Ranger School Videos

I saw Ben off yesterday morning, and already I know that whatever it is he is doing today, he needs our prayers for this intense time. To see some crazy videos go to www.youtube.com and type in "Ranger School" in the search. I can't believe Ben is doing this! Let me know what you think! Also, I plan on writing him every day - it will help him get through this. IF you have any words of encouragement you can email them to me or comment on the blog and I will pass them on in my letters.

82nd Division Review & Ranger School

This week was All-American Week here at Fort Bragg - a week that celebrates the troops that make up the 82nd Airborne Division both past and present. Since members of the Division came from all 48 states, the unit was given the nickname "All-American" in 1917 when it was formed - hence the "AA" shoulder patch. In 1942 it became the first airborne division in the US Army, and on June 5-6 1944, it was the Paratroopers of the 82nd that jumped into Normandy, France (D-Day) and were among the first to fight.

So what is a Division Review? Well, from my perspective as an Army Wife, it was around 18-19 THOUSAND Paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division (who had to be at work at 0345 all week) standing in formation in their respective Battalion's in a HUGE field for a long time - but looking VERY good. The band playing, Paratroopers jumping out of helicopters, the Secret Service making sure all is in order, and of course, the President giving his proud speech about the 82nd before he "passed & reviewed" the troops.

So what about us? Well, Ben successfully completed the 82nd's Pre-Ranger Course a week ago Thursday, and we have been trying to soak up every minute together before he leaves for Ranger School tomorrow morning at 0500. Please be praying with us. This is an extremely intense course, and we not only want him home in 62 days (there are 3 phases & we don't want him to have to repeat any phase!) but also in good health & with no injuries.

"Course Scope:

The U.S. Army's Ranger Course develops the combat arms related functional skills, of officer and enlisted volunteers who are eligible for assignment to units whose primary mission is to engage in the close-combat, and direct fire battle in order to return to the Army a mentally and physically tough leader capable of (planning, organizing, and executing) a small unit combat operation in any environment.

Special Information:

The Ranger Course consists of three phases. The first phase (Benning), is conducted at Fort Benning, Georgia for 20 days. The second phase (Mountain), is conducted near Dahlonega in the mountains of North Georgia for 21 days. The third and final phase (Swamp/Jungle/Urban), is conducted at Eglin Air Force Base in the North Western Florida for 18 days."

The first phase is the Benning Phase. There is a daily schedule if you are interested in following along with what he will be doing. Pray for strength & understanding both physically and mentally!

So what will I be doing? This is a good time for me to catch up with friends both here and in Canada :) I have been blessed to continue doing Portrait Sessions for the families of deployed soldiers here at Ft. Bragg - as well as some other sessions & weddings coming up this summer. Ben can see me only once for 8 hours during the RS - and I am going to be there for that one break!! And then I will be taking a trip to visit with some family & friends up in Canada before I will proudly go to his Ranger School Graduation.

We hope all of you are doing well and enjoy your summer. Please let me know if you want Ben's mailing address at RS. He has mentioned that getting letters from Family & Friends would give him a lot of encouragement to keep on keeping on!

Valentines Day

Ben's the best! Even though he's away at training he still totally blesses me and does the most amazing things! These roses he had delivered to me today are so beautiful, look better in real life and smell so sweet!

XOXOXO to you and your loved ones!

third posting of the new year

if you have been following the saga of ben and chelsa then you will be happy to hear we have successfully completed our travels across the great state of iowa, across the country, even across international borders to our now home state of north carolina. although, it wasn't easy... and some times it wasn't even fun. however, we did manage to enjoy ourselves thoroughly as we caught up with "old" friends. i'd now like to give a shout out to shane and tara of ywam dayton and to lucinda a cute pregnant woman.
once in north carolina we were happy enough to take off our snow pants and jackets so that our skin could enjoy the vitamin d we now receive on a daily basis.

both chelsa and i have been as busy as bees during these first few weeks. i have been in-processing into the 82nd airborne and chelsa has found us an apartment, organized the apartment and is now in the process of buying herself a car. today we lugged our queen sized mattress up a gazillion flights of stairs; our new apartment is beginning to look like home.

i guess now is as good a time as any to make a huge (literally) announcement about chelsa and i... we are soon to be an aunt and uncle. my sister jocelyn and her husband gilby are pregnant with their first of ten children. congratulations you two! please pray for them as they transition into the world of dad and mom.

chelsa and i have a few prayer requests of our own. if you can only pray for one thing pray for us to reconnect with god. we have been distracted from him and can feel it physically, emotionally, and spiritually.


2. that we would find a church family that would help us grow closer together and closer to god
3. chelsa could find a car to fit her needs
4. ben as he attends airborne school in feb
5. that we would have an impact here in north carolina

New Year's Resolution

While I have never been into making a resolution I was excited for what the New Year might bring. My excitement was thrown out the window yesterday. My brother and I drove to the Cedar Falls Rec Center so that we could enjoy a man killer of a workout. To our surprise, and downright disbelief, the Rec Center was closed due to mechanical failure.
How about that? For all of you who were discouraged yesterday with the lack of facilities to get that beach bod you have always wanted I want to encourage you. You can break out of the Holiday eating funk you may have been in. You can shed those unwanted pounds. You will be able to see your toes again and climb that flight of stairs.
But if you are waiting for motivation to workout you will never get it. I promise you that day in and day out you will not be motivated to workout until you are actually working out. Enjoy the free advice and have a wonderful 2008!

And We're On the Road Again in 2008!!!

Hi Friend's & Family!

CHELSA : We had genuine intentions of sending out a Christmas 2007 update to you all, really, seriously we did. For those of you who braved trying to keep track of us and even sent us your Christmas letters in the mail....THANKYOU we loved getting them!!! I know we've passed out too many addresses in the past 6 months to keep track of......sooner than later we'll have a more permanent (we use that term lightly) one YAY!!!!! Today we are packing up and are ready to "pop smoke" (I think that's army lingo for leaving here). But Ben - being the great guy he is - had you in mind first! He said we couldn't get on the road until we first did this update :)

BEN : I guess when I said, "We can't leave until we do an update" I meant, "We can't leave until you do an update." Alas, I am finally writing on the blog.
After a long hard drive to Iowa from Texas we were finally ready to have some R and R over the Christmas break. We spent Christmas at my families house and enjoyed every minute with my Mom, Dad, Siri, Jeff (her boyfriend), Jocelyn, Gilby, Danny, and Samson (Gilby and Jocelyn's dog). We also had guest appearances from my Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle David, Aunt Nancy, and her two daughters.
Heading into the New Year I was a groomsman at Brian and Kate's wedding. Their wedding was awesome and was a great chance to see all my friends one last time before Chels and I leave for the NC. (look for their pictures soon on Sacred Moments!)

CHELSA : The above picture is of us & Danny in the middle of dancing, hence the crazy lights and even a bit of sweat on Danny's brow....Kate and Brian your wedding rocked our socks off!!

BEN : And that brings us to today. We are leaving for NC and we won't be back for awhile. It is exciting and scary at the same time... mostly we can't wait to be there.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Year. Until next time...

Sea World San Antonio in December !

Hi Everyone!!!

Wow, Christmas is coming up SO fast! This year Ben & I will be sharing the holidays with the his side in Iowa (and with my side over the phone!) . We are so excited and looking forward to seeing our friends and family so soon, it is so nice that we are able to go there before we keep moving on to the East Coast.

Ben really wanted to write the update this time, but he has been pretty busy with finishing up here at Ft. Sam Houston so he'll get the honours of giving our 2007 Christmas update :) I just want to tell you about Sea World!

Yep, last weekend we took a trip to Sea World San Antonio. And although today is chilly, it wasn't all last week! It was really warm (I am trying to mentally prepare for the weather in Iowa). I have it in my head that maybe Zoo's and Sea World's aren't exactly what the Lord had in mind when He gave Adam dominion over the earth...so I don't get really excited about them. But we decided to go and check it out, and it was a really fun day. We ran from show to show to try and catch each of them in time, and the animals really look like they are having the time of their lives...and so do the trainers! I mean, most of the trainers are there because of childhood dreams, so they must treat those animals like kings and queens right?!!

Here are a few pics from the day, Ben took the one of Shamu and it is SO GOOD!! I actually have to say that the Barnyard Animal show was my favourite. Those dogs, cats and geese were SOOO smart and so funny! We also rode the crazy roller coaster and were pretty proud of ourselves.

Anyway! Keep in touch!

Ben and Chelsa

The Infamous www.benandchels.com

Hey Ya'll from big 'ol Texas! Check out our website for our photo albums and past updates....but know that we are slowly going to switch it all over to using this blogspot, and there will come a day when www.benandchels.com no longer exists. Sad, we know. It's been fun. Well, not always....We have to admit at times it was a lot of frustration - a love-hate relationship with technology. This just simplifies things. Right now we are having trouble getting on there to update it, so we will be doing it here. The the nice thing is that we will be updating this more frequently (maybe we'll even keep up with all moving we do!)....So bookmark this address and check it out once in a while would ya!?!
And P.S. : these photos are actually from our camping trip in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (beginning of October) - pretty crazy historic town! The country side of it is amazing and gorgeous in the fall.
We hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Corpus Christi

"...we drove all night to get to Corpus Christi ..." (Sugarland) . Not really, but it is fun to go to all these places that some of my favourite country singers sing about! This Veteran's Day long weekend Ben & I drove to Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico. The winds were pretty high, so we decided to make it only a 1 night trip. Our first night we toured the Lexington and watched to "Fighter Pilot" IMAX on it. The next day we walked around all morning trying to find a decent place for Sunday brunch, and it was SO hot & windy out that by the time we found something we were kind of exhausted and ready to go back to San Antonio. But we decided to take ourselves on a driving tour of the 3 Islands off of Corpus Christi before we called it quits. And it was SOOO worth it. Once we got out of the city, with all the different roads, highways, and exits to wear us out, we just followed one road from island to island and it was SO relaxing and peaceful. There were old beach towns to gated beachfront communities that showed off such a colourful array of homes (we're talkin yellows, pinks, purples, greens & blues!). Of course we stopped to put our feet in the ocean and enjoy the sun, but I'm glad we didn't grab our swimsuits and go swimming because the other day someone told me that there are bull-sharks in there.....yikes. We didn't see any of those but we were pretty excited to see a dolphin on our little ferry ride!

Oklahoma Days

Ben left for Ft. Sill, Oklahoma on September 1st to begin the first of two Basic Officer Leadership Courses. After one day of considering my options - and a few encouraging phone calls from my sister and a friend - I decided that this was one of those times you’ve gotta fight for your man and your heart. Three days of packing, and a sweet spontaneous 1 day visit from my sister, Taylor, later, I hit the road.

The drive to Oklahoma from Washington state was so beautiful. After driving through a part of Oregon, I headed into Idaho and spent the first night at Hostel Boise. It was on the outskirts of town and I had the quiet little country place to myself. Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado. It was so nice to stop and see Gilby & Jocie (Ben’s brother-in-law & sister) and spend the night at their place in Denver. The next day I knew i would see Ben and that definitely pushed me on....Colorado, the west corner of Oklahoma, Texas - right through Amarillo - and then Ft. Sill.

So here we both are. There was this woman in Australia who prayed for me once when I was there in 2005, and the words God spoke to me through her prayers keep coming back to me. He said that i would have a network of fiery friends. Every day that i wake up here, and also when we were in Washington this summer, my heart is overwhelmed by the faithfulness of the Lord God to fulfill His promises. My close friend Hannah lives here in Tulsa with her husband. We were room mates in Hawaii in 2006 during our counseling school at the U of N. Both her and her parents (who only live 2 hours from Ft. Sill - where Ben is training) have opened up their homes to me for the time that we are here. And they haven’t only been sharing their homes with us, they have been sharing their lives.

Being with my husband means more than anything to me, and we are taking this journey as it comes.

This weekend is the Oklahoma State Fair....maybe we’ll live it up and ride the ferris wheel, catch a country concert and heck, maybe even a pig race. Next time I will have to share about the cool little country town of Guthrie where Hannah’s parents live. It is definitely a slow-paced country town with loads of good ‘ol western history. I’m trying to catch up on the classic western movies - like Tombstone and The Quick & The Dead - while we’re here. (We’ve also got hooked on Arrested Development....so not western at all.)

Bless you all this fall....may it be the start of many new and exciting things in your life!!!

With Love,

Ben and Chelsa