We are so excited to announce that Tara K will be joining us as a co-host for our live shows on BTR. Tara is the wife of a Army National Guard soldier who is currenlty deployed. She is also the mom to a great little boy. Tara will add a new dynamic to the group and give the Guard/Reserve wives someone to go to for support.

Please help us welcome Tara this week as she joins us for our live show with Stacy S as we talk about how to make careers portable. We will air live at 10 am EST.

Our newest contest is here! We want to see pictures of you with your bible. Does it have a place in the car or stay in your purse? Do you have good intentions to take it with you when you leave but forget it on the counter? Share your story about how you remember to take your bible with you and YOU could one of our lucky winners. The contest will start today (8/16/10) and end 8/31/10.

You will receive one entry for your story. In addition your story you can also enter the contest by tweeting, blogging, or joining our FB page. Please leave a comment here to let us know how you are entering the contest. You can earn one entry per day tweeting and blogging.

One lucky winner will receive a new pink bible and another will receive the book Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul.

We are so excited to be getting back to the air waves so to speak. We are busy preparing and scheduling our new shows and would like to tell you a little about them.

Our first show will be Friday, August 13 at 10 a.m. EST on Blog Talk Radio. We will be talking about coupon clipping and how we can save money at the grocery store and beyond. Send us your money saving tips that work well for you and we can share them live on Friday. We will be having a drawing for our coupon holder. You can be entered by tweeting about the show and leaving a comment here, listening to the live show and chatting in the chat room, posting this info on your blog. Please make sure to leave a comment here if you tweet or blog about this event.

The next show will be Friday, August 20th at 10 a.m. EST on Blog Talk Radio We will be talking with Holly Scherer. Holly is the co-author of HELP! I’m a Military Spouse I get a Life Too! Holly will be chatting with us about how we can have a live that we enjoy and desire as a military spouse. We will be giving away a copy of the book during the live show. The same contest rules apply that are listed above.

Our final show for August will be on the 27th (same time and place) and we will talk about the importance of having a portable career. As military families we move around often and it becomes vital that we make ourselves portable and marketable in different areas. We will have a giveaway for this show(TBD) and the same rules will apply to be entered in the drawing.

September 3rd we will be on break for Labor Day. Make sure to enjoy the last long weekend before fall sets in.

We will start our bible study on September 10th. This will be our focus of the live show for the next 6 weeks. PWOC has some great downloadable studies. We have looked them over and have decided to go with Change in Perspective by Julie Stoll. Many of us have moved or will move in the near future or face deployments/reunions and this study will help us navigate the feelings and draw closer to God.

Join the FMWCN team as we talk about saving money with clipping coupons. With growing families and a shrinking economy it is very important to save money in every area we can. Share your ideas with us during the live chat or post your comments here for a chance to win a coupon organizer!

We will air live on Friday August 13th at 10 am EST on Blog Talk Radio.

Calling all military spouses. FMWCN has decided to open additional co-hosting postions. If you have a desire to serve the Lord and other military spouses then this is the place for you.

Ideally FMWCN would like to see all branches of service represented on the weekly radio broadcast. If you are interested please email Shanno B (shannonb@frazledmwcn.com) with your contact info, best time to reach you and a little about yourself.

Live BTR shows will start again after Labor Day. Stay tuned for more exciting announcements!

I’m very sorry for the late delay in announcing this to you. FMWCN will not be having live shows during the summer months. We know that summer is a time for reconnecting with family, PCS season and even deployments. Because of this we want you to spend as much quality time with your family and loved ones and we wish to do the same. Starting the end of August/beginning of September we will air live once again. You can listen to any of our archived shows by visiting our BTR page.

We are also taking ideas for shows/topics you want to talk about. Some of the topics we have currently scheduled are:
Help! I’m a military spouse I get a life too
Portable Careers-how to chose which one is right for you
A.D.D. and Depression in children-How to recognize the signs and how to overcome the stigma of a label

Please leave your comments with what topics you would like to talk about.

Thank you all for your great support. Some great things are coming this year, be sure to spread the word about our live shows on BTR, our FB page and our web-site.

Hello all. Many of you know that Cat, one of our co-hosts who is in the chat room with you during the live shows, is pregnant. She and Travis are very excited about the baby and they have announced that it is a girl. BUT this pregnancy has been anything but easy. She is currently on bed rest with complications. Below is her recent update to me which she agreed that I could post for you all to read so you know exactly how to be praying for her. I will update you as I have information. PLEASE be in prayer for her, the baby and her husband Travis. Travis’ unit brought him early from deployment in light of Cat’s condition. We know that God is the Almight Healer and HE will heal Cat and the baby and bring them through this with a remarkable testimony to share.

Here is what Cat shared with me:

I don’t have a lot to update on really but I wanted to fill you in on what I do know… We’re in total wait and see mode.

They won’t rule out endocarditis because the tests still show that I have bacteria in my blood stream. They are basically waiting for my fever to spike and took me off all preventative medication. If the fever does spike again, I have to have a transesophageal echocardiogram where I have to be sedated and I could very likely be looking at having to have heart surgery since it would have been going on for so long untreated.

The HG still rages on, though some days are definitely better than others and overall I’m finally able to eat more – it’s just a matter of eating what I feel like when I feel like or else it won’t stay down. I’m still on the Zofran SubQ pump which helps some… but unfortunately, whenever we try to raise the dose I become so sick from the Zofran itself that I can’t function, plus my muscles can’t absorb the higher rate of medication and I end up back on the lower dose so I’ve finally decided to just stay on this dose plus all the other medications and just accept that this is probably as good as it gets.

I’m still losing weight and fighting to gain whatever I can, when I can actually gain some, but baby is growing well, thankfully. I’m still having contractions, but because my cervix is longer than normal at this point the only thing they are doing to stop them is telling me to limit my activity. I guess when they get uncomfortable with my cervix shortening they will put me on medication?

Overall I’m frustrated as HECK! We are trying like crazy to prepare as much as we can because the doctor warned me that the baby could come in as little as 2 weeks (at 24 weeks) if I do indeed end up needing heart surgery. They will keep her in as long as possible, but if its a matter of my life and needing the surgery they will have to take her out. My fever is running at 102 and if it spikes to 102.5 that’s their bottom line for running the other test. Without tylenol, I predict I’ll probably hit that here soon and I’ll be calling the doctor before morning.

Anyway, that’s about it! I’m trying like heck to enjoy whatever time I have left of this pregnancy! I sure hope the next one is a little easier though. But it’s been nice having Travis home to pick out a car seat, stroller, glider for the nursery, and all the other fun stuff. I even convinced him to let me do some pink in nursery – ok, so it actually didnt take ANY convincing at all but he wants everyone to think it did! SO glad he’s home! Thanks for thinking of us and for your prayers!

Cat

Thanks to our friends at Operation We Are Here, we learned that Charter Communications is giving away FREE webcams to military families. If you don’t have a webcam be sure to visit the site to get yours for free.

Registration starts today for Operation Homefront’s Back-to-School Brigade. It’s that time of year again and Operation Homefront wants to lend a hand to military families. Getting children ready to go back to school can be a costly venture, but Operation Homefront’s Back-to-School Brigade is committed to ensuring that our military children are prepared for school. Operation Homefront of North Carolina will be holding distribution evetns in Asheville, Fayetteville, and Jacksonville, NC on August 14, 2010.

To qualify you must:
*Have a child currently in K-12
*Be active duty military
*Be rank E1-E6
*Be a current residing in NC
*Be willing to provide proof of military service/rank at event check-in
*Be willing to sign a “will not sell” agreement at event check-in

REGISTRATION BEGINS TODAY, JULY 1, 2010!
Participation is based on a first come first served basis to those that register.

Shannon B is currently considering returning to the regular work force. In preparation for her schedule we are looking to see what time frame works best for our listeners to listen to the live FMWCN broadcast. Please take a minute to answer this brief survey so we can serve you better.
If you have another suggestion, other than those listed, please feel free to let us know. You may select more than one answer. Thanks for helping us bring you the best show possible.