I Miss, I Miss

Transitioning to civilian life (and particularly this job) has carried with it so many unexpected things.  My last work was quite nice:  I had banker's hours, a nice cubicle, hardly any duty, and more time than I have now with my family.  The joke as I walk in most days when my wife sees me is, "who are you?"  My kids ask my wife frequently where Dad is.  Even in my "off time" I'm always being texted or asked questions about something someone would like to see done or how one of the boys didn't answer them right.  I have five weeks before the break and it can't come soon enough.  I never thought I'd say this, but deployment seems easier.

Another thing I miss terribly is a real Sabbath Day.  I don't really get those here.  Of course, with the boys here and in residence, they must constantly be cared for which is very much like a regular family, except there are many and constantly needing discipline.  I loved the Sabbaths we've had in the past where we didn't go shopping (it wasn't expected that we would) and we'd have time to be together as a family.  It's weird with Katy gone too because we always had her and Trey's friends over either for a meal or at evening small group.  The pastor spoke of the value of the Sabbath in his sermon today and I couldn't agree with him more.  The Sabbath was made for man.

I miss the Sabbath, and I miss my family.  Maybe things will turn around before too long.  I was looking forward to getting into a routine, but we have seven more new cadets coming this week and they'll require another couple of 24 hour days.

Time For Me

Here I sit on a McDonald's in Vicksburg waiting for the car to finish being maintained. Sheila is having her hair done, we'll have lunch, and then do some shopping before heading back to the school. One of the TAC officer responsibilities is to ensure the students' mail is safe to send home. We don't censor it, but we may help a kid to change his vernacular to something more glorifying to God. It's a good progress report for the cadre so we know what our impact is in their lives. More than anything we want the Gospel to have an impact. I've had a few kids tell me they were encouraged because I felt it was appropriate to pray at PT after I really worked them out. We formerly did not provide any real spiritual development during basic training, but now we are having a brief devotional before having them mount their racks at night.

I've been witness to much discipline this first week of school. Though I hate corporal discipline, it really does work well on hard hearts. One child with Oppositional-defiant Disorder was completely turned around. He's a delight to be around now.

If you think of us please pray. I'm tired too early in the ballgame and I miss having a real Sabbath. It's practically non-existent. Anyone who really knows me knows how much I cherish the Sabbbath and look forward to it.

My iPhone's not giving me any more space to blog so I'll sign off now. Tune in for the next installment.

Caring For Kids and Praising God

Here I am sitting in an ER with a young man at 3:00 in the morning. This has been an exhausting week with a long schedule full of highs and lulls. We've been sleeping in the field all week with the new basics and more recently, the returning cadets. It's been a challenge to us as we've been operating in temps in the mid to high 90's with 60+% humidity. You change your shirt a lot with little time during the day to shower off. It has gone well however. I incorporated a devotional time before bed of which I've gotten positive feedback from both staff and students. We have Marine-patterned cammies now too which everyone loves.

Okay. I got to go back to bed after the duty tactical officer arrived. We got the boys out for their physical fitness assessment and we're now at breakfast. TodY they move into the dorms which means I'll get a break for a few hours. Too bad my family is in Jackson for the weekend. They're taking my little girl to college.

Time to get back to work for a bit.

First Real Week of Work

What an eventful week!  We began staff training this week (all week) which was a real blessing because we begin our meetings always with prayer and a devotional.  I got to conduct the one on Tuesday which I did on our covenant relationship to these kids and their parents.  We've gone through Tactical Officer training, their handbook, expectations, discipline of students, psychology, student needs, uniform issue and regulations, etc., etc., etc.  We did manual labor out in the wilderness area by hanging ropes, lawn work in the basic training facility, and housekeeping in the that facility too.  The commandant and I taught the teachers basic drill, and generally got to know them.  It was an eventful week.

On top of all that, our family is trying to get moved into our home.  We are in it now, but have a tremendous amount to unpack still.  We've been spending money like it's going out of style on things to make our house a home, all the while making new friends and attending lunches at the dining facility.  If you think about us when you 're praying, remember us and all that we still have to do to get settled.  We helped some friends move in to their new house the first week we were here and they are already settled.  Of course she had adult help from her mother and aunt.  We have the tendency to stay up too late and take lots of breaks in addition to regular work and getting our daughter ready to start college next weekend. 

We were concerned that we would not be able to get Katy a computer for school (or she would have to use a large desktop computer in her room) and my dad was able to get her old computer up and working.  It was mine at first when I bought it in January of 2007, then it became Trey's in 2008 when he started college, and then became Katy's this past spring when Trey bought himself a Macintosh.  We made some fine upgrades during the repair and now it will accommodate all of her picture taking and iTunes purchases.

We had a great week seeing old friends from Colorado Springs.  The Saks were in Jackson visiting friends just in time for Katy's birthday last Monday.  We brought their son Daniel to hang out with us for a few days and Katy got to spend the night with her friend Anna.  When I picked her up I took her for Dunkin Donuts coffee and Harry Potter for a daddy-date. 

This week will shape up to be very busy, but hopefully very promising.  Please be praying for us as we have about 30 scared and/or defiant boys who we will be receiving and training this week.  I'll let you know how that went.

Worst Move Ever!

So, the furniture arrived yesterday.  Most of the furniture.  We discovered from the delivery company that they had left our futon and frame back at the warehouse and oh by the way, the cushion was not wrapped, so it's trashed.  The Clavinova's frame is broken and has to be repaired before it can be put together, and they lost an essential piece of our master bed.  It can't even be put together.  They gouged our nicest furniture when they slid it across the edge of their truck.  All this in a heat index of 116 degrees with our A/C petering out.  Indeed, after nine moves, this was the worst one ever.

For some strange reason though, we're not too discouraged.  It would be trite to say, "It's only stuff," but our attitudes are holding up.  The boys are enjoying the pool and their new friends (Randy disappears to be found later with friends when we all meet at the DFAC for lunch).  It may be that we are in survival mode and have not taken the time to think about it.  With guests arriving next week, we don't have any time to lose, but the house is big (or they didn't deliver all our stuff; a bunch of things were mis-labelled when they packed) which makes it easy for us to move around while we unpack.  During the summer break, the school still provides a nice lunch meal which eases the cooking burden.  We've been fending for ourselves for the other meals which takes the load off of Sheila.  Furthermore, the school has a furnished campus apartment they have provided for us, so we are very comfortable and have a "home" to come back to until ours is ready.

I've met most of my new tactical officers (they are the dorm counselors and military instructors) and I'm pleased.  I'm excited about what we'll be able to do.  The school has given me carte blanche to develop a training and intramural program and I have a big office (no windows though) with lots of meeting space. It already has all of the technology connections I need.  I just need my furniture.  I'm moving all of my military paraphernalia over there so we'll have more room at the house.

Much more has happened this week, but for the sake of being tedious, I'll knock off for now.  Staff training begins next week, so I'll let you all know how that goes.  I'll also try to start taking more pictures with my new iPhone.  I (and Sheila) can still be reached by e-mail and can provide phone numbers and addresses for anyone who needs them.