This June, Christina, Madison and I all arrived at Fort Eustis, VA. I've been assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade. After 3 weeks off for the move and some nice family time, I've been back at work for 2 weeks now. Trying to get back into a routine of working out, staff work, and jump-starting some great ministry opportunities. In the near future, I'll be leading a marriage retreat for 30 couples, I'll be starting a class of Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey, implementing a Battalion Resiliency program, and starting a weekly Bible Study. And then there is the Sunday Chapel Service as well. We've found a night service here that meets at 6:00pm. That sound familiar and right up my ally (New Life Lincoln Park?) Can't wait to get back into the swing of things and start preaching regularly again.
I look forward to regular updates while we're here enjoying the east coast for the first time.
God Bless!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas!
May this day be filled with good times with family and friends, but above all may this day remind you of the Love that God has for you. He send his son down to earth as the greatest gift we could every ask for. So as you enjoy your gifts from loved ones, remember the ultimate gift. Emmanuel, God With Us.
May this day be filled with good times with family and friends, but above all may this day remind you of the Love that God has for you. He send his son down to earth as the greatest gift we could every ask for. So as you enjoy your gifts from loved ones, remember the ultimate gift. Emmanuel, God With Us.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
Organizing Social Media
Twitter, Facebook, Blogs.... Let's get it all straight!
I've seen the power of social media and how it can be used to communicate to so many people and keep people connected. So I am revamping and stepping up my commitment to social media outlets. So here's the lowdown on what I'm doing.
First and foremost, Twitter. I will be updating my twitter account every day and probably multiple times daily. @chaplain_4
The purpose of my twitter account is to reach out to my soldiers primarily. I will update it with all the latest happenings from the unit and some daily devotional and inspirational thoughts. I am the spiritual leader of this unit and this is one way I can impact and guide a large group of people. It will also include updates about Chapel Next and chapel ministry at Fort Campbell.
Second, this blog will be updated weekly. It will include a mixture of everything I like: family, religion, politics, Army stuff, international affairs, culture, finances, sports and anything else I feel like. It is my personal blog and does not represent the views of the Army!
Next, I'm launching an official facebook page for my unit as their Chaplain. The page name 801st BSB "Maintaineer" Unit Ministry Team. This will be only for soldiers in my Battalion and I will update it with all the events and offerings taking place in my unit.
Of course there's still my personal facebook page as well. If your a "friend" you can always hit me up there too.
That's a whole lot of talk about tweets, updates, and pages. I'm sure it was really boring but if you want to keep up with what's happening in my world and how God is working here, feel free to tune in.
Hope you all had a great thanksgiving with loved ones.
God Bless,
Chris
Sunday, January 30, 2011
What "things" have I gotten done?
So, a few months ago I wrote a post about what I was going to accomplish during this deployment. Not so much things that I have to accomplish, but just a few that I would like to do, to be more creative with my time. I think I've done a good job of keeping myself busy so far, sometimes a little too busy! This is my past list and I've commented on what I've done so far and my plans for the rest. I also added some things I did that were a bonus to the list at the end: 
Things accomplished:
-P90x (twice): I finished round one (great program, lost 25 lbs and got in pretty good shape). In week 2 of round 2 now. Still enjoying it.
- Visit Chicago: actually, i've gone 3x on my own... too many times driving back and forth if you ask me.
- Visit NY: went in December and had a BLAST!
- Take pictures: if you follow me on facebook, you can see I take pictures now... probably more than you would ever want to see.
- Get a massage: it was great.
- Make baby food: Madison does great with all the food I make her, but sh
e is spoiled and doesn't really like the store bought baby food. Good thing she is moving on to table food quickly!
- Make a video of Madison: I take a few video's, and then send the memory stick to Chris. It has worked pretty well!
- Learn a song to sing Madison: we actually sing lots of songs! She really likes music, as I think most babies do!
- Get professional photo's of Madison: I did this at 4 months, and have another photographer booked for over R&R. It's nice to have good lookin photos. You can see one of the pics from the first professional shoot above, isn't she cute!
Still to do:
-sew madison clothes: maybe I'll do some summer dresses!
- sew myself clothes: maybe I'll make myself some new summer dresses, it is too strange if we match fabrics/
- Run a 1/2 marathon: I did commit to one in April today with Heather, so we'll see if that happens!
- Visit the zoo: not sure when this will happen
- Go line dancing with friends: I've talked about it, does that count! On the plus side, I do have a good babysitter now, so this is more likely to happen than before.
- Kayak with my own kayak: probably won't happen in KY, but maybe in Chicago when it gets warm and my parents live in their new house.
- Finish Madison's baby book: ooops, hopefully I won't be one of "those moms". I would like my daughter to have a baby book!
- Put photo's in a photo album: I printed all the photo's, does that count? They might get in the album soon!
- Take golf lessons: I REALLY want to do this in the spring, and have a feeling I will. Any suggestions for a good instructor?
Add to the accomplished list:
- Went to Disney for 8 days and came back in one piece! I had a fabulous time with my brother and his family. Shout out to Linda and Michael Hommer (MJ's parents) for treating me so well and taking care of me! It was a great experience I will always remember.
- Paid off the Mini Cooper, and the Explorer should be paid off in March (less than a year)! Yeah for no car payments! We hope to never buy a car using credit again... only CASH!
- Managed a cash budget for 8 months. I had NOTHING to do with the budget before this, so it is a HUGE deal. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE. Couldn't be happier about our financial decisions and cash flow planning. Love Dave Ramsey... and if you don't know who he is, you should find out!
Add to the want to accomplish list:
- Read a book/learn more about adoption. We're getting close to that time in our lives!
- Regularly train my dog: he gets left out too much ( as his head is on my lap right now while I type)
- actually post to my blog more than every few months. I have a lot of thoughts that go through this head, they should be written down somewhere!
Ok, that all for now. It's getting late and I'm supposed to be tired.
- Christina
Things accomplished:
-P90x (twice): I finished round one (great program, lost 25 lbs and got in pretty good shape). In week 2 of round 2 now. Still enjoying it.
- Visit Chicago: actually, i've gone 3x on my own... too many times driving back and forth if you ask me.
- Visit NY: went in December and had a BLAST!
- Take pictures: if you follow me on facebook, you can see I take pictures now... probably more than you would ever want to see.
- Get a massage: it was great.
- Make baby food: Madison does great with all the food I make her, but sh
e is spoiled and doesn't really like the store bought baby food. Good thing she is moving on to table food quickly!- Make a video of Madison: I take a few video's, and then send the memory stick to Chris. It has worked pretty well!
- Learn a song to sing Madison: we actually sing lots of songs! She really likes music, as I think most babies do!
- Get professional photo's of Madison: I did this at 4 months, and have another photographer booked for over R&R. It's nice to have good lookin photos. You can see one of the pics from the first professional shoot above, isn't she cute!
Still to do:
-sew madison clothes: maybe I'll do some summer dresses!
- sew myself clothes: maybe I'll make myself some new summer dresses, it is too strange if we match fabrics/
- Run a 1/2 marathon: I did commit to one in April today with Heather, so we'll see if that happens!
- Visit the zoo: not sure when this will happen
- Go line dancing with friends: I've talked about it, does that count! On the plus side, I do have a good babysitter now, so this is more likely to happen than before.
- Kayak with my own kayak: probably won't happen in KY, but maybe in Chicago when it gets warm and my parents live in their new house.
- Finish Madison's baby book: ooops, hopefully I won't be one of "those moms". I would like my daughter to have a baby book!
- Put photo's in a photo album: I printed all the photo's, does that count? They might get in the album soon!
- Take golf lessons: I REALLY want to do this in the spring, and have a feeling I will. Any suggestions for a good instructor?
Add to the accomplished list:
- Went to Disney for 8 days and came back in one piece! I had a fabulous time with my brother and his family. Shout out to Linda and Michael Hommer (MJ's parents) for treating me so well and taking care of me! It was a great experience I will always remember.
- Paid off the Mini Cooper, and the Explorer should be paid off in March (less than a year)! Yeah for no car payments! We hope to never buy a car using credit again... only CASH!
- Managed a cash budget for 8 months. I had NOTHING to do with the budget before this, so it is a HUGE deal. HUGE, HUGE, HUGE. Couldn't be happier about our financial decisions and cash flow planning. Love Dave Ramsey... and if you don't know who he is, you should find out!
Add to the want to accomplish list:
- Read a book/learn more about adoption. We're getting close to that time in our lives!
- Regularly train my dog: he gets left out too much ( as his head is on my lap right now while I type)
- actually post to my blog more than every few months. I have a lot of thoughts that go through this head, they should be written down somewhere!
Ok, that all for now. It's getting late and I'm supposed to be tired.
- Christina
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Greetings From Afghanistan
I just got internet working in my room, so this is the first time I am able to post to the blog. Here is something I wrote a few days ago. More to come soon:
This was written on 8 September 2010:
34 Days ago (Friday night on August 6th) I boarded a plane in Fort Campbell, KY bound for FOB Sharana, in the Eastern part of Afghanistan. After getting settled and having some time to reflect I thought I would post some of my journey and experiences.
The first stop we made was in Shannon, Ireland. I’ve never seen a more green countryside in my life and couldn’t stop staring out the window at the rolling hills. We spent about 2 hours at the airport and then re-boarded the airplane. A few people got in trouble for having knives which is completely ridiculous since everyone on the plain, except me, had guns!
We took off and landed a few hours later in Bucharest, Romania. Again, spent a few hours in the airport passing time, drank a phenomenal cappuccino, and then re-boarded.
Next stop was Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan (just north of Afghanistan). We landed on Sunday morning and made our way to the tent we would call home for 2 days. Let me tell you, these Air Force guys have got it made. It’s a small base but has its own PX/BX, a bar (at which they are allowed 2 drinks per day!), wireless internet throughout the entire base, and a great view of the Himalayan mountains. Oh yeah, and they’re only there for 6 months at a time. The Air Force has this deployment thing down!
We took off late at night in a C-17 and landed the next morning in Bagram Airfield just outside of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, finally having arrived in Afghanistan. The stay at Bagram was short lived (thank God). 4 hours later we boarded a C-130 and flew to glorious FOB Sharana.
We were welcomed at the flight line and after scanning our ID cards to prove we were really there, we got rides to our future homes! The housing situation is actually not all that bad, especially compared to some of the small FOBs and COPs that I’ve visited. We have a square room with a center hallway with plywood 3/4ths of the way up to the ceiling creating 4 smaller rooms. It creates some privacy but everyone in the quad can hear what’s going on in each of the rooms.
My individual room is about 8ft x 8ft. I’ve got a bunk bed (I sleep on bottom and store stuff on the top bunk) and some shelves that the guy who lived there before me built. It’s a cement floor but I put down some area rugs for comfort. Overall, its not that bad of a space and I’m finally getting some stuff up on the walls to make it feel more like home (Christmas lights would be a fine addition).
My office is a different story. I’ve got one of the nicest offices that I could ask for. Keeping in mind that its Afghanistan, so my walls are still just plywood, its great! I have a new black leather couch and 2 chairs, two desks, and 4 computers. It is a huge asset to do ministry and it is a great place for my soldiers to hang out and get away from all the other craziness that is happening.
All in all things are going really well. I will post again soon!
This was written on 8 September 2010:
34 Days ago (Friday night on August 6th) I boarded a plane in Fort Campbell, KY bound for FOB Sharana, in the Eastern part of Afghanistan. After getting settled and having some time to reflect I thought I would post some of my journey and experiences.
The first stop we made was in Shannon, Ireland. I’ve never seen a more green countryside in my life and couldn’t stop staring out the window at the rolling hills. We spent about 2 hours at the airport and then re-boarded the airplane. A few people got in trouble for having knives which is completely ridiculous since everyone on the plain, except me, had guns!
We took off and landed a few hours later in Bucharest, Romania. Again, spent a few hours in the airport passing time, drank a phenomenal cappuccino, and then re-boarded.
Next stop was Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan (just north of Afghanistan). We landed on Sunday morning and made our way to the tent we would call home for 2 days. Let me tell you, these Air Force guys have got it made. It’s a small base but has its own PX/BX, a bar (at which they are allowed 2 drinks per day!), wireless internet throughout the entire base, and a great view of the Himalayan mountains. Oh yeah, and they’re only there for 6 months at a time. The Air Force has this deployment thing down!
We took off late at night in a C-17 and landed the next morning in Bagram Airfield just outside of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, finally having arrived in Afghanistan. The stay at Bagram was short lived (thank God). 4 hours later we boarded a C-130 and flew to glorious FOB Sharana.
We were welcomed at the flight line and after scanning our ID cards to prove we were really there, we got rides to our future homes! The housing situation is actually not all that bad, especially compared to some of the small FOBs and COPs that I’ve visited. We have a square room with a center hallway with plywood 3/4ths of the way up to the ceiling creating 4 smaller rooms. It creates some privacy but everyone in the quad can hear what’s going on in each of the rooms.
My individual room is about 8ft x 8ft. I’ve got a bunk bed (I sleep on bottom and store stuff on the top bunk) and some shelves that the guy who lived there before me built. It’s a cement floor but I put down some area rugs for comfort. Overall, its not that bad of a space and I’m finally getting some stuff up on the walls to make it feel more like home (Christmas lights would be a fine addition).
My office is a different story. I’ve got one of the nicest offices that I could ask for. Keeping in mind that its Afghanistan, so my walls are still just plywood, its great! I have a new black leather couch and 2 chairs, two desks, and 4 computers. It is a huge asset to do ministry and it is a great place for my soldiers to hang out and get away from all the other craziness that is happening.
All in all things are going really well. I will post again soon!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Getting Adjusted To Life In Afghanistan
Well I'm finally starting to get settled in at my new home. FOB (Forward Operating Base) Sharana is where I will be spending most of my time. The base is huge but size doesn't always equal quality. It feels like one big dust bowl where we are at. That being said, I have my own room, a nice office and hot chow every day. I'll be posting pictures soon once I get all moved in. Right now there is still stuff everywhere and if Christina saw that she would not be happy =).
Even though we just got here, I'm already out traveling. The Chaplain I'm replacing is back in the States with a medical issue so Chaplain Eric Alfsen has offered to let me tag along with him and see what his ministry looks like. He's an Infantry Battalion Chaplain so his guys are spread out all over the place which means we are flying around (fun times). He has been a huge help to me and has gone above and beyond in helping me understand what's going on over here.
Our trip over to Afghanistan was quite the event. We flew from Fort Campbell to Shanon Ireland. Then we flew to Bucurest Romania and then on to Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan. We spent a few days in Manas living in tents. Then we flew into Afghanistan. In all it took about 4 days of travel to get to FOB Sharana. And from stories I've heard from others, that was pretty fast. I think I'm finally over the Jet-leg.
I want everyone to know that things are going well. I can only talk about things that have already happened to avoid leaking anything about current or future operations. Please continue to pray for the safety of our soldiers, they risk their lives every day!
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