Seven Years of Marriage

Seven years ago, yesterday, Emily and I got married in Leoma, TN.  In the last seven years, we've lived in five houses in three states and one foreign country.  I've served in two churches and become a chaplain in the army.  Emily finished her degree and has taught school in two places.  (We're hoping she'll be able to make that three this fall).  Somewhere in amongst that, we had two children.  She's been remarkably patient and encouraging as I've bounced us around way more than I would have wanted.  She raised Isaac alone for his first year while I was in Iraq.  I knew seven years ago that I was marrying above my head.  Now, I know exactly how far over my head I was marrying.

We spent this weekend in Venice to celebrate (one of the perks of being stationed in Europe is travel).  Some friends kept the kids and we wandered up and down canals, museums, and random piazzos sipping espresso and eating gellato.  The kids probably had as much fun playing with the Brown family this weekend.  Isaac gave them a scare by getting distracted on the staircase and taking a face-first tumble.  You can see the black-eye in a few of the pictures in my photo albums.  As I was getting ready to take the picture to document his black eye, Emily reminded me that he'd had one in October after he tried to climb a ladder.

Concentration Camp and Charity Runs

Today has been a fun day most of the way around.  This morning, the senior leadership of the battalion had a staff ride to the Fort Breendonk concentration camp.  This was a WWI era for the Belgian army used to help defend Antwerp.  It was decommissioned before WWII.  After the Nazi invation, it become a holding camp as Jewish prisoners and resistance workers were held before they were sent to extermination or work camps in Germany, Austria, or Poland.  Amazing place to visit.  It's remarkably well restored.  It's preservation of the experiences of those held there is largley because it became a monument within a few years of WWII's end.  The early board of directors consisted mostly of survivors of the camp, so they had a personal investment in keep the camp close to it's original condition.  Truly an amazing place to visit.  Hopefully I'll get to take Emily and the kids there at some point. 

This evening, we went over to SHAPE to watch soldiers as well as members of the Protestant Chapel community participate in a fundraising project for the Make a Wish Foundation.  This is an annual event that is a fundraiser for that foundation.  It was a lot of fun watching our soldiers spend time together, hang out, and enjoy supporting a great charity.

I'll get a few pictures from Breendonk up this evening.

Back to Work

I signed back into work on Friday. Tomorrow will be my first day really back to full spead after Mom and Dad were here this week.  (There are a few more pictures from their visit in the photo albums page now).  This morning, we went to International Baptist Church.  Em & I had been saying we would visit there since we arrived in Belgium.  I just find it hard not to go to chapel if we're in the area since I am part of the preaching schedule there.  It felt great to be back in a local church.  Pastor Al had a great sermon on Nehemiah's preparation for the ministry God had laid before him.  (Prayer and planning if you're wondering).  I still miss many things about pastoring a church.  One of my frequent frustrations with the army chaplaincy is the feeling of competition that most chaplains have with the local church.  Theologically, this horrifies me.  Even on a practical level, it seems like a level of egotism and insecurity that has no real place in Christian ministry.  Part of it goes back to the fear many chaplains I meet seem to have of representing their denomination.  Another large part of it is that many chaplains I meet have had horrible experiences serving in local churches.  Their hurt and anger becomes detrimental to the Church because they no longer see it as the Bride of Christ.  Those feelings are common among many people, but are especially damaging when clergy oppose the church.

Anyway, my parents are trying to get to bed.  They're leaving early in the morning (Emily is taking them to the airport).

Paris in a Day

This morning, Emily & I took Mom and Dad to do Paris in a day.  With my parents and both children, we took them to the Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, and walked around a lot of the city.  The kids were great (since I'm the one posting, we're crediting my influence as a father on that one).  I warned my wife that I was going to dip and then kiss her in front of the Eiffel tower.  She laughed and said it was a great idea.  She was completely shocked when after the first picture, I threw her backwards and kissed her.  My mother then looks at my father and threatens him if he tried to do the same.

My mother still says I showed her more of what Paris looks like below ground than above.  I believe in parking and using the subway system.  I think I may just let them walk everywhere when we go to Brussels on Thursday.  They'll see more and have sore feet when they get home.  Emily thinks I should edit this and be nice, but she's still not the one writing this post.  We actually did see a lot, especially with the time we lost getting parked and fighting traffic.  I have decided that my previous verbal and written comments about French drivers have been entirely too gracious. 

I tried to upload more pictures onto this page, but it took too long.  There are pictures in the photo albums (link on the right).

Parc Paridisio

Last night, Isaac made my Father crawl onto Claire's playmat.  He then commenced to ordering fast food from my Father.  I know the child has not been to drive through window since we moved to Belgium.  We cannot begin to comprehend where this one came from. 

Today, we finally visited Parc Paridisio (or whatever the new name is).  This is a zoo/park that we'd heard about since we arrived in Belgium.  The description was that it was a great place to take the kids, but too expensive.  We waited until this year so we could buy the season pass.  Great day.  It was especially nice visiting a zoo with my parents along to help catch the kids and keep them coralled and fed.  I managed to sit in some animal's feces within the first thirty minutes of arriving.  I sat down to take pictures of Isaac with a peacock.  When I stood up, Emily pointed out that there was something on my shorts.  At least I know my wife is still checking me out after seven years.  There are new pictures on my photo page from the zoo.

Family Visit

I’ve almost posted a couple of times over the last week, but time seems to have been in pretty short supply.  While delayed, I did want to share my thoughts on Osama bin Laden’s death.  I do believe he deserved exactly what he got.  I’m proud that US intelligence and special forces executed their mission so well.  Like most other soldiers I have talked to about the news, his death is symbolic.  There will be another mental case that will step into his role.  We will continue to have soldiers in Afghanistan.  Many soldiers I have spoken to think this will actually decrease the amount of media attention the war in Afghanistan receives. (How often do you see reports from Iraq on the news?  There are still 47,000 US troops in Iraq).  My other question concerning bin Laden’s death is the response of the US public.  Dancing in the street?  Really?  This is the response to killing someone?  I believe the man deserved to die, but our response as a nation was over the top.  It should not have been that surprising that eventually US forces would find him, and as evil as the man was, another mental case will step into his role.

OK, now that a very small rant is over, my parents arrived her last week to spend a few days with us, which has been great.  Isaac is very jealous when his Grandaddy gives Claire any attention.  Claire is just thrilled to have more people at whom she can stare.  We’ve completed the customary argument about who’s paying for what, and the obligatory catching up on people from Laurel.  The next few days should let them see some of the sights around here.

Scotland

This week, we took a vacation to Scotland.  We landed in Edinburgh on Monday and made a loop up the coast and back down through the Highlands back into Edinburgh.  The pictures are in my photo albums, so I'll spare anyone a play by play of the week.  Driving on the left side of the road was an adventure.  I managed to damage a tire on the rental car when my GPS couldn't figure out the difference between a left turn and a traffic circle (for those not living in Europe, don't worry about it).  The kids did really well.  This was Isaac's first actual vacation with us.  I'm the guy that has his itinerary when he leaves on vacation.  We make a lot of adjustments as we go, but the point is we try to get a lot of things into most vacations.  Both kids did pretty well handling the pace without complaining too much.  (Isaac managed one major meltdown, and Claire did not like Edinburgh Castle. 

With the flight schedules we could get, we got back to Belgium on Friday night, which turns out to be nice because we have a couple of days to wash clothes, get the house in order, and rest before really getting back to work.  Unfortunately, getting in on Friday also means I can't sign out a lawn mower until Monday, and my yard is about a week overdo to be mowed.

The picture I put on this page is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrew's Scotland.  I didn't get to play the course, but even Emily was excited looking at what we could see of the course.