Settling into the routine

Hello Interested Readers,

Well, another week has come and gone. Amazingly, we actually get tomorrow (Saturday) off, so I’ll get a chance to have a real weekend! I’ve been staying pretty busy this week, working from 6:00 in the morning until 10 or 11 in the evening. I’ve found that evenings are the best time to get work done as I don’t have to deal with anyone.

For those of you interested in my weekly schedule, it goes something like this:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday
0500 Wake-up
0550 Staff circle (check-in)
0600 Physical Training (PT)
0730 shower/get dressed in uniform
0745 breakfast at wardroom
0800 begin workday
1130 lunch
1730 official end of workday (when I eat dinner)
2200-2300 turn-in for evening

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays
0500 Wake-up
0530 breakfast
0550 Staff circle
0600 begin workday
1130 lunch
1730 official end of workday (when I eat dinner)
2200-2300 turn-in for evening

On Sundays I clean my room and do laundry in the morning before heading to the wardroom for a nice big brunch meal. I lead a Bible study/worship service in our little chapel at 1930.
I usually spend Mondays trying to get all my weekly reports done. I spend Tuesday morning in various staff meetings. The last one of the day is the "people’s meeting" where we talk about personnel issues in the command. I am one of the select few that attend the second half of that meeting where we discuss the troubled Seabees of our command. Usually by Wednesday evening I’m pretty caught up with my weekly responsibilities. This allows me to spend Thursday through Saturday on "deck plate ministry"—walking around and talking to people in their work spaces.

This week, my biggest accomplishment was getting two articles out to local newspapers, including one that I wrote myself. We’ll see if it gets published! Including photographs of various events sent into web pages and the like, the Public Affairs Office (PAO) has already submitted 28 items for publication. We’re supposed to have a minimum of 15, so we’ve almost doubled that score in half-a-month.

As you can tell, I’m doing my best to keep everything squared away in the Chaplain and PAO offices. I made my people clean our spaces today as things were getting a little cluttered. I’m starting to learn how to use my "command voice," something I never did quite figure out as a youth minister. Of course, I lead by example, so I was cleaning too.

I am also developing my "counseling voice," as I’ve had the opportunity already to formally counsel a half-dozen people. I tell you, it is interesting following up on the stories that I hear in my office. I’m quickly learning the importance of trying to get every angle on the story. It’s amazing how people in my office (especially the ones who have been busted for doing something stupid) conveniently leave out details. That said, I am honored to live and work alongside my fellow Seabees, and though counseling wears me out, it’s great getting to see people turn their lives around.

Anyway, enough Navy stuff…Tomorrow I am going shopping with two of the guys in my office. We’re also thinking about going snorkeling Sunday morning, which would be lots of fun. I intend to capture our activities on camera, so hopefully I’ll have a few pictures to put up on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of me serving up NMCB 4’s birthday cake…

I hope and pray that you are all doing well. I miss all of you, though staying so busy helps keep me from being too lonely.

Love,
Peter