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.