My Dad is with the Lord!

Many of you are aware that my dad passed away on September 13.  He has been ill for quite some time.  Because I knew he would not get well, and his health slowly declined these past few years, I thought I would be prepared.  This is not true at all.  As much as I wanted his suffering to end, it was so hard to let go.  My peace and comfort comes from the assurance that he is walking with Jesus.

I want to thank all of you who have been praying for his salvation as well as for my family as we struggled watching him through his illness.  During my time at CFOT, the officer staff were so understanding, patient and supportive, allowing me to go home to visit occasionally.  My DHQ officers were also supportive whenever I needed to go home to help take care of my dad and spend quality time with him.  My dad was in home hospice and I will always treasure being able to spend time with my family and dad until the end.

My husband is truly a gift from God.  He read scripture to dad the night before he died.  He read from Revelation 21 and talked to him about not being afraid.  It appeared that dad was sleeping through this, when suddenly he turned toward Dennis' voice and said, "I'm not afraid."  I cry just writing about this.

My Corps Officers, Majors Greg and Poppy were amazing.  The day dad died, they came over to the house and prayed with my family.  What a blessing and testimony (I have family members who are not yet saved).  I say "yet" because I am still praying.

Thank you so much to those who were able to come to the funeral service.  Thank you to those who called and thank you for the many cards I received.  I even received cards from officers I don't even know.  This all meant so much to me.  I am so blessed to be in this Army family. 

Please continue to pray for my family as we go through this difficult time.

Praises & Prayers

We are keeping busy in Belvidere.  Women's Ministries had a Corps Cookout for our church family.  Of course Dennis did the grilling - who else???  It was a good time and I enjoyed meeting extended families of our corps people.

Yesterday (Wednesday), Dennis and I visited with a family at the hospital whose mom was in a coma.  About a month ago, she had brain surgery for a fourth stage cancerous brain tumor and slipped into a coma following surgery.  The family decided they would discontinue life support on Thursday, which would be today.  When we arrived at the hospital, we discovered that she started responding.  She was in ICU and we had to wear gowns, masks and gloves so she really couldn't tell we had uniforms on.  We explained who we were and talked with her for awhile and when we talked to her about her salvation she nodded assuring us that she knew she was going to heaven.  She looked right at us and nodded.  We prayed with her and praised God for her assurance of her salvation.  We don't know yet if she will make it, but we praise God for the miracle He has already done in this family's life.  Needless to say, they will not be discontinuing life support today.

Many of you know that my dad has been ill for some time.  His health has continued to decline.  This past week we were able to go to Wisconsin to get together with my family and dad.  He will be enrolling in home hospice care.  This means that he will not be in and out of the hospital anymore. It is at the point where they cannot do much for him anymore.  He will have the necessary equipment he needs at home, the oxygen he needs and he will continue with dialysis.  We want him home and he wants to be home.  I do thank God that we are not so very far from home so that we can see him when we are able and the Army, as always, is very supportive of my need to be with him.  It is a very hard time for all of us right now. I feel like I am grieving already, yet I am rejoicing that dad has accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.  Does this make sense - to be grieving and rejoicing at the same time?  Please keep our family in your prayers.  And please pray that I can stay focused in my ministry here in Belvidere.

Still Unpacking!

Things are going well here in Belvidere.  We are getting to know our corps people and enjoying meeting someone new in the community almost every day.  We had wonderful surprise guests at this past Sunday's meeting.  Majors Steve and Diane Harper.  We had great fellowship afterwards.

And then this morning one of our advisory board members and his wife appeared at our house to volunteer to help us with yard work by trimming and weeding.  We are so blessed!

Anyway a thought occurred to me as I'm still unpacking.  I was wondering how long it takes for officers to finish unpacking once they are in their new appointment???  Just curious.

Does Anyone Know????

How to change the name of my Xanga Site - Since I'm no longer a cadet, I really don't want my Xanga Site to be called CadetAntonia.  I guess I should have known about this when I first created it.  So, can anyone help?

We're doing fine so far in Belvidere, Illinois.  It's a great little community and everyone is so nice and welcoming.  And - if we do want more big city stores and such, Rockford is just around the corner!

We're excited (and overwhelmed!) about our corps.

Exciting Times

Me and three of my session mates went to St. Louis for three days for the Territorial Social Services Conference.  We learned lots of new insights, plus had a great time during free time.  We went up the Arch (a new experience for me) which was awesome.  I will miss these good times with my fellow cadets.

Time is getting closer to commissioning and I am feeling anxious, nervous and excited!

Oh where Oh where will we go???

(Here is a picture of Amy and I in St. Louis.)