12/26/2025
🇺🇸 The Hero's Way 🇺🇸
If I could walk across this sand,
Ten thousand miles to hold your hand,
To you I'd run "til Christmas Day!
But this is not the hero's way.
Together we'll be, the day is near,
So wait for me, not one more tear.
And think of me when you trim the tree
As I pray for you on bended knee.
My gift for you is standing post,
For family, for country, for the Heavenly Host
Our Christmas reunion may be far apart, But you are with me in mind and heart.
There is no time for a soldier's rest,
for you each day we give our best.
I long to be with you this Christmas Day, But this is not, the hero's way.
🇺🇸 🎄 🇺🇸 🎄 🇺🇸 🎄 🇺🇸 🎄 🇺🇸 🎄 🇺🇸 🎄 🇺🇸
This time of year is one of joy, but it can also be one of so many tears. Those tears are sometimes happy and other times sad, but at other times a combination of both.
It’s a time when something so simple as a Folgers commercial can bring tears or opening a bottle of Coca Cola has us smiling as we hum a tune about Teaching the World to Sing.
Yes, we are that old and Christmas time in Oklahoma cannot officially begin until we hear the B.C. Clarke jingle. It’s just the way it is this time of year as we gather with friends and family.
We realize that the gift to give isn’t a shiny present , but rather the presence of our loved ones.
Christmas isn’t simply a day. It is so much more. It is the celebration of the ultimate love.
One of the greatest loves we can experience is that of our service men and women. They have taken the oath with courage and commitment to keep us safe and allow us to celebrate the holidays with our loved ones. They also stand willing to fight for our freedoms including that to say, “Merry Christmas”.
How blessed are we to live in a town where year after year for decades our friends, family and neighbors have stepped forward to serve our country not just during times of war, but also during times of uncertainty and peace.
There is no doubt that when stories are shown on the 5 o’clock and 10 o’clock news of the special moments when loved ones are reunited with those serving in our armed forces our eyes may water a bit from those stray eyelashes or the sun being too bright. We have all been there.
This past weekend one of those special homecomings took place. There was no fancy news crew cameras forever pausing that moment in time. Instead there was a loving husband and proud Dad snapping away as his wife held a sign welcoming their son home.
That sign became forgotten and a bit crumpled as a just as proud Mama with happy tears tightly embraced her baby boy just as she had when she first held him. God above and his newest special angel knew just what her broken heart needed and sent her baby boy home to help stitch it back together with his hugs and seeing him kicked back at home on the couch.
Jacob Bailey, the son of Josh and Candice Bailey and the grandson of Rick and Judy Bailey and the late Rebecca and Ken Williamson graduated in May with the class of 2025.
As he walked across the stage to receive his diploma, those in attendance could not help but notice the men in uniform clapping loudly. Those men in uniform had reason to be proud of Jacob. They weren’t family, by blood, but soon they would become more than recruiters with a recruit. They would become mentors, friends, and family of another level. They would become brothers in arms.
Since that time this Pirate of ours has been following the goals he set and setting sail for his dreams to come true. He is well on his way.
Jacob went to Basic Training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. He graduated as a part of Team Vicksburg with the 1st Battalion, 13th Infantry Regiment on August 14th.
Much excitement followed his graduation with the news that he would be training for his dream job of being an Air Trafic Controller.
This was an answered prayer since he had been told initially that he did not qualify. After working hard with much dedication and many prayers said on his behalf, just before graduating basic he received the amazing news that he had passed his flight physical.
All those prayers to the Heavens and wishes on stars, had brought about a miracle of letting this young man become an Air Traffic Controller of those same skies.
PFC Jacob Bailey has been working hard at AIT at Fort Rucker in Alabama. He is scheduled to graduate Air Traffic Control School in January.
He will then begin his two year service agreement with a deployment to South Korea so his Mama needs to get in all the hugs that she can.
❤️Welcome Home Jacob!!!❤️
We are so proud of not just your service for which we are so grateful, but for your accomplishments as you follow your dreams.
Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. ... We pray God's protection over you in the name of Jesus.
May this one day of the year and your service remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
~John 13:34-35
May God Bless Jacob and all our service men and women whether they be home, stateside or far across the desert sands or the vast waters of the ocean.
🇺🇸🙏🏽 🇺🇸
