Back Home Again

 This evening, I got back from Germany (again).  The past three days, I was in Willengin, Germany with 23 single soldiers from my battalion (and a few other units).  The village you see is the view from my balcony this morning.

I think the retreat went well.  The focus was on making good decisions on choosing a spouse.  Several soldiers seemed to begin thinking about a few of the issues as the impact of family background and prior relationships on marriage.  I'll begin looking at the participant feedback on Monday.  Logistically, my assistants did a great job.  (Yes, for any chaplain friends reading this, I have two assistants for the moment).

Personally, I got to take a long run on some of the mountain roads.  It amazes me how quickly you can reach a point where the only things you hear are the wind in the trees and a few birds.  Germans seem to have figured out how to be close to civilization while you still feel like you're away from everything.  I definitely need to go backpacking after a couple of hours in the woods.

Field Training Exercise

I spent the last two weeks in Schwienfort (sp?), Germany doing field training with my brigade.  The picture to the left is from the worship service on the first Sunday of the training exercise.  I do love getting to lead worship.  I had the opportunity to get to know some of the other chaplains from the brigade.  I've only met most of them once since I've been in Europe because we're a signficant distance from everyone else.

The training itself was ok.  It was probably some of the better training I've received as a chaplain..  A little over half of the week had no training for chaplains, but it did give an opportunity to hang out with my soldiers.  I just hate being away from the family for more than a few days. 

Kids

Being the person that I am, I laughed in my three year old's face tonight.  He was playing with his legos on top of one of my tac boxes.  Claire would pick up a couple of legos.  Isaac would grab them.  She would pick up a lego and drop it on the floor.  Isaac would yell at her and grab the lego.  I made Isaac to leave her alone and share.  His response was to wait a couple of minutes.  He then began crying that Claire was making a mess.  He'd stomp and cry and start to grab the lego before pausing.  All I could do was laugh, loudly.  This is the same child that has no problem laying in dirt for hours.  He has no problem leaving his toys spread over the entire house.  Yet, Claire dropping a couple of legos is the downfall of western civilization.  Eventually, he realized I wasn't going to say anything to Claire and dropped the issue entirely.

Otherwise, I've met with a group of guys to pray and discuss a book (Crazy Love) with a group of for the last couple of weeks.  That group has already been a great encouragement.  It's amazing how much joy and strength comes from sharing the struggles of being fathers, husbands, and men.  Its been one of the things I've missed since I moved to Belgium. 

Winter Arrives

Winter seems to have arrived in this part of Belgium.  Its been a very mild winter, but temperatures have not gotten to 30 F in around a week.  Last night, we got about an inch of snow.  I hit an ice patch coming home from work last night, and managed to get  a sideways before sliding onto the sidewalk.  Thankfully, I got stopped before hitting anything. 

This morning, we went for a walk in the snow.  The trail to the left is about a half mile from our house.  Emily and Claire walked to the trail and got back out of the cold.  Isaac and I walked down the trail for another 20 minutes or so.  He kept insisting we go forward.  Of course, he also insisted on getting a running start and sliding into the snow every 20 yards.  Eventually, this left him soaking wet with the temperature somewhere in the teens.  His response....lots of crying and repeatedly telling me his hands hurt.  I called Emily to pick us up at the trailhead.  (Isaac is fine)

Friends from the States

This weekend, a friend from the chaplain's basic course came by for the weekend.  Tim was a great support for Emily while I was deployed, and she was excited to finally meet him and his wife, Kim. 

As you see from the picture, we finally went to actually see Mannequn Pis.  It's the small statue of a little boy peeing in a fountain.  It's a well-known landmark in Brussels.  We'd been within 2 blocks of it, and never actually found it.  You can see it's not exactly a large statue.

We never could get Isaac to call Kim anything other than "Mrs Amanda."  I have a friend here that he calls "Mr Tim."  His assumption seems to be that anyone named "Mr Tim" must be married to a "Mrs Amanda."

However, Isaac did ask for "Mr Tim" on the way to and from school this morning.  He was not happy to be told that Mr Tim and Mrs Kim were in Brugge.

35 and counting



Emily and Isaac debating how to properly
spell "Happy Birthday."  I won't tell you
who had the correct spelling.

OK, I'm not actually 35.  I turned 34 a few days ago.  It just irritates my lovely wife when I tell people I'm a year older than I actually am.  It's not something I do on purpose, but I do it a lot for whatever reason.  My chaplain's assistant just says I can't remember numbers.  In a year and a half, I've never learned my own cell phone number and she always has to give it to people when I can't recall it.  That's why God invented business cards.  Really, it's been a fairly quiet week.  The kids are settling back into a routine after the holidays.  Claire is walking more, which means occasionally taking a few steps.  Isaac is just a little more of Isaac.  I'm still not sure what it means, but seems to explain him. 

Poor Timing

OK, so I finished preaching at the chapel service this morning.  I spoke from Ephesians 2 and used an extended illustration of a ship sinking, stranding its passengers in the middle of the ocean.  The illustration ran throughout the entire sermon so it's not one anyone could possibly have missed.  (It's one I've preached before). 

I'm walked down the hall when a couple stops me.  They ask if I've watched the news over the last couple of days.  I told them I had not.  There was a massive cruise ship that sank off the coast of Italy this week.  They were giving me a heads up in case someone else said anything.  (They also got a laugh at my expression).

Oh well...nothing I can do about it now.

My biggest problem living in Europe

This morning marked the first college bowl game that I cared enough about to watch it live.  For those of you trying to do the quick math, we're 7 hours ahead of central time in the States.  That means, the 7 PM kickoff of the Cotton Bowl on Friday night was 2 am on Saturday morning for me.  This is one of my biggest frustrations with living in Europe.  (This actually bothers me more than my inability to speak any language other than English).

One of the officers from the battalion arrived at the house at 2:05, and we watched Arkansas and Kansas State.  I had several realizations about college bowl games in the process.

1.  They add far more commercial breaks during bowl games.  The game didn't end until around 6 am.  That's four hours.  That's way too long.

2.  A month break between the last game and the bowl game is too long of a break.  Neither team looked sharp.  Poor quality football from a good team is annoying when you are wide awake, but infuriates you if you have only had two hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, I will probably repeat this ritual for bowl games all week.  I'll repeat the ritual again when the Super Bowl rolls around.

The Holidays Wind Down

I remember as a kid, the week after Christmas was always a massive let down.  I had the new toys, but the anticipation of Christmas was gone.  In the back of my mind, I knew school would be back the next week.  The decorations came down, and everything just kind of felt anticlimactic.  (I wasn't exactly an optimist even as a kid).

This year, the holidays were completely different.  The last 4-5 days may have been my favorite all year.  We've sat at home and played with the kids.  My interaction with anyone outside of my immediate family has been limited.  Basically, we've relaxed.  The week before Christmas was busy with preparations for our Christmas party as well as the Christmas Eve Service.  This week, we've caught up around the house, but done so without feeling like we were working on our "days off."  I've kind of accepted some of the frustrations with work that I realize are outside of my power to change, and I've still got one more day to enjoy. 

Happy New Year.

Christmas Morning

Things are finally quiet this afternoon.  The day started around 0630.  Em and I got up to get dressed, make coffee and have breakfast (made it much easier to make it to church by 1030).  We'd scheduled with both sets of grandparents that we would get the kids up at 0700.  They got to watch Isaac and Claire open their Christmas presents.  In the picture, you can actually see my parents watching on one of the computers.  I'm not sure how much either set of grandparents actually saw between the kids running back and forth out of the camera's range.  It was midnight their time when we got started, so they got very little sleep last night.

Claire obviously enjoyed her rocking horse.  She also enjoyed Isaac's race track.  Isaac was amazed (and perhaps irritated) that Santa ate all of the cookies he'd put out.  Claire actually licked the plate to make sure there were no crumbs left behind.

OK, time to get in a nap before the kids get up.

A Christmas Date on Steroids

Emily in front of the Christmas Tree
in Trafalgar Square.

Emily and I have had a tradition for several years.  Sometime around Christmas, we go on a very nice, overly elaborate date.  (I gave her tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet our first Christmas as a married couple, and the tradition stuck).  Basically, she wants a date the requires her to put a dress on and me to put on at least a sport coat.  This whole production gets me a pass on Valentine's Day.  Instead of fighting crowds of people waiting to get into any restaurant worth eating, we stay home.

This year, we moved the "Christmas Date" up a notch to a weekend away.  We left the kids in Belgium and the two of us spent the last couple of days in London.  We went to museums, looked at the Crown Jewels, looked at the most ornate graves we've every seen (also known as Westminster Abbey), and ate more varieties of cornish pasty than I care to recall.  The"dress up" date was going to see Les Miserables in the West End.  Em says this was more than one notch up from the normal.  For once, Emily listed a visit to a church (Westminster) as her favorite part.  The Rosetta Stone may have been a close second.  (She didn't realize it was in the British Museum until we walked up on it and I pointed it out).

Bastogne Staf Ride

The officers and senior NCOs from my battalion took a staff ride/senior leader devlopment trip to Bastogne.  We visited a lot of the battle sites surrounding the Battle of Bastogne. 

The picture you see to the left is one of the foxholes left from where Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was dug in during the seige.  You may remember that this is the company that "Band of Brothers" was written about.  The German line was within 100 yards.  You can still see the foxholes from each side.  Great experience all the way around.  The curator for the 101st Airborne Museum in Bastogne served as our tour guide.  He's also the commandant for the Belgian Army Barracks in Bastogne.  The installation is closed as an army unit (2010), but there are a few soldiers left because they have restored the parts that served as the HQ for 101st during the seige.  We stayed in their barracks.  Overall, a great experience.

Decorating for Christmas (Almost)

The Christmas season has officially started (at least it feels that way now).  We had a great crowed for Thanksgiving Thursday night.  Emily had to work that morning (thanks, NATO assignment), so we set most of the house up Wednesday night.  Everyone brought food (we only cooked a couple of things).  Everyone helped clean up afterwards.  I'm not even sure Emily washed a dish (I know I didn't). 

Friday, we went to Cologne, Germany to their Christmas Markets.  The Cologne Cathedral is breathtaking.  Emily says it's the prettiest church she's seen in Europe.  The city itself is where I think I would want to live if I lived in Germany.  (Unfortunately, there's not an army installation there).

Today, I lost the annual argument about how large of a tree we should buy. I think the top of the tree should be within an inch of the ceiling (give or take). Emily just looks for what trees are available. I guess I should stop complaining, it took three tries before we found a place that had live trees. Apparently, Belgians don't decorate until the first weekend of December.

Isaac is currently fixated on the Polar Express.  Claire is literally jumping up and down in Emily's lap.  (She seems to like ginger bread men).  The tree is up.  Most of the decorations are done.  (We still need a couple of wreaths and some poinsettas).  Isaac enjoyed putting frosting on the ginger bread men.  Actually, he enjoyed squeezing frosting directly into his mouth.  Emily made fun of my lack of talent for decorating cookies. 

Villers Abbey

I decided to forgo the Veteran's Day / Remembrance Day (for any Europeans checking in) events this year for a day alone.  Emily kept the kids, and I spent most of today at Villers Abbey.  It's the ruins of a Cistercian Abbey located about 40 minutes from our house.  I wanted to take a few pictures, wander around in the countryside, and spend some time in prayer.

The Abbey is amazing. I spent 2.5 hours wandering through the rooms where these men worshipped, ate, and worked.  Anytime I am at any type of ruins, I wonder about the lives of the people who lived there.  Today was no different, except for the realization that the monks spent almost all of their time in silence.  The designated readers obviously performed the scripture readings.  There were certain meetings where they discussed community issues.  However, most could go days without uttering a word.  I understand the danger too much introspection can have.  I do think we might benefit if we periodically took some extended time to observe, process, and understand the world we live in and the God we worship.

Otherwise, the photography was great fun.  I want to go back when the leaves are on the trees and when there's snow on the ground to take more pictures.  I do wish I'd had more time to wander the trails that run around the area.  Since it's so close, I now know where to get in a day-hike.

Matt Lauer is a Jerk

First of all, Emily wants me to voice her strong opposition to the title of this post.  Especially since I have never met Matt Lauer and haven't seen an episode of the Today Show in a couple of years.  That is now accomplished. 
Last week, we noticed a couple of NBC cameras in Plaza Mayor (Madrid).  Emily announced that the Today Show is doing the "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?"  She thought he might be in Madrid.  Being the compassionate and sensitive husband I am, I ridiculed the idea.  This morning, she saw the episode where Matt Lauer is in Madrid at Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace.  Being the compassionate and forgiving she is, Emily is making fun of me.

The palace was closed twice when we tried to go visit.  Now I know why.  Now you know why I entitled this post "Matt Lauer is a jerk."