On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was a young wife with a ten-day-old baby. My husband, Wayne, was in Washington, D.C., for his interview with the Navy at the Pentagon to become a Navy Chaplain.

My friend Kris called me that morning. She said one thing: “Where is Wayne?”

I told her I wasn't sure. With a newborn and complete sleep deprivation, I had no idea what time his interview was. She told me to turn on the news.

I was devastated by what I saw.

I immediately called his hotel room. After trying a few times, he finally picked up the phone. He was staying in a hotel across from the Pentagon. He hadn't slept well the night before because of the nerves surrounding his interview. When he answered, the first thing I said was, “Are you sure you want to be a Navy Chaplain?”

I told him what was happening. He opened the window, and all he could see below were people running and smoke filling the streets.

He called the Chaplains Office and learned that his interview was, obviously, cancelled. He asked what he could do.

When they found out which hotel he was in, they sent him to the seventh floor, where families were being brought together to meet with military chaplains while they waited.

He spent that entire week counseling families and beginning the ministry he had never expected it would be.

That was his interview for the Navy Chaplaincy.

After a week of waiting for flights, he finally came home. Within two days, we received a phone call: “You're good to go. Head to San Diego.”

And from there, a ministry and a life of serving the servicemembers and families of the Navy and Marine Corps began.

He saw the first Tomahawks of OIF I. He was on the ground with the Marines of 1/5 in Fallujah during OIF II. And he has continued serving them ever since, in places like MWTC, Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune, Pearl Harbor, and Okinawa, Japan.

As for me, I held that newborn baby tight and prayed diligently.

Now, that baby is grown, and we have another Navy sailor willing to give and serve just like his dad.

We are blessed abundantly.

We will never forget.