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New to the Ranks

Posted by Pattie on Monday, August 16th, 2010 in Kids | Comments (5)

We are pleased to announce that Ralene is joining our ranks on the blog team as our Newborn and Baby writer. We at Wives of Faith have seen a need to serve those of you who are just beginning your families, or are in the early stages of motherhood. Because Sara and Pattie are several years removed from mothering babies and preschoolers, we were thrilled when Ralene stepped forward to volunteer.

Welcome, Ralene! Here’s her story:

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When Sara first invited me to guest blog about life with a newborn, I was beyond thrilled. I’m always eager to share my knowledge and experience…sometimes without even being asked. (Yes, God and I are working on that.) As the initial excitement wore off, I began to wonder—why would anyone listen to me? Who am I to advise others when I’m still trying to get it right myself?

But that’s what Wives of Faith is all about. Supporting and encouraging each other as we travel through the brave territories of motherhood and military life. So, I figured you all would want to know a little about me. Brace yourselves for a rollercoaster ride!

It all started on a stormy day in May of 1981…

Just kidding! I’ll skip ahead a few years.

On June 21st of this year, my husband and I celebrated seven years of marriage. When we first tied the knot, he was in the National Guard. After our first year, he was deployed to Kosovo for fifteen months. When he came home for his R&R I got pregnant with our first child. The first seven and a half months of the pregnancy, I was living alone. We were in a college town, so I didn’t have a lot of people around me who understood what I was going through.

Since we were pregnant, it was best for him to go active so that I wouldn’t lose my healthcare. As soon as he got home, we PCSed to Fort Hood, TX. Let me just say three things about the temporary housing we were in—no air conditioning, no elevator, and three flights of stairs. Yeah…

So after two weeks, we got our house. We received our keys on a Friday, our household goods were delivered on Monday, and I was admitted to the hospital due to severe eclampsia on Tuesday. So, with nothing in the house unpacked or put together, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

And then, three months later, I was pregnant again. The day after we found out I was pregnant, my husband got another set of orders. His unit would be deploying—to Iraq. Given that we had just moved there, and with all the issues I’d had with my first pregnancy, hubby and I decided that it would be best for my daughter and me to move in with my parents for this deployment. So, we gave up our house and moved across the country.

The biggest difference with this pregnancy and this deployment was that I actually suffered from depression. I wasn’t diagnosed or anything, but I knew. I had a hard time functioning on a basic level—even had a hard time finding the desire to play with my daughter. I was angry. And I took it out on the Lord—wanting nothing to do with Him. It wasn’t until I had a long talk with the pastor’s wife next door that I came to terms with my depression and with God. Talk about divine intervention! God knew just what I needed to hear.

Six months after moving in with my parents, I gave birth to beautiful daughter #2. Hubby missed the birth, but he was able to come home about two weeks later. Too bad his R&R was marred by the fact that both girls had RSV. Scary stuff! Thankfully, though, the Lord was on our side.

A year later we found ourselves in Kansas. Another eighteen months and we decided to try one more time for a boy. This pregnancy was a whole new ball game. I had two pre-school age daughters who I think are literal balls of energy. I don’t know how they go-go-go all day long!

With my husband’s job here, he goes on monthly TDYs for at least half of the month. So, while he’s not getting shot at, he is constantly coming and going, which can be just as taxing on the family life. Somehow we made it through and, in June of this year, we welcomed a bouncing baby boy into the family!

And that brings me to today, and this message to you: Whatever your circumstances, whatever your frustrations, dilemmas—and of course your joys and praises—I’m here because I’ve been there and I’m still discovering. Newborns are precious gifts from the Lord, but they are also a lot of work and a constant learning experience. The way I hear it, I’m going to be making mistakes and pulling out my hair for the next 18 years. Apparently, it never gets easy—but, oh, is it worth it!

I invite you all to join me in supporting new mothers, and experienced mothers, with newborns. If you have questions, let me know—leave a comment or send me an email. If I don’t know the answer, I know how to find it! And feel free to contribute to the discussion by leaving a comment. We’re here to learn from and encourage one another. God bless!

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God’s Temporary Lodging

Posted by Pattie on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 in Faith | Comments (0)

In my neverending quest to read the entire Bible through, I landed in 2 Samuel 7 the other morning. In this chapter, God is speaking to the prophet Nathan about David’s desire to build a permanent temple. God says in the second half of verse 6,

My home has always been a tent, moving from one place to another.

Then it struck me: God moved around a lot!

Well, obviously, God is everywhere all the time; but with this passage, I was thinking in particular about the Ark of the Covenant, the physical representation of the presence of God to the people. The Ark had been moved everywhere the people had moved, for hundreds of years, never having a permanent home anywhere.

God knows what it’s like to move.

He knows the stress of PCS and moving and that unrooted feeling that plagues so many of us military wives. He knows. He’s been there!

This gave me comfort, as I settle in from one move with the full knowledge we’ll be doing this again next summer. I pray it brings comfort to you, too.

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Why We Are Here

Posted by Sara Horn on Friday, May 21st, 2010 in Faith | Comments (2)

From the archives, December 2007:

I am excited that we finally have a way of interacting with each other a little more frequently with this blog. The hopes behind this is that different contributors will offer their thoughts on marriage and faith and family and the military and we can create some good dialogue and discussion through comments. Incidentally – if you’d like to contribute to the blog, just email your contribution/post to info@wivesoffaith.org with a short bio and of course, a link to your own blog if that applies! (We do reserve the right to not post something if it doesn’t meet with our guidelines and standards and the same applies for comments which must be approved before posting.)

I firmly believe that we were created for connection. God wants us to be connected! And I’m not talking about the kind of connection where your cell phone stays glued to your hand and your laptop with wireless email is just a foot away! :) Just as God desires for us to be connected to Him in all we do, He also wants us to connect with others for encouragement and support.

Sometimes seeking out friendship is hard. It can be intimidating. It takes too much energy. This is how I’ve often viewed friendship in the past. Before my husband deployed, I was perfectly happy with just him and our little boy. I had my work to keep me busy. But it wasn’t everything I needed, and a couple of months before Cliff left, God showed me that I was going to need other relationships – other friendships with ladies who I could relate to.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be able to talk to another military wife who “gets” something; who understands something that maybe I can’t even put into words. That, to me, is connection, and we’re seeing it in our Wives of Faith chapters and the events we’re holding. It’s one more way of helping a wife keep going; it’s one more way of cheering each other on as we go through the good times – and the bad.

Maybe, though, you still aren’t convinced that connection is important. After all, military wives are supposed to be strong, right? We can handle anything life, or the military, throws at us. Maybe you’re a lot like the Army wife I talked with on the phone this past spring who admitted she didn’t really have a support group she was part of. “We keep to ourselves,” she said. She had a brand new baby living in a brand new town and her husband was leaving in a month to deploy. She sounded strong and determined when she said she didn’t need anyone or any help, but in my mind I thought, “but why be by yourself if you don’t have to?”

It’s risky to connect. You open yourself up to possibly get hurt. I’ve heard stories of the back-biting and gossiping that can happen around a base or a post. Maybe you’ve been the victim of that yourself. But the good news is that Wives of Faith isn’t a group that is run by any military hierarchy and our husbands ranks aren’t a factor either – we are all wives supporting our husbands, and in turn, we support each other. Through our faith in Christ, a positive attitude and our hope that even when the hardest seasons of life comes our way, we can survive and get through it with God’s help and each other.

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Our New MemberCare Director

Posted by Sara Horn on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 in News | Comments (4)

I am so excited to announce a new member of our Wives of Faith leadership team! Jessica Crow has agreed to serve in our ministry as our new MemberCare Director. This is a very important position on our team and we have been prayerfully seeking the right someone to fill it for quite a while now.

Jessica has been involved in Wives of Faith as a member for the past couple of years, participating in our blog carnivals, and she has a huge heart and desire to encourage other military wives. As MemberCare Director, her responsibilities will include connecting with all of our members and leading a team of volunteers in carrying out important practical ministry opportunities. If our Prayer Ministry is the heart of Wives of Faith, then our MemberCare area is the hands and feet of WoF and we are thrilled to welcome Jessica to the team! Please be in prayer for Jessica and the rest of our team as we take the next couple of months to put into place what we hope will be some great helps that will meet the needs of our Wives of Faith, whether that’s encouraging someone through a birthday card, a new baby or a deployment. You can reach Jessica at jessicac@wivesoffaith.org. Please prayerfully consider how you can be involved in the new MemberCare team, reaching and supporting your sister military wives!

I’ve asked Jessica to share a little more about herself (and take a moment to check out her cute blog!)…

My name is Jessica Crow.  I have been married to Jason Crow for 9 years.  Jason has been in the Army Reserves for 8 years.  He has completed 2 overseas deployments as well as numerous stateside assignments.  We are currently preparing for our 3rd deployment.  I have 2 children whom I stay at home with.  Jackson is 5 years old and Madeline is 3 years old.  I have a degree in psychology from the University of South Alabama.  Prior to having children, I worked as a Case Manager at our local Mental Health Center where I focused mostly on the dual diagnosis (mental illness and substance abuse)  Though I no longer work at the Mental Health Center, I still serve on their Human Rights Committee.  My family and I are active in our church, Grace Fellowship, where I teach Sunday School.  Aside from involvement in church and the Human Rights Committee, I am also an active member of the FRG for my husband’s unit. 

Being an Army Reserve wife, there is often a tendency to feel like I am the only one.  I have a strong passion for reaching out to other military spouses of all branches of services.  Not only to connect us, but to encourage all of us in our faith and spiritual walk.  Military life is challenging enough with or without deployments, that is why I want to be involved and offer support and friendship to these women.  Just  as stated in the Wives of Faith mission statement, I want to help women make connections with other and grow in their walks with God as they face challenges of military life.

I am passionate about military wives.  I am committed to serving them.  I am excited about this opportunity with Wives of Faith to take my passion for military wives and commitment to serve them.  I look forward to growing and establishing a community of  military wives that can encourage and lean on each other.

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Prayer Ministry Updates

Posted by Shauna Irizarry on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 in Faith | Comments (0)

I just wanted to share how God has moved as we start the new Prayer Ministry.  We now have 5 ladies that have taken a step of faith to agree in praying along with me for Military Wives, Families, and Marriages.  There are so many needs out there, prayer is a neccessity in overcoming the obstacles we face daily.  We have prayed for marriages, for unsaved husbands, for sick family members, for PCS moves, and for job situations among other things.  Ladies are being blessed by our prayers.  When I receive a prayer I pray immediately for that need.  I will type my prayer back to them, it is good to hear those prayers.  One lady said she printed off the prayer and gave it to her husband.  I know for me, this touched my heart.  It proved to me that prayer is vital to our encouragement, to our walk with God.  Remember, there are no prayers to small, nor to big for God.

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