The Daddy Chronicles

Monday, August 3, 2009

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The baby room has been completed, and as you can see we've pretty much settled on the name as well. Cynthia and I felt it was important to pay close attention to the meaning of the name we picked out. Eva means "life". I have to admit that the fact that baby Camp (a.k.a. Eva) has managed to kick my wife's butt from the inside out was one of the reasons for choosing this name. She is a very lively and active girl. She also represents the lives that God has restored. Cynthia and I are so blessed to share our lives as one now. God has breathed LIFE in us again. Grace seems kind of obvious. I believe it is important to live a life of grace. Jesus showed us through His life what it means to live, talk, and breathe grace. It is our prayer for this new little life that she grows up to live that life of grace to others.

We eagerly anticipate the arrival of our new addition to the family; Eva Grace Camp.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Revitalize Your Quiet Times

From time to time we are all in need of some direction when it comes to the "How" for our quiet times. Our pastor suggested a Life Journal a few weeks back and I thought it sounded interesting. It's basically a way for an individual to write their own devotional while reading the bible through in a year. Each day you read the chapters for that day. Once you've read the assignment you then turn to the daily pages. The daily pages are used to record how God has spoke to you that day through His scripture. Write a title for what He said to you, record the date and page number at the top of the page. The Life Journal suggests using the S.O.A.P. strategy for writing. First, write the [S]cripture that spoke to you that day. Next, [O]bserve what the scripture is saying and how it applies to life. [A]pplication is writing about how the verse spoke to you in your current situation whether it be a challenge, conviction, a call to action, or promise for you. Finally, Write your [P]rayer to God. There's also prayer request pages to write and track prayer requests. It's an incredible tool for anyone needing some direction for their quite times. Cynthia and I have been using it and it's just been awesome. I can't wait to have written my first complete devotional and look back and see what God has done in our lives.
Here's the web address. Order your today!

Friday, May 22, 2009

"Zacchaeus was a wee little man..."

Scoot Your Booty Race

One of my friends from work bought the game "Chicken Limbo" and gave it to us.

We played limbo for awhile, but after getting bored with it we found a new game to play. Behold.......Booty Scoot Race!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Easter '09

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sea World 04-2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

They Are Not Our Sons & Daughters...

I heard this letter read on a radio talk show I often listen to. It is written by a soldier serving in Afghanistan. I couldn't help but shed a few tears. Our soldiers ARE NOT ignorant young'ns who blindly sign up for military service without any idea of what's to come. They willingly put their life on the line DESPITE the cost.

Letter by: Sarah Albrycht

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

~ Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

A few nights ago, I walked a quiet mile with hundreds of other service members. It was a clear night in Bagram, Afghanistan. Although it was late, the birds were singing, perhaps roused by the unusual occurrence of people walking under their trees at the late hour. Soft voices broke the solemnity, but no words were discernible. Suddenly, as if on cue, soldiers, airmen, seamen, marines, broke off the sidewalk and lined the road, spacing themselves regularly and assuming a position of silent watchfulness. The honor cordon had formed.

Heads began to turn right as flashing blue lights appeared far down the road. As the vehicles neared, one by one, service members assumed the position of attention and rendered the hand salute. In the back of an open truck sat eight military members, and between them, at their feet, was a flag draped casket.

As I rendered my salute, I thought about the fallen soldier. I did not know his name, his unit or his home. I never saw his face or spoke to his family. I did not know why he volunteered for the Army or what he was doing when he was killed. But there was much I did know. I knew he had fought and died in an honorable cause, a cause that had little to do with our policy on Afghanistan. This soldier had volunteered to put his very life on the line in service to his nation and his brothers-in-arms. I see no more honorable cause that that.

In a column, Mr. Putney has again raised the debate about the sacrifice of America's "sons and daughters" in uniform. Some have argued that we must continue the fight to honor their memory "so that they have not died in vain." Others argue we must stop the wars to save soldiers from this fate. I think an essential understanding of what motivates those of us in uniform is missing in this debate.

We are not your sons and daughters, whom you must protect and defend. We are your sword and your shield. We are men and women who volunteer to place our lives on the line so you do not have to. We do not decide when or where we will be sent. We go. You are our advocates, not our parents.

We trust you to care for our families, to hold our jobs, pay for our equipment, salary and medical care and yes, to honor our sacrifice. We trust you to vote for good political leadership, to speak out against bad policy decisions and to demand public accountability. However, we do not count on you to explain the honorable character of our service. We are ennobled by the very fact we serve.

Our "high moral cause" is one of service to a nation whose principles we believe in. We miss the point of political debate when we distill it down to numbers of service member deaths. Debate should be about the policy that leads us in or pulls us out of war. I, as a soldier, am personally insulted when debate about war becomes not about policy, but about deaths, because it implies that my service is at best uninformed or ill-conceived, and at worst valueless.

I know my life is in the hands of others because I choose for it to be that way. I am not your daughter, a child who must be guided. I have made my choice and pledge my honor to it. I will thank you to remember that because we serve our nation, none of us dies in vain, regardless of the cause; end of debate.

Every day a new Marine enlists or an airman puts on her uniform is a reminder that our defenders come from people who still believe in our nation and the values it aspires to, as flawed as we sometimes are. War does not make our sacrifice honorable, death does not make our service honorable; service itself is our honor.

We, your American service members, do not see the cause for which we may give our last full measure of devotion, as our nation's goals in Iraq or Afghanistan, and perhaps that is the difference. Our cause is our nation, in all her beautiful, imperfect glory.

So on a dark night in Afghanistan we stood under a velvet sky of a million stars to honor one man who lay under 50. We never doubted what he died for. Pfc. Patrick A. Devoe II died for you, the United States of America.

Sarah Albrycht is a Bennington native serving in the Army in Afghanistan.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Our Little Miracle

Here she is! A life already written by God just waiting to greet the world. This is but a glimpse of what she looks like and we can already tell that she has Cynthia's chin.