...so I'm stuck at the R.O.B. (Rhine Ordnance Barracks) in Germany which is pretty close to Ramstein Air Base.
I don't think it's possible to sleep more than 4 hours at a time here. I went to sleep at 11pm and was up, wide awake, at 3:15am. I've got almost 4 hours to kill before breakfast. (This is a repeat from yesterday morning as well).
We've been here for 3 days now and could push out for another 4 or 5 days before we actually fly out.
PLAN B is for us to take a BUS (yes I said Bus) from here to Kosovo. That works out to 1,085 miles with 18 hours of straight driving - from a "car's" perspective so I would imagine that it'll be longer in a bus. When leadership asked us (the 43 of us) if we minded sitting on a bus for up to 36 hours, they got a bunch of blank stares... primarily because I don't think any of us could imagine sitting on a bus for 36 hours.
On a side note, I'm FINALLY back to working out after my 14 day hiatus due to leave. I only biked for 30 minutes yesterday and it was ROUGH. Will bike again today.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
2-week R & R
whirlwind tour! (from April 28th to May 9th)
Wed - landed in Lexington in the evening, went home and wrestled with the babies
Thur - Elijah missed school to play with Daddy, bought Elijah his first bicycle (w/training wheels). a bright yellow one.
Fri - Nicole and I went to Newport on the Levee and ate dinner at Brio's, an italian place (phenomenal steak!) spent the night at Embassy Suites
Sat - Nicole and I walked around a rainy Covington (next to the river) and had lunch at 10 West before coming back to Versailles - church at Quest in the evening,
Sun - picked up the truck and had Life Group with Jon Weisner - Elijah & Kylie LOVE the truck.
Mon - Grilled out burgers with the family and almost set the entire house on fire! (time for a new grill... or perhaps a new griller-outer)
Tues - Date Night to Azur restaurant with Nicole and drinks with CJ and my brother Chris (great to catch up)
Wed - Played all morning, lunch with Brian Stakelin & Jon Weisner, then Church
Thur - Elijah went to school & after that the family went to the Louisville Zoo and Lynn's restaurant in Louisville
Fri - playing on the slip n' slide - Elijah & Kylie climbing ladders with Daddy & out to eat with my mom, David, Chris and the family at O'Charlies in Frankfort for Mothers Day
Sat - cold, rainy day (intended to play in the pool) went to Shilito Park in Lexington and played all morning, Church in the evening
Sun - board the plane...
POST-TRIP:
Sun-Mon - trans-atlantic flight delayed from 4:30pm to 11:00pm. Hung out in the USO.
Mon - missed bus from Frankfurt to R.O.B. due to delay... had to get on another bus going "close" to my destination, make a series of cryptic phone calls from a random guard shack and explain to the R.O.B. where I was & why I was there - then waited for Junior to come pick me up in the yellow bus (literally).
Tues - Channel Flight delayed. Went to the airport at 5am to find this out, only to turn around and come back to the ROB... only to turn around AGAIN and go back to the airport, to get delayed again and then come back to the ROB. It was fun.
(will post pictures and video of everything once I can pull them off my camera!)
Wed - landed in Lexington in the evening, went home and wrestled with the babies
Thur - Elijah missed school to play with Daddy, bought Elijah his first bicycle (w/training wheels). a bright yellow one.
Fri - Nicole and I went to Newport on the Levee and ate dinner at Brio's, an italian place (phenomenal steak!) spent the night at Embassy Suites
Sat - Nicole and I walked around a rainy Covington (next to the river) and had lunch at 10 West before coming back to Versailles - church at Quest in the evening,
Sun - picked up the truck and had Life Group with Jon Weisner - Elijah & Kylie LOVE the truck.
Mon - Grilled out burgers with the family and almost set the entire house on fire! (time for a new grill... or perhaps a new griller-outer)
Tues - Date Night to Azur restaurant with Nicole and drinks with CJ and my brother Chris (great to catch up)
Wed - Played all morning, lunch with Brian Stakelin & Jon Weisner, then Church
Thur - Elijah went to school & after that the family went to the Louisville Zoo and Lynn's restaurant in Louisville
Fri - playing on the slip n' slide - Elijah & Kylie climbing ladders with Daddy & out to eat with my mom, David, Chris and the family at O'Charlies in Frankfort for Mothers Day
Sat - cold, rainy day (intended to play in the pool) went to Shilito Park in Lexington and played all morning, Church in the evening
Sun - board the plane...
POST-TRIP:
Sun-Mon - trans-atlantic flight delayed from 4:30pm to 11:00pm. Hung out in the USO.
Mon - missed bus from Frankfurt to R.O.B. due to delay... had to get on another bus going "close" to my destination, make a series of cryptic phone calls from a random guard shack and explain to the R.O.B. where I was & why I was there - then waited for Junior to come pick me up in the yellow bus (literally).
Tues - Channel Flight delayed. Went to the airport at 5am to find this out, only to turn around and come back to the ROB... only to turn around AGAIN and go back to the airport, to get delayed again and then come back to the ROB. It was fun.
(will post pictures and video of everything once I can pull them off my camera!)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Cigarette Packaging Repost...
This is a re-posting from Nicole's cousin's blog... "Hello & Wave" by Eric Mayville (http://hello.ericmayville.com/)...This is mainly for my Mom... thought she would get a kick out of this (:
Excellente Packaging!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
2-week R & R
Currently at the R.O.B. (Rhine Ordinance Barracks) in Germany... on day 1 of my journey back to the states for my 2 week leave from this deployment! I should be getting in to Lexington, Ky around 7:30PM though it'll feel like 1:30am due to the time change (: I'll be on such an adrenaline rush seeing my family that it won't matter I'm positive!
This'll be a welcome 2-weeks home. I wasn't able to sleep last night due to the excitement and I'm SURE I won't be able to sleep tonight!!
Can't wait to see how big my little ones have gotten and how amazingly beautiful my wife has grown.
This'll be a welcome 2-weeks home. I wasn't able to sleep last night due to the excitement and I'm SURE I won't be able to sleep tonight!!
Can't wait to see how big my little ones have gotten and how amazingly beautiful my wife has grown.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Elijah & Matt 19:14
This is ABSOLUTELY a blessing to me...
But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19:14
Kosovo - Strpce Valley Sunset
We flew to the Italian Camp "Villagio Italia" last night for a mission and got to eat a nice italian dinner and walk around the camp...
This valley "STRPCE" is one of the ways to get to there... we were flying thru at sunset.
___________________________________
Below is NOT the restaurant at Villagio Italia... (:
On Wednesday night, we left Bondsteel and had dinner in town at one of the nearby restaurants, "The Castle". It was a kind of bed n' breakfast - so we asked to see the hotel rooms.
The room below is 25 Euro a night. (crazy!)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
"When the Unqualified are Qualified"
Excerpt from the book: "Messy Spirituality" by Michael Yaconelli
-When the Unqualified are Qualified-
"Walking by a pet shop on his way to school, a young boy stopped and stared through the window. Inside were four black puppies playing together. After school he ran home and pleaded with his mother to let him have one of the puppies. 'I'll take care of it, Mom, I will. If you can just give me an advance on my allowance, I'll have enough money to buy one with my own money. Please, Mom, please.'
The mother, knowing full well the complications having a new puppy would bring to a busy household, could not resist her son. 'Okay, you can get the puppy, but I will expect you to take care of it.'
'Yes, Mom. I will.' Filled with excitement, the little boy ran to the pet shop to buy his new puppy.
After determining that the boy had enough money, the pet shop owner brought him to the window to choose his puppy. After a few minutes, the young boy said, 'Um... I'll take the little one in the corner.'
'Oh no,' said the shop owner, ' not that one; he's crippled. Notice how he just sits there; something is wrong with one of his legs, so he can't run and play like the rest of the puppies. Choose another one.'
Without saying a word, the boy reached down, lifted his pant leg to expose a chrome leg brace to the owner.
'No,' he said firmly. 'I think I'll take the puppy in the corner.'
It turned out that what disqualified the puppy from being chosen by others is what most qualified him to be chosen by the little boy.
It's amazing how few of us believe in the unqualified grace of God. Oh, yes, God loves us, as long as we're clean and whole and fixed. But it turns out that what disqualifies you and me from 'spirituality' - the mess of our lives and our crippledness - is what most qualifies us to be chosen by Jesus."
("Messy Spirituality" was one of the books given to me by Charlie, one of the guys in my life group at Quest - Thanks Charlie!)
-When the Unqualified are Qualified-
"Walking by a pet shop on his way to school, a young boy stopped and stared through the window. Inside were four black puppies playing together. After school he ran home and pleaded with his mother to let him have one of the puppies. 'I'll take care of it, Mom, I will. If you can just give me an advance on my allowance, I'll have enough money to buy one with my own money. Please, Mom, please.'
The mother, knowing full well the complications having a new puppy would bring to a busy household, could not resist her son. 'Okay, you can get the puppy, but I will expect you to take care of it.'
'Yes, Mom. I will.' Filled with excitement, the little boy ran to the pet shop to buy his new puppy.
After determining that the boy had enough money, the pet shop owner brought him to the window to choose his puppy. After a few minutes, the young boy said, 'Um... I'll take the little one in the corner.'
'Oh no,' said the shop owner, ' not that one; he's crippled. Notice how he just sits there; something is wrong with one of his legs, so he can't run and play like the rest of the puppies. Choose another one.'
Without saying a word, the boy reached down, lifted his pant leg to expose a chrome leg brace to the owner.
'No,' he said firmly. 'I think I'll take the puppy in the corner.'
It turned out that what disqualified the puppy from being chosen by others is what most qualified him to be chosen by the little boy.
It's amazing how few of us believe in the unqualified grace of God. Oh, yes, God loves us, as long as we're clean and whole and fixed. But it turns out that what disqualifies you and me from 'spirituality' - the mess of our lives and our crippledness - is what most qualifies us to be chosen by Jesus."
("Messy Spirituality" was one of the books given to me by Charlie, one of the guys in my life group at Quest - Thanks Charlie!)
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