An Army wife sent in a question with no easy answer. Her question appears in the Feb. 1 Spouse Calls. Her issue concerned the amount of support she and her children should receive from an unwilling and deployed husband.

Military regulations require members to support their families at an amount based on the Basic Allowance for Housing (without regard to location.) The exact amount varies, as outlined in Army Regulation 608-99. You can find a PDF of that regulation here.

Brenda Pace and her friend and fellow Army wife Carol McGlothlin write books together.

The One Year Yellow Ribbon Devotional (Tyndale House) contains 365 days of inspirational readings. For the Jan 25 Spouse Calls, I talked to Brenda about the book and about military life.

Brenda said the book is intended to support the military community, but is appropriate for use by military and civilian readers alike.

The first book the pair wrote together, Medals Above My Heart, (Broadman and Holman, 2004) is a devotional especially for military spouses.

Sarah, a new Army spouse, wrote in to express the frustrations of leaving her civilian career and adjusting to new way of life.

I asked Holly Scherer and Kathie Hightower, the authors of  "Help! I'm a Military Spouse I Get a Life Too,” to share some wisdom to help Sarah with her adjustment to the military.

They offered encouragement in the Jan. 11 Spouse Calls.

Both Kathie and Holly sympathized with Sarah’s frustration as a new spouse.

... the weatherman gave to me ... snow!

One day from Epiphany, snow falling all day and lucky me, with the Christmas tree still shining, carols on the stereo, hot coffee and time to read Christmas cards from friends all over the world. Let it snow!

Today I also put new pages for 2009 in my daily planner. I leafed through each month, filling in the appointments already scheduled for this month, and birthdays of family and friends throughout the year.

Two thousand nine will be eventful. My daughter will be 16. My youngest son turns 13 one day after his brother turns 19 -- 364 wonderful days of three teenagers. The oldest graduates from high school in June, the same month that we will move to another assignment in Germany.

Angela, a veteran and an Army wife, was disturbed by comments by another Army wife, Ann, and wrote to take issue with one of Ann's statements. This week's Spouse Calls features Angela's letter and my response to her.

To read both Ann's and Angela's e-mails, which I posted to the blog, click here.