Routine

I realize that we have become very irregular in posting on the blog. It mostly occurs when Isaac has found additional, interesting, or irritating new skills. Life is pretty routine. There's honestly not a lot to talk about. Em & I both go to work. We play with Isaac. We go to bed. Next week, we'll have the sonogram where they try to figure out if the next baby is a boy or girl. We are still unashamedly hoping for a girl.

Someone asked me the other day what exactly it meant for me to go through the normal routine as a chaplain in garrison. It varies from day to day. We'll use today as an example. I had officer PT this morning. After PT, I taught a class on family budgetting to a few of our soldiers. (Money management is a common problem for soldiers. It is often an issue that comes up in marriage counseling). The rest of the morning was spent working through all five of our companies talking with soldiers. This is largely informal ministry that builds relationships with my soldiers. Right after lunch, I stopped by to introduce myself to the command sargeant major of another battalion. They are without a chaplain right now, so some of their soldiers may be sent my way if they need to talk to a chaplain. I tried to get some preparation done for a Bible study I teach on Wednesday nights, but ended up with a soldier stopping by to talk about an ethical decision he's facing. On Thursdays, Ft Hood ends the workday at 3 PM so soldiers can spend a couple of extra hours with their families, so by this point it was a little after 3. In between this stuff, I returned emails back and forth concerning a two day course I'm teaching on suicide intervention next week for the brigade.

The details change, but this is a fairly routine day. I hope that helps for the people who have wondered what I mean by "same old routine" when they ask how my week has been.