And then there was Sulli...

Hey All!!! I am sippin some sweeet tea here in the busy city of Kampala and thought I'd write and tell you about my new 'brother'. I am sure some of you are wondering how one acquires a new sibling while living in a foreign country...but then again maybe not because most of you know how the Thornton family rolls - really if you know my family pretty well you know that we have knack for acquiring people....That's what we do....It sort of defines us :) HAHAHA Nway, recently my fam connected with one of Cory's Corp buddies and well to make a long story - they adopted him as a son. Not a 'legit' adoption :) but something I definitely want to get on board with so to speak. Most of you in Y-town have probably already met Sulli but the 'new' brother idea has just reached me here in UG and I am totally 'down' with having another sibling!!!! Here's the little I know about Sulli so far - He's tight with Cory,He's a fighter, He's country (from Texas but we aren't loving him any less for that - especially since I just wrote my last blog on that very subject :) , He eats a lot, He swims, Calls Mom - Momma , He took over my bathroom at home and Saturday changed the oil in Lahonda...so to sum this all up I have decided to get on the bandwagon and join my family. I too have adopted him as part of us :) Welcome to the fam Sulli! Consider that your official shoutout from your sister in Africa! And you probably don't have access to this blog but but just so you are aware one of the 'requirements' for being a sister to Jena is that you MUST let me pinch your muscles!!! JK

So now I am getting a little carried away -Back to the real reason for writing this....My NEW Marine Brother is on his way to Iraq TODAY!!! That's right ladies and gentlemen you read that right :( I know that a lot of stuff is happening in our country right now and I know I don't have power to decide who stays on the home front or who goes overseas... but I can choose to PRAY. I could also choose to pout and get all emotionally and stuff - but what good would that do...SERIOUSLY.. That is not a good thing for a sister of NOW TWO MARINES to do. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right???' So 'in light' of Sulli leavin and Cory's soon departure just around the corner - I found the following story quite meaningful during my devo.

" In World War II, Ernest Gordon was a British captive in a Japanese prison camp by the River Kwai in Burma, where the POWs were forced to build a 'railroad of death' for transporting Japanese troops to the battlefront. They were tortured, starved, and worked to the point of exhaustion. Nearly 16,000 died. Gordon survived the horrors of that experience and wrote about it in a monumental work, Through the Valley of the Kwai, published in 1962...He describes one occasion when, at the end of a work day, the tools were being counted before the prisoners returned to their quarters. A guard declared that a shovel was missing. He began to rant and rave, demanding to know which prisoner had stolen it. Working himself into a paranoid fury, he ordered whoever was guilty to step forward and take his punishment.

No one did. 'All die!' the guard shrieked . 'All die!' He cocked his rifle and aimed at the prisoners. At that moment, one man stepped forward. Standing at attention he calmly declared, 'I did it.'

The Japanese guard at once clubbed the prisoner to death. As his friends carried away his lifeless body, the shovels in the tool shed were recounted - only to reveal that there was no missing shovel.

Unlike the situation of those prisoners staring into the cocked and loaded gun of a deranged guard, you and I do not face death from a fellow sinner. What we face is the righteous threat of furious wrath from a holy God. That is the threat faced by all who have gone astray, by each one who has turned to his own way. In our case, the shovel is missing; there is in fact a great deal more that's missing. We are indeed guilty of sin and deserving punishment... But the innocent One - stepped forward to die for the rest of us......."

Cross Centered Life By: C J Mahaney

If my memory serves me right I think the USMC motto - is God, Country, Corp....I am not really sure if my new bro has those things in order in his life or not - I can assume he has the Country and Corp part under control -but as far as God - I don't exactly know his thoughts about the one who hung the stars in the sky. So join me in prayer for Sulli not only for his safety but also that Christ would speak to his heart. That he would know what or whom rather he is standing for if he indeed does face a "All die" moment in Iraq.

THANK U FOR READIN AND PRAYIN AS ALWAYS X