Ben & Sophie Winchester

My love for Paityn, Gods love for me.

2010-10-24T17:56:00.004-04:00

We have such an awesome God. He wants us to spend quiet time with Him through prayer or reading his precious word. He wants us to be Mary sometimes not Martha, to just sit and rest at his feet. Our society makes us feel like we need to be busy all the time but what we really need sometimes is to be still. Its a lesson I am learning. Probably always will be learning. Lately, I have seen Gods love through my love for Paityn, through my desire I have to raise her to know the Lord, through my prayer to be a light to others and reflect Christ. He shows me His amazing love all the times I mess up and He forgives me!!

I truly cant describe the love and care the Lord has for us it is to immense. He makes it so clear biblically he just wants for us to spend time with Him as we listen. He wants our plans to be His. His plans for our lives are good. He brings us trouble for us to be reminded to fully rely on Him. This is what struck me-

Lately I really have been cherishing every moment with Paityn as she is growing up so fast. Paityn has been trying to stand, grab, take, pull, play, roll, drink and bounce- these moments are wonderful but its the quiet moments that have been taking my breath away. Its when she is sleepy and she just wants to rest still in my arms. She simply is near to me, resting against my chest, dwelling in my comfort. I feel every sweet breath she breathes. I can quietly sing to her, gently talk with her, teach her what I have learned, or just simply hold my precious child and pray with her. I let my love just pour down onto her. In these moments I try to whisper to her how much I love her but words cannot express my love, its indescribable. It brings tears of joy to my eyes.

These moments with Paityn are teaching me about Gods love. That the Lord wants these moments with us, with me! He wants us to just stop sometimes, take a moment and listen to Him as he pours out us His love on us. We are his little Paityns... his precious children and he just wants us to rest in His magnificent peaceful presence. He loves us so much...he sacrificed His son for us to forgive us our sins...He gave us his word to teach us.... Life comes with lows and highs to allow us to fully rely on Him and praise Him through everything. There is nothing that stays constant apart from the Lord. There is no other rock but Him. There is no bigger love then the Love He has for us. I see a glimpse of our saviors love in my quiet moments with Paityn. The amazing love I have for my baby can not compare to the greatest love that our savior has for us. This overwhelms me. Praise the Lord and just take time to rest in His arms. He wants that so much.

Life is awesome. My daily prayer is that Ill be able to teach Paityn Gods love and she will grow to know Him. God decided to switch my prayer around. He is using Paityn to teach me of the importance of quiet time with Him and His love for me. How amazing is that! I hope you enjoy hearing what the lord has put on my heart and what the Lord is revealing to me. How great is our God!!!

Paityn Elizabeth Winchester

2010-06-18T04:07:00.006-04:00

Paityn Elizabeth Winchester was born on May 2, 2010 in Germany. I was enduced at 39 weeks because of obstetric cholestasis. My water broke and 14 1/2 hours of labor later and I had a "emergency" C section and Paityn was born at 4pm on Sunday. Healthy and beautiful. THE BEST MIRACLE EVER. She was 7lbs 4oz at birth and already smiling within her first days of life. She is so amazing. We just are in so much awe of her. What a blessing!

Since she has been born life has been a whirlwind but an incredible one. The days have gone by so fast. Too fast!

We had my parents visit for a few days and then Bens mom come visit for a few days. Both visits were great but flew by as well! It was nice for the new grandparents to get to meet their beautiful granddaughter. Yes I may be biased but ooo how I think our little girl is so beautiful. When she was born I literally laid there holding her all night admiring the little angel God gave us. To be honest I still do.

Paityn loves to sleep, which has been amazing. She is sleeping as of recently a few 8 hour nights it is awesome since her mommy absolutely loves to sleep too.

We are so proud of Ben, he is leaving to Afghanistan sooner then I can say and he will be so missed. He is such an amazing daddy to Paityn and an absolutely amazing husband to me. Some may say I am unlucky because my husband will leave for a year but I say I am blessed. God gave me such a wonderful man to provide and keep us safe and free. I am more then thankful despite the fact my heart will be longing each day till when he comes back home. By then Paityn will be walking and talking, how crazy is that? Ben will be here for fathers day so that is so cool. We got to spend our first mothers day and fathers day together. Paityn was a week old for mothers day and will be 7 weeks old for fathers day. I cant express the love I have for Ben and how much he means to me. Being parents together has just made our love grow and us really realize how much love we are capable of. The love we feel for Paityn is beyond words, we try to talk about it and we just look at eachother and know we cant explain it. A love for your child is just beyond all explaination. It is only a glimpse of how much our God loves us, so let me just say we are all loved sooooooooooooooooooo incredibly much. this weekend at church is Paityns dedication, how exciting :)

So since she has been born we have been doing local activities. I think my two favorite towns nearby is Amberg, which has shops, cafes and delish ice cream cafes and Regensberg. Regensberg has a river running in it and it is beautiful, it also has a sushi restaurant that I love, mostly because I couldnt eat it when I was pregnant so now I can eat all the raw fish I want, I know many people think that is gross but yum not me :) There is also a mall there that is the closest thing nearby to a normal American mall so it makes us feel at home. I love going there with ben somhow I end up leaving with a new pair of shoes or a skirt or something he wanted to buy me. Im a lucky girl :) Well in Amberg there is Bens favorite brewery Bruckmuller where we are going out for a hot date tonight. He loves the German food. I love Him. So it will be a good date for both of us. Oh yea Paityn comes too but she will probably sleep the whole time. So when she gets older and says she isnt allowed to do anything we will remind her about all the cool places in Germany she went too :)

This video was at a festival in Amberg, Germany. Paityn is six weeks old exactly in it! She loves dancing with her daddy! :) We are going to play it at her wedding when she dances with her daddy! Hopefully she wont be like us and it will be more then twenty years away, that seems to soon already :)

These videos were taken this morning, June 18th. Paityn is a morning person she was so full of life this morning so we captured a little. She gets shy for the video and doesn't want to show off her cutie patootie smile but she is still as precious as can be. For those of you in the states I hope you enjoy seeing her just how she is and feel a little closer to her. Ill try to be better at updating the blog throughout this next year.

Please keep Ben in your prayers as he takes on this responsibility of his job and leadership and heads to Afghanistan. I pray I will stay strong and positive for him while he is away. This will be an adventure for both of us but "WE CAN ENDURE ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS US" I love you all and miss you all. Feel free to email us or facebook us to talk we'd love to hear from you. When I get Bens address over there I will post it if you want to send him encouraging packages, I know he will appreciate it!

LOVE,

The Winchesters

Upcoming Events in the Winchester family:

-Fathers day

-Ben deploying (Pray for safety and peace)

-Paityn's 2 months check up

-The fourth of July

-July 16- Natalie (Sophie's sister) and Kyong's Wedding in the Dominican Republic

(praying for Paityn's passport so we are able to go!)

-Sophie and Paityn visiting the USA!

sophie.d.winchester@googlemail.com

benjamin.winchester@us.army.mil

More Baby stuff from the Week 29 Appointment

2010-02-21T09:17:00.003-05:00

Pics from Sophie's latest Appointment, at 29 weeks. This pics are 3D renderings from the ultrasounds. The pic is a still that shows her smile, and the video, if you watch closely, you will see he open her mouth and lick her arm twice. Sophie's Doc got a big kick out of it. I just say it means she'll get along well with the dogs.

Pregnant Photos

2010-02-10T15:40:00.003-05:00

Well the Photos aren't Pregnant, but Sophie's in them and she is...

Happy New Year...Its a Girl (its gunna be)!!!

2010-01-07T14:13:00.004-05:00

Happy New year to all. Plenty of updates for ya. Sophie and I got to travel a bit during Christmas. My (Ben) parents came for Christmas and we took them to Salzberg, Austria (the hometown of Mozart, and the town the Sound of Music was filmed in.) It was a beautiful city, and we hope to go back. We came back for Christmas Day, were I got a new Jacket, and Sophie got a Nintendo Wii. When my parents headed back to the states, Sophie and I flew to Paris to spend New Years with the French family. It was a great time.

Now for the big news, we just found out today...we're having a girl! We haven't really discussed names much, but Im not sure if we're telling before the birth anyways, too bad ;). We have a few photos for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy:

PS-This was the baby at 23 weeks!! The lowest picture is hard to tell what it is because it is in 4d imaging and a little whited out but this is the baby facing front and covering her face with her fists. Shes all curled up...She realized we were staring at her and she got shy :) I love her already. -Just a caption from me now (Sophie)

Baby Stuff - 14 Weeks

2009-11-04T14:32:00.004-05:00

Sophie had her checkup yesterday. Everything looks good, but still no word on a boy or girl yet. We just thought we'd share some pictures and a video the sonogram made.

In Germany, and Alot Going On

2009-11-02T11:00:00.004-05:00

It seems we have let our Blog fall to the way side, mostly because so much has been going on, but now we have settled a little, so allow me to update you:

The Move to Germany

We now live in Germany, as many knew was about to happen. We left Fort Benning, GA on 7 August and arrived in Vilseck on the 9th. After two weeks of inprocessing and a class in German Culture and Language, I started work at 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in the S3 shop (Staff Office for Operations). We decided to live off post, to experience German culture and such, so we moved into a house in Auerbach in der Oberpfalz.

Travels Around Germany

Though we have not yet had to opportunity to see the rest of Europe, we have done what we can to see as much of Germany and the local area as possible. We took a train to Nuremburg on our first week here. And a week or so after getting a car, we drove to Bertesgaden, which is in the German Alps on the border of Austria. We didn't go up to the Eagle's Nest (Hitler's vacation home) because we had the dogs with us, but we stayed in the valley and hiked around Lake Konigsee, which was still worth the trip.

Training Deployment to Bulgaria

On the 20 September I left for Bulgaria. We had a two day delay at Ramstein AFB, where I got to eat at a Macaroni Grill (emm a taste of home), to make it better it was on Sophie's Birthday that we went, so I gloat as often as possible. A week into my time in Bulgaria, my commander let me know that I would be taking over Eagle Companies 2nd Platoon, who I would shadow during thier training rotation. The training went very well and included a trip to Sliven a local town. I just returned 5 days ago, and have since taken over my platoon.

The Big News

About a week before leaving for Bulgaria Sophie called me at work telling me she needed to go to the doctor, a couple hours later it was confirmed, she is pregnant. At the time she was 6 weeks along, and is now 13+ weeks along. Though the past 7 weeks are hard, she is relieved to be in her second trimester and looks forward to feeling better. We hopefully find out tomrrow whether it is a boy or a boy.... just kidding, we are excited either way, and pray only for a healthy child.

As for now Sophie and I are getting unpacked from our move on post. Sophie's mom came for a couple weeks while I was in Bulgaria to help her out and ended up helping with the move. The weather is getting colder, fast, and we are both adjusting. It only goes along with all the other changes going on in life.

We appreciate all the prayers and ask you continue them. We'll do better with updating the blog to help all out loved one keep informed. We Love You all.

Quick update =)

2009-07-12T19:50:00.006-04:00

Hey all! My sister Natalie and her boyfriend Kyong went to San Diego about 2 weeks ago. He proposed to her there on the beach! YAY!! I am so excited!!! Tell them congratulations/Best wishes if you see them :) Im her Maid of Honor (I refuse to be called a Maitron of Honor when Im only 21 years old) and I am soooo happy about being in her wedding! I am sure I will be updated about their wedding plans as they come along. She is visiting Ben and I next weekend here at Fort Benning, GA. It should be fun. So about Germany.... Our last days of work are July 24th. There is a good possibility that ten days after that we will be off and moving to Germany!!
Love,
us

My Bens at Ranger! Pray for him! He needs it!

2009-05-26T14:08:00.005-04:00

Hey!

Ben is at Ranger school and doing great! He wrote me and said he needs prayer! So that'd be awesome if y'all could!! I love him so much and am so blessed by what he does. Ranger school is so tough and he has done so well so far. The first week went great, he is of course tired as I read from letters and so sweet. His 8 hour pass is next Friday June 5th! Already! I cant wait to see him, Ive heard it goes by really fast, he will be super hungry and tired. But even if I just nap next to him (and do his laundry) for 8 hours it will be amazing to be with him :)

I am here working at the day care here on post! Its long hours and a lot of training since it is a department of defense job. We will see how it goes once I get into my actual classroom. I have observed in the infant room, toddler, preschool and preK room. My favorite is PreK. I will be a teacher in the toddler room starting Thurs so hopefully all goes well!
I feel so blessed by the amazing friends here on post and those from school, my amazing parents and sister, and my inlaws! They are all so supportive. I hope Ben feels all this from where he is. If you want to write him an encouraging letter. Probably not too long because his lack of sleep there I know he would love the encouragment and prayer! His address is on his facebook page under notes. I copied it here too!

Ben wrote this before he left:

Ranger School Info

Friday, May 15, 2009 at 12:33pm

Im headed to Ranger School...again, we've been reassured we wont get admin dropped again. I should be in at:
Fort Benning Phase from 17 May - 6 Jun
Mountain Phase: 6 Jun - 27 Jun
Florida Phase : 27 Jun - 17 Jul
17 Jul is my anticipated Graduation Date for anyone who wants to come to the graduation (info on the Ranger School Webpage). It sucks to plan for this contiingency, but contact Sophie at sophie.winchester@us.army.mil prior to the Graduation to make sure I didnt have any recycles which would push back the Grad, shell have all info. Below are the addresses you can write me, please do, to keep me sane. Thanks Everyone.

FORT BENNING ADDRESS:
2LT Benjamin Winchester
4th Ranger Training Battalion
ATTN: 007-09
10850 Schneider Road
Fort Benning, GA 31905

MOUNTAIN ADDRESS:
2LT Benjamin Winchester
5th Ranger Training Battalion
ATTN: 007-09
1 Camp Merrill
Dahlonega, GA 30533-1802

FLORIDA ADDRESS:
2LT Benjamin Winchester
6th Ranger Training Battalion
ATTN: 007-09
6069 Walkers Lane
Camp James E. Rudder
Eglin AFB, FL 32542

When you write, alteast 5 days before he goes to the next phase I would start writing to that next address. Just my opinion and what I have heard from other wives who have gone through it. Thank you!! Pray pray pray. I know God is with him, he is so strong... and me... to be able to be strong while he is away!!

With love!

Just some catching up!!

2009-05-06T13:38:00.011-04:00

Hey y'all!
I just want to say Thank you for all the prayers for my Daddy! He had open heart surgery 5 bypasses done and is doing remarkable. I got to go spend a week with him the end of march after the surgery!!

He is healing so well and now can begin doing things again! God healed him so fast. they were supposed to keep him in the hospital for minimum 5 days and they let him out on the 3rd day! Keep him in your prayers as he can slowly begin to exercise and get back on track!

My Ben didn't end up going to ranger school! They over filled the class and he got admin dropped and is going back on May 17th! Hopefully he will go through straight in 61 days so he will graduate July 17th, right before his 23rd birthday!! Crazy right!? I cant believe it! Then after he gets back from Ranger school the Army will likely send us straight to Germany. He may have to go to Stryker course first but we will see! We should have some leave time to visit our families before we ship out! We found out that our two puppies will cost 1,100 dollars to send them with us on the plane. I guess we love Skylee and Sammy a lot... haha! God is great and will provide! He has already abundantly in our lives! The awesome part about Ben not going to Ranger school back in March was that he was here for our anniversary on April 5!! It was great. We had friends over the night before to have a barbecue and we danced into our anniversary! I cant believe its now been over a year that we have been married!

I got a job at the child care center on post! Since its run by the department of Defense it takes a while to be hired so I haven't actually started working yet! They had to do my security clearance and physicals! I hope to get to start working soon so we can tackle these student loans!! Yay! I also am so excited to work with kids! It should be great and keep me busy while Ben is at Ranger school! Also, getting a job with the government will help me now at all posts because I will have been cleared already by the Department of Defense and gives me a better chance to find work on all the Army posts we will go to! I love PWOC which is the bible study here on post. The women I have met are so amazing, We have studied how to have a spirit more like Mary! I have learned alot about being an Army wife and I love it! The community here on post is so close. I feel like I am surrounded by my sisters! I miss Ben when he goes to do training but I feel so blessed to have a husband serve our country, train all day and sometimes nights not only for me but for everyone in the USA! He is such a great man and I am so glad to call him mine!

Well, Ben during his time not in Ranger school was able to go to Air Assault school. He graduated from there so now he is Airborne and Air assault qualified! Now he is working with a basic training unit at Sand hill. His schedule ahsnt been to busy lately so we have been enjoying this time together and the GA weather! Last weekend Ben and I were able to go to Columbia where we saw some friends! It was awesome to visit our Alma Mater! USC Gamecocks!! On Sunday at Lake Murray My Ben ran his first triathalon, it was called a sprint triathlon and he did so great!! I loved watching him and cheering him on, I started running again and maybe I can do it next time :) I got to talk with alot of people there I didn't know but I love talking to people so it was great! It alos was very inspirational being there seeing people push themselves and being so supportive of each other! It was truly a great experience and a great weekend the Ben and I got to spend some time together!

Skylee got spayed yesterday poor girl, I cant believe she is already 4 1/2 months old! and Sammy I think is enjoying her being all drugged up and tired. He gets a break from puppy teeth biting at him all day! Yesterday and today I played racket ball with my great friend Myra and Melissa, some awesome Army wives here! We had a blast...and tonight since Ben will be out in the field I will be seeing my friend Monica who is expecting a baby girl Mary Clare Kennedy! I cant wait till May 16th I am throwing her and Jenna Hulst who is also having a baby girl baby showers!! Keep them and their babies in your prayers! as well as Ben and I as we get ready for Ranger School starting again! Hope you enjoyed the little catch up on our lives! We would love to hear from all! Write us or email us!!

With love!

Ranger School Haircut

2009-03-20T21:32:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone, we cut my hair tonight and we thought we would share them with everyone, so maybe yall could get a least a fraction of the amusement out of this as Sophie did. By the way, thanks for the clippers mom and dad.... not.

Im going to miss my hair
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Before Haircut...
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Sophie thought it would funny to cut a mohawk in my hair, i mean, why not add to the humiliation, right?
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Real Funny
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Smoothing out the final touches...
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...After Haircut
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I must be ready for Ranger School, all my happiness is gone (its laying in that pile on the floor)

Our life in the Army

2009-03-15T09:56:00.005-04:00

Our time is soon to be coming to a close here at Fort Benning...thankfully. We love southern Georgia, but its time to move on. This time is marked by my recent graduation from Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course (IBOLC), which I started in November. It was fun, I met a lot of great guys, and Sophie, who became really involved with the Family Readiness Group and PWOC met a lot of great friends too.

The last week of IBOLC, I did receive official notification that Sophie and I will be going to Germany. I will be assigned to the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. The 2SCR is the oldest Cavalry unit in the Army, they have a lot of history and traditions, and now they field the new Stryker combat vehicles, which will an incredible opportunity for me to be a part of.

Of course, before any of that happens, I an headed to Ranger School. Mostly because a blue doesn't mean much with out that black and gold balancing things out on the other sleeve... Im just kidding. Infantry Lieutenants are lucky to have to opportunity to attend Ranger School as a part of their normal training, when other soldiers throughout the Army have to go through a lot of red tape to get there. It is a school that tests a soldiers ability to lead under stress, with little food and sleep, and physically draining missions being graded to faultless standard. Sophie is about to go crazy with it being the center of my attention and concern, but since when have I not drivin' her crazy! But really, Sophie has been amazing in her support.

As for now, please continue to pray for us and the big changes we're going through and the adventure we continue to travel. And enjoy the few pictures from the graduation and the family visit.

Valentines Day

2009-02-16T20:53:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,

Its, been a while, but we're still here. Not really a whole lot going on. I am almost done with Infantry Basic Offier Leaders Course; Thursday I will go out to the field for our final culmination, which it be complete two weeks from now, and Ill gaduate a week after that on 5 March. As far as I know, I will be starting Ranger School on 22 March.
For Valentines Day, we visited Historic Banning Mills Lodge. It is a beautiful place a little ways outside Atlanta, that overlooks the ruins of a number of historic mills on Snake Creek. The cool thing about this place is they have a tree canopy tour that has rope bridges and ziplines all built up in the tops of the trees. The final zipline is about a half mile long and is one of the largest in the world. It turned out to be a great time, and some of the most fun Soph and I have had together. We got to stay in a room with a jacuzzi and had a great dinner. The next day we decided to head into Atlanta to see the World of Coca-Cola museum, which was way more fun than I thought it would be (stay away from a soda call Beverly or Stoney.)
Thats pretty much it for now. Im off to make Soph and I some Bubble Tea, if you dont know what it is, check it out, or come by and let us make you some. Until then, check out out pics from this weekend at our pics link on the right.

Some Pics

2009-01-31T19:15:00.003-05:00

These are just some pics of us on a recent trip to Nashville, our stop at the Jack Daniels Distillery, as well as a little Mountain Biking.

New Family Member

2009-01-15T20:42:00.003-05:00

UPDATES!!
So we have had some changes since winter break began. We loved getting to spend time with our families and friends! It was so awesome! So Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year! Well, we got back to a house filled with boxes... and I really am not exaggerating! You would think us newlyweds probably have nothing but ummm wrong, we had so much stuff! I loved getting back here to Fort Benning and working hard to make the home a home! Ben was back to work in training keeping busy and coming home to have lunch with me. He kept me company when he could and I think I even impressed him with how fast I got those boxes out of here! It was my workout :) This past week Ben was in the field doing cool stuff with big guns... he could explain better... Im so proud of him! I love my Ben... I didnt like my Ben being away but I decided to be spontaneous this past week... :) So Monday I chopped my hair off 12 inches! I decided to give it to cancer patients because I was touched by how much a wig can make an impact! So there my hair went! Well, I have been lucky to meet 2 other officers wives Dicie and Darcie who are awesome... We went to the gym... went to dinner... went to animal shelters.... Okay so what you all are waiting for... WE GOT A NEW PUPPY! Ben just got home today with a new baby girl puppy waiting for him, yep what a surprise... his wife with short hair and a new puppy :) She was happy to meet her daddy and become a Winchester today! Her name is Skylee "sky" Winchester. She is 7 weeks old about and about the size of our feet! So small. Sammy Boy is being timid around her, hopefully he will realize that he is about 6 times her size... we love Sammy so much and are happy to have a sister for him! I know Ben loves Sammy, our matchmaker, but this little skylee might have him wrapped around her finger soon! :) Ben is home now for the weekend and we are headed up near Nashville, Tenn. to see Kelly Dues (one of my bridesmaids) and staying at her cousins house. Kelly had a break in nursing school so we get to go see her, her boyfriend David, her friend and two cousins! Our two babies...Sammy and Skylee will be coming too! Its a family vacation. Hopefully Ben gets to rest because they sure are keeping them out in the cold making him work hard. We hopefully can squeeze some mountain biking in and maybe going to the shooting range too, we love doing crazy things together! I hope to find a part time job and just finished updating my resume today! Besides that I will work hard to become a better cook (I really am slowly getting better its so exciting) and take care of the puppies! I love it here at Fort Benning and really like the wives. We had a meeting last night to plan the wives social and plan the days we get to bring our husbands lunch in the field while being in awe of all the cool missions and training they do. Ben loves it which is great. He is great at what he does too! We are both really happy and glad to be in one home! We will try to be better at updating the blog. Ben is a little better at keeping it short as you can tell but I hope you enjoyed keeping up with us! We hope to hear from everyone, email us and write us if you'd like,
Ben and Sophie Winchester
947-D Burr Ave
Fort Benning, GA, 31905
Thank you for being a part of our lives! With love and Ben took some pictures so check them out :) :)

waiting on the movers!

2008-12-22T10:31:00.001-05:00

Today we are waiting on the movers! They are getting here any minute and then our home at Fort Benning, GA will be full of boxes and scattered furniture! As soon as the movers get here we are off to Virginia. Sammy boy (our baby, well our awesome dog) is getting nervous that we are leaving him behind but we are taking him.

Finally Together

2008-12-19T18:05:00.003-05:00

Finally, after more than 8 months of marriage, Sophie and I are actually getting to live together. On Monday, Sophie graduated, with honors (Cum Laude). She didn't waste any time moving down here (to Fort Benning, GA); the movers came Tuesday, and Sophie was here Wednesday.

On Thursday, Sophie came out to the range were my company was training for a Wives Visit at work, planned by our FRG (Family Readiness Group, in real units they are sort of a support center for unit spouses, here, since Im in a training unit, the FRG trys to talk alot about what Army life is like for a wife, and so forth.) This week we were training with Machine Guns, so Sophie got to shoot an M249 SAW and an M240B. For added fun, the FRG Leader (The Company Commander's wife) wanted the wives to wear all of our gear (Body armor, load-bearing equipment, Helmet, etc) so they could empathize with us (and better understand why we complain so much.) She had a blast, and braught me lunch, and it was a great day.

Now that I am on leave, starting today, we are looking ahead to the Christmas. We will leave as soon as the movers arrive with our stuff, and go to Northern Virginia to spend some time with the family. On the 30th we will be driving down to Charlotte, and on the first down to North Augusta, GA, in an attempt to see as many family and friends as we can. We hope to see all of you, so please give us a call so we can work out when we can see everyone. We Love You all.

The Winchesters

The Big Catchup

2008-12-07T18:08:00.000-05:00

Since April 5, a lot has happened. I graduated from the University of South Carolina and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the US Army as an Infantry Officer. Being that my training did not start until September 7, the Army saw it fit to send me to Fort Lewis, WA to help train cadets for the summer. Sophie unfortunately had to stay in Columbia to take summer classes, were she so brilliantly passed with flying colors. While in Fort Lewis I taught and graded cadets on their land navigation, and anxiously waited to get back to the east coast to see Soph. Thankfully, to break up the long summer, Sophie got to come visit for two weeks, were we explored Seattle and Tacoma, visited Mount Rainier, and went for a ride on the Washington Beaches on horseback.

Finally in September, Sophie began her last semester in college, and I reported to Fort Benning to begin training. We got an apartment on Fort Benning with family housing. We painted a few of the walls colors that Soph chose. I have finished BOLC 2 (Basic Officer Leader Course, a basic 7 week course that all Lieutenants go to) and am now three weeks into IBOLC (Infantry school). Sophie is taking her finals, and so far is doing great with them (dispite what she says). She is due to graduate with honors with a degree in French. The day after graduating, the movers are arriving to pack up all of our stuff in Columbia and move it to Fort Benning, where I will anxiously waiting to finally live with my wife.

As for the future, I will be in Infantry school until March 5, 2009. Sophie is looking for a job here is Columbus, GA, hopefully working with kids. I will start Ranger School on March 22 or May 15, after (or before) I will go to Infantry Mechanized Leaders Course, and finally be done at Fort Benning sometime in July. For now, we are slotted to go to Fort Irwin, CA, in the heart of the Mojave Desert, home to the Armys National Training Center, the Premier Training Center of Army forces.

Sophie and I are both very excited about the future, especially the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will get to see a number of you throughout the Christmas season. We love you all and hope youll drop us an email at:

Ben: bmw2621@comcast.net or benjamin.winchester@us.army.mil
Sophie: schoenbr@mailbox.sc.edu or sophie.winchester@us.army.mil

The New Blog

2008-12-07T18:05:00.000-05:00

This is to help keep everyone updated to the going-ons in our lives. Theres a ton of friends and families in out lives that we'd love to keep in contact with, but we are absolutely incapable of keeping in contact with so many. This became painfully obvious our making of Christmas cards. So keep an eye on this blog to get the downlow on the Winchesters.