Together Again

Sorry for the delay in posting. The training schedule has been very demanding over the last few weeks. However, there's lots of good news to update.

First and foremost, Christina has arrived here in South Carolina! She flew in Friday afternoon, which happened to be our 5 year anniversary. We had a great dinner at the melting pot and have been enjoying each other's company for the last 2 days. While its kind of weird having no home and living in a hotel, its great to finally be back together. Even this blog entry comes to you via pool side relaxation together. Christina is reading and I am "working."

Secondly, I only have 1 more week of training before I report to my unit. While I look back at the training I received, I am extremely grateful for the hard work of my instructors who have been over worked and under paid for the job they've done. 2 weeks ago we had a 3 day FTX (Field Training Exercise) in the 100 degree heat with the incredible South Carolina humidity. Yet even when we all were pushed to our limits, our instructors continued to teach and guide us. I've met some really amazing guys down here and I look forward to seeing and working with them in the future. There are 5 of us who are reporting straight to Ft Campbell after we finish here. In fact, all of us who are headed straight to active duty assignments (about 30 of us) following this training have become good friends. That's good because we will need it. Since every Battalion only has 1 Chaplain, it can be one of the hardest and loneliest jobs in the Army. Other Chaplain friends can make all the difference.

One particular friend I've made is almost 20 years my senior. We've made a deal, he helps me mature and grow up in areas I need to, and I'll help him with all his technology/computer issues. I think I'm getting the better end of the deal.

Thirdly, we've been added to the housing waiting list at Ft Campbell. We are currently 16 of 26 on the list. It looks like we'll have to wait about 2 months for a house to open up once we get there. Thankfully, we are getting good at living in hotels and they have a post hotel at Campbell that is a suite that has a separate bedroom and kitchen. Not that different from some of our smaller apartments in Chicago. And it will be worth the wait. When we finally do get housing, we will get a large 3 bedroom house, some of which are brand new! Needless to say, it will be the largest home we've ever had and we plan to use that space well! (thats an open invitation to anyone who wants to come visit us.... only an hour from Nashville and 3 hours from the Kentucky Derby next spring!!!!!).

Well thats all from the pool side for right now. We will be leaving South Carolina for Ft Campbell on Friday afternoon after my graduation and we'll get there sometime on Saturday. We are about to start a new chapter in our life and we are both extremely excited to see where it takes us. God Bless!