Heading Out

So I am getting all of the final arrangements made and then I leave tomorrow.

It is almost unbelievable that this day has finally come. In many, many ways I am not looking forward to leaving, but as my wise wife points out, "tomorrow just means that our reunion will get here sooner."

It is also almost unbelievable because God has been bringing us to this point for so long. I have looked back at some old journals and found that we began looking into the idea of military chaplaincy back in 2000-ish. So in some ways this has been a very long road. In other ways it has come quickly.

Today we did a "send-off" at church and had a bit of a going-away open house at the home of some dear friends. It was wonderful seeing everyone and being encouraged by them.

As much as this day seems "almost unbelievable", it is exciting to be serving God and knowing that He is calling us to this ministry.

As I have mentioned, I am going to try to update this page daily. I will also try to make sure it is somewhat interesting. Stay posted.

A White Christmas

It has been a while for our family. In fact, it has maybe never happened for us at all.

Depending on your definition of a "white Christmas", we have possibly never had one. Now, if you define a white Christmas as one in which snow is on the ground, we have had plenty of those. In fact, we have had them with snow and ice on the ground, and they have turned into white New Years, white January, white February, and even some white March. Idaho Falls, ID and Grand Rapids, MN can be like that.

However, if your definition of a white Christmas is a Christmas day in which snow is actually falling, this may be the first for our complete family. So I thought I might try to share a little bit of it with you, but mailing snowballs is kind of difficult, so here is a little video clip.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve

We had a pretty good Christmas Eve.

I went to the gym, we had some presents arrive that we had sent, we each opened one present, and we went to a Christmas Eve service at Eagle Christian Church.

The gym went pretty well. I tested myself and did OK with the pushups and situps. I was a little off on my time with the run, but that may have been because I was watching ESPN.

I ordered Chris some flowers for Christmas and they were delivered today. They did a really nice job with the arrangement of roses and then put in some Christmas kinds of decorations.

The Christmas Eve service was very nice although we were a little late getting there due to a fairly heavy snowfall. We have been getting snow off and on for the last several days and so we will have a white Christmas this year.

The presents that we opened were from family. The boys opened two small boxes from their great-grandparents and they were both lighted monoculars. Very cool. They were looking across the house with them. Chris and I opened presents from our family in MN. They were pure maple syrup and homemade raspberry jam. Needless to say, we are very much looking forward to breakfast.

We hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and remember what we are really celebrating in the gift of Christ.
Corey