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.

I couldn't be prouder

This afternoon, we got a package from my parents.  As I'm sure you can guess, they updated Claire's wardrobe for football season.  She'd been fussy.  Emily changed her into her outfit, and you can see the response.  I couldn't be more excited that she's already responding to red and blue.  Isaac is learning Hoddy Toddy (an editted version).  Basically, I'm getting the kids ready for college football season.

If you look, you can see the two teeth Claire has managed to sprout.  If you get your hand close enough, you can feel them quite well.

Routine

Lately, the only things that are happening out of the normal routine revolve around Isaac's astounding creativity in finding new ways to create problems (microwaving metal lids, spraying inside kitchen cabinets with windex, and discovering how to disable the deadbolt and child locks, et al) or the new skills Claire is picking up.  Hers are much more pleasant to respond to than most of Isaac's new skills, so I'll update you on those.  The picture you see is zoomed in a little too close to get the full impact.  She had managed to slide/crawl/roll under her crib.  It took Emily a few minutes to find her after hearing the first frustrated whine from the nursery.  While she hasn't really perfected the crawl, she's definitely moving herself to where she wants to go.  When she can't quite make it, she whines and I move her to whatever she wants.  (I'm very much a pushover with her).

Otherwise, everything is basically moving along the same as always.  I've probably missed the States more over the last 2-3 weeks.  Actually, it's just the southeastern part of the States I've missed.  I can't really pinpoint what it is.  Partly, it's the weather.  When you spend 33 years living with summers of 90+ degrees every day for 4-5 months and occasionally for another 2 months, it just doesn't feel right to have a summer with days the temperature doesn't reach 70.  I would normally already be reading up for the start of college football season.  This year, I'm not even sure who is competing at quarterback for Ole Miss.  (This oversight is being remedied as we speak.  My family has already mailed some of the preview magazines).  Maybe after this assignment, I'll land back closer to home.

Small Steps

There really has not been a lot to mention since my last post so I'll just give a few bullet points. 

• Emily will be teaching kindergarden for half days this fall. 
• Claire has her first tooth and has experienced her first bee sting.   (Emily was more tramatized than Claire.)
• Isaac has learned not to stick his finger into the blades of a fan.  (He's fine.)
• Isaac has developed a love for head banging to heavy metal music and early '90s alternative rock.  We've done it before dinner every night this week.
• I'm still not good in softball.  (But I put the picture on here anyway) 

Otherwise, nothing new is going on at work.  The garrison I'm at is short two protestant chaplains, so I've gotten to preach more, which is always good.  Everything is still a little disorganized with the short staffing of chaplains and assistants.  Thankfully, that's only minimally my problem as I just kind of retreat back to taking care of my battalion.

Anyway, that's the rather uneventful last couple of weeks.  There are some random pictures from the month and my battalion's organizational day events in my photo albums.