Grati-Tuesday 21st January 2025

 

Happy Tuesday Friends!

I hope you are having a great week so far.

Grab a cuppa, sit back and relax while you soak up some well-deserved gratitude from our messages.

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Good Morning Ellen N,

I want that a massive thank you for the absolutely gorgeous quilt. It is honestly the most beautiful creation I have ever received.

Thank you for sharing with me about your life.

This was my first deployment; I have been in the Army for 12 years (9 years regular and 3 years reserve). We had an absolutely amazing deployment working with the Ukrainian forces to improve survivability and lethality in their fight against Russias illegal invasion. 

We had a lovely Christmas dinner before we left and the food was insane - I wasn’t even close to finishing it! We had to decorate our table in Aussie themed decorations and we beat all the other nations for best decoration!! Yay!!! 

We have only arrived back from deployment just before Christmas. I was so grateful to arrive home prior to the festive season! 

When I arrived home I had two very excited boys greet me. Ralph the white cavoodle and Toby the chocolate labradoodle.

This year my boys and I are going to be travelling around Australia in a caravan whilst I am a full time student (I got into medicine) as my first 2 years are all online. So any advice you can give me on travelling with dogs would be super handy!! Santa bought me a Starlink (satellite internet) which will be super handy!!! 

The boys love the outdoors though we often go hiking and to the beach where they love stand up paddle boarding!! 

But thank you again! Honestly it means so much to us when we were overseas and one arrived we all jumped around to check out the cool designs.  We were all very grateful for these parcels !! 

Thank you again.

 

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Hi Bel P,

 I received my quilt and laundry bag just before Christmas. Just wanted to say thanks for the care, effort and talent that went towards making them. A great keepsake and reminder of both my time away from home and my dog.

 

Best wishes for 2025.

 

Regards,

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Good Morning Cath Hpr, 

I am the fortunate receiver of this very special LB and wanted to take some time to say thank you and respond to your very kind letter.

I read your letter just two days ago, although I have been putting the laundry bag to good use for almost six weeks now and it brought a tear to my eye.

As a new friend you just haven’t met yet I thought I would introduce myself and tell you just a little about me.

I am a father of two beautiful boys (3 and 2) and husband to my beautiful wife. We have a dog who is a Maltese x shih tzu and is 12yo.

We currently live only 15 min from Amberley RAAF base. As a family we all love the outdoors with most of our weekends filed with camping or trips to the beach.

I grew up in the lower Blue Mountains myself, a little place called Mt Riverview and I know St Clair quite well having played soccer there for years.

I have always been a dog man having had a dog throughout my entire life so I feel for you having lost Hope. It brings me great joy hearing that you have adopted Ruby and that hole in your heart left by Hopes absence can be refilled with love and joy, the kind that only a best friend can fill.

I am currently working at Casey Station in Antarctica as part of Operation Southern Discovery. The work down here is rewarding and the landscape and animals I have been fortunate enough to explore are mesmerising to say the least. I think I have filled my cameras memory 5 times over and its only been six weeks so far.

We have had some pretty windy conditions over the last few weeks so that means we have been confined to inside for everything but critical tasks. I feel very blessed to be here and be supporting the scientific research that can benefit the whole world. I have learnt an astonishing amount about the environment and the work being carried out here. It is really a once in a life time experience that I am thankful for having.

I am scheduled to head back home in the next three weeks or so depending on the weather. Although this place is amazing I am very much looking forward to seeing my wife and kids and giving them all a big hug.

 

Thank you for passing on the story and design of the LB.

I love the mix of Antarctica and Australia as it reminds me of home and where I come from. Reminds me of the quote “You cant know where your going until you know where you have been”.

I have to say that the little Penguin on the front is my favourite and knowing that the camo is from real uniform makes it so much more special, it really is a lovely touch and the blushing cheeks remind me of my kids. The colours are perfect and help brighten my room.

I thank you for your thoughtfulness and time spend making the LB a one of a kind hit. It will be treasured.

 

What you and all the volunteers of Aussie Heroes do is incredible. You bring joy, happiness and colour using a practical method to places and people that are often lacking.

I left reading you letter until later in my deployment knowing it would remind me of home and I am glad I did. Your kind words and in-depth narrative of you life reminded why I do what I do and made me ever so proud to serve.

 

Thank you for all your hard work.

 

Kind Regards

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Until next week keep your letters, emails and photos coming in.  Tuesday's would be so totally boring without them!

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