An Old Friend, Unexpectantly - Michael

One of the sad duties here is to provide pastoral care for our units in the midst casualties. My Canadian contingent honors every one of their fallen with a memorial service. They will gather all of their troops and embassy personnel on the roof-top patio of their main office. The senior officers will pay their last respects, the senior officer will say a few words of remembrance and then the chaplain says a few words and prays. Following this, there is the Canadian version of taps, a moment of silence followed by their national anthem. I normally do the chaplain portion, but this day a Canadian chaplain was visiting the compound. Naturally, I am going to step aside to have him do the chaplain portion. I stood with the crowd along the side. The Canadian chaplain came out and stood in place, and , lo and behold, I recognized him and he recognized me.

I was deployed to Cold Lake, Canada back in 2004 or 2005 for an exercise. I spent a little time with their chapel staff - they even allowed me to preach a service for them. :) This chaplain was their Senior Protestant Chaplain, and here he was in Afghanistan with me. I did not bring a camera so no pics, but we were able to spend about an hour afterwards catching up on all of the goings on in our lives. You never know who you will meet down the road in a foreign country in the middle of a war zone, ministering to God's people. :)

Blessings, Michael

Choosing Joy!

©2010 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~

Living all of life before the face of God...

I'm Home

Ah - I love my PWOC Peeps - but THESE are my all-time favorite peeps to hang out with.


Whirlwind nine days. I'll write more tomorrow.

Choosing Joy!

©2010 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~

Living all of life before the face of God...

Here is more of "the Deid" - Michael

Here are a few more random shots of the area. It did not matter which way you looked, it was all the same.

It just does not get much bleaker than this!

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Trip to "The Deid" - Michael

The trip to "the Deid" was an interesting excursion in Mil-air. There is no question that mil-air is not United, American, or even Ryan Air, but it will get you into places that none of those others would ever dream of going. In-flight service usually has much to be desired. Leg space can be cramped or spacious depending on the mission. What you don't see in the picture is that there is no knee space between myself and the person across from me. It is very crowded on this, uh, leg of the journey.  For those who are a little familiar with Mil-air, this is a C-130.


The landscape of Qatar leaves a person yearning for something green. It is unbelieveably bleak and barren. I saw a few palm trees on the last day, but they were off in the distance. There just is nothing out there but rock, sand, dust and heat.  The entire country is no more than 100 feet above sea level and is surrounded by water.  The heat is made worse by the humidity. 



One highlight of the trip was being able to see Tabitha. She is one of the Chaplain Assistants in Misawa. It was fun spending a little time talking shop but mostly talking family. She is doing well, but really looking forward to getting back home with her husband and son. It was nice to catch up with a friend in an unexpected place.












Blessings - Michael

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Playing in the Rice Paddies

I love to walk to the end of our street and watch the ducks play in the rice paddies. I'm fairly certain the farmers don't find them quite so charming.
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

When your pants slide off and other such happenings

Spent the a.m. running errands. 

Spent the afternoon at the beach with the kids.

Grilled salmon, asparagus, balsamic potatoes, rolls, oven french fries, green salad, spinach & strawberry salad, fruit salad....dinner.

Now to pack....found the camera....

This trench keeps growing - now reaches the ocean. I suspect they'll bulldoze it again and even it all out eventually....but for now the kids love playing in it.

Stacia has become my sea glass collector. We discovered these rocky spots are BEST for finding sea glass, we simply sit down and look around us.....

This is not a staged shot....four nice pieces laying out....Stacia loves finding them.

Stacia and I  have a "pocketful" rule...because she likes to collect rocks and all sorts of pretty shells too, "for mother's day." I tell her the sea glass goes in the bucket (or bag) and she can take as many shells as will fit in her pockets....Look at those pockets... Which led to her astute observation today......

"When your pants slide off, your pockets are full!"

Our additions today....plenty of room left in the bucket. LOL

Glad to have one who sits and collects with me....we even laid back and caught some rays today. But not Zander.....

Look at the lettuce - had garden fresh romaine today....and broccoli too.

Kids were SHOCKED I bought these for them.....American Obentos. ::snort:: I'm going to buy some bento boxes and make our own with organic treats in the future. The kids kept saying, "Thank you, Mom, I never thought you'd EVER buy us these!" ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Rice Paddies....

The fields are still flooded (obviously), but the little green rice shoots are growing....this is fascinating to watch.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...