{"id":8192,"date":"2005-12-05T23:35:34","date_gmt":"2005-12-06T04:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8192"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:28:58","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:28:58","slug":"4623","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>MOSUL, IRAQ (December 5, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; While on patrol in one of Iraq&#8217;s most\u00a0 dangerous areas, Lt. John Rose, who attends Community Covenant Church in\u00a0 Eagle River, Alaska, and Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain Cpt. John Grauer\u00a0 recently had the opportunity to spread smiles among impoverished children.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1194.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[8192]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-8193\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1194-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1194-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1194.jpg 402w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Rose is the leader of Alpha Company third platoon, which patrols the\u00a0 area looking for insurgents. But the platoon, which Grauer often\u00a0 accompanies, had the joy of distributing food, water, kites, soccer\u00a0 balls and beanie babies, the chaplain says.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The kids seem to come from everywhere,&#8221; says Grauer. &#8220;The kids&#8217; faces\u00a0 lit up. It was like a surprise birthday party.&#8221; The joy is bittersweet,\u00a0 says Grauer. &#8220;There are so many needs, and we simply do not have the\u00a0 means to help everyone.&#8221; The kids will nearly overwhelm the soldiers, he\u00a0 adds.<\/div>\n<div>The few homes that remain standing in the area just outside of Mosul\u00a0 were left unoccupied when a military intelligence officer in the Hussein\u00a0 government fled in advance of coalition forces, Grauer says. Several\u00a0 Iraqi families that would not otherwise have shelter have moved into the\u00a0 area, but still there is no running water, and the unemployment rate\u00a0 exceeds 50 percent.<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\"> <\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=8192&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOSUL, IRAQ (December 5, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; While on patrol in one of Iraq&#8217;s most\u00a0 dangerous areas, Lt. John Rose, who attends Community Covenant Church in\u00a0 Eagle River, Alaska, and Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain Cpt. John Grauer\u00a0 recently had the opportunity to spread smiles among impoverished children. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MOSUL, IRAQ (December 5, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; While on patrol in one of Iraq&#8217;s most\u00a0 dangerous areas, Lt. John Rose, who attends Community Covenant Church in\u00a0 Eagle River, Alaska, and Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain Cpt. John Grauer\u00a0 recently had the opportunity to spread smiles among impoverished children. Report This Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-12-06T04:35:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-06T13:28:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1194-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"headline\":\"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-06T04:35:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T13:28:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":207,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/\",\"name\":\"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles - Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-06T04:35:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-07-06T13:28:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/2005\\\/12\\\/05\\\/4623\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Covenant Newswire Archives\",\"description\":\"Evangelical Covenant Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/newswire\\\/author\\\/covwebster\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles - Covenant Newswire Archives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles - Covenant Newswire Archives","og_description":"MOSUL, IRAQ (December 5, 2005)\u00a0 &#8211; While on patrol in one of Iraq&#8217;s most\u00a0 dangerous areas, Lt. John Rose, who attends Community Covenant Church in\u00a0 Eagle River, Alaska, and Covenant U.S. Army Chaplain Cpt. John Grauer\u00a0 recently had the opportunity to spread smiles among impoverished children. Report This Post","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","article_published_time":"2005-12-06T04:35:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-06T13:28:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/74\/2011\/06\/1194-300x225.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"headline":"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles","datePublished":"2005-12-06T04:35:34+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-06T13:28:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/"},"wordCount":207,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/","name":"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles - Covenant Newswire Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-12-06T04:35:34+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-06T13:28:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2005\/12\/05\/4623\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Small Gifts Bring Big Smiles"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/","name":"Covenant Newswire Archives","description":"Evangelical Covenant Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/#\/schema\/person\/2a26f1b1df304098ad9cbae0bbf2c6e8","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9f85aca58d0540113c3fcae90abb716831fd0b1d806d275666cf7052268ea9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/author\/covwebster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8192"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8195,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192\/revisions\/8195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}