Amy Maxwell
The Short Version:
I’m a Chaplain Candidate, Army Wife, mom who spends too much time on the Internet and too little time doing laundry.
More about me: Squidoo.com/Amy
Updated 28 November 2008
Three weeks after graduating from high school, I married Joel and moved to Springfield, Mo to attend Evangel University. After graduating with a major in biblical studies and a minor in philosophy, I worked as a Web designer for political campaigns, ministries and Evangel University until I was promoted to the full time position of mommy. I have two children. Jeremiah was born in April of 2001. Sarah was born 17 months later in September of 2002.
United States Army
We’re a dual military family. My husband finished officer training in February 06 and recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan. With all of his training and deployment, he was gone for a total of 27 months. He got home on 13 February 08. Now he serves in the Missouri National Guard.
In September 06, I became a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves. I got promoted to First Lieutenant on 9/9/08. I am a Chaplain Candidate pursuing an M. Div at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. I attended the first half of Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course in January and February of 2007. [Ever Ready, Always Faithful! 4th Platoon, 3rd Squad... Hooah!]
Business and Debt
In 2005, my husband and I opened and closed a restaurant called The Lazy Susan. That created an amazing amount of debt. Read my husband’s blog to get the scoop on that mess exciting adventure. Here’s a video of the sermon I gave about debt.
In July of 2008, we opened a new business called Professional Law Enforcement. [This time, we're doing it debt free.] My husband provides law enforcement training across the state of Missouri. I’m really proud of him. It’s a lot of work!
Missouri
We’ve lived in Missouri since 1995. After 10 years, I started to love it. It’s beautiful… if you don’t mind the heat, the humidity and the ticks. When I finally stepped outside and hiked down the trails, I became a little more like who I really am. Does that make sense? Forgive me, I warned you about the philosophy minor… For years I wanted to describe myself as an outdoor person, but I never went outdoors.
Life
We sold our house a few years ago and just moved from an apartment to a duplex. Money’s pretty tight since we’re still paying for the restaurant that failed. Jeremiah is in second grade, Sarah is loving kindergarten. Joel just got home from a war… I finally got used to being a full time grad student and single mom… now we’re working on something the military likes to call ‘reintegration.’ Basically we’re learning how to live together again. But life is great. I have two beautiful children and a great husband. We don’t have everything, but we have what we need. God has brought us through some very dark and difficult times. And I’m sure he’ll bring us through our current trials too.
Lessons Learned
- In college I learned how to survive on Raman noodles and generic mac & cheese.
- In 1999 and 2000, I learned that God lets bad things happen to good people. It’s a simple concept but it was a hard lesson.
- In 2002, I learned to like pink. I had a baby girl, she’s everything I never knew I needed.
- In 2006 I decided that generic mac & cheese sounds like a good idea again. And might even ate Ramen noodles… if they were on sale.
- In 2007 I learned to surrender. To get myself over… and to get over myself. God blessed me with the unbelievable gift of friendship, making every struggle that year more than worth it.
- In 2008… well I guess I’m learning endurance, forgiveness and how steadfast God’s love really is…. oh and Mercy, I’m learning to absolutely treasure God’s amazing mercy. I need Him more than I ever realized.
