OWH Veteran's Day Bloghop

Welcome to the Valentine Blog Hop

If you arrived here from another source, you can start at the beginning by going to the

Stars and Stamps blog.

My earliest memories from childhood are seeing those 'funny looking letters' arrive from my brother who was in the Navy.  I didn't really know him then because I was too young when he left.  I know the letters made my mother cry and she saved them all.  All I understood then was that I had an older brother who was in the war.  As I became more aware, I learned that he was in the South Pacific.  I have later learned that he was on Guadalcanal.  When I did see him after the war, his skin was still yellow from Malaria and he was quite thin.  It's hard to believe that this happened nearly 70 years ago.

I learned to love my brother and became close as he was married and raised a family.  He's still very important to me, but has never talked a lot about those experiences.  Thank you for your service, Loyd.

I have also known many other friends and family members who are veterans.  My husband spent 20 years in the Air Force, as a fighter pilot, and we currently have several grandsons on active duty.  I honor and respect them all.

My support for OPERATION WRITE HOME began after the Memorial Day Bloghop in 2009.  We make cards for our heroes to send home to family in friends.  There are rules and deadlines for the type of cards we make.  You can learn more about this HERE.

We must make cards for special holidays well in advance to allow time for shipping both ways.  The deadlines for Thanksgiving and Christmas cards are past.  The deadline for Valentines is January 7, 2011.

Background is made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder - those are raised hearts all over it.  The cut-out letters and hearts are also from the same Cuttlebug set - Love Language.

Instead of just saying Happy Valentines Day, I like to make more generic Love cards.  These are more versatile for our heroes to send home when they have time.

Besides holidays, there is always a need for Birthday, Thinking of You, Missing You and just plain Hello cards. They don't even have to have a specific message.  This gives our heroes the option to use them as needed.  Don't forget, we have women serving also and they may wish to send masculine cards.  Many of our heroes also have children at home, so cards for children are needed.  Lots of options here.  We also try to include Any Hero cards in each package.  These cards are for the troops to show our support.

If you wish to help out the troops with Archway Cookies for the holidays, participate in this SPECIAL MISSION.  Start making Valentines that can be sent in before December 1.

Now, hop on over to Brittany at Levels of Light:  http://levelsoflight.blogspot.com/2010/11/owh-valentines-day-blog-hop.html