I'm not sure everyone heard about this, but the boys and girls, and young men and women, of our church school sent Valentine's Day cards to members of the Marine Corps' 1st Battalion/4th Marines, currently stationed in California and preparing for deployment overseas. Also included were phone cards which will enable the Marines to call home, even from some ordinarily desolate areas.
They're good kids and I'm proud to serve them as rector.
[The dragon which appears on the patch above harks back to the days when the 1/4 Marines were known as the "China Marines", as that was where they were stationed from 1927 until 1941, until they were deployed to defend the Philippines in the early days of US involvement in WWII. In recent years, they have been heavily involved in Iraq.]