Journaling is a special way for you to think, dream, remember, design, plan, draw or create anything you want. You can curl up in a cozy chair or hide out in your tree fort. You can use a stretchy pencil or a rainbow marker. The point is, journals are yours, to use in any way you want. So get comfortable and have fun!

Your journal can be an actual journal you buy at the store, a notebook, or a collection of papers that you put together. You could even cut out pages from the back of a grocery bag and tie them together with yarn!

Journaling Ideas

Pick some different colors and describe how they make you feel. For example:
Blue makes me feel calm; it makes me think of oceans. Yellow wakes me up.

What is your wish list? Try writing three different lists: What do you wish for yourself? What do you wish for your family? What do you wish for your deployed person?

Don't know what to write about today? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

> Draw a picture of your dream vacation.

> Write a poem about change.

> Write about a story you've been told about the day you were born.

Clip Sunday Ads
Go through the Sunday paper and cut out ads for different things your family buys, such as popcorn, soda pop, chips, cereal, light bulbs, and gasoline. Make sure the ads show the prices. Make a list of these items or keep the ads in an envelope in your journal. This is a great thing to keep in your journal so that when you look back at your deployment experience years from now you will be amazed at the difference in how much things cost.

A Special Deployment Journal for Kids

Deployments are hard! Deployment Journal for Kids is a special place for you to write about how you feel and what happens during the time someone you love is deployed.

It has calendar pages, writing ideas, places to write your thoughts and feelings, pages for drawing pictures, cool information about some common deployment locations, military definitions, and a pocket to keep special things like photos and letters.

The author, Rachel Robertson, wrote this book especially for military kids like you. Read this inspiring letter about the journal from Hanna Robertson, the author's daughter, whose dad deployed to Iraq and Okinawa, Japan.

If you want to use this kind of journal during the deployment, ask your parent to call 651-357-8770 or ask for it at your local bookstore or exchange. Parents can get more information at www.survivingdeployment.com/pressDJK.html