weekend one in Missouri Guard

A pretty cool weekend.   Spent two days with my new unit the 203rd Engineers.  It was a little odd considering most of the unit is in Louisiana for hurricane relief.  But we managed to do some good stuff.

We did services on sunday.  Had a four people in the service.  Small, but it was good.  Spent the rest of sunday working moving tents around.  Got some strange looks from NCO's. I enjoyed it.  I think the enlisted liked it.   It made the day go by fast.  Spent a lot of time just talking with soldiers.  Good stuff!

Roll up your sleeves and get to work!  We've got ministry to do.

Where's the T?

Uncle Danny and I took JD to see his first baseball game. Pretty fun! JD had played T-Ball this year, but had not seen a game. When the first batter came to the plate he very astutely noted that there was no "T". "Daddy, where is the "T"? We had a great time. We also understand that riding a bus to a baseball game is the way to do it. No parking a car, just walk out to the waiting bus and into the AC for a ride back. Good stuff!

A few months later

I guess I need to give a brief update. I am still the shop manager. some days are better than others. I guess if it wasn't for people behaving like children it would be easy. " He started it!" Are you kidding me? we are adults right? guess not.

The family is great. They have music camp this week. Jd is doing very well and Connie is teaching 5th graders. Nate and Caleb are keeping the helpers busy.

I have moved to the Missouri Guard. It will be a great fit. They will be assigning me to a unit immediatly! This is what I have been wanting since starting the program. I will also be able to go back to Joplin and stay with family on weekends. Save money , have a shorter drive and get to do direct ministry. The down side is? Well, I really will miss the guys that I have gotten to know over the last year and a half. Great guys that are going to do great things for the kingdom. But this is a small world and a smaller army, I am sure we will cross paths again very soon.

What a Day!

What a day. I had a good but difficult weekend. I had drill in OKC, but I was sick the whole time. Went to the doctor yesterday. He said "take it easy". Today I went to work, not feeling very well, and my district manager showed up and fired my boss. About an hour later the shop was mine. This is something I wanted, but man, not like that! I had to go back into the shop and cast a "vision" to a group of people in shock. But God is good and we got through it. Tommorow should be an interesting day. I am very excited to see what happens.

As for the rest of my life. My family is doing well. Connie has found a ministry that she can do from our house. She organizes child care and meals for people in our church that need it. Our sunday school class has been in need of lots of help. they seem to love having children. Not sure how that happens? Must be in the water.

My boys are up to their old tricks. My oldest (we think) threw something down each toilet. I got to replace 2 bowls and one tank. What an adventure. My wife took a picture of my "plumbing" skills. I'll not add that picture. Nobody wants to see that.

JD is the man. He is such a big brother. He often loves to help his brothers. But at the same time they drive him nuts.

Caleb is doing much better with his language skills. And He gets to ride the bus which he loves. He is still the origional "huggaboo".

Nate is nate! He is into everything and messing with his brothers. Anybody that says a 1 1/2 year old won't start a fight needs to come to my house. but he is wonderful. His smile is just amazing.

The guys got to build a snow man, which they loved. Caleb even felt the need to hug the snowman.

Family day and lights

Another good day! A long day. But good

We had family day at Oklahoma City. It was good Caleb and JD spent time hiding in the podium. JD had a rude awakening when he asked santa for a dinasour. You can see from the pic that he was a little disappointed with the ball he got right then. How do you explain that? JD and Caleb then had a Christmas play. JD said his lines really well. Caleb got to sit on the teachers lap. Then JD came back as a shepherd. Not a fan of his outfit. Then we went to Rhema where they have lights. Everyone loves them. It is interesting to see Christmas throught the eyes of little ones. They go nuts.

Also went to starbucks. Nate had apple juice! for the record

Oh the blocks were done by JD. Pretty amazing!

Thanksgiving

This was a pretty good day too. Had my wife's parents down. JD helped grandma with the food prep while Papa fixed the grout (and a bunch of other stuff). Just a low stress day with good food.

Did have a concerning moment (upper right picture). JD was in full run and was stopped cold by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders during half-time of the football game. He's 4! Lots of prayer! Please!

A Very Good Day

This may seem odd. But if you know my 4 year old, you will know that he does not "snuggle up" to me very often. He is all about being "manly" with me. He usually "blindsides" me going full tilt. Man am I in trouble when he tops 40 pounds! But this morning he got in bed with me and just snuggled up close. We talked for quite a while. I had planned on going to work early. But when special moments happen you gotta be ready. So I just spent some really good quality time with JD. It was a really good way to start the day.

Work was good. We have not had much work, but today we did. Good stuff. It makes the day much better when you are busy.