June 20, 2012

The Small Things

Despite the long silence, I am still out here in the blog sphere. It is hard to believe that I have already completed my second deployment, and now I am getting readjusted to life back in the States. It has been a wonderful two weeks back.

Victoria left for youth camp the day before I got home, so Laura and I had some time together testing the empty nest waters. We spent a couple of days around the house and then we ventured to San Antonio for a couple of days. It was great catching up and just spending time together doing the simple things of life with Laura. Until I go away on an extended business trip, it is easy to take for granted the quiet evening chats, walks, walking on pavement and even the "dreaded" trips to Wal-Mart, just to name a few. As I told Laura during this deployment, "I hope we don't lose the small things." While the "small" things may seem insignificant, they are not. What did I miss the most on my deployments? The small things! I hope I do not slip into that place where the small things are taken for granted again, where it takes being away to awaken me again to the simple pleasures.

Victoria has returned and it is great having our family back together for a short time. Soon Victoria will be off to college and starting the next phase of her life. We are excited for her and all that is ahead of her. We know that she is going to do great things and follow the Lord in whatever way He leads her. I am soaking up the small things with her too, since soon she will be gone. I have enjoyed chatting and being able to be there to let her cry on my shoulder, encouraging her and so much more.

I hope we all can find joy in the simple and small things of life. There is always something to find joy in and I hope you can find it each and every day. Until next time, enjoy the smallest of blessings from God.

Michael

July 31, 2011

July Newsletter

Here is the next installment of the newsletter. Thanks for all your prayers, they are making a difference. More to follow!

The Frontliner: July 2011

Michael
"CHAP ATTACK"

June 2011 Battalion Newsletter

Hello All,

I am safe and sound in Afghanistan. Things are going really well here and God is doing great things in the lives of our Soldiers. I am responsible for putting together the newsletter for my unit, so I thought I would share it with you all. This way you will know a little about what is going on in our world. Happy reading!

The Frontliner June 2011

Michael
"CHAP ATTACK"

April 10, 2011

Four Month Review

It has been almost four months since my last post. My lack of writing has not been because I have not been busy. I have had some adventures and I would like to spend a few minutes to share with you.

As most of you know Laura and I have been working to get out of debt since May of 2007. We started and hoped that some day our hard work would pay off and it did. Laura and I paid off her car on December 31, 2010. As you might imagine, we were excited to start 2011 debt free. With God's help we paid off $52,589.11 in forty-four months. We did it and you can too. We hope to talk to Dave soon.

In January I was off to Fort Carson Colorado. My unit went to Colorado to do High Altitude Mountain Environmental Training (HAMET). It was a great opportunity for me to get to know my soldiers and begin real ministry with them. This training event allowed us to train and prepare for our upcoming deployment. It was frustrating that I missed Laura's birthday while I was in Colorado. Sadly, I will have missed the last two and I will miss the next one also. :-( However, it is like my commander says, "We train so we can increase our odds on bringing every soldier home."

February and March were filled with a lot of work and a little time at home with the family. Since we are deploying this year, I did retreats for my soldiers and their families. I was able to host two retreats and it was a blast. For the singles retreat we went to a working Dude Ranch. We were west of San Antonio the middle of nowhere TX riding horses, eating well, sitting on long horn cattle, learning about buffalo and I taught the Five Love Languages for Singles. For the family retreat we went to a resort and spa in the Austin area and I taught the Five Love Languages. One of the not so fun parts of my calling is pulling duty on the crisis line and the funeral line. In the month of March I had the crisis line twice and the funeral line once. I had to do two notifications and one funeral. Like I said earlier, a lot of work and a little time at home.

April has been a little quieter. Thankfully we avoided the government shutdown. Most soldiers live paycheck to paycheck and so many soldiers and family members would have been affected. I do not want to imagine what all we would have had to deal with. Currently, my unit is getting all the training and medical appointments out of the way before deployment. Once we get things packed up and ready to go it will be time for our paid vacation.

Sorry that the four month review is more like a novel but thanks for reading. I would also like to thank you in advance for your prayers for me and my soldiers. Soon we will be experiencing something very different. If you are interested in supporting me and my unit during this next deployment let me know and I can give you the information necessary. Thanks again.

The picture is our chapel community while we were in Colorado. It is blurry but you can see that we have a great start on our deployed faith community.