I Love Empowering Army Families!

I've actually had a few awesome moments throughout the last few weeks in regards to one of the organizations I volunteer with. I have written about Army Family Team Building before and I could go on and on about how much I love it but I won't.

Like anything else in life, there are ups and downs and there are times when we find ourselves in a rut. I have been feeling that way for a few months and even considered taking a step back entirely for a while. We haven't had a lot of students and it was beginning to feel almost like more effort than it was worth. I was frustrated about feeling that way too.

Over the past few weeks I've had the chance to do briefings, teach seminars and conduct classes that have rejuvenated me and reminded me why I love what I do.

I don't get paid, people often ask me why I devote so much time to something that I receive so little in return from. This is where I disagree. I cannot describe the feelings I get when I feel that I have made a difference in someone's life. Maybe it was just something I said, a feeling I justified or just being willing to listen.

A couple weeks ago I got to facilitate another Drill Sergeant Spouse Seminar and while we had the smallest group to date, it was a wonderful experience! We had two spouses new to the trail (what they call Drill Sergeant Duty) and it was nice to end the day with them telling myself and the other facilitator that they felt so much better about what the next couple years will bring them. It made me happy.

Last week myself and another instructor got to do a briefing at our local recruiting station to Future Soldiers and their Family Members. We had sooooooooo much fun. I could relate to them because I dealt with recruiters in my own journey into the Army. It was fun joking with them about everything from their hair (and how they would miss it soon enough) to doing push-ups and just sharing information in general. It was great talking to the young man who's spouse did not speak any English and being able to let him know that there were resources available to her so she wouldn't have to feel lost and alone. He told me that he felt so much better knowing that that his wife would be okay when he went off to training.

Today we had a Level I class (also known as Army 101) where we discuss the very basics of Army life. We had a brand new spouse...she's only been married two weeks. She was so refreshing and fun! The other spouses in the group were so awesome as well. They took her under their wings right way and shared information and were so supportive in her journey of being empowered. They were all there to learn as well, but there was something about watching this young girl learn and grow right before our eyes in such a short time. The other Spouses had 6 months to 18 years experience on her. We laughed and had serious moments and just enjoyed each others company. I left today on a natural high...it was so rewarding to be around these women.

That young spouse told us that a week ago she was sitting in a hotel room, crying and hating Army life. Today she left our building excited about talking to her husband in the new Army lingo she learned and having new found battle buddies!

That my friends, is why I do what I do, for moments like that.

An Evening with Gary Sinise

What an evening! Last night we had our Army Family Team Building Instructor Challenge Dinner. Once a quarter we do an Instructor Challenge where our instructors have to complete a certain of amount of requirements and then they have to be one of the first 8 to sign up to attend these special dinners. We have been so blessed to have Connie McD, who hosts these dinners at her home. We have been all around the world through these dinners. Germany, Mexico, Spain, Italy and even Iraq. Last night had a French theme. One of the great parts of these dinners (besides the always fabulous food) is that we always have a mystery guest. We have met some of Fort Hood's top leadership. Last night we had the III Corps and Fort Hood Commanding General and his sweet wife. They brought along their own special guest. Mr. Gary Sinise. It was sooooooo awesome! He is here doing a free concert for the Soldiers and Families and Fort Hood and the Lynches were kind enough to share their evening with him with us.

He was so awesome! I had the opportunity to chat with him for a great while (sorry for monopolizing his time!!) Really, it was an awesome night. He said some great things to us, we shared with him things about our program and our lives. He was even nice enough to record a special message for Kevin, what a man! We had so much fun...so much fun. There aren't words to describe a great evening with some of my favorite people, my AFTB family and then having the top leadership AND Gary Sinise. A great night indeed!

This pic needs an explanation...Ms. "G" was so cute that she was taking pics of Gary's DNA. They were really playing off of the fact that he is on CSI: New York. This is the very plate and glass he used...no I'm really not that star struck but I thought it was cute, lol.

My AFTB Family

I am so blessed to be a part of an organization that is so fun. I love my AFTB family. We are a close knit group of friends. I know I can rely on them both within AFTB and also in my personal life. We have fun together, we share tears together and we laugh a lot! Today we graduated a Level III class and had the opportunity to hear Brigadier General McDonald speak one more time to our students. Him and Connie have been such a blessing to our program. There were tears as we got to say what we wanted to him and let him know how much we appreciated him being a part of our program. It's not often you get senior leadership who are sincere when they come in and talk to local programs. There are not enough words to describe how much I respect and love Connie. She is a mentor and I have learned so much from her.

Overall my AFTB family has been such a big part of my life the past few years...all of them Diane, Aundray, Yvette, Lilla, Nancy...so many who I love! I've met so many great people both in the program and the students in our classes.

I don't know what else I can say, I just love my AFTB Family. They have been such a support system while Kevin has been deployed. I just had to write about this great program. If you're an Army spouse, check out your local AFTB program.

Some of my favorite people in the entire world, my fellow AFTB instructors and BG McDonald and Connie.BG McDonald, me and ConnieAnd a random pic of me today....

What a Week!

This has been a very long week. It's been a good week, but a long week. I spent rainy Monday hanging out chilling because I knew I had a rather busy week coming up. Tuesday started with Army Family Team Building. We had an Instructor Course and that can be stressful just because we have few instructors who are qualified to teach so we are always on standby to fill in. We had 10 students this go round which is HUGE, we were very excited all week about that fact.

Oh back to Monday real quick...I was chatting with one of Kev's friends online (gotta love facebook) and he was kind enough to share with me a pic of Kevin from high school. I have never seen him with this much hair!

Tuesday also marked 3 years since we lost our friends Bryant and Jose. It was a very emotional day for many reasons but this was certainly one of the top reasons. Their legacy continues on because we will not forget.


Tuesday night, I attended the Volunteer of the Year Ceremony. It was a great event. I was nominated by Army Community Services. There were 39 nominees. I took the boys as my guests and we had a great time. The kids loved the name cards and loved being my "guests".
They also quite enjoyed the food. In the pic below are 15 plates but they polished off 17 total, lol. They had a lot of fun. Daniel was funny because he told me his cupcake smelled weird but it didn't stop him from eating it up.After we ate, all the nominees were called up and given their awards. We got a framed certificate and a really nice watch. After that there was a performance of "One Moment in Time", the song got me emotional thinking about missing Kevin, thinking about Nita and Bryant and Jose's family. Then I let myself look at my boys and they were just so handsome. I was sad thinking about how fast they were growing up. I was getting pretty worked up inside. So after the song when they did the announcement of three top winners, I wasn't really paying attention. I knew one of them and was so happy for her. When they called my name, I couldn't even really hear my name and certainly didn't believe it. I was a bit emotional, it was a shock. The boys joined me on stage to accept my award for Installation Volunteer of the Year and the Yellow Rose of Texas Award. The only thing that could have made that night better was if Kevin had been there. The story they wrote made me sound like a crybaby and had a dramatic flair to it but it was a decent article (you can read it HERE), I did leave active duty 10 years ago but did Reserve time after so I didn't don my uniform for the last time 10 years ago, wanted to clarify that, lol.
Here is a pic of us with CSM Ciotola, he is just the most awesome person...Here's a pic of me with all the stuff I brought home. The basket had a lot of great stuff in it, the boys had a good time checking out the loot.The rest of the week was just busy. On Wednesday, I had more AFTB Instructor Course and then we had our ACS Volunteer Appreciation luncheon where I received ACS Volunteer of the Year and a yummy lunch.

Thursday we graduated 10 new instructors for AFTB, woohoo!!! Thursday night, Nita and I went to the Sugarland concert. It was a FUN concert. I wish I had pics but we never know when they are going to let us take pics or not so we always leave the cameras in the car and when we do, we realize we could have taken them! But it was a great concert minus the bubble happy girl in front of us. They gave out bubbles to blow when their bubble machines went off but the girl liked to just do hers (and someone jacked ours!). But we did get our bubbles and I blew them later when we were on the top level of the parking garage trying to take pics of the capitol.

Friday was a PTA kind of day where we headed to Sam's to get some stuff, sadly we couldn't get the hand sanitizer we needed for one of our Teacher Appreciation week because everyone is freaking out over the swine flu and have bought out the hand sanitizer. We had to change it up but I think it will turn out okay in the end. I'm pretty random and different things strike me funny. It's been a long and tiring year with PTA so when we came across these bags, I chuckled and made some comment about the PTA driving us to using these bags...
Friday night the boys went camping with a friend of ours from church. His wife and I took the opportunity to go to dinner and movie for a girls night out. We had a good time and so did they!

Today, we hit the barracks to make the beds for our Single Soldiers who start returning home in the coming week. Woohoo!


So a busy week indeed but a great week too!