October 2022 Update: New horizons in familiar places.

      Since my last post things have changed quite substantially. My wife just accepted an IT job with TAMU and I am expecting to have orders to report back to Fort Bragg in Feb of 2023 and to move back to Bragg in Oct/Nov 2023 when my recruiting time is done. All my boys are walking now and Nico is babbling more every day. On top of all this my wife and I had our vow renewal ceremony as well!

     My wife applied for a job with TAMU after my father sent her the link for the application. It took a few weeks to get an interview, which she crushed, and a few more weeks to get the official offer. In this time between the interview and the offer we contemplated staying here in College Station on the grounds her new job met a certain salary. Sadly it did not come close. The plan would have been for her to work this job and I would transition into the Army reserves and work as a teacher. In doing this, I would more than likely have to rely on her paycheck alone for a semester while I started a teaching certificate program with TAMU. We prayed daily for God to show us what path to take with the answer in getting the job offer and a salary offer to meet our families needs. We are disappointed in some ways we won't get to stay but excited for other opportunities that God may bring us in the future move. For now, she will enjoy working there starting in early November and get about a years worth of experience.  

     The Army now has in place a market system for "choosing" next assignments. Basically, it shows the slots that will be available for the quarter of the year you will move. These slots are based off of your rank, military job specialty and any special skills you may have. I have many options before me and have been assured by the civilians in charge of managing personnel movement that due to my service as a recruiter I will get back to where I want to go. It doesn't get specific beyond what division or brigade you would be assigned too but my top 3 picks are 82nd aviation, 44th med (exactly where I was before recruiting) and 82nd infantry division; all of which are located on Fort Bragg. We still own our house out there and plan to move back into it should we get the chance.

      My oldest son went to pre-school for a few months but after seeing how a few bad eggs were influencing his entire pre-k class we pulled him out. He wasn't learning as much as we thought he would, mostly because of the curriculum, but also due to the few other highly disruptive children in his class. The pre-k program is free to active duty military and to those who are under a certain level of household income. The latter no doubt affecting the level of disruptions and negative behaviors in the class. For now he is at home with my wife continuing to be awesome. My middle boy continues to grow in his boldness physically and I fear will soon start to replicate my feats of strength and courage. These feats will no doubt lead to a rise in my blood pressure. Our youngest boy is now walking around with ease in the house and a little bumbly on the outside terrain. He says a few words, mostly "yeah!" when he wants something. For example, when I take a drink of my water bottle he will look at me, point at the bottle and say "Yeah?!". Upon receiving the bottle from my hands he confirms this with more of a statement "Yeah..". All boys are doing fantastic and growing faster than I want them too. 

     My wife and I have anticipated renewing our vows for a year now. The planning started last October and it actually took place on her birthday, 08 October. I took the opportunity to show my class and culture by wearing the appropriate tartan wool kilt. It cost almost as much as my wife's dress and looked slightly less fantastic. Gordon Weathered tartan went well with our fall theme with it's subdued colors. Matt, my childhood youth pastor, agreed to be the minister for the wedding of which he did an absolute perfect job. My wife and I had a few counseling sessions with him in the months beforehand and we really enjoyed the knowledge and wisdom that came from that. The actual day day and ceremony were perfect and honestly more beautiful than I could have imagined. My wife was absolutely ecstatic and only maybe once was upset. (An individual didn't stick to the plan!) This was quickly passed over and the festivities cheered everyone in attendance! The children, of which there were many, danced the short evening away as did my wife and several other guests. It was an amazing day that I will remember forever. 

     I also started hosting a bible study group in my house on Thursday nights at 2000 hours. Between 5 and 12 guys will show up and we study through the book of Ephesians. It's actually happening tonight and I really enjoy every day we do it. I was not really having a great day up to this point and just thinking about doing that tonight is lifting my spirit. God has really blessed me this past few months and I have tried to lean more on God for patience and trust in His decisions for my life. I just pray that I will be used by God in whatever place I go whatever job I do and to end my pride getting in the way of these decisions. It is much easier to make decisions using my pride than it is to rely on God's will and being patient enough to wait for an answer. However, the peace that is granted once you trust in God's goodness for your life is irreplaceable. Some days I remember this more than others; each day has it's own struggles after all and tomorrow is something I shouldn't worry too much about. 

Stoicism and the Carnivore Diet.

      The last few weeks I have gotten back to my usual reading habits. By usual I mean my reading habits I had pre-army life. I read quite a bit before joining the Army and even in the Army I probably read more than the average person does; averaging a few books a year. (More if audio-books count!) But as of the late I have devoted myself to reading every night before bed as I used to. This has benefited me in several ways: 1) I get tired quickly when I read in my bed and can fall asleep faster. 2) I go to bed earlier as... 3) ... I don't spend as much time on my phone. 4) I am exposed to thoughts and ideas that challenge me to think beyond my normal perspective and exercise some real philosophical filtering muscles. 

     Reading through Viktor Frankl's  A Man's Search for Meaning, I was challenged to see my life in a different way. To realize, perhaps, that a man's greatest satisfaction is living for something other than himself. (By that I mean for more than just simple self gratification portrayed well by so many reality shows on TV today.) By living and sacrificing daily for your family, your God and your work then perhaps you can find satisfaction by changing your perception of how you manage these 3 spheres. While he doesn't implicitly state it, I think that perhaps the underlying theme is a man can only be completely satisfied should he succeed in all three of these spheres and that a lack of spirituality is the cause for much undue dissatisfaction with life. The stories of his experience in the different concentration camps really made me appreciate the simple things in life a lot more as I attempted to mentally put myself in the shoes of the prisoners with him every night. I could almost feel the unrelenting Bavarian winter wind whipping through thin cloth onto my skin as Frankl went through memories of the nightmare he lived. 

      This has given me much to think about as a dive into a second round on the carnivore diet. I'm taking it slow and am going to eat according to the paleo diet for a few days/weeks until I am ready to go full carnivore. As I transitioned back into my normal eating habits I noticed my lack of attention span, energy levels and mental fog taking turns for the worse. My only vice while on the diet will be my morning espresso, americano or non-sugar latte. I invested in a rather pricy espresso machine but I did the math and in a few months it will pay for itself; this is based off my habit of going out for coffee only 3-4 times a week at local coffee shops to order a plain espresso. 

     I am currently finishing up Breakfast With Seneca by David Fideler. I am not new to the concepts and structure of stoicism but I am certainly learning a lot more in depth about the exact tools one can use to practice stoicism in a more practical and rational form. As I was reading through this book I often found myself substituting some phrases such as fate, fortune, destiny, etc with "God" or "Christ" as I think the way stoics and Christians claim to conduct themselves are often parallel in nature. I was thinking to myself of writing an essay for myself comparing the two and answering the question "How can Stoic teachings and practices benefit the Christian in the modern day" only to discover there is a whole book about that. I'm not sure if that is what I will read next but it's on my short list of books to slay.