Room to breathe...

Howdy all,
I finally have some room to breathe and to write something quasi-legitimate. Sorry that the posts have been so few and far between but thanks to all who are posting. Since you are commenting, I know that it is worth my time to keep writing in this...even if it is just silly versions of 3 Blind Mice.
Things here are going well but they are really, REALLY busy. We had 50% of the graded projects and tests done in the first 2 weeks! Talk about front loaded! So, what am I doing here all day? Good question. The schedule starts at around 5-6 AM every day. I get up and get my uniform together (or Physical Conditioning uniform if we are doing PT). I grab a quick bite and head to class. Classes run from 7am-5pm every day. Sometimes later. What do we talk about in class? Lots of stuff.
The time here is divided into 3 blocks. Block 1 had a couple of hundred pages of notes. We had classes on: The Military Chaplain, Air Force (AF) Writing, Ministry in a Pluralistic Environment, History of the AF chaplaincy, Privliged communication, Death Casualty Notification, Cultivating the Culture of Airmen, Modeling Ethical Leadership, Special Projects, Military Funerals, Conflict Management, Officer Evaluation System, Mentoring, Doing Global Ministry, Young Adults in the AF, Military Briefings, IDS and CAIB, Religious Accommodation, Jewish Religion, Catholic Religion, Orthodox Religion, Protestant Religion, Islam Religion, Wicca Religion...I'm tired of typing my table of contents. That is about half of the subjects we covered in block 1. It culminated in a big test that I was a little nervous about. But I only missed 3 questions. The best grade in the class was missing 2...so I was right up there. There were only 5 A's in the class...so I felt pretty good about that.
We also do PT about 3 times a week. The first day, they gave us a PT test and I hadn't run since November (except for a hand full of times). About 7 of us were walking around trying not to throw up when we were done (I was successful in this but others were not so lucky). But it goes to show you how good Karate is because I maxed out in Push-Ups (highest in the class) and sit ups (I quit with 10 seconds left to do more). So the run sucked but the rest was ok. Today we went for a little over 2 mile run (2.5?) and I ran the whole thing (Yea me). I have also had a few projects and papers. We also do devotionals every day. I did mine. I play guitar for the other guys as often as they like. Wish I would have brought my music now . We have this one guy who brought his ukulele and he plays with me and 2 other guys. Its really fun actually.
Once we finished the test, we ended block 1 and now we are moving into block 2. I am really excited about block 2. We just finished 3 days of training in pastoral counseling. I LOVED IT! I feel so much more equipped to counsel people who come into my office. The great thing is that this model of counseling was not designed for the military so it will work back in Huxley too! They are also going to train me in PREPARE/ENRICH pre-marital and marital counseling, ASIST suicide counseling and about 4 other "tools" that I can use back home too! While I am really tired because of all the work, it is all really good stuff. I would have to pay a lot of money for all the free training I am getting here.
This block will go for a few more weeks. Then we move into block 3 which is more class room stuff. Around week 5 they will send us out to the field...which means they pretend we are getting deployed to war, go through a mobility line and then get onto a military aircraft and fly down to Florida where we will live in "Tent City" for a week while we do a bunch of fun stuff (confidence courses and things like that) as well as some not so fun stuff (Emergency Counseling, Chemical Attack Response...stuff like that).
So that's what I am doing. But HOW am I doing? Other than tired, pretty good. I really like the guys I am working with. We work really hard but we laugh really hard too. W e talk about such incredibly heavy stuff that when we laugh it feels really good. And some of the guys are just funny...you know how Corey is just funny? There are one or 2 guys that are kind of like that. They aren't quite as funny but they get them in once in a while.
Wendy and Grace are doing great. They spend a lot of time in the pool and with Aunt Jessie and Cousin Lila. Grace is talking more and more every day. She is also dancing a lot. Wendy is doing great too. A little stir crazy but
TDY life (Temporary Duty) is wild. You eat out a LOT which is really fun for the first week and then boring as all get out. You get tired of going to restaurants all the time, and trying to find new ones or get new things from old ones.
Where is God here? Lots of places (obviously, with that whole omnipotence thing). The thing He has been teaching me lately is that I need to evaluate myself between me and him. So much of my life is spent going, "Well, I did better than him, but not as good as him." This is just not a great way of living life. I need to be asking, "Did I do what God asked of me to the best of my ability?" and if I did, who cares how they other guy did?!
Well, this has been a long email. I guess I would close by asking you to pray. Pray that Grace and Wendy wouldn't get too stir crazy and that I would get a second wind. I am tired. Thanks for praying and for reading this mini-novel.