Coin and Covenant

The chaplains held a "coin and covenant" ceremony last week. The idea being that a couple can come together, think about the commitment they made to each other, then recommit in a simple ceremony that would sustain the relationship while deployed.

Sounds good. We like it. We went. It was good.

Katie and I exchanged small cards with our promises to each other hand written on them. The cards were then laminated. I have Katie's promises to me in my pocket now. She has mine in her purse.

We were also given a "mizvah" coin--you've probably seen them, the "coin" necklace that is broken in two, with two parts of a prayer written upon it. It's a symbol of our unity and the hope that we will one day rejoin the coin to be together again. God willing.

It was an all-too-short moment in time when I could try to communicate to my bride just what she means to me. The words were all true, the emotions real, but I wish we had more time to reflect and experience the moment. The organizers tried to squeeze the ceremony in during a lunch break. I had a staff meeting immediately after the ceremony at 1300, so guess where my mind wandered off to. I was getting worried about making my meeting on time. Katie certainly deserves better.

The local paper sent out a reporter to cover the event and to do a report on chaplains in general. We were interviewed and the paper ran the article this morning. The picture is from the article. If you're interested you can read the article here: http://www.coastalcourier.com/news/article/16817/

Great Labor Day Weekend

We had a great time with Dave, Sue, and their kids. Dave and I hit the golf ball around (notice I didn't say we 'played' golf), we went to the beach at Tybee, and yesterday afternoon Alex and I joined them for a horse-drawn carriage tour of Savannah.

I actually learned quite a bit on that tour. Savannah is an interesting town.

The video is not the best--the music is drowning out our tour guide and I haven't figured out how to lower the background music volume on the software I have. But, the video does capture what we saw.

I wish I had video of the beach to share. The weather Saturday was perfect! The water temperature was wonderful. Just a great day in the sun...which we followed up with a nice dinner at AJ's on the island.

Visitors

It's Labor Day weekend. I have a few days off, so my brother and his family came down to visit. This will probably be the last time I see them before I depart for Iraq.

He's a good trooper. They left their home yesterday after finishing work. They drove all night and got here at about 0430 this morning. That's crazy! But, like I said, he and his family are good troopers and I really appreciate the effort they're making to spend time with us.

A community on Hilton Head Island is offering Soldiers free rounds of golf this weekend. We're going to take advantage of that later today. I think my brother is a very good golfer, so I think he'll enjoy playing there vs. playing on post. The post golf course is fine...it looks nice and is fun to play, but it lacks the same panache as playing on H.H.Is.

We'll probably hit the beach Saturday, attend church together Sunday, and they'll be off on Monday.

I'll keep you up to date on how the weekend progresses.