A few videos

These are a few videos from Christmas and the Sand Dunes last week. Hope you all had a great week!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Truett and I buried the kids in the sand. They loved it.



I hope this time of year brings you all to remember the real reason for Christmas...Jesus' birth. The girls and I were at Walmart this last week and this older woman stopped me to tell me how cute my girls were and then asked them if they were all ready for Santa to bring them a gift. I politely said, "We do not believe in Santa". And this poor old woman looked at me with such disgust before I could even explain. Right about then Kierra piped in and said, "Christmas is about baby Jesus being born in Bethleham, not about Santa and presents." I was so proud of her. This woman just said, "Well, that's nice isn't it" and walked away. I was so proud of Kierra for standing up for Jesus. I know she probably didn't understand, but I would hope that we can teach our children that it is for Jesus our Lord and Savior that we celebrate Christams!

Truett, Will's brother was here this last week and we had such a great time. We all went back to the sand dunes in White Sands, NM. It was nice and warm and we played there a good part of the day. Then the next day we went hiking and we decided that we have a great rock climber - Kierra. She is nuts on the rocks and it makes Notice Kierra in the bag. me so nervous. But she loves it forsure.

We will be going to one of Will's classmate's house for a Christmas Eve party. It will be nice to be able to spend that time with someone else's family. Then Christmas Day we will just chill here in the apartment. I am just cooking a low key dinner as we are all sick now. Hopefully the girls will be feeling better by Christmas. Will and I should be on the mending edge soon. Now we can only hope we don't get the girls' pink eye. LOL.

These pictures kind of loaded funny, but they are all from White Sands and hiking the hill right behind our apartments.

We hope this finds you all well and enjoying family. We love and miss you all!
Merry Christmas!!
Danae

An Exciting Few Weeks.....

Well, I guess its been a few weeks since I have posted something and I have no pictures to offer, but I will work on that for the next post. Sorry Mom and Dad :-). Where to begin......

Last week we got back Brookelynn's final testing on celiac disease. Praise God her DNA tests came back all negative for the disease. After almost a year of talking about and several procedures, we can finally rule that out and say she will just grow out of her issues. As to which most have cleared up already. We have no one to thank but the Lord that she is doing so well.

Sage, Will's little brother got engaged to Kristen this last week so we will be headed back to Idaho for a wedding in late March. The girls and I will then stay in Idaho with my parents until 14 May where we will catch up with Will in Ft Benning GA to drive to our duty station...Ft Campbell. I am getting anxious to get settled somewhere. We are very excited for Sage and Kristen, and we are excited to welcome Kristen into our family.

We also took on the endeavor to get Brookelynn potty trained this weekend. I can see light at the end of the tunnel, but I am looking forward to being done with it and able to leave the house again. She is catching on, but since I am not very patient in these matters I want it done yesterday. Needless to say, we acted out Bible stories at home with the kids today instead of going to church since we are confined to the house till Brookelynn can safely leave. :-)

Will is super busy with school. Last week he started at 5:30 in the morning and wasn't home before 7:00 in the evening one night. This weekend was spent with his group from school finishing up a project and when he was home he was busy with another project due this week. It's a battle anaylasis and it is very detailed and time consumming. He will be glad when he has breifed it and it is over I am sure.

This week Truett, Will's other little brother will be flying in for a few days to spend with us. We are glad to see some family forsure.

We hope you all have a wonderful week and if I don't get another blog posted a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

In Him
Danae

Thanksgiving is over...looking forward to Christmas :)

Hey everyone,

We had a great time during the Thanksgiving holiday. I had 4 days off and spent all of it with my girls so we had much to be thankful for. Danae and I made the best turkey we have ever had before and the kids ended up eating cereal...our meal was good!

On Friday, the 29th, I took all 3 of my girls on a date to go see Madagascar 2. The girls were thrilled to get to eat popcorn and licorice during the movie...it was pretty fun and the kids were great in the movie theater.

I got to take Kierra on her first little hike and she had a great time. She is very agile for her age and hopefully some day will be climbing with her daddy and Papa Carl. Brookie got too cold, although to her credit she wanted to come with us...she will be able to next year. :)

I am still in the core phase of my schooling...we will finish the core phase just before Christmas and have 2 weeks of no classes during the holidays. We will start Patriot phase next year. Can you believe we are almost into 2009??? Wow this year has flown by!

Keep praying for us to find a church where we can connect. There is a different church culture here than we are used to, but God is still good. Danae and I are going to go through Love & Respect (on DVD) with two of our friends Jason and Shirley. They have two girls the same age as ours so we hang out frequently.

I just wanted to give you all an update...please keep in touch. We love and miss you guys.

Will

3 Yr Olds Gone Wild

So we went to Kierra's 3 year old Fall Concert for preschool. It was super entertaining to say the least. Kierra and her friend England by her got confused and thought they had a duet and started dancing and acting all crazy apart from the group. It was funny though. This is just a glimps of the fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We will be staying here in El Paso for the holidays. Will and I are cooking together and we're excited. We have invited over a sergant major from our apartment complex who won't go home for Thanksgiving and also a couple from his class. It will be a good time at least. We have no table and a tiny place, but who cares....right?

Hope you all have a great time off work and with your loved ones.

In Him
Danae

2 Weeks In To OBC

Happy Sunday to everyone!

I can't believe that we are already half way through November...we are all enjoying our new lives here in El Paso. I have my first test of Officer Basic Course (OBC) tomorrow. We are still in the core phase and the instruction has been very relevant and informative on what we will need to know when we first get to our units as platoon leaders. I'm enjoying the relaxed environment and the opportunity to spend so much time with my girls.

Kierra and Brookelynn are both learning things by the minute. Each day they amaze me with something, and I am reminded of how blessed I am by God with my little angels. Danae is getting into her routine and staying busy taking care of all of us. She also spends several hours in waiting rooms as the health care system in El Paso is less than efficient.

We were planning on having a Thanksgiving meal at our house with one of my classmates and his wife, but they may be traveling so we're still deciding on what we are going to do.

Anyways, I just wanted to give you a quick update and let you know that we love and miss you guys.

Please remember to pray for our Nation and our leaders.

IN Christ,
Will

What a mess

I couldn't help but to post this picture. Kierra was helping make a birthday cake for one of Will's classmates. She had a ball and ate most all the chocolate batter before we got it poured into the cupcake plate. I can't hardly cook alone anymore and I love it.....Children are such a blessing...

Today Will had to go to a veteran's home, and he took Kierra to mingle with the retired service men and women. Kierra was totally into it. She was drawing pictures for all the old folk and tell them about Jesus. Will said it was quiet the sight to see. I stayed home with Brookelynn so she could nap. She is my little social bug.

Danae

White Sands

Will has a 4 day holiday weekend because of Vet's day so we took full advantage of it and took the girls to White Sand NM. We had a great day out there and the girls ran the dunes. It was a kids play land out there. It looked just like snow but it was 60 some degrees.

This week was Will's first full week of school. I think it went well, but it will be a challenging course and will require a good deal of studying and book work. I'm not so sure how that is going to work since every time he walks in the door life for the girls stop and they want all of daddy. We'll have to make something happen so studying can happen.

Other than that we are just enjoying life here in Texas. It is nice to be close to Will. We get to see him every morning and every evening and every weekend.

We will go to the same church we went to last week. Hopefully we will be able to call this one home for our short stay here.

We love to hear from everyone.
Danae

Holloween in El Paso

This was our Holloween fun.
Kierra was a soldier and Brookelynn was a doctor. Kierra went to school and Will took her in his uniform. It was really sweet.

Will starts school on Monday and Kierra started last week, so we are in the full swing of things here. Things are going well, and we are still looking for a chruch. Please pray for us that God would direct us to one. We are enjoying El Paso much more than Lawton forsure. It's hard to believe that the holidays are rolling around with the weather here still in the 80's during the day. They say it will start to cool off but I just don't see that happening and I am not complaining. We love and miss you all. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Danae

We made it to El Paso

So we made it to El Paso and we moved into our new apartment. Our living conditions are much better here, which is great for Danae and the girls. We will be here for 5 months while I attend Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic Course. I will be learning the technical aspects of my branch (and there are a lot of aspects!) which means there will be a ton of information shoved at us...I pray that I will be a good sponge.

The environment of this course is much different than the others I have been to. It is much more focused on the technical portion of being an officer. I'm looking forward to learning the different aspects of my career field and then moving on to the next stage of this process.

The pictures you see above were taken in Oklahoma at a pumpkin patch that we took the girls to. We tried to get us all together, but it didn't work out so well. The trip down to El Paso went pretty well as the girls were very good travelers this time. We visited with Danae's Aunts (Hazel and Carla) and Hazel and TW (her husband) let us stay in their cabin in Ruidoso, NM. It is in the mountains and it was fun for the girls to have a place they could run around in. Unpacking was not that fun, but it never really is...is it? At least we only have to do the pack and unpack thing one more time (even though we have one more stop before we get to Fort Campbell).

We live less than 4 miles from post which is great because I can come home after PT and see the girls before we all start our day. I also get to live with them full-time as opposed to what we were doing in Oklahoma.

Well that's all for now, we'll post some other pictures of our travels soon...we love and miss you guys and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Will

Just a few days left....

I would have some pictures to post of all our traveling we have done whild in OK, but we can't find our camera cords....or charger for that matter. That would be a sign we have moved to much already. I do have some pictures from my phone though of the game. But I am in the process of packing up our small apartment for our move to Ft Bliss TX. We will leave Friday morning just as soon as Will gets released. We are anxious to get out of this area.

We had a very exciting weekend though. Dru, Will's best friend flew in for the weekend, and our Sunday school teacher gave us his season tickets to the OU (Oklahoma University) football game vs Kansas. And we got wrist bands to go the the OU club tailgate party before the game and eat...or should I say pig out. It was such a fun experience.

We will post more when we get to TX and know what will be going on there. For now we have not a clue really what will be happening. But for now we miss you all back home.

Danae

-

Two Weeks left of BOLC II

Hey everyone,

I'm writing this message from Tulsa, OK...where we are spending a long weekend with Levi, Shannon, and Hannah. We finished up combatives and convoy operations last week. We go out to the field on Tuesday for continuous operations with a 10 mile road march completing the week early Friday morning. We are all excited to almost be done with this phase of training and ready to move on to El Paso.

This weekend has been a blast hanging out with my girls and with Levi and Shannon...I'll save the rest of this weekend for Danae who will post something else tomorrow when we get back to Lawton.

An exciting thing for next weekend is that my best friend Dru is coming in from PA to go to the Oklahoma game with me and Danae...our Sunday School has graciously given us his tickets since he and his family will be gone...extremely nice guy!!!

I look forward to hearing from you guys soon.

In Christ,
Will

Week 4 complete with BOLC 2

Happy Friday! Sorry for not posting anything for a while...I was out in the field all this week doing a lot of urban operations training. It was pretty fun and I learned some valuable things. Danae and the girls are in Amarillo visiting family; I am headed down to see them today as soon as we get released.

We have less than 3 weeks here in Oklahoma now and we are all excited to move on to El Paso for our next adventure.

This week was particularly awesome because I was able to witness to one of my friends that I made here for quite a while. The Holy Spirit is working on his heart so please keep Steve in your prayers...I am thankful to be able to spread the Gospel to our future leaders of the Army.

We will post something more after we get back from Amarillo; I hope that you are all well...feel free to call me or email me anytime!

In Christ,
Will

First week and a half of BOLC II

Sorry for not posting something sooner about my current training, but last week was basically inprocessing so I didn't feel that you would be interested in how long I stood in line to get told that I didn't need any more shots or dental work. :)

This class is going very well to say the least. Our cadre are extremely professional and all about training to standard and not time. So when we are done with our training they release us...which is great for me because that means I get to spend more time with my girls. I do have to stay in the barracks five nights a week, but it isn't that bad because I don't have to be back until 2300 every night. So I get to hang out with the girls until then. There will be few weeks when I have stay out in the field, but Danae is planning on visiting family in Texas during that time.

We have found a good Southern Baptist Church that has tons of options for kids ministries. They have a preschool that we are starting Kierra in tomorrow...she had a good time tonight during the STOMP (similar to CVBC's LEAP program) it is where the kids learn to praise God in different ways. Brookelynn likes her class as well. The church is much more traditional in worship style than we are used to, but they are super friendly and they preach the Word so that is what is important to us.

Danae is staying busy taking care of all our moving arrangements for the next move to El Paso and taking care of the girls. I have taken a physical fitness test and completed my land navigation course as well. Next week we qualify with M4 rifles...that will be fun.

By the way, if any of you miss seeing us/the girls we do have Skype and a webcam so that we can communicate that way. The kids really enjoy seeing their old friends and family so I encourage you to download the program (it's free just google Skype) and buy a webcam (you can get one for less than $35) it is a great tool to stay in touch with...especially the kids.

Love you all and God Bless,

Will

Oklahoma is our new home......for now.

We arrived here in Lawton, OK mid-day yesterday, and we're pretty much unpacked today. We had to drive clear across the country to get some warm weather. It is beautiful here. Will needs to report tomorrow, so we had to get all our shopping and last minute stuff done before he has to be on post. He will most likely have to stay in the barracks while here at Ft Sill but I think he is somewhat looking forward to that. I will start potty training Brookelynn on Monday, we just moved her to a big girl bed as we didn't want to move the crib. I think I will move to the barracks next week too :-). Lol.

The drive went well. Great for me. I was in the car all alone. The girls actually did very well - till the last day when they screamed and fought from Kansas to our apartment. I thought Will was going to throw one or both out of the window a few times but we are still a family of four. We stopped at the Denver Zoo one afternoon and we all enjoyed that.

Our apartment is small but nice. Well, I am afraid to take a bath or walk barefoot, but I think we will live. We are excited to be on with our new journey of life, but we already miss our old friends and family back home. It was hard to leave, but we know this is the time and place God would have for us now.

In Him
Danae

2LT Andrews

Will is now a 2LT in the Army. He graduated on Thursday and it was a good day. He was distingused honor graduate and top academic graduate as well. We are all very proud of him. The girls were very excited to see daddy, and it was neat to see their reactions.

Now we are home in Idaho for one week and we have hit the ground running. We are packing and saying our good-bye's as we are leaving to Ft. Sill Oklahoma with Will on the 1st of September. It is hard to leave Idaho as we have both grown up here, but it is exciting to have a fresh start and see where God is leading us and the new adventure is so thrilling to me. Our duty station is Ft Campbell Ky and that is where we will eventually end up. Probably next spring or early summer. Hope all is going well and please keep in touch.

Danae

Last Week of OCS

My transition from enlisted to officer is almost complete. I will graduate in 4 days on the 21st of August. God has blessed my efforts here and I was able to graduate as the Distinguished Military Graduate (top of my class) as well as the High Academic Graduate. God deserves all the credit and I am grateful to see this challenge come to an end.

Danae and the girls will be here tomorrow. I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas to come...I can't wait to see my angels. Today is also our six wedding anniversary...which is a blessing because even though we may not be together today at least we will get to see each other tomorrow.

I will only have one week at home, so hopefully we will have one large group gathering so I will be able to see as many people as possible before I leave.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Call or email whenever.

In Christ
Will

We're off to GA

Well after 3 months of waiting, the girls and I are off to Georgia to get Will. He graduates the 21st of August. Sage, Will's younger brother will fly with the girls and I down there. Will and I have decided that we will move as a family to Oklahoma to Will's next training for 7 weeks and then to El Paso, Tx till next March.....for yet more training. After that our duty station is not yet known. We are really hoping for Japan, but our branch manager has not yet gotten back with us. We pull out of Idaho the 1st of September. Scary but exciting. I am ready for us to be together again. I will post a new address for us as soon as we get one. But our cell phones will work for now.

208-249-5888 Danae
208-249-8555 Will

Danae

Week 10 Complete

Praise the Lord! We finished up some of our last requirements here at OCS. We completed our final inspection and turn-in of all our gear and weapons. We also finished up our History test...now the only thing we have left is our final physical fitness test on Monday morning.

This weekend we have off as well, which is the first weekend we've had off this cycle. Everyone in my class can use the time away from the barracks...hopefully everyone will be motivated to finish out these last two weeks strong.

Next week we have several leadership seminars and lots of administrative processing as we make the transition from the enlisted side to the officer side. I'm very excited to see the finish line and complete one of my goals.

God has continually motivated me throughout this course and I am thankful for His guidance daily. Danae and the girls are going to go with me two both of my training sites and we will get to spend some time with each other.

I look forward to trying to contact some of you this weekend...sorry for not being able to talk much this last week...I spent over 50 hours cleaning weapons in addition to everything else. :)

God Bless and take care.

Will

Weeks 7,8 & 9 Complete

Well we made it out of the field on Friday. We finished our field exercises with a 11 mile road march that finished at 2 a.m. The training had some good points that I will take with me throughout my career and I'm glad to have gotten through these weeks healthy and in good spirits. :) Our next week will be very full with another week of history combined with a battalion level inspection (which means that we will spend the next 5 days cleaning everything under the sun).

I did get my class dates for my next two phases of training. I will go to phase 2 in Ft. Sill, OK from 7 Sep - 24 Oct and then I will go to my phase 3 in Ft. Bliss, TX from 31 Oct - 10 Mar 09. This means that I will only have 2 weeks at home before heading out to my phase 2 site, and that I will probably have to leave Danae and the girls in Idaho for another 7 weeks before picking them up and moving us to El Paso.

I have really seen the calling that God laid on my heart come into play here at OCS. While no one has responded to the Gospel message just yet, one Christian who was struggling came and talked to me during the field and wants to move forward with his relationship with Christ. My heart is definitely burdened for discipleship, and I'm glad to be able to help the struggling Christians who need someone to guide them.

Brookelynn's test results came back and they were very good. She has some minor complications with her stomach, but it is not the major disease that we feared. God is great and He continues to watch over my precious girls while I am away. I look forward to seeing them in a little over two weeks.

I love and miss you all. Feel free to call or email me whenever.

In Christ,
Will

Good News

So amidst the what seems like utter chaos with my children, I almost forgot to mention that I was offically discharged from the Idaho Army National Guard. I will spend 2 1/2 yrs in the IRR, but that is fine with me. That just means that, I guess they could call me back up if they need me but I am not an active member of the guard. The odds of that happening are slim as of now. That happened duing my 2 weeks of annual training in July. It was very exciting!!

Danae

Brookelynn's Surgery.....Today

Today Brookelynn went into to St Luke's Children's Hospital to have a triple biopsy of her esophagus, stomach and small intestine. She did quiet well, but she was ticked off when she woke up and had an IV still in her arm. She was grumpy too that no one would let her eat :-0 But surgery was quick and hopefully we will know something as far as a diagnosis by the beginning of next week. Pray it is not Celiac Disease and if it is that God would give us the grace we need to endure.

Will is doing well considering he is having to engage in field exercises while his baby girl is undergoing many tests. He is being able to call on occasion though which is nice to keep him in the loop. It is not long now before I will bring the family down to get him.

Danae

Stitches for Kierra....again

So, Kierra was playing on our play center at our apartment complex and totally missed the first step and this was the final outcome. Poor thing. She did great though. Daddy has no idea and this will be the first knowledge of it, so just know Will that she's a trooper and I didn't even see it happen. This seems to be a yearly occurance so I am getting used to it. She even told me when she came to get me that she might need stitches. I just started laughing as I put my hand on the bloody mess as to apply pressure and told her it would be fine but we would need to see a doctor for sure. She's my little trooper.

Danae

Week 6 Complete / Air Defense Artillery

I am very happy to have completed week 6 of OCS. We had 4 different test that we took including one that covered American Military History from the colonial period to the end of the Civil War (yes we covered all that info in 4 days!)

We got to choose our branches yesterday and I chose Air Defense Artillery as my career field. This means that I will be in charge of soldiers who shoot missiles and aircrafts out of the sky. I should know where our first duty station will be in the next 3 weeks. Most likely I will be in El Paso, TX for about 7-8 months of training and then on to our first duty station. The good thing about this is that the Army will move me and the girls to El Paso to begin with and I will be with them while I am at training. This is a blessing because I was expecting to have to be gone from them for the first 6-8 months...God is always good!

We only have one more written test to take and that will be at the end of week 10. The next 3 weeks for us will be spent in the field. These three weeks are sort of the culminating point of OCS because week 10 will simply be learning more American Military History, a final physical fitness test and a few other minor requirements. After that we go into the administrative portion of the course where we transition from being enlisted to being officers and complete the mountains of paperwork required for that.

I am looking forward to the training in the field and for the leadership challenges/experiences I will gain. God has truly blessed me during my first 6 weeks and I look forward to serving Him throughout my career.

I love and miss all of you and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

In Christ,
Will

This is me with Will :-) I got back Sunday night from Georgia after 5 wonderful days with my husband over the 4th of July. I will take the whole family back down there August 18th for his graduation. We are very excited to all be together again.

He is the top of his class and will pick his branch tomorrow afternoon. It is exciting to be coming down to the end of the cycle. He is doing well.

Danae

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July! Week 5 of OCS has been an awesome one for several reasons. First we only had a 3 day week of training and we were released on Wednesday night...but mainly because Danae surprised me and flew down to see me. It has been awesome getting to spend some quality time with Danae.

As I was doing my devotions today I couldn't help but reflect upon the true meaning of our Independence. Yes it is great that we get days off of work, and that we enjoy time with family. But, I pray that we never forget what was sacrificed in order for us to be a free nation. Millions of Americans have paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy the freedoms that many take for granted, and I pray that today would be a day that we all reflect on their sacrifice and honor them with continued perseverance in our own cause for freedom.

Independence Day also reminds me of the REAL day we were set free...the day Jesus paid the ULTIMATE sacrifice so that we ALL could be free. Just like our nation's independence, we as Christians often negate the magnitude of God's grace and action with Jesus' death and resurrection. I pray that today would be a spiritual revival in the hearts of all who know Him. That today we would get down on our knees and thank Jesus for laying His life down so that we all could be free from the bondage of sin. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Independence Day than to praise the King of Kings for savings us from sin and allowing us to have a relationship with Him. OK, enough preaching for one blog... :)

We have more written tests next week and then on Friday we will get to choose our career fields. I'm excited for that day to come. Continue to pray that I will be able to show these men and women what it means to be set free and how God loves them.

I love and miss all of you. Feel free to call me this weekend or shoot me an email.

God Bless

Will

SURPRISE......

So, I just found out that Will has a 4 day weekend so a few people at church helped me and we found something somewhat reasonable for me to fly down and surprise Will for the 4th of July. I am leaving the kiddos with my parents and off to GA I will fly on Wednesday. I will pick Will up at his barracks on Thursday morning. I am so excited! And I know this will be a great break for him to get away from his barracks and out and about. Pray that the kids will do well with my parents and that this will not be bad timing with the stress and emotional status of Kierra. Oh, and we are not telling them that I went to see Will. I just went on a trip for a few days. I will be home Sunday night late. :-)

4th Week in the books!

June is almost over and I am headed into week 5 of OCS. I'm glad to know that I am 1/3 of the way complete with this school, but there are still a lot of things we have to complete before co missioning on the 21st of August. This last week we were in a classroom most of the week learning tactics and troop leading procedures. The week did drag a little towards the end, but we did get to give back to the community here in Columbus, GA on Saturday and that was fun. We did a service project for Habitat for Humanity and we landscaped (leveled, dug up, and laid sod) for 4 houses as well as tore down another house that had been burned in a fire. It is fun to see what 150 people can do when they all work together.

I went to a different chapel service today and it was pretty good. I enjoyed the upbeat worship style. The sermons here don't measure up to what Pastor Clint gives out every Sunday but God still speaks to me through each messenger that I have heard. I signed up to work in the Children's department, so hopefully I'll get a chance to serve while I'm here as well. I also go to a Bible study on Tuesday nights that is very enjoyable. God is really speaking to my heart about humility and patience...which seems to be my main purpose for attending this course. :) j/k I am thankful to have my Lord and Savior here to keep me motivated through whatever comes my way.

We have a 3 day week next week and then a 4 day weekend for the 4th of July. I don't have any plans, but I know that several people are looking forward to getting away from the barracks for a break from each other and the course. I find out in two weeks what branch (career field) I will be getting to choose. I am leaning towards selecting Air Defense Artillery...but I possible could select Military Police. Please pray for me in this decision as I want to go wherever the Lord has for me. :)

I pray that all is well with you and yours. Feel free to drop me an email (will.andrews@us.army.mil)

A Soldier For Christ

Will

3rd Week Complete

We made it through another week here at OCS. This week was a little more difficult than the rest because we had inexperienced student leadership; but we made it through and God is good. We had leadership classes (which I really enjoyed) and military justice/law classes as well. We also completed the Leadership Reaction Course which is a number of obstacles that each squad (10-12 people) have to complete in a short amount of time. The obstacles were fun and we had a good time taking turns leading our squads through.

My morale is high because the Lord continues to bless me in all things here at OCS. Every week I meet someone new who needs an encouraging word from the Lord and I am thankful for the opportunity to share. Continue to pray for my family as I am away. Danae does an amazing job by herself, but we are all missing each other as we have gone over the one month away mark.

I know that many of you are wondering what are the times to try and communicate with me...weekends are best to try and call, but email is probably the best way right now. I usually get to check the internet on the weekends so I can respond to anyone who wants to drop me a line.

I love you guys and hope that all is well.

A Soldier For Christ

Will

We're Home...

Well, we're all home safe and sound, but we had a GREAT trip. It was so good to see family. The girls saw all their cousins from my mom's side of the family (my real MOM) and they had a blast. Kierra wanted to stay there for a long time longer she said, but it was time to come home. We are headed to Georgia the middle of August to see Will and I have annual training with the National Guard coming up so it was time to part, but we had a good visit.

Will sounds good. We are anxious to hear our duty station and branch but I think that will be another 3 weeks of waiting. He is sitting number one in the class right now and that is where he has to stay to compete for what he wants. There is only one slot for the branch he wants.

We are doing well. Pray for the girls as they are having a tough time without their daddy. They miss him so much.

In HimDanae

Second Week Down

Week 2 is in the books here at OCS...less than 10 weeks to go. :) God has continued to provide me the motivation necessary to be His messenger here in GA. This past week we got the opportunity to jump in the pool during the combat water survival test. All in all it was a pretty good week. Next week we head to the classroom to learn leadership skills and ethics. I'm looking forward to the education and continuing on with this necessary process. :)

Danae and the girls made it safely to West Virginia where they are spending time with family. They return home next Thursday so please be in prayer for their safety. The girls are continuing to adjust to me being gone, but I think they are progressing.

In 4 weeks I will know what branch (career field) I will be placed in, which will be welcomed knowledge. So far I have done pretty well in all of the required tasks...and we have several more tests coming up in the next few weeks.

Thanks for your prayers and I ask that you keep them coming.

God Bless

Will

First Week

Well I made it thru my first week of OCS, and it really hasn't been that bad. The school is adapting their techniques and trying a new concept on my class. They are giving us much more responsibility to conduct our training and as such we have more freedoms than other cycles before us. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes little direction can lead to chaos and confusion...that is our challenge...we have to keep ourselves in check and all work together. :) So far it is going pretty well.

We took a physical fitness test and also completed an obstacle course. The obstacle course was a ton of fun - rope climbs, sliding down ropes, jumping over objects, balancing beams 10 feet off of the ground...good fun training. :)

Please keep one of the members of my platoon in prayer. I don't want to give out all the details, but please pray for him. The Lord knows what he needs. God continues to bless me here and my family back home. Be in prayer for Danae and the girls as they travel next week to West Virginia.

Being away from my girls is difficult, but I know that I am exactly where the Lord wants me so that makes this all worth while. :)

I love and miss you guys.

Will

Will's Address

I have finally gotten an address for Will, so I will post it. Letters are a great thing to send him.

OC Will D Andrews
Class 09-08 2nd Plt C co
3rd BN (OCS), 11th IN Regg
7480 Riorean St
Ft Benning Ga 31905-4410

Please be in prayer for our branch. Will would really like Military Police (MP) but there are only 2 slots available for that and a few hundred people to compete against. Pray that God would put us where He would have us. I know Will would be okay with other branches, but that was his top pick.

As for the girls and I, we are doing well. I had a strange opportunity last night to go with a friend and watch her harvest organs for transplant. That has to be the coolest thing medically I have ever done. A little wiggy at first, but once we got into it my nerves and stomach setteled down and it was crazy cool.

We will leave on Monday for West Virginia to see my Mom's side of the family and will be gone for 2 weeks. Hopefully when we get home summer will have started here in Idaho.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

Danae

OCS Begins...

It is Saturday night, 31 May 2008, and I am less than 24 hours away from starting the journey of officer candidate school. I checked in on Friday and it was a bit of a difficult experience as I had to take of my stripes as a noncomissioned officer and put on the rank of officer candidate. The course will be difficult because of the fact that so much of what we will be doing will be dictated by the members of our class. It will be both physically and mentally challenging, but I am looking forward to it.

Please pray for me on Tuesday as I will be taking the Army Physical Fitness Test; that is our first major challenge and it will play a large role in our order of merit list which is what will be used to choose our branch.

God is good and I am trying my best to witness to everyone I come in contact with. Please pray for the people that are not saved in my class that the Holy Spirit would soften their hearts to the Gospel and that He would provide opportunities for me to show them who Jesus really is...our Lord and Savior!

I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers.

A Soldier For Christ,
Will

Ft. Benning, GA

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. I am here at Ft. Benning, GA and things are going pretty well. I am in an inprocessing company with a bunch of other soldiers who are getting ready for training as well. Things are pretty low key here which is nice. God has been at work and showing me the type of ministry that I will have while I am here. I have already met several other Christians and together we have been hard at work witnessing to our fellow soldiers and letting them know about the love that Christ has for them.

I think that I will go to OCS this week, probably Thursday...and start my class on the following Monday.

Thank you all for you prayers and I ask that you continue to lift up Danae and the girls as they have a harder task than I do. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ft Benning, GA

Well, Will has made it safely to Ft Benning and has completed most of his inprocessing. He is off for Memorial weekend and will not continue with anything till Wednesday. He has his cell phone if anyone wants to call him and chat. He is hoping to ship to his Officer Candidate (OCS) training sight by Wednesday. He is doing well, and I will post an address as soon as I get one. Maybe as early as next week.

We are doing great. Lots of changes and challenges for the girls, but God is great and His grace is sufficient for us for all times. Thank you for your calls and emails. It's is helpful to be busy and have lots of stuff planned.

Danae

Officer Candidate School

Today I finished up my initial entry processing into the Active Army and got sworn in. I fly out tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. and I'm off to Fort Benning, GA for the next 14 weeks.

I don't know all what my training will entail, but I can imagine that it will be somewhat rigorous to begin with. Most of the people I will be training with will have a grand total of 2 months in the Army...so I imagine the initation process will still be in effect. It doesn't bother me though, I know that this training is designed to help me lead soldiers in combat and save lives.

Today was also a great blessing as I got to share the Word of God with some of the Army's newest soldiers. The Gideons came in and gave us all Bibles and I was able to share some key verses that helped me through basic training with them. Verses like 2 Timothy 2:2-4 and Ephesians 6:10-18.

The time away from my family will be tough; please be in prayer for all of my girls as they will have to adjust to not having Daddy around for a while. There is always a positive side to every situation - in this case being away from my family will only strengthen my reliance upon the Lord and His power to get me through. I couldn't do this without Him, and my heart breaks for those that will be with me that don't know the love of Christ. My prayer is that the Lord will use me to change that part!

Danae will post my address as soon as I send it to her and she will keep the blog updated while I am away. I love you all and will miss you while I'm away.

A Soldier For Christ

Will

Emotional Experience

Today was my last day at Central Valley Baptist Church; it was an extremely emotional day for me. I was overwhelmed by the amount of hugs, cards, gifts, and "God Bless You"s that I got today. Danae and I both are a bit tired after saying "see you later" to so many good friends. I am grateful for the lessons and blessings that God has given me and my family through CVBC, and I know that the Lord had a plan when He brought us to be members here. Danae will continue to attend CVBC until we are reunited and begin our move to our first duty station (wherever that is). We will continue to be members until we can find a good SBC church home at our first duty station.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Central Valley for all that you have done for me. I will always treasure our service to the Lord together.

A Soldier for Christ

Will

I started a blog

After several requests from friends, I have decided to start a blog. I will be leaving on Tuesday the 20th of May so Danae will keep it updated as to what we are up to while I am gone.

Please continue to pray for us as we follow the Lord's direction in our lives.

Will