Freedom!

Hey Everyone. Jen here. At the risk of sounds almost sappy, I wanted to tell you about an amazing woman that Mark and I got to listen to about a month ago. Her name is Anka and she just recently became a US citizen. She was born and raised in Romania. Then she met her husband online and move to the US after getting married. For about an hour she told us about her experiences growing up in a socialistic government. She told us horrific stories about waiting in lines for 3 hours to get a liter of milk. That milk was to last her family a month. She told us how her father was taken to prison because he refused to serve as uncover spy to rat out anyone who was not loyal the current government. (I forgot the name of the man who was in charge.) And in her words, "Prisons in Romania are not like prison here. Prisons here are resorts." She told us about how amazing it is to have stores full of items to buy. If they somehow were lucky enough to save up money, they would go into stores that had empty shelves. She also told us that it was everyone's dream to be able to live in America. Why do I share this? Because today I was so blessed to be able to go in and vote. She told us that they did have elections in Romania. Unfortunately there was only one name on the ballot. What a blessing it is to live in a free country. For those of us who have never experience a world that is not richly blessed and free, it is so easy to take our country for granted. So today when you go into vote, think of all the people in this world who would give just about anything, including their lives to be able to do what we are doing today. I also couldn't help but think about all the men and women who have fought and given up their lives and portions of their lives so that we can be free. Thanks to all you military men and women!! Have a blessed day!

PS: By the way, Anka also lived through the revolution of Romania. Her father fought to overtake the leader (name?) and Romania is now free. (I am not up on all my history.) I can't remember the year that occurred but it was awhile ago. She told us that there is still A LOT to rebuild the country. It really gave me amazing insight to what it will take to rebuild Iraq.