Every Child Needs a Dog

My biggest complaint with coming to Belgium is still probably that I had to give away Ox, my weimereiner.  Every little boy should grow up playing with a dog.  This past weekend, we kept Charlie for some friends.  Claire thought he was great.  Charlie handled her much better than Isaac.  He would get excited and jump up and down as he moved toward Charlie.  The dog backed away, unsure what to think of Isaac.  I have nothing worth putting online, but I did think this picture was pretty good.

Getting Isaac (or me) a dog will be the first priority when we do eventually get moved back to the States...maybe before we find a house.

This week, I have thought a good bit about a comment I heard a few weeks ago.  A senior chaplain made a comment about the chaplain corp "eating it's own."  Just watching how chaplains and chaplain assistants function, I think the statement is more and more accurate. 

Seeing Old Friends Again

 

Last week, I had to attend Chaplaincy Annual Sustainment Training in Garmisch, Germany.  As with most army training of this nature, the actual training was less than exciting.  There were a couple of bright points.  A couple of friends I went through the Chaplain's basic course with were there.  Brian (left side) managed to get a coin from the Chief of Chaplains for his karyoke rendition of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."  That song takes on a whole new deminsion when an Orthodox priest is calling for the crowd to stand up and dance with him.

Our Small Group Leader from the basic course also was at the training.  He's now on a garrison chaplain's staff in Germany.  I've not met another senior chaplain for whom I have half as much respect.  He's very much the epitome of what a chaplain should be.  Dinner with these guys was the highlight of the week.

Isaac's birthday was this weekend, which was funny.  Emily said he was horrified this morning when he came into the living room and his slide was gone.  Apparently he sat in the middle of the rug and cried until Emily realized what he was looking for and told him it was in the play room.

Pictures.

I'm posting now b/c I doubt I'll have a chance for a week or so.  Most people who will see this post quickly are probably looking for pictures.  The stuff from the awards/promotion ceremony is at the link on the right of this page.  I'm only going to leave them online for about a week, as I'm running out of space in my album.

Otherwise, this weekend should be a lot of fun.  SHAPE Fest is this weekend, which is just the large festival that the entire community at SHAPE participates in.  I get to sit in the dunk tank at some point tomorrow in weather entirely too cold for dunk tanks.  Sunday, we have a 9.11 K run on Sunday morning and a memorial service for 9/11 that evening at the chapel.

Next week is what I've been dreading for months...CAST-E.  This is a week of mandatory training for chaplains.  I have actually prayed that funding would fall through the budget problems this year (seriously).  My attitude is in serious need of help.  This will be 4 days of information overload on things that will change or be irrelevent in a matter of three months.  The only redeeming part of this conference is that it takes place in Garmisch, Germany.  That means I'll wake up to a view of the Alps each morning.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get a little hiking in at some point.

Isaac's First Day of School

Today was Isaac's first day of kindergarden.  We've put him in the Belgian school here, so they start kindergarden at 3 instead of 5.  This is him getting his backpack and lunch bag before we left.  He insisted that he carry both without help from me.  I did manage not to tear up until I dropped him off and got back to my car.  Emily had to be in her classroom, though a friend did stop by to give her a hug (thanks Sarah).

It's been a while since I posted.  That's mostly because I try to avoid using this particular venue for venting.  Em and I are trying to sort through where God is leading us in the future (in the area of ministry), and that has really kept me preocuppied lately. 

Claire is well.  She's getting fast with crawling and can sort of climb steps at this point.  She stands and moves while holding on to furniture, but she's still a few weeks from attempting her first "real" steps.

Emily is enjoying being back in a classroom.  She's really enjoying the fact that it's a half-day kindergarden so she gets to go running in the afternoon before she goes to get Claire from daycare.  She's planning to try her first half marathon in October.  Give me another 7 years and I'll have her in a full marathon. 

Update

A friend emailed to point out that the blog has been a bit boring as of late.  (Thanks Cole, you're still a jerk).  I'm not sure why.  I suppose not a lot has really happened this month that I think other people would find interesting.  Claire has sprouted another tooth.  She's also crawling.  I suppose it's crawling.  For those in the army, it's actually just a low crawl.  Emily insists she is developing a bit of a attitude.  I insist Emily is wrong about my little girl.  This coming week is VBS at SHAPE, which should keep things busy.  I have no real responsibility other than providing a devotional thought for the leaders each morning, but I'm supposedly providing oversight.  Our VBS director is amazing, so I've really done nothing.

On Wednesday, I went to a prayer service for those killed recently in Norway.  It was a moving service to me.  I always enjoy hearing the Norwegian chaplain speak.  We disagree on a lot of our theology, but it's always a well thought out and insightful sermon.  His thoughts on how we respond to this type of brutality were as well crafted as I would have expected.  (Sorry, it's something of an occupational hazard that you grade memorial services in military ministry).

We're trying to get Isaac ready for school next month.  He's going to start in the Belgian kindergarden on SHAPE.  Em is excited about teaching again....we just have to work out childcare for Claire.