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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Amen, John. I couldn’t agree more. </span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> nfbk-bounces@nfbnet.org
[mailto:nfbk-bounces@nfbnet.org] <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of
</span></b>John Glisson<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, September 08,
2010 8:18 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> NFB of Kentucky Internet
Mailing List<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Nfbk] Army's first
blind active-duty officer tells story in book</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Good story, Kevin! Thank you
for sharing. More than any time in my lifetime, it seems, we need more
and more stories like this! 'Humbling ourselves' is the point of the
story that stood out to me.</span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>2nd Chronicles Chapter 7 and Verse
14 shares with us that 'when we humble ourselves and seek God's face and pray,
then will He hear our prayers and heal the land' (paraphrased).</span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>More than ever, I believe, we do
need to humble ourselves and pray for our Nation and our Leaders! </span></font></p>
</div>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>We have a world of little ones
growing up in these dreadful times and definitely need God Almighty Himself to
heal this Nation and create a safe and debt free Nation owned by the American
people who will love and nurture them in stability as they become adults to
carry on the Freedoms that only America has experienced.</span></font></p>
</div>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>John G.</span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid black 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;
margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>----- Original Message ----- </span></font></p>
</div>
<div style='font-color:black'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;background:#E4E4E4'><b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <a
href="mailto:kvnprl@insightbb.com" title="kvnprl@insightbb.com">Kevin Pearl</a>
</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>To:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <a
href="mailto:nfbk@nfbnet.org" title="nfbk@nfbnet.org">NFBK</a> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Tuesday,
September 07, 2010 8:23 PM</span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> [Nfbk]
Army's first blind active-duty officer tells story in book</span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Army's first
blind active-duty officer tells story in book</span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Last updated:
September 5th, 2010 12:49 PM (PDT)</span></font></p>
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<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Scott Smiley grew up in the Tri-Cities,
graduated from high school here, met his wife here.</span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>When he went off to West Point, family and
friends back home were proud. They prayed for him when he was deployed to Iraq,
sent love and support as he recovered from a devastating combat injury, and --
like countless others across the country and beyond -- were inspired by his
tenacity and seemingly unwavering hope as he adjusted to life without eyesight.</span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>So it was only natural that he launch <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Hope Unseen, the book that chronicles his journey
from Tri-City kid to the Army's first blind active-duty officer, in his
hometown.</span></i></span></font></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"It's kind of him
coming full circle," said his wife Tiffany. "It's his way to give
back and show his faith. This community supported him and our family in so many
ways."</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>The launch is at 6:30
p.m. Sept. 18 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick. Scott and Tiffany will speak,
along with many of the "characters" featured in the book -- the
real-life friends and supporters who helped along the way. There also will be
music by the Dove-award-winning Phillips, Craig & Dean.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"It's a night that
we know will give people goosebumps," said Doug Crandall, Smiley's
co-author.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>The Smileys now live in
New York, where Scott -- who goes by Scotty -- commands a company of wounded
soldiers at West Point's Keller Army Medical Center.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>The couple met as kids
in Pasco, both graduating from Pasco High in 1999. Smiley was blinded in 2005
in an explosion in Mosul triggered by a suicide bomber.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Shrapnel hit him in the
eyes and entered his brain. He endured surgery and months of recovery.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>The injury didn't stop
him from adding item after item to his list of accomplishments. He's since gone
sky-diving and surfing, reached the top of Mount Rainier, earned an MBA from
Duke University, taught at West Point and won an ESPY and the Army's MacArthur
Leadership Award.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>He and Tiffany also
became parents to sons Grady, 3, and Graham, 1.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Smiley credits his faith
in God for giving him the strength to keep going.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"God has blessed
me. I love Him and I thank Him. Everything I have is because of Him. This book
is for His glory and not my own," he writes in Hope Unseen.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Smiley and Crandall
spent more than a year working on the book. Crandall, a former Army officer,
now lives in the Tri-Cities -- but the pair met thousands of miles away at West
Point, where Crandall was an instructor. Smiley was a guest speaker in his
class.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>They started working on
the book last year. Crandall traveled the country, interviewing the Smileys,
their family and friends.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>He said people each seem
to connect with different parts of Smiley's story. For Crandall, "the
greatest (part) of the story is the way Scotty and Tiffany have lived their
lives," he said.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>They maintained their
faith in God and their positive attitudes despite the obstacles they faced, he
said.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Tiffany, who was in town
recently to promote the launch, said it wasn't always easy. There were times
her hope waned. Her husband's too.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"If you would have
told me six years ago that this book would be written, I wouldn't have believed
it," she said. "(With Scott's injury), everything that was normal to
me was taken away."</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>In Hope Unseen, Scott
tells of a difficult moment when he got lost in a parking lot in California,
where he'd gone for rehabilitation after his injury.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"I struggled for
half an hour and then dropped into a lump on the ground and began to sob,"
he writes. "I had no idea who I was or where I was. Was I even a
lieutenant in the Army? I certainly wasn't a leader anymore. I felt like I was
in some warped social experiment. My entire world had disappeared and been
replaced with a joke. I asked God to tell me how I was supposed to take care of
my family if I couldn't even walk back from the gym."</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>He realized that he
needed to surrender himself to God's plan, not mourn the loss of his own plans.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"I had lost my way
a while back -- my inability to navigate had nothing to do with my eyes and
everything to do with my lack of focus on what our finite time on earth is all
about," he writes. "...'Scotty,' God seemed to be saying to my heart,
'Humble yourself and depend on me.' "</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Tiffany said that's how
she and her husband got through -- by trusting God to help them one day at a
time. Scott wrote the book to inspire others to do the same, she said.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>"You have hope --
that's what Scotty's message is to everyone," Tiffany said. "I think
(the story) shows the power of what the Lord can do in someone's life."</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Hope Unseen hits
bookshelves Sept. 14. It's published by Howard Books, a division of Simon &
Schuster.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>The launch is doubling
as a fundraiser for Young Life and Habitat for Humanity. Tickets are $15.
They're available through Ticketmaster, at the Toyota Center box office and at
the door. Group discounts are available.</span></font></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:.5in'><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'>Smiley also will be
signing copies of Hope Unseen from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 18 at Barnes & Noble
Booksellers at the Columbia Center mall in Kennewick.</span></font></i></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-style:
italic'><br>
</span></font></i><font color=black><span style='color:black'><br>
Read more: <a
href="http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/05/v-printerfriendly/1329014/wife-of-armys-first-blind-active.html#ixzz0ytQTmu8C"
title="http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/05/v-printerfriendly/1329014/wife-of-armys-first-blind-active.html#ixzz0ytQTmu8C
CTRL + Click to follow link"><font
color="#003399"><span style='color:#003399'>http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/05/v-printerfriendly/1329014/wife-of-armys-first-blind-active.html#ixzz0ytQTmu8C</span></font></a></span></font></p>
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