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.