In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, writer Andrew Carroll suggests one way Americans can use their tax stimulus checks: Donate them to an organization that helps the military, such as Fisher Houses or the USO.

Click here to read his editorial: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050102902.html 

     On one of those house-hunting TV shows, a celebrity I did not recognize found her dream house, a mansion on a California hilltop. She and her children stood on the tennis courts of their palatial home and surveyed the lights of Los Angeles.

     “Look at all those lights,” she said to her two little girls. “From up here you can see all the friends you could ever have.”

     In the military we may not have such luxurious digs, and military childhood certainly has its challenges. However, our children's horizons are more like the stars than the lights of any one city.

     In a series about military childhood in Spouse Calls:

Military libraries at bases and posts around the world provide their patrons with many kinds of resources and recreation. For this week's Spouse Calls column (click here) I talked to Melinda Mosley, the USAFE Command Librarian.

In addition to all the things you probably know the library does, like check out books and movies and provide reference material, Melinda told me about library services you might not know about:

Would you and your mate consider seeking a surrogate mother if you could not have a baby? In today's Stars and Stripes, reporter Charlie Coon writes about an American military couple in Stuttgart who are looking for a surrogate to bear their second child. Click here to read the story.

Every year, in spite of my best intentions, I find myself scrambling to put together my tax information at the beginning of April. Why do I wait so late? I have no idea.

For this week's Spouse Calls, I even wrote a column about taxes, but still I have not done my own.

If you are like me, still pulling all the information together for your 2007 returns, here are links to some information that might help:

     Elisabeth Ridderhoff is an Army wife and a mother of three, as well as a singer and songwriter. For this week’s Spouse Calls, I talked with Elisabeth about “Soldier Girl,” a song she wrote for the family of PFC Amy Duerksen, who died in Iraq.

     To read more about Amy Duerksen and her family, click on these links: One story from the from the Baltimore Sun and another from Military Times.

Lately in Spouse Calls, PTSD and resources for families affected by it have been frequent topics. The March 23 Spouse Calls was about resources for military families in need of counseling for any issues.

For this post, I wanted to place links for all the counseling information and resources I've recently covered in one convenient place. Just click on the blue letters to use the links: