When I was a little girl, my parents taught me how important it was to say thank you to people who did special things for me. I cannot think of a more important reason to say thank you than to those serving in the military.Lt. MacNab,the soldier we have written to, is a former college and R.O.T.C. classmate of my son's. We wanted Lt. MacNab to know that we appreciate what he is doing, and sent him a little bit of home from our hearts!
Please share our letters to Lt. MacNab
October 27, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi, my name is A.J. I was born in Garrison, New York. I have an older sister, a younger sister, and of course a mom and dad. I love Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and baseball. My favorite baseball team is the New York Yankees. I am also entering my third year of baseball. My favorite Lord of the Rings character is Aragorn and my favorite Star Wars character is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I also forgot to mention that I love Video games. I love Video games so much! All I have is a Game Boy Color and a Playstation. My parents won’t buy me a Playstation 2 or a Game Boy Advance SP because I’d be on it all day.I’m in Mrs. Dingman’s 5th grade class. In our class we do a lot of poetry and sometimes we write letters to people just like I am to you! To tell you the truth I don’t like school a bit! School has gotten so boring nowadays. I get in school at 9:00 and we eat lunch at 11:50. By the time I get home it’s already 4:15! The only part that’s good about school is recess! At my old school we got 30 minutes of recess and now I only get 20 minutes here! My teacher is very nice but the stuff she has to teach us is BORING!!!Thank you for defending our country and protecting it too. When I was 2nd grade I wanted to be in the Air Force so badly with my friend Michael. When we went to 3rd grade we weren’t in the same class and we barely talked. Then I moved here in Pennsylvania. I never again really thought about going in the Air Force anymore. I don’t know if I’ll still join the Air Force. Thank you for defending our country and I will never forget that freedom isn’t free.Thank You,A.J. Mrs. Dingman's 5th Grade
November 2004
October 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi, my name is Alyssa. I am 11 years old and I am in Mrs. Dingman’s 5th grade class. My middle name is Marie. My birthday is October 9th. I have brown hair and brown eyes (in fact my whole family does.) My top three favorite colors are red, purple, and black. When I grow up I want to be a music teacher, a third grade teacher, or a fifth grade teacher. Or maybe all three of them. I have one sister. Her name is Kaitlin. She is 12 turning 13 on November 13th. She is in the 7th grade. My hobbies are reading, dancing, and singing. I have no pets and 2 parents. Their names are Marilyn and Joseph, Joe for short. I live in a blue ranch style house. My favorite subject is Math and my least favorite subjects are Social Studies and Science… they are tied at being the worst.) My favorite teacher ever is Mrs. Dingman. She is always thinking up games and other cool things to do. She is super cool and nice.We do not switch for any of our classes here until we get to the Middle School next year. Our subjects are Language Arts, Reading, Spelling, Math, Science, Social Studies, recess, lunch, Music, Art, Health, Guidance, Computer Lab (or library), and Gym. After school I have jazz dance class on Thursday and Children's Choir practice on Tuesdays at the school with our General Music teacher, Mr. Krauss. We have performances throughout the year. I also have Junior Girl Scouts on Fridays. My troop leaders are Miss Paula and Miss Kim. There are 7 girls in the troop. Soon I am going to be taking karate and cheerleading. During school on every Tuesday we have Chorus if we want to go.Thank you for going out to fight in the war to protect our country. I think you are extremely brave to do so. I really admire you leaving our country to fight because it takes a lot of courage to do that. I really hope that you can come home safely soon.Thank You,AlyssaOctober 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi, my name is Caitlin H. I’m 10 years old. I’m in Mrs. Dingman’s 5th grade class. Mrs. Dingman is the best 5th grade teacher ever. I have blond hair. My birthday is September 21st. I am the oldest out of three children. I have a brother who is 7. His name is Shane. Shane is in 2nd grade. Shane’s birthday is July 10th. I have a baby sister who is 1. Her name is Erin. Erin’s birthday is September 12th. My mom’s name is Natalie and my dad’s name is Thomas. I also have a dog named Jasmine. My favorite subject is math and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten below an A- on a math test, except for when I took my first hundred-problem multiplication test, but we had to finish it in five minutes.Next year I’ll be moving into the Middle School. I’m doing soccer and I’m cheering for the DFL. I’m taking karate lessons down in NJ. I used to take piano lessons. I was in girl scouts last year, but this year I didn’t feel like doing it.I really admire that you’re fighting in Iraq for us right now. I don’t just admire that you’re fighting, I also admire that you’re out there. I think it’s really caring and loving, especially to your family. I hope you have a safe return home and I thank you for fighting for us.Your Young Friend,Caitlin H.October 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi! My name is Eric. I’m a 5th grader. I have dirty blonde hair, and my favorite color is yellow. My birthday is May 27th. My favorite food is my nanny’s angel hair spaghetti and anything that has jalapeño. My favorite sweets are gum, cake, doughnuts, and all kinds of candy. Also I love to play Frisbee, play video games, and watch movies or TV. My most favorite sport ever is fencing, I’ve never tried it but I’m going to in whatever grade I can. I also love dogs. I have one dog and one puppy.My school is really cool. It’s cool because awesome teachers like Mrs. Dingman teach here. Our 5th grade gets a BBQ at the end of the year, and we might even have a wet dunking booth like last year. Also I do karate, and kung-fu but I really want to take up Ninjitsu (the awesome art of ninjas). There are a few more cool things at our school, like 5th grade gets to do a water balloon fight instead of a water balloon toss. The last thing about my school is in Mrs. Dingman’s class if you are good she gives us candy if we’ve been good.I admire everything that you are doing for us. I wish you’d come home safe. You have done a lot for our country and I thank you for that.Sincerely,EricOctober 27, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hello my name is Jacqui. Let’s just say I am not like other kids. I am five foot two and love to play basketball and hockey. I am Italian, French Canadian, and Native American. I like to listen to country music oldies (what can I say? my mom got me hooked on it.) My favorite male singer is Tim McGraw. My favorite female singer is Shania Twain. I also love to sing and dance. I am very theatrical. My fifth grade teacher is so cool. I also had her in third grade too. My favorite T.V. show is That’s So Raven. She is hysterical. I also like to watch T.V. Land, you know like the Andy Griffith Show, Carol Burnet and Friends, The Cosby show, The Golden Girls…. OK… I think you get the point now, right? Well I hope so, because I was running out of shows. I was born in Carmel, New York… no not the kind you put on apples either.I love my school. It’s great! We do a lot of activities. It’s nice how fun our school is. We have student council. We also have a dunking both at the end of the year for our good attendance plus we have pajama day. Sometimes school is fun but at other times it could just be tiring. I understand that if you don’t go to college you won’t have that good of an education. Sometimes though you are so tired you just want to go back to bed, especially if it’s raining out!!! But I still love school. It’s like a second home to me because if you don’t have anyone to talk to you have your friends. Friends are everything to me. They are the people who bring me to school every day… well… really my mom gets me up. Two of my best friends in the class are Cassandra and Kati. They both sit right next to me. They are so funny and cool.I know this seems like the longest letter ever but it’s almost over. I never took the time in this letter to thank you ever so much. I appreciate what you’re doing for this country. I am with you 100 percent!!! I hope you have a safe and good trip return and good luck!!Sincerely,JacquelineOctober 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hello,my name’s Jeremy. I’m 10 years old. I’m a football player and the league I play in is the DFL. My favorite football team is the New York Jets. I want to be a Marine when I grow up. I like to draw and paint. I like anything with a motor. I like to do stunts on my bike. I like to target shoot. I’ve got two sisters and three half brothers. I’ve got three dogs named Echo, Satchel Paige, and Dodger. My dad was in the Marines. He was stationed in Camp Lajune, North Carolina. I have a moped and it goes fairly fast.My school is pretty big. The lunches are very good here. Our classroom is pretty big. My teacher’s name is Mrs. Dingman. I play a couple of different sports including, basketball, football, and baseball. Another program I’m in is Odyssey of The Mind. Last year my team went to state competition. I like to do some extreme sports like, biking, skateboarding, and scooting. I love to swim. I like to play the drums.I really appreciate what you are doing for our country by fighting this war. I really admire your braveness and courage. It’s amazing how tough you guys are. I really wish you best of luck to come home safely and unharmed. Thank you very, very much and good luck.Sincerely,JeremyOctober 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi my name is Kahdijah, I am 10 years old. I’m a fifth grader. My teacher is Mrs.Dingman. She is very nice to me. My uncle Nate is in the Army. I miss my uncle very much. I didn’t want him to go but he told me he had to save the country for our family. My hair is a brownish gold. I am half Indian and southern. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister. I get lots of good grades like A and Bs. My favorite candy is everything candies.My favorite activities are cheerleading, basketball, baseball, BMX racing, and race cars. My favorite hobbies are drawing, art, and going to the library. In school we are learning about Halloween. We did two projects. They were called Pumpkin letters, poems, and Halloween graphs. What this project means was we went on the Internet and found Halloween pictures and pasted them on to our graphs. What we did today was we had a math test and I got a B+ on it. My class is writing about Thanksgiving. We are writing poems. I hope you go home soon. What I admire is the bravery you have in yourself. Be strong, have heart, and use your head.Love,Kahdijah October 27, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi my name is Kati. My favorite school subject is math. Oh and by the way I’m in fifth grade. My favorite type of music is country and Toby Keith is my favorite singer. My favorite song by him is “I Want To Talk About Me”. I’m more of a computer person than television. So I really like the computer games called Sims and Impossible Creatures. My bothers are X-box people though so my family has more X-box things than computer. I am very smart so you can’t make fun of my blonde hair. My brother always makes fun of my hair but now he is dying his hair blonde. So now I get to make dumb blonde jokes about him. I have lived in thirteen different states but I’m not going to name them all. My favorite state is TN because it’s always warm year round and you don’t have to worry about winter coats. My dad used to work at the base in Fort Amble so I know what it is to miss someone.School is very fun now that I have friends, which are very nice by the way. My teacher Mrs. Dingman is the best fifth grade teacher ever. Around the school I really like computer class because I like doing searches and typing. Also I’m starting to remember some of the stuff from last year. So now I’m doing better in Math, Science, and Language Arts and I’m having fun while I’m doing it. So far in school I’ve run for treasurer but I didn’t win. But my friend did, so it’s just as good. Outside of school I take tap and jazz classes. In Dec. we’re going put on a recital like last year. During last year’s recital it was like working in the hospital. You had to run this way and that and during that time I cut my knee while I was on stage. And I still have a scar from it on my knee! Anyway back to talking about school and its activities. At the end of the year we have field day and carnival day. You probably already know what field day is so I’ll explain carnival day. It’s when each class makes a booth for the younger kids. Last year my class had the SpongeBob sponge toss. But SpongeBob broke so my classmates and me had to be the targets! I would like to wish you a safe return. I’m glad we have people like you that aren’t afraid to be in the Army. I would like to help though because I want to be a doctor or something that has to do with health like maybe a vet. Please return safely! Thanks again!Sincerely,Kati G
October 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi my name is Kevin. I am 10 years old and I have blue eyes and blond hair. I will be 11 years old on 8-11, August 11th. That year I will be 11 on the 11th of August. I have a dog and a cat. My dog is about 7 to 8 months and my cat is 2 months old. My dog is a full breed German Shepard. He’s a boy. I don’t know what my cat is but I know it is a girl. My dog’s name is Rocky but we like to call him Rock and my cat’s name is Cleo.I like to skateboard. I go to a place that teaches me how to skateboard and I meet a lot of people there and we become friends. The thing I love most is to play with my cat and my dog. I like my school. We have so much fun with Mrs. Dingman. She is the best teacher in the world. I hate getting up in the morning! It is the worst to take a shower, get dressed, and brush your teeth and all that stuff. When I get home I ride down to the clubhouse on my bike if it’s not raining or snowing and play with my friends and everything else. When I grow up I want to be a Navy Seal or an electrician.Thanks for fighting for our country. I admire what you are doing for our country so I want to be in the Army too. But I will try to be a Navy Seal.From,KevinOctober 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
My name is Marygrace. I am 11 years old. I am in 5th grade. My teacher is Mrs. Dingman. I have two older brothers, Dan and Joe, who are 15 and 14. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. My birthday is on October 5th. I love to read all kinds of books and I love to play sports. My favorite sport is basketball. My favorite author is either Mary Downing Hahn, who writes mostly ghost stories and mysteries, or D.J. MacHale, who writes adventure and fantasies. My favorite season is autumn. I have an Alaskan Malamute named Hunter, a black and white cat named Katie, and a goldfish named Lenny. I have nine cousins and eight first aunts and uncles. (I have tons more second aunts and uncles and cousins.) So I have a pretty big Italian and Irish family. I play the violin for the school orchestra. I play basketball and take jazz and lyrical jazz too. I like to swim and hike. I have a very good teacher for 5th grade. My favorite subjects in school are math, writing, and science. I love science, math, and writing because when I grow up I want to be a marine biologist, an astronomer, an archeologist, or an author. I like school plays but I’m very shy. I love gym and art. I’m not a very good artist but I still like art anyway. I love to write scary stories and funny stories. My favorite grade so far was 4th grade.I admire your bravery very much. You are a role model for lots of people everywhere. I hope you come home safely. Thank you.Sincerely,MarygraceOctober 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Hi! My name is Samantha. My height is about average for a ten-year-old like me. I have light brown hair with a little bits of blond here and there. I have chocolate brown eyes and I wear glasses. Guess what!? I have seven pets! I have six orange tabby cats and an adorable Siberian Husky puppy. For family I have a brother in sixth grade, a mom, a dad, and a 24-year-old sister who lives in Ohio. Just because of my sister I also have a brother-in-law, a niece, a step-niece, and I’m going to have another niece in January. My sister made my family crazy!My school is okay, but I like the school I went to before I moved to Pennsylvania better. I wish I could still go there, but it’s in a whole different state. I have many interests, and therefore like to take part in quite a few different extra-curricular activities. I love to act, so I take part in Drama Club. I took gymnastics before I moved here, which I absolutely loved, but unfortunately I can’t find a good place for it here. I am a green belt in my karate class, which is great, but the best part of karate is the all-new Demo Team that just got started. I’m a member, and we have three great routines: weapons (I work with the bow-staff), trampoline, and one-step punches. It’s so much fun! I also just tried out for Odyssey Of The Mind and I’m hoping to be chosen for one of the teams. In case you don’t know what Odyssey of the Mind is, it’s a creative program where the team has a problem to solve. I did something like it once and it’s a great activity. I’m also in chorus and I play the violin. Needless to say, I’m a busy girl!I would like you to know that I really appreciate what you’re doing to help with our country. It means a lot to me that so many soldiers leave behind everything they love just to go out and fight for their country. It’s truly something to be admired. I mean, you give up so much to help your country… Thank you!Thanks For All Your Help,SamanthaOctober 28, 2004Dear Lt. MacNab,
Konichiwa! My name is Star* and I’m in 5th grade! I’m kind of tall and I have long hair! (It’s not really that long!) I’m slim and I love to write stories and play video games! (Yeah!) I look like Naru from Love Hina if you know what that is! My favorite thing in the world is Sonic the Hedgehog! I’ve been a fan for 9 years! Oh yes, I almost forgot- I’m 10 and I’m turning 11 in December! I also love to draw. My favorite things to draw are anime and manga. Speaking of which, I am a huge fan of InuYasha. That show is awesome! I also work on an Internet chatroom called Shadows Domain. I’m a moderator there. At Shadows Domain people can chat at SD from all over the USA. The owner of the website is my good friend Luigi Modoza AKA Terios on the chatroom. This month my friend Rachael AKA Zyzz, Terios, and I are setting up SD for Halloween! My best friend in the world is Gabby. We met in 3rd grade and we’ve been in the same class ever since! Gabby is really nice and super funny. We’ve been best friends for 3 years!As far as school goes… school, well it’s fun with Mrs. Dingman, which is a change because I usually hate school. I’ve hated it up until I got Mrs. Dingman, lol! My favorite subject is Art because of Miss Benjamin and I love to draw! Now if you’re thinking that I’m not good at drawing guess again because I’m actually pretty good at drawing manga and anime! Well at least that’s what I think! My favorite activities are the school plays, writing my stories, Shadows Of the Heart and Shadow and Rouge Forever, drawing InuYasha, Tokyo Mew Mew, Love Hina, and Trigun and last but not least playing my Sonic games! I own every Sonic game ever created and every Sonic soundtrack known to man and several known to hedgehogs! Mrs. Dingman is my favorite teacher. She’s really nice and she doesn’t yell! (Yah!)This is the part of the letter where I tell you to do a good job but I want to say more than that. I admire all you’re doing and I’m proud of all of you, you’re out there helping the USA, so thanks mon! I’m sure you guys are homesick and I hope these letters help you to not miss home so much. Remember without you we’d be in trouble and I respect all that you’re doing. I know it sounds like I’m saying the same thing over and over again and, I probably am but it’s all true! By the time this letter gets to you it will probably be Christmas or at least close, so Merry Christmas! If this letter gets to you way before Christmas I probably look like a total idiot! Anyway I know that all of you soldiers will come home safely. We miss you! You’re the best!Hope You Come Home Safely,Star
The Cranberry Barn has created a “Deployment Candle” and "Yellow Ribbon Candle" in an effort to provide American families with a way of saluting, honoring, supporting, and thanking the men and women serving our country, at least in some small way, for the sacrifices they are making.
The net proceeds from the sale of these candles will be given to a non-profit organization called “Military Moms”.
(candle descriptions courtesy of Cranberry Barn)
