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

Life In Washington

This summer has been a time of firsts for Chelsa and I and July is no different.

We recently flew to Des Moines for a marriage interview so that Chels would have the chance to be a permanent resident. After a long flight and a short interview, it was granted. For the two days we were in Iowa we had the opportunity to see a lot of friends with a BBQ in the backyard of Ross and Amber’s new house. (Thanks again you two. you made it easy on us and we had a great time staying with you). My mom and dad took us out for dinner one night and it was great to catch up with them and pick up the last of our wedding gifts.

We flew home early on Friday and Saturday I participated in my first sprint triathlon. In less than an hour and a half I was humbled in the water, on my bike and thankful for Chelsa’s cousin Derek whom I bought the bike from, and finally running the pavement thinking of the old high school days of cross country. It was a fantastic experience and maybe with a little more training, especially in the water, I will have a better showing.

Now that I have been working here for over a month, and have received TWO paychecks, I want to let you in on what I do. Having just commissioned into the Army from the ROTC program, I am here at Ft. Lewis helping to evaluate the leadership of Cadets who will commission next May from their respective Universities and ROTC programs. I am on the best committee here, the Field Leaders Reaction Course (FLRC for short). We evaluate Cadets on their ability to lead eleven of their peers while negotiating an obstacle course. While on the committee I have held numerous positions, timekeeper, safety officer, the morning safety briefer, an evaluator, the scanner, and the JPSC in-putter. Let me tell you every one of those jobs is just as flashy as it sounds.

While I am away at FT. Lewis Chels has been working herself into the ground not only making our apartment our first home, but also developing a business model to be a photographer. She has produced a web site, started the process of marketing herself, and getting all of the last minute equipment she needs to be successful. Some nights I come home and she is more tired than me with all that she has been doing.

Last Saturday my schedule worked out so that I was able to attend New Song Church with Chelsa. New Song is the church Chels has attended since we have lived here. It has a beautiful congregation who are so energetic about the Lord, prayer, and anyone who might step through their doors. Last week alone we had numerous invitations to meet with couples throughout the church and to even go camping. Attending New Song is giving us a great opportunity to grow into our roles as husband and wife as well as renewing our faith in Jesus as the Lord of our lives.

Well that is enough out of me for now. We again want to thank all of our friends and family, it has been awesome to have your support in all that we do.

Afterthoughts

(First thought : this will be a bit of a fast forward “play by play”, mostly for you mom’s out there, we know how you like to stay informed... )

It was amazing. This is amazing. We have been SOOOO blessed beyond measure. There are too many “Thank You’s” we want to say to so many people, that we would run out of room here! Ultimately we want to say “Thank You” to the Lord God for putting so many amazing people in our lives, and that so many of those people would travel by plane, bus, and car across boarders to witness and celebrate our wedding day up in Canada! It was more special and beautiful than we could have imagined our wedding day to be, and the celebration after the ceremony was incredible! We loved it and loved seeing our friends and family there with us!

One of the things we loved about our wedding was that we were able to visit with so many of you in the few days before the wedding, as well as a couple days after as you were getting ready to go home. We took advantage of the beautiful Okanagon weather and stayed there for a week after the wedding. Then we flew to Red Deer, Alberta (Chelsa’s home town) to go to the big Lykal open house (were we were able to visit with lot’s of Chelsa’s family and friends again!), get in some Kallis family time, watch Carson play golf, and of course....take a visit to Calgary Cycle where Derek and Karyse (Chelsa’s cousins) helped us make the best choices on our brand new bikes....... which we LOVE!

By May 30th we were back in Kelowna, BC, rented a U-Haul, attached it to our brand new hitch, loaded it up, and began our search for a place to “hang our hats” (as Grandma Kallis would say). First stop (after a few washroom breaks, but I - Chelsa - don’t count those), US Customs boarder crossing. That took forever. They made us come inside. And wait. It was late. The immigration officer could not be found. Can you blame him? Once they found him, we were outta there and Tacoma, Washington bound!

After a goodnight’s rest, we began our hunt and found an apartment in Lakewood, WA, not too far from Ft. Lewis, where Ben is working this summer, in fact he just reported there today. Which means, 1. Ben can cycle to work, he has a sweet bike to do it on. And 2. Since he only just reported, we had some SWEET one on one time!!!! We enjoyed every minute hanging out, taking trips (ie. we left our car in Port Angeles, WA and took our bikes with us on the ferry to Victoria, BC Canada where we had a blast with Lindsay (Chelsa’s older sis), and learning our way around Lakewood and Tacoma by trying to find grocery stores (especially Natural Health food stores so we can get some almond butter), and places to get household items...we now have an air mattress and 2 bar stools for furniture. It’s really starting to feel like home :) Visit anytime!
We very seriously want to thank each and every person who blessed our socks off with wedding and shower gifts. We honestly can’t thank you enough, it all is wonderful and we are so grateful!

This is long enough!!!!!!!! Keep in touch! Check out our WEDDING ALBUM

May 18th 2007

Bride & Groom : Chelsa Kallis of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada & Ben Schaefer of Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA.
Wedding Date : May 18, 2007
Wedding Place : Harvest Golf Course, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.

May 18, 2007 couldn’t have been a more beautiful day in the Okanagon Valley. The weather was perfect for the outdoor ceremony and we were surrounded by close friends and family who had gathered together to celebrate with us.

Check out our Wedding Album : Chelsa designed our wedding album this summer, it has a gorgeous italian green leather cover & hand bound flush mount pages! If you want to view it online - it is at her photography website under the “gallery” option!! www.chelsaschaeferphotography.com

My School of Photography

My time in Hawaii at the School of Photography was incredible. I came away with quality friendships, memories, teaching, & experience with my camera. I am so thankful I went and feel that it was such a treat from the Lord to me. I am excited to see where He brings me with it in the future! While our website - www.benandchels.com - is still up and running, you can go to the link called "Chelsa's Photography" and see some of the work I did while I was there this January - March. Otherwise, check out this Portraits album that I designed!

Together Again in Ames

Well, I finished my School of Photography in Kona, Hawaii last week. My class worked so hard to get everything ready to display at the exhibition & it was amazing. The whole day i just couldn’t believe that i was there, & that i had finally completed the SOP 1. I love photography & i want nothing more than for it to bless God and bless people.

As some of you know, i am here in Ames, Iowa for the month of April. The long & the short of it is that right now i must to stay in the USA while we get the proper legal requirements fulfilled so that i can come back into the USA after our wedding this May. I wish you all could have been in Hawaii with us last month (Ben flew out for a week to get some paper work filled out with me) to have seen the amazing miracles that God pulled off on our behalf! Things that normally take months to do took us a week with a lot of prayer. Important places that were booked for a month got us in a day after we called. Papers that should take weeks if not months to receive came in the mail that week. Amazing. Amazing God. With every new legal challenge came another opportunity for God to take control & show us just how big He really is. I am SO thankful to all of my friends in Hawaii who really supported us as the body of Christ, not to mention all of our friends & family back home who were also lifting us up in prayers! God hears! He is SO GOOD! Not just for what He does for us, but because that is the very truth of His character, He is GOOD all the time! We felt SO humbled & in awe of His power & His grace in our lives. He is MORE than enough for every need that we will ever have.
If you do not know the realness of this awesome living God in your life, or you write Him off as though He does not exist, stop for a second. Listen. Not to your mind. Not to unbelief. Or skepticism. Or pride, or false intellectualism. But to your conscious. What is your conscience saying to you. If you ask Him if He is real, to show Himself to you, and you mean it, there is no way that He will hide. Why? Because He is GOOD. All of the time. Even in the darkest night of your life. Listen.

I had planned on being home to help with the preparations this month, however God is just totally blessing this time together & i have an amazing mom and dad who are doing a fabulous job with the wedding preps in Canada!!!
Just this past Saturday, Ben had his last Military Ball for the ROTC program at Iowa State University. It was SO special that i was able to be his date, and also to see his mom and dad. I am SO proud to be able to call this man my husband. He deserves every bit of recognition that he gets, because his desire is truly to lead by serving.

Next week we’ll be on opposite sides of the USA! I am flying to Washington state to visit some close friends of mine (the Harness’ & Boltons)...also to do the fabulous final wedding dress fitting with Linda who is making the dress!
Ben will be flying to Virginia, this is one award that he earned in the ROTC, to discuss current events with other scholarship winners from other universities.

wow. long update. still missing OH SO much. like how good looking Ben is in his army blues. (the mil ball suit...maybe i can track down a photo :) okay he is probably going to make me erase that. unless i can upload it without his help..meaning if you read this, then props to me , i figured it out!

ALOHA AGAIN!

It was an AWESOME surprise and blessing from the Lord that Ben was able to come and visit me for a week here in Kona, Hawaii while I finish up my School of Photography at the U of N. Things got pretty crazy here for a while with Ben and me tying up all the loose ends we need to in order to apply for my US permanent resident visas once we are married, and me also trying to finish up all of my photography assignments for the upcoming Exhibition. So far I'd say God is all over this, "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:6.
My friend Becca took these awesome photos of us, check out her website!

Aloha & ISU Bound

It only seems fitting that Chels and I update our website when something new has happened and so it goes without saying that something new has happened.
After the New Year Chelsa and I once again said our farewells. And even though we are apart we are both excited about the next three months of our lives. Chelsa has safely arrived in Hawaii to pursue her growing passion in photography and I flew to Iowa to finish out my last semester of school before I commission into the US Army as a Medical Service Corp Lieutenant.
I’ll leave Chelsa to update you about Hawaii… but for all of you that are enjoying winter, Hawaii is currently at a comfortable temperature of 80 F… and I’ll let you know what I am up to. In my last semester of school I am taking as few classes as possible but complimenting that with a bigger role in the Army ROTC program I am involved with at ISU. Apart from school and the Army, I recently joined a bible study that looks to challenge me in all aspects of my faith.
Even with all the things going on in my life right now May 18th just doesn’t seem to be coming fast enough.

Holiday Cheer

Right now Ben is in the middle of his exams for the end of this semester! Only one more semester to go before he graduates from Iowa State University!!! Last week I flew to Washington and stayed with the Harkness’...friends of mine (from my time in Hawaii) that feel just like family. Linda is making my wedding dress, so her and i were able to pick out patterns and fabric while i was there...we also fit in snowmobiling with Dane and Nathan and picked out their Christmas tree in the mountains!
I am home in Red Deer until this Wednesday, when i will be flying to Oklahoma City for my friend, Hannah’s, wedding. Wahoo Hannah!!!.....then home again for the holidays...Ben and Danny (Ben’s awesome brother) will connect with me in Denver on our way back to Canada and hopefully i will be able to show them a great Canadian Rocky Mountain time for a few days :) Danny will be leaving us on Christmas Eve, and Ben will stay....our first Christmas together! Apparently America doesn’t have a Boxing Day (i know, it’s too bad), So it will be a first for Ben!
We wish you all such a relaxing & festive, full of love, family, laughter, joy, peace, and especially full of Jesus Christ Christmas Season everyone!

American Thanksgiving in Colorado

I (Chelsa) was visiting Ben and his family & friends in Iowa this November. It was such a nice time to get to spend with him, while also getting to know the people in his life better. Ben is definitely blessed with a wonderful group of friends.
His family and my family (except my lovely sisters) all met up in Colorado for their Thanksgiving. A big thanks to Jocie (Ben's sister) and her husband - Gilby - for hosting all of us! There was good food, company, hikes, and even a little James Bond - Casino Royale. Can't wait to see what we do and where we are next year!