Road-trip!

Well, we have finally arrived and settled into our new home and I must say we are loving Watertown! I will post more about that later because this post is dedicated to our road-trip from Georgia to New York. We decided to take our time getting up here, visit some family and enjoy some much needed down time together. After the world-wind of Ranger School graduation and then clearing Ft. Benning in just 5 days David decided to take a full two weeks of leave, but time sure does fly when you are having fun! On the first leg of our trip we stopped in North Carolina to visit David's grandparents Mimi and Pop-pop. While we were there we had the pleasure of visiting with David's Aunt Janet, her family, and his Uncle Ron too. It was the first time I had met this part of David's family but they made me feel right at home. We all really enjoyed our time in North Caroline especially Jefferson who spend most of his time romping around with Mimi and Pop-pop's Shih-Tzu Cookie. After that we were headed to Pennsylvania to see David's parents. David's mom and I decided that since David and Hannah's birthday's typically get looked over because they are so close to Christmas, we were going to have a surprise party for them in October! I am not sure how much of a surprise it was for either of them but they were both pretty good sports about it. We had to leave our little man with his grandparents for a few days while we came to Watertown and figured out where we were going to live. I am quite convinced he was spoiled the whole time and did not miss us one bit. However, as soon as we found our house and got our home goods we went back and picked him up because we sure did miss him. Here are some pictures from our trip... enjoy!

Mimi & Pop-pop

Uncle Ron

Aunt Janet & Uncle John

Jessica and Janelle

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!

Ranger School Graduation

On September 25th David graduated from Ranger school, and the whole Provencher family and my brother Alex came down to Georgia to celebrate. Before the actual ceremony, the Ranger Instructors try to give the friends and family of the graduates a taste of what our men have been up to... nothing more can be said other than Rangers put on quite a show! I never imagined that I would ever come that close to explosives or black hawks. I don't think David comprehended just how much he had accomplished until the dust settled and he was able to take it all in, but what an awesome day! The chaplain's decided that they also needed a way to culminate the spiritual change a lot of Rangers experience during Ranger School and, therefore, conducted a baptism after the ceremony. Two of the guys that got participated were in David's squad. He got to watch God work in their lives and then see them baptized. It was the perfect ending! Here are some pictures:

My Battle Buddies

During our time here in Georgia God has blessed us with some really awesome friends. Each one of them has blessed us in different ways. However, an enviable part of being in the military is that either you move or your friends do. Shortly after Dave left for Ranger school almost all of the women I had met and become friends with starting moving one by one. But God is faithful and provided a new friend who has partnered with me in surviving Ranger School one day at time. Her husband is also at Ranger School and a good friend of Dave's. I am not sure if it is going through this experience together or just God's handy work but I know I will treasure Kristen's friendship for years to come. This past weekend Kristen and I took her son Greyer to the Wild Animal Safari right here in LaGrange, Georgia. We had a blast! Of course I was reminded of the fun Dave and I had when we went to the Safari around this time last year and so I came home and looked at some of the crazy pictures I took of Dave. Here are some of my favorites from both trips.

An Update from My Soldier

I finally got a my letter from David today. Up until last Friday I didn't run to the mail box everyday hoping to find a letter from David, but when he called home on the 4th he said he had written me a pretty long letter and that he was going to send it as soon as he could. Our phone call was only 9 minutes long and left me eager to get his letter. I am sure you can imagine how important each letter is, not only are his letters a sentiment of love but they are our only form of communication. Although he is obviously sleep deprived (he reports getting about 1 hour of sleep a night) and tended to jump from one subject to the next I was able to understand everything and overjoyed to hear from him. He had written me the letter over the course of the last three weeks.

Here are some highlights:

1. It's weird down here all the training takes place in a natural forest so every once in a while you'll come across civilian hikers and here we are 42 big ruck, big gun carrying soldiers looking sadder than sin walking up on them.

2. Yesterday, I was singing 'Come Thou Fount' to myself Hannah loves that song, its a good one "Come thou fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy praise."

3. God has been using me in huge ways to witness its been amazing to watch.

4. I've been compiling lists and daydreaming through the days, it's what keeps me occupied... the lists range from what I want to eat with you, to what songs and movies I want to see/listen to, to what I want to do with you over the 4 days weekend after graduation... to all kinds of crazy things to keep morale high.

5. I put on a fresh t-shirt this morning it was straight from you washing it, it smelled amazingly like home, everyones been smelling me thats how good it smelled.

6. God has shown me through this that if He wants me to do something then there is nothing that can stand in my way.

7. Its funny everyone has these lists and we compare them to ensure that we are not missing out on some amazing food, book, movie or song.

8. Taylor told me about a desert at Cheddars called the Cookie Monster, huge chocolate chip cookie with ice cream and syrup (he as written me 3x about the Cookie Monster).

9. Its so funny seeing all the boys pass out all over the place doing all sorts of things I mean during the day-light hours you can wake them up but at night you really can't get people to respond its sick that a school does that to you.

10. Sometimes when I am out here I wonder what you're doing at that moment, if you ever wonder that about me I am either walking through, rather up a mountain or making lists about something I want to do when I get back home.

11. After I called on Friday they brought out our care packages, tons of them, some dudes had like 2 or more and they gave us 30 minutes to go through them. My squad picked out an area to dump everything and share it all. I ate my cookies then we had so much junk it was crazy. I only ate a little but there were guys who ate enough to puke then went back for more. It was nuts!

12. I was talking to my boy Jewah about how it is most likely harder for our wives at home then for us here. I mean we are busy all day everyday with no free time but you girls are not and if you want to be busy you have to think of things to do to keep you busy... yea we just think it is harder on you than it is on us.

Hope you enjoyed hearing a little about "Ranger Danger School." Most of the letter was personal and I was reminded how blessed I am to have married a man who loves me and honors me the way God intended. David didn't get any mail before he wrote this letter and it seriously is amazing how God has kept us on the same page... we wrote about some of the same things, he answered questions he didn't even know I was going to ask, and just seemed to say exactly what I needed to hear. God is good! Prayerfully David will graduation on September 25th and I cannot wait to have my man home again!

Disclaimer: The picture is not from Ranger School

Kindness is rare and beautiful...

Today one of my patients made me a cake! It was completely unexpected and definitely made my day. To give you a little background this woman is a dialysis patient and therefore in end stage rental failure. She has had health issues most of her life and for the short time I have know her has been struggling with the way her illness has affected her lifestyle. All that to say, she isn't the bubbly type of person who you would expect to see bouncing through the door with a cake. She very quietly pulled me aside to express her gratitude and game me my cake. This meant so much to me... I pray for her often and I just feel so blessed to know that even when it didn't seem like it God was using me to bless her. Thank you Jesus for using me! Now I just wish some of you were here to share it with...

Ranger School

An update on Ranger School has been long over due. Ranger School is one of the most challenging leadership courses in the military. As I mentioned it is a 61-day that is conducted in three phases: Darby Phase, Mountain Phase, and Swamp Phase. David has already completed the first two phases and prayerfully will complete the third without having to recycle. This would mean graduation is right around the corner, September 25th. To say the very least Ranger School has been an extremely demanding course physically and mentally but it has been amazing to watch God work. I started to describe for you what it was that each phase entailed but realized that isn't what is truly important. However, if you want to know more you can google 'Ranger School' or check out the videos they have on YouTube. Both sources will probably paint a better picture of the daily challenges each candidate faces. God has been doing an amazing work in both David and me. This is not the first time David and I have had to spend time apart, we dated long distance for almost 4 years and last summer David reported for OCS and I wasn't able to come with him, but this experience has been unique in many ways. The biggest difference is that almost all communication has been cut off. David is able to write every now and then so I have gotten a letter almost every other week that consists of a sentence or two from each day. I write David everyday but they are not given their mail consistently. That being said, it has been amazing the way the Lord has used this time to strength our relationship and draw us closer to Him. I never understood the saying "distance makes the heart grow fonder." During our long distance dating that never seemed to be the case.... not because I didn't love him as much then or miss him but it seemed that in order to maintain our relationship it took a mutual desire and effort. It took some work! Not to say that having your husband gone with such limited contact is a piece of cake but even though I didn't think it was possible I love him now more than I did before he left. We both have felt a renewed appreciation for one anther and the amazing blessing our relationship is. David did come home for 8 hours on August 14th. I felt like I was 18 again and we were dating. It sounds silly but I got butterflies in my stomach every time he even touched me! I guess this time apart has given us a different perspective and reminded us of what really matters. Sometimes the daily grind seems to blind us of that. When they are gone you realize that all the little things that drive you crazy are so insignificant and you would rather clean hair off the bathroom sink every morning after they shave or pick up their dirty laundry 3 times a day just to have them home again. Another lesson I have learned in a very tangible way is to lay all of my expectations at the foot of the cross. And to look to Christ in fulling me in areas that David can not. I think all too often it is easy for us to put expectations that can only be met by the Lord on our spouses because they are here in a physical presence and desire to make us happy. As for my Ranger in each of David's letters he has shared that God has used him to witness to the men around him. He says "it has been amazing to watch and be involved in." I won't share any more because most of his letters were personal and meant for me but I will say he has left me with no doubt that I am loved and cherished and a VERY lucky woman to be his wife! I am hoping I might be able to talk him into blogging and giving you some insight into what Ranger School was like for him but we will see... Rangers Lead The Way!

Oh Baby!

This past weekend while David hung off the side of a mountain somewhere tired, hungry and mostly likely wet, I decided to visit some friends in California. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, I flew to LA Friday night after work and then back to Atlanta Sunday night just in time to be at work by 5 am. Needless to say I was a little jet-lagged on Monday morning but it was totally worth it! I headed out west because my college roommate and very good friend Shawna is having a baby and this past Saturday was her baby shower. Of course after gushing over her belly it was really nice to spend time with her. We stayed up till 1 am on Friday night (yes, that would be 4 am Eastern time but I slept on the plane) reminiscing, laughing and catching up. As much fun as it was to see my friend and be back in southern California not a second went by I didn't think about or miss Dave. Shawna is just as beautiful now over 7 months into her pregnancy as she was back in our heyday. See for yourself!

That was then...

This is now!

And as if one addition to the Foy family wouldn't be enough Shawna's sister and other cherished friend of mine is pregnant too! She is due in less than two weeks!