Kurdish Military

ursday, September 30^th 2010

I couldn’t believe what I saw when we pulled into the Kurdish Military Base….Soldiers lined up on both side of the street as far as I could see standing at attention. 

Walking into the building for a meeting with the Kurdish Minister of Defense the Soldiers lined the side walk to greet us…

Jan talked for the Gold Star Mom’s and of course she did a fabulous job..

Kurdish Minister of Defense gave us a nice crystal award thanking us for our children and the sacrifice they made for their country…and making the long journey from home as Gold Star Moms..

We had lunch with the Military and what a great surprise some US Soldiers greeted us…It was so nice to see someone from home…and at the same time they seemed just as happy to see us….of course they receive HUGE HUGS from me ( colleen )…

The day at the lake

September 29, 2010

Trip to lake Dukan……….

This was a resort that we went to and I could spend some time their….We had lunch and it was American food….I had chicken and fries…. Jan and I sat at the edge of the pool and had a great talk and soaked our feet in the pool…then all of the group sat in a circle and shared our feelings…some did it with song and some with scriptures. And words from songs….it were so beautiful……

Birthday girl

September 28, 2010

Happy Birthday….Karen!   Today has been a very emotional day….My day started out in the morning with Jan handing me a Birthday card from my twin sister…what a beautiful card I cried It was very hard to be away from my twin this Birthday…Then Jan said to everyone that it was my Birthday and I was sung to in English and Arabic…

Then that night we were invited to the first ladies of Iraq (Mrs. Talabani) Huge mansion so pretty….she heard that it was my birthday……we ate dinner then went into a sitting room and my eyes couldn’t believe it I had four Birthday cakes for me even in one in pink…..then they sang to me in three different languages…I was so treated like a queen……..

This is the first lady Mrs. Talabani she had all our outfits made for us

THIS DAY WAS FULL OF ALL KINDS OF EMOTIONS

September 28, 2010

This was a very hard part of the day for me and all of us…with two large hands marking the spot where Sudan could show his power he had …he had his people kill 5,000 people in five  min with a chemical;;;;;; we saw pictures of this…….then walls of names  of the dead…….This shows me how important it was for all ourchildren to go to war to get rid of  this horrible monster…..I still wonder how all this could happen to so many innocent people …….they didn’t even have time to know that would  be their last breath……I cried so hard Jan had to tell me to breath…Thanks to Jan I could make it…even knowing that she was hurting has much as me…..

  SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

This is one day that just blew me away

We went to the cancer hospital….it just broke my heart!  Small children young adults to the very  old……I could hold the small children…talk to the women and hug them and share my love  with them……..be so grateful for what we have in the state…I saw one  little boy with his mom holding him….he had an IV in his hand with just a piece of cardboard  strapping it on…an old man lying in bed reached out to me…he  wanted to thank me…he sat up for a few seconds to hold my hand then he laid back down…all I could do is lay me head on his shoulder and hold his hand and hoping that he could feel my love…….