A THANKSGIVING MESSAGE FROM CONGRESSMAN PENCE

Pence with Hoosier troops in Ramadi (sitting at table).

Washington, Nov 16, 2007 - WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Congressman Mike Pence authored the following Thanksgiving message:

As Thanksgiving 2007 draws near, I pause to reflect on the many blessings the Good Lord has provided this year. America is still a nation at war and we live in difficult times but I am ever mindful of the great bounty our country has been provided.

Personally, since being elected in 2000 I can’t recall a day that’s dawned when I haven’t taken a moment to thank God for the privilege of representing almost 700,000 Hoosiers of eastern Indiana in our nation’s Capitol.

During my days being raised on the Flat Rock River and attending school in Columbus, I never thought I would be blessed with such a wonderful family, good health and a calling to represent the people I grew up loving and learning so much from.

In my term of office, our country has endured much. I remember watching mud-brown smoke rise from the Pentagon and the image of the Twin Towers falling on television.

My family and I prayed for the safety of the staff in my Washington, DC, office as letters containing anthrax arrived.

And we prayed again as soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, many of them Hoosiers, were sent off to war in the Middle East to fight an unconventional enemy in an unconventional war.

I have visited the men and women fighting the Global War on Terror in Iraq five times and Afghanistan once. Nothing tugs at my heart more than shaking the hand of an injured member of our military who has put his or her life on the line for my own.

This Thanksgiving I encourage you to not only thank God for your family, friends and good health but for our country and those who are spending their Thanksgiving fighting for our freedom abroad.

We owe those brave men and women and their families a debt of gratitude that we will never be able to repay. It is because of their sacrifice that Hoosiers and all Americans can gather around the table in peace this year to celebrate Thanksgiving with their family, friends and loved ones.