wings' journey

so the wings landed at a class of kindergarteners in north carolina and a girl scout troup in georgia!
here's the "tell me something good' part of the latter stop written by laura green, ashley's mom:

Ashley belongs to a Girl Scout troop of 11 girls: mixed ages and races. They get along so well and have a great time together. I
am the new leader as of this fall and a parent asked us to "adopt" a friend's son who was stationed in Iraq w/ the Marines...25 yrs old., no girlfriend or signifigant other etc., and in need of some "attention". We gladly accepted and Josh became a member of our troop immediately. We took a full color picture of him mounted on foam core with us everywhere, taking pictures along the way to send to him. The girls became completely aware of the war through this process...touching each one of them (and the parents) in a unique way. We sent him numerous pictures and several care packages and he, in turn, sent us a US flag w/ a certificate of authenticity that it flew over the base in honor of our troop. Wow! What an honor. The girls were able to meet him when he returned home in late March where they received so much appreciation for everything they did for him and his platoon (he shared everything we sent!). Ashley's wish for the "wings of peace" is that all the troops in Iraq would come home soon and come home safely. Each girl has a "flower of power" on the wings w/ their name on it as a wish for peace...and lots of smiles.

today i watched the movie "gandhi" and am reminded what thoughtful vision and hope can do. i attended a talk on deepening our spiritual journey. the speaker used the image of a larger circle with a smaller circle inside it to represent "our reality". the larger circle he called our "circle of concern". the smaller inner central circle was called the "circle of influence". he said we often get all wrapped up in the circle of concern and because we can't do alot about that area, it becomes the circle of impotence. so the goal is to focus on the circle of influence. i love the way the ashley's troop used their circle of influence to support one soldier while still holding the larger circle of concern in mind - bring all the soldiers home. beautiful!

more wing journey's soon!