A house, a house!

I know, I know this is the second post in the last 24 hours, but sometimes information comes rapidly with the Army and other times are quite dead. Tyler and I found out today that we have been given a house on post at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. All we know is that it is fairly old, has three bedrooms, and is not carpeted. We are thrilled to have a house on post to transition into Army family life a little more smoothly and to be in a house, not an apartment ... YAY for no stairs on move-in day! 

God has been so good during these last six weeks and especially in giving us a house. Below you will find one of our favorite scriptures. I was instantly reminded of this scripture today when we got the news of a house! 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. they do not labor or spin. yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry,  saying, 'What shall we eat?' or ''What shall we drink?' or What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  

 -- Matthew 6:25-34

Half full or half empty?!

Recently I have reflected on the concept of perspective. I have realized that we have the opportunity to take each situation given to us and make the best or worst of it. Regardless, life will move on, but the choice is ours whether to make the best of life's ups and downs presented to us. That said, I have not looked at the cup as "half full" every second of every day of the last six weeks, but I have tried and looking back Tyler and I were extremely blessed with this time apart. I would never wish time apart on any married couple, but I think we have made the best of our time apart. 

In the last six weeks we have visited three cities, met new people, learned to communicate even better, grown in Christ through an intentional Bible study, learned to communicate even better, nourished relationships with girl (for Ginna) and boy (for Tyler) friends, learned to communicatate even better, and hung out with old and new friends just to name a few of our blessings. 

Below you will find pictures of our last two weekends. The first pictures are from our Wake Forest homecoming -- YAY for reunions! The last picture is from our most recent trip to Auburn, Alabama for the Auburn/Georgia game. Tyler and I are so fortunate to have friends from all parts of our life and we pray that we will continue to foster these relationships for years to come! Philippians 1:3

(Pictures coming soon ... I cannot get them to look neat and go where I want them to, so they will be posted soon!)

 

Army Training SIIIRRRR

I love Ginna's Blog, but I decided I needed to post something...so here is my first post. Currently I am starting week 6 of my 7 week stint down at Benning. I've done some fun stuff down there, but for the most part everybody involved with BOLC II (basic officer leadership training II) is ready to go to their branch training/get to their unit. The plus side is that we have played with a lot of weapons while we've been here. 

Here I am in what is typically referred to as full Battle Rattle: ACH Helmet, IBA Body protection, MOLLE web gear, M-4 Rifle

Firing the MK-19 40mm Grenade Launcher
Firing the M-2 .50 Cal Machine Gun

This next week we will be in the field, but that just means that I'll soon be done with Benning and closer to moving to Leonard Wood in Missouri with Ginna. Missouri will be tons of fun, and very different. Pray for us in getting ready to move, and travelling across the country to our eventual destination....

Time

Time is so odd to me. Since deciding to move to Missouri, I have realized how precious my time in North Carolina with family and friends is. I have tried to take advantage of every face-to-face opportunity with friends and family. I try to seek them, search them, and love them, most especially when I get the opportunity to have face time with them. Although I have enjoyed realizing the power of a minute or two, a simple hug, or a shared meal I have begun to feel as though time is moving faster than ever. As of today, I have been out of college for six months, married for five, and living alone for one. Each transition has taught me something about the gift of time.

Many of our friends are returning to Winston this weekend and I pray that we will value the time with each other because this may be it for a while. Knowing that Tyler and I will soon be many hours from most everyone we know and love is a bit overwhelming sometimes, but extremely humbling when we get to spend time with loved ones. I encourage you all to take advantage of today and to treasure the precious present.

Looking Up!

Things are looking up! Tyler and I have made the decision that we will travel via U-Haul to Fort Leonard Wood and then will PCS (make the permanent move) to Fort Richardson from Fort Leonard Wood. Fortunately I will not have to contact any army personnel for this move and will have others to help me with the PCS move when I arrive in Missouri!

Tyler is doing well. He has a Land Navigation test tomorrow morning. He is waking up at 3 am (ugh!) and will begin the Land Nav. course shortly after. I am going to Fort Benning this weekend to see him. I get to spend a long weekend there due to my school's Fall Break; YAY!

Moving ...

I am THRILLED to be moving to Fort Leonard Wood, mostly because I'll be living with Tyler again, but also to learn more about this Army life. As you know, I have been living alone in Winston for the past three weeks and since then we've decided I would go to Missouri. When we made that decision along came moving processes, many different options, departments to talk to, and papers to fill out. Learning to do this not on post and without my Army "sponsor" has been difficult. I am doing the very best I can, but right now I am a little down.

I have made a friend in the housing department at Fort Leonard Wood. Her name is Mary and I have learned more from her in our two phone conversations than from anyone else related to the Army. She has given great advice, put us on the housing waiting list, but also added tons to my growing "To Do" list. Not only has she added to it, but she has added contacts that I'm not sure exist here in Winston because there is no Army post. Sadly, the working day is finished for most and so I will have to wait until after school tomorrow to begin working on my list, but hopefully tomorrow things will come more quickly for us. I will go to Wake right after school in hopes of finding more answers. I will keep you all updated on my progress. Thanks for listening while I struggle.

Big News!!

Tyler and I have decided that I will join him in Missouri instead of spend the year in Winston-Salem. We will go together around November 22 and spend the week of Thanksgiving in Missouri. I will come to Winston for the month of December. I will finish the semester at the school where I am teaching and then we will spend the holidays in North Carolina (YAY!). On January 4th we will drive all the way to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri where we will spend the next three months.

We are super excited to finally be able to tell everyone about our latest decision! Living apart just was not in our plans right now and God has found a way to bring us together again. I look forward to learning more about "Army life" because we'll be on post where I will have many people to help me learn.

Chicken Fried

Here is the song that inspired our blog title Chicken Fried. Below you will find the lyrics and understand that we hope to take our Southern roots around the US wherever we happen to be stationed with the United States Army. We hope you enjoy!

Chicken Fried

You know I like my chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up
Well I was raised up beneath the shade of a Georgia pine
And that`s home you know
Sweet tea pecan pie and homemade wine
Where the peaches grow
And my house it`s not much to talk about
But it`s filled with love that`s grown in southern ground
And a little bit of chicken fried

Well its funny how it`s the little things in life that mean the most
Not where you live or the car you drive or the price tag on your clothes
There`s no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I`ve come to know
So if you agree have a drink with me
Raise you glasses for a toast
To a little bit of chicken fried

I thank god for my life
And for the stars and stripes
May freedom forever fly, let it ring.
Salute the ones who died
The ones that give their lives so we don`t have to sacrifice
All the things we love
Like our chicken fried

BY: Zac Brown Band