Monday, May 05, 2008

Photobucket "Why Isn't Mom Updating the Blog?"


This question was heard in my house!!!! On Saturday evening.....by one of my older young men who will remain nameless....::snort:: Yep, he asked why Mom hadn't upated the blog Friday night or Saturday.....and his brothers gleeful response..... "She's NOT HERE!" ::snort:: Too funny. His life is so busy he'd not even noticed I was gone - except the blog hadn't been updated. ::Snort::

Where was I?

Photobucket Women's Ministry in the Military is called, are you ready for the catchy title? Protestant Women of the Chapel or Catholic Women of the Chapel (or close to that). P-WOC. Sounds like something from a space movie, doesn't it? A friend and I used to joke quite a bit about the "planet P.... WOC". By any name, PWOC is a dynamic, growing, vital ministry that God has prepared and put in place to minister to females associated with the military (active duty, spouse, retiree, civilian worker, chapel attendee, civilian church attendee). Weekly stats show that in an average week there are over 4,000 women meeting in PWOC studies across the world (on any military base).

PWOC is international. It adjusts to fit God's plan for each base. Yet, we operate under common themes and such....so no matter where in the world God and military send you - you can find something familiar....a group of sisters who understand your needs, your joys, your concerns and unspoken fears. If you are a military spouse et al and have not checked into PWOC, you really should....even if you attend church off base.

Once a year the International Board sends out Traveling Trainers. What a joy these days are for local boards. Ours was this weekend in San Antonio. It was a FAST trip. Forgive me, friends, who live in SA. Debbie, incoming VP/Programs, and I drove down Friday night.

We got in late and checked into our rooms. I HAD to take Debbie for a walk through memory lane. I showed her where the kids learned to roller blade, where we rode bikes, the fields we played in, and our HOME.

Friday night I had an awesome personal retreat with God. I needed some solitude and God provided it, at a time that I expected would be busy.

All of Saturday was spent at the Lackland chapel in training. We discussed hearing from God, discerning God's plans, obedience, sitting at his feet.....and it was just the stuff that God had led me to the evening before. Cool.

Drives to and from San Antonio (7 hours total) provided opportunity to get to know Debbie better, to plan for the summer, and begin to brainstorm for next year's calendar.

Sundays are always busy. And now we're into a new week..... Consider the blog updated!

Photobucket

10 comments:

Linda said...

I have to say, I have had two VERY different experiences with PWOC. I had an AMAZING experience in Germany...my FIRST attempt at PWOC. I hadn't attended it prior because we didn't live on post, and we had a very dynamic church that offered great fellowship and fantastic studies. I didn't feel the need to be "attached" to the military. But in Germany, I needed the closeness of "women like me" who were military spouses. We had such a CLOSE PWOC group. My husband joked around a lot that I knew more people than he did (and in his job as a bandmaster, he usually knows MANY), because I saw all my PWOC sisters all the time and it was WONDERFUL to know them all. I was also blessed with GROWING in God.

When we arrived here in KS, I was excited about PWOC. This time, even though we didn't live on post, I was looking forward to that "military bonding" in Christianity. I went to the Fall Kick-Off. They had close to 15 studies. We worked our way around in small groups, checking each study out. Then we had an ice cream social. That's where things went downhill. My friend and I from Germany chose the study we wanted, and signed up. Then we got our ice cream and went to find a place to sit. No one at any tables offered us a seat or offered to move, or even invited us to join them. We knew each other, and one other woman who had come from Germany the year before.

We headed to a different area and found an empty table. We sat. We said hello to other ladies as they passed. Mostly got nods, and some words, but often, nothing at all. Only one woman came to talk to us. How sad.

But we perservered. We showed up for the first study. I asked if my son could be with her daughter, even though he was younger. They denied the request. My son wasn't big on child care and the only way he even agreed to be there was to be with "Yissa".

I brought him to his designated room. There were 3 women in there, with about 30 kids. Screaming, crying kids. Add my son to that mix. 45 minutes later, after Praise and Worship, I get called back to the room. My son's been crying that entire time, and no one came to get me...we couldn't calm him down. I had to leave (I was actually ASKED to leave). He cried for another 15 minutes after that.

I tried once more...they came to get me after 5 minutes and said that we were not welcome to come back until HE could be trained to settle down.

So much for PWOC here. I felt the women were all very "clique-y" with only a few exceptions. I realize that many of these women had been together for more than a year, but what had attracted me so much to PWOC at our other post was the welcoming and open arms of the "long-timers" to us newcomers.

I hope, at our next post, that I have the opportunity to try again. I felt like I lost a year of my spiritual growth because I couldn't find a place to be with my son's issues in childcare. At least he's grown out of it this year!

Renee said...

Pea-Wock???? It must be an AF thing...
in the Army it's PeaDoubleUOhSea (each letter said by it's name) - it was that way at Fort Hood (where I attended), in Seoul and here in Garmisch.

Anonymous said...

hey there,you should have given me a call if you were in town! I know you were busy! *grin*

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Linda, I'm so sorry about your experience...and I know each group is different.....but please do try again. Yes, I had trouble when my son was little too.

De'Etta

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Renee it IS most often pronounced P. W. O. C. it's just that my friend and I called it P-WOC....and then we DID hear others call it that at Fall Focus.....and nope...it was our Army reginoal President. ::snort:: We thought it was just OUR name. LOL

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Oh Shoot - Kristine.....you ARE there. We were too busy to meet up with anyone....but you could have met us at the chapel. LOL

Anonymous said...

I didn't know it was going on....We are a bit out of the loop on things because of the program hubby is in.

I knew you would be really busy though, I was just giving you a hard time. *grin*

Kristine said...

Hah, two Kristines!

Anyway, too funny that your ds only knew you were too busy to blog!

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

There are actually 3 or 4 Kristines who comment...I used to think you just liked to talk alot Kristine -but the photo helps. LOL

Cynthia said...

LOL.... too funny that you all are so busy coming and going that he didn't know you were GONE (LOL).