A Blessing at Buster's Brew

We unexpectedly went out to dinner at a restaurant on post  called "Buster's Brew" this evening due to some time sensitive errands Dan needed to run for one of his uniforms.  This particular restaurant does not at all have the 'military feel' to it... once you're inside, you do not feel like you're on an army post.  Tonight they had a musician playing the piano and singing some classic 80s soft rock, the fireplaces were on and the fake candles were lit on each table... Daniella was in heaven :).  By the end of our meal, we let Daniella get up to dance to one song before we left.  A gentleman of an older couple seated next to us got down on his knees to join her -- it was so cute.  Afterwards as we were walking out, he stopped me and said he wanted to pay for our meal (which we had already paid for).  I thanked him but told him that wasn't necessary and we had already taken care of it.  Once we were loaded in our van outside, he walked out quickly after us asking us to come back in so that they could take the bill off Dan's card and put it on his!  Dan tried to get him to change his mind but he was determined. 

I've always heard of and admired folks who have gone out of their way to show their personal appreciation and support for our military, but this was my first 'up close and personal' experience.  Needless to say I was choked up about it during our drive out of the parking lot.  Thankful and in awe that people are aware of the service and sacrifice of soldiers and their families, while also feeling totally undeserving of tonight's little gift given how new we are to this whole Army way of life.  It was also the first time I truly felt like an Army wife... part of something rather than just Dan doing his thing and me watching. 

Thankful tonight for the sacrifice of soldiers and their families.  Even more thankful to my God for His lovingkindness towards my undeserving self and His calling of and provision for my family.

Home sweet (new) home!



At our first event with Dan's unit - Lake Ontario in the background!

Back in the promised land, flowing with Mets games and four seasons!  We're New Yorkers again, praise the Lord!  After a weekend of driving along the east coast, we arrived at our townhouse to be greeted by Dan's parents and brother who had adorned our new home with air mattresses and food while we awaited the arrival of all our belongings a few days later :).  Our first two weeks were filled with unpacking and settling in with much help from both our parents who made the 6 hour trip to visit us.  It's been wonderful to see so many familiar faces since coming back to NY, between both our parents and good friends from our former church in Fishkill.

Out to dinner, happy to sit with Daddy, after a long work week.

Dan has pretty much jumped right into his unit and is very busy meeting/counseling soldiers and families.  It's awesome and humbling to see the opportunity Dan has to speak truth into peoples' lives and hard situations.  PT (physical training) is still every weekday morning, but now he's up at 5:45am instead of 4:30am... what a wonderful difference that hour+ makes!  He uses that time to train with various groups of soldiers in order to be seen by and meet different soldiers in his unit.  As a family, we're plugging into a Saturday night on post contemporary chapel service called "The Crossing."  Dan will go on a preaching rotation with the lead chaplain there.  We're excited about what God has in store for this unique service and are also trying to figure out the later bedtime for Daniella on those nights.
 
Meanwhile, lil D and I are working out our own groove (and friends)!  Our week is basically filled with library storytime, an on post women's Bible study (PWOC - which is Daniella's only time away from me and in nursery... it's been hit or miss with her so far), playgroup and neighborhood walks.  We would have loved to live on post to be closer to Dan and the army community but housing is incredibly tight.  Our neighborhood is just over 10 minutes from post (closer to 25 min from Dan's actual office) and is also filled with army families.  

Thanks for checking in on us via our blog!  I'll try to update a bit more now that we're settled in.  We sincerely appreciate your interest and your prayers for our family as we all adjust to army life as well as for God's loving work to be done here!

Below is a silly little video of Daniella dancing around while I try to fold our laundry ;)...enjoy!



The end is in sight!

10 days until Dan's graduation and our departure from CH-BOLC (Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course) here at Fort Jackson!  Tomorrow is Dan's last day of PT (Physical Training) while he's here, which means sleeping in past 4:30am for both of us - yay!  Yesterday I was welcomed to join Dan and the 3 other active duty Chaplains from his platoon for lunch with their instructor, Chaplain Bowlus.  It was helpful to hear from an experienced Chaplain what to expect in the first few weeks of arriving at our first assignment.  And a good reminder of the importance of keeping priorities in order in balancing family time and army ministry.

Even though I've been waiting expectantly for this time of departure from Ft. Jackson to come (especially in the last 6 weeks), now that it's almost here it all seems to have gone by in a blink!  We're busy preparing for our move into our new home and community... setting up utilities, researching new doctors and, of course, the fun stuff like some home decor purchases!

That's the last farmer's tan she'll have for awhile!

Daniella's been busy, too... growing up!  From being the baby who hated when I combed her hair every night to now the girl who loves wearing ponytails, going to the 'stores' with mom, trying on shoes, singing songs and helping put away groceries... wow!  Every new mom ALWAYS hears from veteran mom-friends how fast it all goes, but I could not grasp that until I now start to experience it myself.  I'm excited to see Daniella in her new role as big sister and have a feeling she'll love it.  Always thinking of her little sister, she is sure to include 'Baby' whenever we talk about going anywhere as a family... sometimes I think she's thinking of her more than I am!  The other night Daniella had a hard time listening to one of us and while explaining to Daniella that she needed to stop crying for a moment and try to listen so I could explain what she needed to work on, she says through her tears "I'm a big sister"... her way of trying to tell herself to buck up and hold it together, hahaha.

Next week will be super busy as we prepare for our road trip north and I attend parts of the Spouse Seminar for the spouses of CH-BOLC students... a helpful opportunity to get information from veteran chaplain wives about their experiences, roles, army family life, deployments, etc.  I'm really looking forward to gleaning as much wisdom and insight as I can from that.  In talking with another Chaplain's wife this weekend, I reflected on how much God has done in our lives just in the last 4 and a half months!  We were civilians serving at a church living an hour from our families ready to expand our own family of 3 thinking we'd be where we were for at least another year or two.  One might think we were crazy to leave that situation to move to hot South Carolina to live in a hotel for 3 months and then move to SNOW country for the next 3 years with the understanding that army life almost always means deployment... hahaha!  Yes, we're crazy.  I guess when God answers prayer for direction and open doors, sometimes He does so gradually but other times He swings those doors wide open, straps a motor to your back and you just have to fly through.  He's provided for every single one of our needs... medical care for our family, friendship for Daniella and me while we try to make a normal life here temporarily, encouragement for both Dan and me through folks we've met along the way and through God's Word.  So as I anticipate asking God similar questions of what things will look like up north for our family, I have to remind myself of His faithfulness -- not just to us but throughout all of history to His children.  What a loving Heavenly Father we have!

I know there are many of our family and friends checking in on this blog to see how we're doing - thank you for reading and caring!  Many of you have also told us that you are praying for us - THANK YOU!!  I can't tell you how much we appreciate that kind of support.  God is truly answering your prayers; we are so encouraged by Him as we are on this adventure!

Thought you all might enjoy this video below from Daniella's birthday adventure to the zoo with our good friends here on post.  You might pick up some sweet dance moves as you watch, hehe.

More than half way

8 weeks down, 5 more to go here in South Carolina.  My mom asked me the other day if Daniella has picked up a southern accent yet.  The fact that she says "pawty" for "party" and "dawggie" for "doggie" makes me think her NY accent will hold out!

2 weeks ago Dan began Phase 2 of his Chaplain Course.  From a family perspective, this second phase has been much easier to cope with as there's more of a routine to each day/week.  He has lunch with us almost every day and spends every evening with us.  The weekends are ours now, too, which was different than our first month here.  He still has to wake up at 4:30am every morning to get ready for PT (which means we're both up), but I think that's just our new way of life now!  Dan was given the responsibility of Platoon Leader over his platoon which has been an overall positive experience thus far, as well (there are 4 platoons that make up the entire class of chaplains or chaplains-in-training, his is the 1st Platoon).  

At this point in the summer, we're not wishing away our time here at Fort Jackson but we are looking forward to settling into our home and finding community up at Fort Drum.  It's hard to let my pregnancy nesting instincts loose here in our hotel suite :).  At the same time, it's become extremely obvious to me how important this summer has been for our family here.  We've been learning so much as we prepare to truly start the next chapter of our life as Army Chaplain and family.  It has been a blessing to be poured into by the army wives in my PWOC bible study and for Dan to have an awesome Chaplain instructor over his platoon that he can gain experienced perspective from.  God has been preparing us for the road ahead in so many ways.  For me, it's daunting to think of mothering 2 little ones in a brand new setting... but I'm trusting God's perfect faithfulness and calling.

So our countdown has begun to starting life in the real world, in a real home, with real ministry responsibilities, real friends (hopefully) and neighbors, and no more daily housekeeping (darn!).  5..4..3..2..1.. Fort Drum.

"My Dad is in the army and he loves me!" We got her little sister one too :)

We're having a...

GIRL!!!

Daniella's going to have a little sister!!  We are thrilled knowing we're getting the gift of another beautiful daughter, and glad for the positive medical report from today's ultrasound!  Thanking God today for His blessings and perfect plan! :)

Meet our 2nd daughter...

 

and her cute left leg...

 

 

Feel free to send name suggestions our way! ;)

Moens invade Fort Jackson

This past weekend we welcomed our first visitors -- Moen family members!  Dan's parents, younger bro, older bro, wife and 3 beautiful daughters stayed here at the Fort Jackson Inn for the July 4th holiday weekend.  It was a wonderful time of fun, sun and family; I don't think I could've imagined it going any better!  Daniella LOVED being with family, especially her cousins... especially Julia, her cousin closest in age & size :).  This video shows the cousins playing together before we all headed out to experience the Water Park on post together!

At one point in the weekend I said to Dan I didn't feel like we were in the army in SC anymore, but felt transported to a random vacation destination with family.  We didn't do anything super glamorous, just swam, ate (a lot), played together and laughed a ton -- it was perfect!  Having people close to us catch a glimpse of us in our new army surroundings (although still quite temporary here in SC) was important.  They attended the chapel service we go to on Sundays, stayed in identical suites that we're in and met classmates of Dan from the Chaplain School.  One highlight was Dan baptizing his oldest niece, Marissa, at Weston Lake here at Fort Jackson; what a beautiful morning and memory that was!

The last night of the weekend, the girls played together before bedtimes in our suite.  Daniella was having the time of her life!  Check out this video of Uncle Dave trying to teach her to catch a ball... about 30 seconds in you'll hear a loud gas-passing - that would be Daniella.  The hysterical laughing afterwards would be me (some people never grow up!).

I felt refreshed being around people who have known us all/most of our lives and beyond just the last 6 weeks.  Their visit reminded me of the importance of our families as well as the blessing it is to have a shared faith in Christ and encourage one another just by being together.  The biggest compliment I received came from my loving mother-in-law when she told me I'd come a long way to be able to discuss the realities of potential deployments down the road.  I was reminded of how that possibility seemed unthinkable just a year ago.  For that I praise/thank God as He continues to work on my heart and is stretching me for His glory. 

Another Moen cousin to add to the mix, coming to a Moen household not too far from you... November 2011!

Moving forward... to the Zoo!

This past week marked the completion of CIMT (Chaplain Initial Military Training) for Dan - the first 4 weeks of Chaplain School which is most like a 'Basic Training' month.  It's the more physically rigorous of the 3 months; hopefully his schedule will become a bit more routine going forward.  We're all really excited about this as it indicates we're 1/3 of the way through our time here at Fort Jackson!  Not that we're wishing it away, but we're looking forward to being a bit more settled than living out of a hotel.  Daniella and I got to watch Dan's 'Beret Dawning Ceremony' Friday morning which indicated the completion of these 4 weeks.  They were granted permission to now wear the Army beret rather than the patrol cap they'd been wearing.  Ironically, for the Army's birthday this week, the Chief of Staff of the Army gave the gift of no longer having to wear the beret but instead wear the patrol cap (which many feel is more comfortable, and provides a bit of shade over the eyes, etc).  Soooo the ceremony was a little anticlimactic :).
















We took advantage of Dan not having to march or train this Saturday morning by taking Daniella to the Riverbanks Zoo.  We all had a really great time!  It was fun to do an outing together as a family and Daniella is the perfect age to start appreciating the zoo. 

Unlike the Bronx Zoo, which is HUGE, this was much smaller in comparison and we hit up the more exciting animal exhibits by 12:00pm.  Perfect timing as we were able to get back home for Moen naptime (them, not me) ;).  Below are a couple of photos and videos that highlight Daniella's morning... enjoy!

 

Dan in action

This past Saturday morning the 4 platoons of Chaplains and Chaplains in training competed against each other in a formation competition and we got to watch!  Below is a short clip of Dan's platoon (1st platoon) strutting their stuff.  You'll see Dan in the front line, 3rd solder from the left (I zoom in on him).  Check out their fancy marching skills when they interweave themselves... they were the only platoon to pull that off.  Unfortunately, 1st platoon didn't win because another platoon was given extra points for some creative additions.

The rest of the day was spent with Daniella attached at the hip to Dan, she couldn't get enough of him after his long/busy week...

 

I couldn't resist jumping in and getting a family shot!

 

Hope you all had a good weekend; we did! :)

I hear you God

Ever feel like the same message keeps popping up in your life?  I can recall certain specific moments in my life when God pointedly asked me the same question of whether I was going to follow His leading.  In high school, I keenly sensed God guiding me to live/learn in a Christian environment so I chose to apply to only Christian colleges.  During my time as a student at Gordon College, there was a specific message in a chapel service in which Jill Briscoe explained greatness as God sees it and then gave us the opportunity to stand if we wanted to commit to that kind of life.  I stood, strongly sensing I had to but not fully understanding why.  In more recent years as Dan and I have prayed and taken steps towards military chaplaincy, God's been clear about 2 things... go army specifically and don't be afraid.  "Trust me, step out." 

Right before Dan got the call that he was accepted for active duty army, I had purchased Max Lucado's book "Fearless."  Perfect timing.  I've been chipping away at it slowly wanting to really take it all in.  Today Daniella and I went to PWOC's (Protestant Women of the Chapel) summer bible study, and they're doing John Ortberg's book "If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat."  If you haven't read it, you can just imagine what this book is about by the title.  Again, perfect timing.  Is God trying to tell me something?  Prepare me for something?  I want to be ready, ready to step out, to not be afraid, to trust Him with whatever He allows in my path.  I don't want to get through this life, I want to find God's hand in every part of the journey and live it fully.  It sounds easy enough to say, doesn't it?  I just can't deny God's loving and knowing hand orchestrating all this because He cares about me. 

So no Daniella pics or videos in this post, just a good reminder to me of God's calling on my life specifically, as well as Dan's.  Thought I'd better jot all this down here as part of our journey and to give God the glory for all He does.  Thanks for reading :).

http://www.maxlucado.com/fearless/

http://www.christianbook.com/want-walk-water-youve-the-boat/john-ortberg/9780310228639/pd/28638

Army disco?

This past Thursday we went to our first Army family event... "Baby Loves Disco" dress-up dance party!  It was super cute, to say the least.  Daniella took a little while to warm up to actually dancing on the dance floor, but by the time we had to leave she had to be dragged off!  It was sweet to see families together, some parents were still in their ACUs (Army Combat Uniform) due to coming straight from work. 

This coming week will be a busy one as Dan will have a few very long days and late nights due to some training exercises.  I'm filling up our calendar with a PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel, a military ministry for women) summer Bible study starting up this week, a toddler playgroup, dinner with relatives passing through and my first South Carolinian prenatal appointment for babymoen #2.  Looking forward to some adult interaction and fellowship; hoping all goes smoothly for each of us!

An Early Fort Jackson Morning Part II

Below is the 4 part video of the rest of our early morning watching Dan.  (I had to divide the video into 4 parts in order to upload it here.)  The 2nd and 4th video clips include Daniella's attempts at imitating her daddy; we enjoyed this and hope you do too!

An Early Fort Jackson Morning Part I

Daniella woke up earlier than usual this morning so we were hanging around coloring and drinking milk once Dan left for the day.  Seeing him and the other chaplains lining up across the street for formation, Daniella and I put our shoes on and ran down the hallway to catch the elevator downstairs.  We raced to the corner with our cameras over my shoulder to try to catch a glimpse of this part of training!  It actually felt pleasant outside, temperature-wise... probably because it was before 7am.  Below is a short video of all 4 platoons of chaplains reciting the Soldier's Creed.  Out of all those chaplains (about 140 or so) only about 11-12 of them are actually going active duty... the rest are reserve chaplains and/or chaplain candidates still enrolled in seminary.  

I took a longer video of them marching up the hill chanting, but I'm having trouble uploading it unfortunately (I think it might be too big a file).  If I can, I'll post it asap.

A New Adventure Begins

Even though I'm almost 32, married almost 10 years with almost 2 kids (one due in November), in many ways I feel like I'm just starting out. My husband, Dan, was recently accepted as an active duty chaplain for the Army. We are living out of a 1 bedroom suite at an Army Inn at Fort Jackson, SC, for the next 3 months while Dan completes his Chaplain Basic course before moving to our first active duty assignment at Fort Drum, NY. With no home and no friends (yet!), we are starting over. One would think it's a scary thing, but I don't feel fear. God has so beautifully and specifically opened doors leading us every step of the way!

It's been interesting transitioning from civilian life to army life. So far most folks are pretty helpful, but there are certainly some who don't really want to take the time to explain the millions of acronyms that become part of everyday language here... it can be hard to keep up at times! Met a navy wife today who said deployments are harder on the spouse when the kids are really young, but harder on the kids as they get older. She made a good point, one that I'll hold on to in the coming years.

Here at Fort Jackson, I'm mostly looking forward to investing in some kind of community. Daniella and I could certainly use some interaction beyond each other!