This is an email my Mom sent out today! It looks like my brother will finally be coming home. I give God all the praise for protecting him and bringing him home.
Well…what a long time since May of 2007….
anyway sorry it has been awhile since I sent news of Brent and Delta Company and many of you have been asking, calling and emailing to check on recent news of him and finally I have news to report.. we are so grateful to let you know that Brent should be arriving to Ft. Stewart on next weekend July 6th on Saturday night at 8 PM.
Yesterday Eddie and I went to Savannah (Hinesville, Georgia) to Ft. Stewart to welcome the Advance Party of perhaps about 200 men that arrived from different companies in the 1/30th Battalion. While waiting for the soldiers to arrive we met a few of the family members I have “met” through email this year and it was like seeing old friends when we finally got this chance to meet in person. It was an incredible “less than 15 minutes” homecoming to witness the anxious crowd and see the arrival of the buses coming up the road and feel the appreciation for the sacrifices of these soldiers, although all of them strangers to us…Walking through the crowd, I did recognize a few of the names on the uniforms from our prayer list and from reading the newsletters that came from Arab Jabour. Although 102 degrees, it was quick,short and sweet and as soon as they get off the bus and march in, a few words of appreciation are said…(about 2-3 minutes) the Star Spangled Banner and the Army song is sung and they are dismissed to go home for 2 days. When dismissed and the families are allowed to run to their hero or the hero to them….it was crazier than people running to a Blue Light Special at KMart! I hope to send some pictures later today.
But then just as quickly as it started, the field was totally deserted and all were gone except for Eddie and me and the 2 Ft. Stewart ground maintenance men who were carefully and respectfully attending, one at a time, to the hundreds of memorial trees planted on Warriors Walk alongside the sidewalks as far as you can see (each tree is dedicated to and has a plaque and flag that bears the name of a fallen soldier from Ft. Stewart from the Iraqi conflicts.) Eddie and I visited the tree that was planted to honor Delta Company’s Larry Parks who was killed one year ago this week in Iraq. His parents will be coming to meet the Main Party of Delta men and welcome them home when they arrive on the 3rd I believe. Continue to lift them and all of our military families up in prayer and our soldiers deployed and newly arriving home.
We decided not to go to see Brent’s arrival into Ft. Stewart this coming weekend but know that Emily will be there to greet him and they will call us upon his arrival and they will head our way…….We will anxiously await his arrival back home and we are sure that will suit him just fine to be picked up by her! That is another reason we went yesterday to have an opportunity to show our personal heartfelt appreciation to these soldiers, to experience the emotions for a little closure and we are so, so glad we got to see it. The good news for Emily is perhaps it wont be quite so hot at 8 at night as the friends and families wait on the buses…because even though the ceremony is short, of course most people had been out there waiting on bleachers on that field for more than two hours….just in case the soldiers came in early!
Saturday night, July 6th at 8 PM we will be at the Miss South Carolina Miss and Teen Pageant Final Competition NIght In Spartanburg with Courtney. Kelly and Baby Seth and maybe Scott will be there too to wish Courtney well and to cheer her on as she competes for the title of Miss South Carolina Teen. Please say a prayer that she can use these experiences of this program to glorify God and to grow and strengthen her character as she continues in her plans for her life and in her community service for others; and of course we pray that the judges will find favor with her during her personal interview tomorrow, Saturday July 28th between 10:30 and 12:00 as she interviews for the position and as she performs talent (Tuesday afternoon) on stage question in evening gown (Wednesday afternoon) and physical fitness (Thursday afternoon) during the week of competition preliminaries. Thank you for your prayerful and financial support for her as well during this past year. And if she hasn’t “hit you up” yet for financial donations to her Children’s Miracle Network Project, watch out! You probably will hear from her soon!
In closing, as we will be in Spartanburg most of the coming week at the preliminaries, and I will probably not have chances to email, let me say on behalf of the Eddie, Courtney, Kelly and myself how grateful we have been for your prayerful and sincere support of our son and brother during Brent’s deployment. We thank you for honoring us by recognizing it was a difficult time for our family. Thanks for emailing us,calling us, sending cards and even calling or stopping by to inquire about him so many times . Of course we thank you for all you have done for Brent personally to encourage and to lift him up and his men for so long. You have been very faithful. You have been VERY appreciated. Your kindness and genrerosity has not gone unnoticed!
Thanks, Thanks, Thanks! and I hope to attach and send some pictures later of our experience at Ft. Stewart yesterday!
Eddie, Brenda and Courtney Cisson