the meantime, Patty and I will attend the Community Council session tomorrow in Mate. I now have a South African cell number. From the US it is 011 27 721277840. I’m so glad I saved the cell phone I had from my Peace Corps days – it still works!

Thursday

It has been an absolutely great few days. The meeting with the community council group on Tuesday was perfect. They gave us a huge Basotho welcome with dancing, singing and pledging their support to the project. I saw so many old friends. A few tears were shed. Molise Faratsi, the executive secretary of the council, will be our main contact for this project. He will handle clearing our activities with the myriad government agencies that need to be advised.

On Wednesday Dr. Gideon, his partner De Wet and I left early in the morning for Menkhoaneng. Patty stayed in town to write, read and rest. Our experts brought along lots of very technical-looking equipment. The chief, the two chief village elders and an interpreter met us in the village. After an initial explanation of the various potential solutions to the problem of bringing clean drinking water to the village we began an all day hike to every conceivable potential water source.

We made an important stop at the school to talk to the teachers about immediately adding to the school curriculum a focus on water. We decided that each child will write an essay on the importance of clean water. We distributed composition books and pens for each child for this purpose. The teachers will decide the top ten essays, which will be read aloud to the community at the feast celebrating the opening of the spigots, and each of those children will receive a cash reward. All of the children, 234 of them, will receive a beautiful medal to commemorate the event.

In this culture having the complete buy-in of the community is absolutely essential for the sustainability of any project. The purpose of the essay contest is to get information on the importance of drinking only clean water into the families through the children. The cash rewards guarantee that entire families will participate in helping their children with their essays thereby learning the importance of maintaining whatever system we put in. The medals will most likely become family treasures. We ordered them today. They will be 2-inch ovals in “gold” stamped with the image of Moshoeshoe I on the front. Around the circumference of the medal it will read. “Menkhoaneng, Water is Life”. They will be hung from green ribbons imprinted with “ Metsi Metseng” (i.e. water for the village) 2008. I can assure you none of these children has ever received a medal before – it will be a very big deal for them.

Wednesday was a long but totally satisfying day. We had intense discussions on what route to take to solve the problem but let me just cut to the chase. Here’s what we decided to do. We are going to tap three existing springs located in the mountains behind the village and pipe that pure water into three separate 15,000-liter storage tanks. The tanks will be located for easy access for all villagers. One is just by the school. The second is just by the chief’s house (a very politically correct position) and the third is more or less in the center of the village.

We are hiring villagers to do all the labor. Gideon’s team will act as project supervisors. He has a “bloke” on his team that speaks fluent Sesotho. That guy will direct the labor. Gideon is drawing up all the engineering plans. My next main job is to organize the big feast. We can expect at least 500-600 people. We will have traditional dancing, singing etc. We’re planning to have a community “walk” beginning at the spring that feeds the first storage tank, past the second tank and ending at the tank by the chief’s house where the feast will be held. At each tank the sangomas (traditional healers) will bless the water and the tanks. There will be lots of speeches. It will be an all day affair. The amount of food and cooking involved is daunting. We’ll hire at least ten village women to cook. The tentative date is March 14th.

The work has already begun. We have a team of 16 laborers cutting and hauling rocks to the spring sites. We’ve ordered all the pipes and fittings. They are to be installed next Thursday. Then the long pipes leading to the village must be installed – that’s the most difficult phase of the project.

I’m not expecting this project to run perfectly smoothly. We will certainly run into glitches. But I must say, so far, so good.

Tomorrow, Patty returns to the US. She is flying out of the Johannesburg airport at 7:00 pm and Telia is arriving at 5:20pm. She will pass the baton of friend and companion to Telia. He and I plan on taking a quick trip down to Cape Town but first we will spend a few days working on the project. I can’t wait to introduce Telia to everybody here and I’ll be especially thrilled to put the keys to our monster truck into his capable hands.

That’s it from this side of the world.

Khotso, Pula, Nala,
Peggi

Since many of us may be looking for ways to freshen up our lives and our habits, I would like to give you a sneak preview of an exercise that I created called “The Perfect Life Filter™”. The purpose of this exercise is to help us take a look at the different areas of our lives that are important to us (family, fitness, finance, fun and freedom) and to make sure that we are not out of balance in any one area. For example, I can get focused on work (because my work is one of my passions) and then ignore my heath and my family…even working through an entire weekend. This is certainly not the way to develop deep and meaningful relationships with my family and friends and in the long run…it ends up not being that much fun either!

Think about your life and what’s important to you. How can you combine your goals to leverage your time and energy? Here are some examples of how to do this for yourself. Please share your results with us on this blog. Thank you!

Exercise:

Take a moment now and list your goals for each of the following areas:

• Family Goals: (Deepen Relationships)
• Fitness Goals: (Self Care – Energy)
• Finance Goals: (Security – Abundance)
• Fun Goals: (Joy – Experiences)
• Freedom Goals: (Self Expression)

Now think of ways you can combine more that one goal to leverage your time…simple! For example:

• Family & Fun: Vacation
• Fitness & Fun: Go to the park with family
• Family & Freedom: Dancing: Trance Dance @ Karma Yoga
• Finances & Freedom: Personal Development – Creating Products
• Freedom & Fun: Travel

Dear Family and Friends,

Being back in Lesotho is a tapestry of mixed emotions and images. In many ways it is as if I never left; the breath-taking mountains, the warm friendships, the laughter and joy of the villagers upon our arrival contrasting so gut-wrenchingly with the extreme poverty all around us.

Patty and I arrived in country on Friday night. That is one long plane ride – 23 hours. After customs we picked up our car, or rather, truck – a huge Toyota 4×4 that seats five in the cab and has a big truck bed in the back. We’d ordered a Nissan 4×4 SUV but what the heck. This monster has been serving us well. It is the rainy season here so the roads are terrible.

After stopping in Buthe Buthe, a typical noisy, crowed, dirty camp town to pick up a bunch of frozen chickens for gifts, we headed to the village of Mate, home of the head chief of this district, Morena Halejoetse Selebalo. An elder of the village joined us in the truck to direct us to the chief’s home. People here expect a truck to be able to get anywhere. I was skeptical. The paths were narrow and deep in mud as slick as glass. We made it to his place and had a very good meeting with him – he gave his blessing to the well project, thanked us and pledged his support. His wife was thrilled with the chickens. On the way out of the village we got horribly stuck in the mud. It took many villagers to get us out.

We were supposed to meet an important Community Council official, Ntate Molise Faratsi, on our way to Menkhoaneng but somehow missed him. We arrived in Menkhoaneng, the village where the well will be located, late in the afternoon. There is no actual road to the village. The way there is mostly either dirt path, rocks or mire with many deep dongas (erosion trenches) to navigate. There were times that it seemed our truck would surely tip over. On the way we’d picked up many passengers. The truck was jam-packed so at least we had traction – and encouragement and people to push. Our welcome in the village was wildly enthusiastic. Within moments of arriving we were surrounded by old friends, singing, dancing and ululating in welcome. We handed out the chickens to the chief and to M’e Matjeeka, the head of the family I’d lived with and had one chicken left. We gave it to the little woman who had the bizarre and tragic distinction of having been chosen as the sex partner for the boys in circumcision school. Have I told you about this unfortunate custom? Sex education is part of the training boys receive in circumcision school. The village chooses one woman, usually an older, impoverished widow to participate in this part of the training. The reward for her is that she will never starve to death. She can, for the rest of her life, visit any hut in the village and receive food. This sweet and I think psychologically damaged lady often visited my hut. She would sit on the floor and eat the huge bowl of food I had given her. Sometimes she was with me for days at a time – from morning ‘til night. She never spoke. When Patty and I arrived in the village she came up to us and kissed us – a very unusual behavior here. Patty immediately went to the car to give her the last chicken – she held the bag in the air and danced wildly as all the women sang an ad hoc rendition of “Aren’t we glad M’e Peggi’s back in town.”– it was quite joyous.

I held had a very quick meeting on the well project with chief and elders while Patty took photos with her digital camera and showed the villagers the immediate results. We had to tear ourselves away to get down the mountain before dark. It was a white-knuckle ride all the way – at times we were simply sliding – completely out of control. When we finally got to the place we’re staying for the next few days we drank a lot of wine.

On Sunday we had several objectives. One was to attend a church service at the Catholic Church in Mate. Although this is not at all a religious mission we’re on our sister Penny and her deacon –husband Jim had given us bags of beautiful rosaries made by retired nuns. They also gave us holy cards and many other gifts for the villagers. I can’t tell you the enthusiasm with which these gifts were received. The rosaries, in a plastic Meijer shopping bag were placed on the altar beside the chalice. Father Charles rejoiced, praising these “blessed gifts from our friends in America”. Everyone sang and danced and lined up to receive their rosaries. Patty and I, assisted by several women of the Altar Guild, passed them out while Father Charles put ashes on everyone’s foreheads to comemorate Lent. He told us they would all pray for us every day – it can’t hurt.

After the service we once again went to find Molise Feratsi. We located him at his home and had a very good discussion on the well project. Molise pledged to make sure all the government officials in the area are aware of and in support of the project. They are having their big monthly meeting on Tuesday and invited us to attend – we, of course, will.

Tomorrow, Monday, we can finally begin negotiations with the well-digging experts bidding on the job. The first person we’re hoping to see is a geologist who will help us locate the best place to drill.

As usual, this letter is too long. I’ll write again in a few days when, hopefully, we have some real progress to report.

It is great to be back in Lesotho!
Khotso, Pula, Nala! (peace, rain, prosperity)
Peggi

Spring is just around the corner and I know I should be writing about something cheery and I really debated whether I should even discuss this issue with our readers, but I want to share this story with you…

I came home last night after being at an all day expo to find my daughters sitting in the dark looking as if the life had been drained out of them.  I asked what had happened and they told me that Eric was dead.  Eric was a Chelsea’s friend from high school who had been struggling with his life.  He had no family support, was living with a friend when their home burned to the ground.  One of the family members had died in the fire and his only hope to go to college was joining the army.  He adjusted very well and was going to be coming home early next year…but he never made it to college.

Our family watches intervention and last week we watched a show about a young boy who was also having trouble in his life, so he joined the army.  When he came home, he became a severe alcoholic.  He left rehab and is still drinking. 

Our events coordinator, Megan, was with some old friends who did make it back from Iraq this year.  They too have been drinking Jack Daniels on the rocks…every day.  She says they were showing pictures they had taken of people they had killed.  All I know is that I want our boys to come home healthy and to be able to live normal lives.  This is the first time our family has experienced the effects of this war personally and I wonder how you feel.  Please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences. 

My father was in the service and fought in the Korean War.  He actually died in 1963 during active duty with the Vietnam War, but he was duck hunting and in an accident.  I wonder if I would have felt differently about his death had he been killed during a battle.

I believe peace for our country is just around the corner and I hope we can become a nation that is respected for peace keeping and peace making.  Let’s welcome these men and women when they return from war help them transition back to lives of hope and opportunity.