Tales from a Tattooed Heart

On Friday, the family and I had the honor of being invited to attend a retired Soldier's funeral at a National Cemetery in Denver where as he was being laid to rest. The Thursday night before that I sat in a quite chapel room of a funeral home while the casket rested open for family and friends to pay their last respects. We did not know this soldier or his family until a couple of weeks ago. We may have missed this opportunity all together if it had not been for The Army pulling Caleb to be a Casualty Assistance Officer (CAO) for this family. A CAO is a Soldier, who is trained to walk along side a family member after receiving the news of the loss of their Soldier. To be honest we have dreaded the day Caleb would get the call for such a task, mostly for the feeling of being inadequate. We are significantly less than what any family could need in a time like that. We are not the answer to their deepest moan and we can not be enough in a moment like that, or in the weeks, months or

Life. It is almost as short as the word itself.  Today our town of Colorado Springs lost a police officer in the line of duty. He left behind a wife and 2 children. My heart aches with many others tonight as we grieve for the family, friends and coworkers left behind. So crazy to think how quickly one life can be taken away. The suspect also lost their life and that also makes my heart hurt. I don't know the details of this situation but I know other officers were also shot and as of this moment seem to be recovering. But ugh, so much loss, so much hate, so much crazy. I don't know what lead to the events of today and I'm not sure anyone could have prevented what transpired. A wife now goes to bed alone without her best friend and two kids will wake up tomorrow without a father to greet them. This reality sucks. The suspect may have family missing them, and who knows how today would have ended if they had made better choices. In a moment decisions were made that wil

How do you explain the color blue to someone who cannot see? How do you explain the sound waves make against the shore to someone who has never even seen the ocean? How do you explain the forest to an Eskimo or your house to a stranger? Shy of literary genius, these tasks are so very hard to accomplish. I mean we can give a general description and even draw or share a picture but nothing can compare to the experience of these things. Even a recording of the ocean is not the same as having your feet on the wet shore while the endless cold water sends waves chasing one another to your toes. Try as we may but our words will always fall short of the thing we wish to express. That is how if feel when it comes to explaining God's love. Utterly at a loss of words! If I had counted how many times I have already pressed the delete button just trying to get this far I think you may have some idea with just how much I struggle to convey my thoughts about this very subject. Where do you

It's February and since the last days of December we have been reminded with red and pink hearts that soon we would be celebrating a day of love... Well a day that we are supposed to spoil that special someone with chocolates and stuffed bears, flowers and dipped strawberries, love notes and fancy candle lit dinners. From December on we may be either looking forward to the 14th of February with delight and fanciful day dreams or dread and irritation. How we look forward to that big V-Day probably has much to do with whom or whom-not we are to be spending it with. More often than not some V-Days have been more special and meaningful, just because whom we may have had the pleasure spending it with and how it was celebrated. I know that for myself personally Caleb and I are pretty low key when it comes to Valentines Day, mainly because we celebrate our anniversary shortly after and I much prefer all the discounted presents over the full price ANYTIME! However, as with most people loo