United Through Reading

I don't know if you know about this or not, but there is a USO program out there called "United Through Reading." At this house, we think it's about the coolest thing ever.
(http://www.uso.org/whatwedo/specialprograms/unitedthroughreading/)

The way it works is the deployed parent gets to make a dvd of themselves reading a couple books and getting to say some sweet things to their kids. The USO sends the dvd and the books home to the kids. The kids then get to read the book along with their deployed parent. The USO requests that you take pics of your children watching and reading with the dvd, and send those pics back to the deployed parent, so he or she can see that their kiddies are reading books with them. Get it? It really is pretty sweet. Kyle did this last year and it was a big hit.

So, the girls got a special visit from their Daddy tonight!
Daddy picked out some good books, including If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. He remembered that Myah already has a companion book to this and it's one of her favorites.
So here's Myah, reading along. She's good at that.

And Aevyn watching along too. She can't believe it's her Daddy on TV! (nevermind her crazy hair or her soaked dress)

Weird looking picture, but you can see Kyle reading on the TV



But oh man. Have you ever seen a 3 year old completely broken heart?
This happened last year too. It's good to see Daddy, but it tough to think about him being away. Reading books with him on TV is nice, but it's just not the same is it?
(she gave me permission to take her picture)
Myah knows it's okay to be sad and it's ok to cry. Being sad just reminds us of how much we love Daddy and how happy we will be when he comes home.





(PS If you have ever wondered when you see those USO commercials if it really is worth your donation- the answer is YES. Consider this if you have a little money burning a hole in your pocket and you feel like putting it into something worthwhile, even if it made my daughter cry...)