April's Thrills Bring May's Bills!

Wow! April has been a BUSY, BUSY month. We started the month by going to San Diego (Carlsbad, actually), where we enjoyed Legoland, the Wild Animal Park, Sea World, the beach, seafood, and family! We came back for a week, and then drove across NE and into Kansas City, MO, where I attended an SBC Chaplain's Development Conference on Islam at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, while the girls (all three of them) enjoyed (grand)parents and Jen's sister and niece. We got to see old friends as well, which was really neat. Then there was the interminable drive back across KS. I had forgotten the "joys" of smelling a cattleyard at night when I hadn't had time to prepare beforehand with a visual sighting! What olfactory bliss.

We did get to see the Old Ft. Bent Trading Post in Colorado on the way back (the next day, that is). That was really neat!

Anyway, we finally made it home to warm weather and green prairie (kind of nice, I must admit). I've been told that Wyoming summers more than make up for Wyoming winters. I hope so! Today was a great day, as was yesterday, and this whole week promises to be quite nice. We are all really looking forward to that.

I have a PDF of some GREAT pics from our trips, but I'm unable to get it to load!!! If you would like to see it, let me know, and I'll e-mail it to you!!!

Coolest job ever!

I love my job as a Chaplain. It's only Monday, and I've helped someone threatening suicide get the help he needs and I got to visit the wife of an Airman who just had (one month early) a 5# baby girl that they didn't even know was coming! I even got to hold the baby! She was perfect, and if you know me very well, you know I could go on and on and on--I won't. Last week, I visited an Airman in jail, and was able to see God doing some work in his life, now that he's hit rock bottom and all has been taken away from him.

Quite honestly, it's satisfying to be used of God in the lives of people. A few months ago, someone told me this--"Life is hard; stupidity makes it even harder." If it just stopped there, with "life is hard," what a waste this life would be! Thanks be to God for taking our stupidity and making it into something glorious! That's an awesome kind of job satisfaction.

Views and Sierra-isms

This is the view from our house. You can see the Rockies in the background during this beautiful sunset.

Sierra, as usual, keeps us laughing. Here are just a few "Sierra-isms" for your entertainment.
1. (After neighing loudly) "I'm kind of like a horse."
2. (After commenting on her roaring like a tiger)
Me--"You're not a tiger!"
She-"I'm just talented!"
3. While putting her to bed one night, she comments, "Dad, you're getting a uni-brow!"
4. Tonight, while she is doing her homework, she asks, "How do you spell 'nerd'?"
Me--"You spell 'nerd' like 'S-i-e-r-r-a'."
She-"Dad, how do you spell 'nerd'?"
Me--"K-a-y-l-a"
Kayla--"Oh, Dad! That was mean!!!"
She-"'Nerd!' Dad, how do you spell 'nerd'?"
Jen--"Sierra, you spell 'nerd' as 'n-e-r-d'."
She-"You know, like 'Leonard'!!"
5. 5. I called Sierra the other day and asked her to do something for me. She said, "I love you," and I said, "You're cute." Sierra responds with "Ah, you never tell me I'm cute." WHAT KIND OF FATHER AM I?

Life is just a barrel of laughs with children!!! Check back often--we'll try to keep these up-to-date.

APB (especially for the Dardens!)

Learned something new today. My sister-in-law turned around long enough for her 3-year old to grab the Super Glue and pour it out on his feet! Picture this little boy with great, big globs of greasy, grimey Super Glue all over his feet! Angela immediately scooped him up off of the floor (before he was stuck there to eternity and beyond!), and attempted the tried-and-true method of . . . . . . . acetone! She continued this treatment, despite Evan's cries of "It hurts, Mommy"! until she realized, with a fright, that she was running low on acetone and Evan's toes were still stuck together!!!! My wonderful mother-in-law recommended the Poison Control Center. So, here's what the "experts" recommend in such a situation:
1. DON'T use acetone. It burns (thus the aforementioned cries!).
2. DO soak in vegetable oil for 5 minutes (the super glue covered appendage, not you personally).
3. DO wash with warm, soapy water.
4. Chisel off super glue (please do NOT use a real chisel).

Bill and Barb--please mark this blog for future reference. You KNOW Owen's gonna need this advice!!!

New Smith Activities!

Hi! This is Kayla and I am starting gymnastics THIS Wednesday! I'm really excited! My teacher, Mrs. Gadlin, also entered my non - fiction book, NEPAL, in a young authors contest. I think it's going to be some real competition! As everyone - I think - knows, I'm going into 7th grade next year. I want my electives to be computers/electronics, a Speech/Drama class, and, as a back-up, Chorus. I think these will be fun but a little challenging. I'm not taking any advanced classes because I want to get used to junior high first. I'm a little nervous about junior high.
Dad is making me read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and there are some REALLY BIG WORDS in there. He's going over with me what they mean. Dad also ordered the next Harry Potter book for me, and it's supposed to be here July 21!
Sierra is taking piano lessons, so Mom and Dad are renting a new, digital piano. It's awesome! She is really excited. She is also getting yet another tooth! Sierra's teacher is supposed to be having her baby SOON! Sierra is excited that she gets to see Mrs. Hume's baby after it's born. I'm really jealous that I don't get to see her baby.
Milo has been very excited to see Dad again. Every time he sees Dad, he jumps on him! It's kind of funny, until he does it to me. :(
Kraig here--it's been a busy week for all of us. As you can tell, it's only going to get busier. Have a great week, and we look forward to hearing from you!

The Smiths

The Smiths

Well, it's snowing time again. It was 58 degrees yesterday, and now we have half a foot of snow on the ground. I guess it snowed all night long. Kayla is not very excited about the snow. She claims it has snowed about 20 TIMES this winter. Hate to tell her, but it's gonna be a long four years!!!! Kayla has written a haiku in honor of the snow she so loves. It's called, "Snow."

Snow falls so gently
During the winter so white
It falls urgently.

I am finally home from my Basic Chaplain Course at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL. It was a great course, with lots of neat classes and even some pretty decent people as classmates. However, I'm glad to be home. We did have a couple of really neat experiences while there (besides the tornados). We were able to go to the Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center and to the Tuskegee Airfield, where we met Lt Col Herbert Carter--an original Tuskegee Airman! That was pretty cool.

Sierra and Kayla both have loose teeth. We received a note yesterday from the Tooth Fairy that said, due to financial cutbacks, our children were to QUIT LOSING TEETH! We'll see how that works for her!!!

Dad's finally hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome, Sierra says. Apparently, she's happy about that! Jen is just happy that Sierra is staying in her own bed at night. She doesn't seem to handle my being gone very well.

Kayla had a science fair project this month. Her question was, "Out of nine horse food brands, which one breaks down to the smallest particles?" The winner? Wilson's Horse Pellets! As a matter of fact, Kayla is also a winner. She won third place!!! We are very proud of her.

Hi! This is Kayla writing. Sorry we haven't written in a while. We've been really busy. For example, I've been writing some poems. Here's a few:

"Books"
Paper goes into rough drafts,
Rough drafts go into books,
I love to read a book
By the fire.

It goes something like that. It's called a change poem. Here's one more:

"Tina the Turtle"

Tina the turtle told the TV that Tammy the tiger was coming to tea.
Though Tina told Tammy that traveling was absurd, Tammy the tiger
traveled to Thailand to make tea today, tomorrow, and Thursdays.

I'm sure you guessed what genre that one was. If you guessed tounge twister then you're right! I'll "show" you some others in other blogs. When I said we've been busy, I meant BUSY! Dad went to AL, We've moved in the past few months, and a bunch of other things that made us forget about our blog. We'll update you on what has happened this week, later this week.
Sincerely,
The Smiths

The Smiths first blizzard!

The Smiths

Wow! I have never been in a blizzard before. For some reason, I like experiencing extreme weather at least once, although usually from someplace where it's safe and secure--in this case, my house!!! It's certainly been a busy week. The girls went home with Mel and Mom after their Christmas program last week (which was nice, but the school needs a better sound system). Jen and I went to the Wing Christmas Party Saturday night, which was fun. We have decided to take dancing lessons, especially if we are going to be doing this for 20 years (we hope?). On Sunday, we went down and picked up my brother from DIA, and then went Christmas shopping. It was snowing on the way down (nasty stuff), but cleared up later on. Monday morning, we learned of a suicide which had taken place Sunday night/early Monday morning. THAT put a damper on things. I dealt with that some, as well as marital counseling, that day. It was quite the busy day! Today, we were sent home early due to the blizzard coming. So, with that all written, here are some pictures. The first one is of the antelope which came wandering by my office window yesterday. The herd on base just wanders around randomly--I guess they had decided it was our turn to "host" them! They made sure to leave a nice trail of "presents" for us to clean up. Chocolate, anybody?!

The Smiths

The Smiths

December 8, 2006

Wow! We've not been very good at keeping this up-to-date. Sorry about that. We'll try to do better! So, where do I start?
*My mom is here for the month. We've really enjoyed her staying with us. It's actually a good thing, because her van broke down, and we were able to find a place here in Cheyenne to work on it and get it fixed! She's unable to sit still for very long, so all of the loose ends from moving here are getting sewn up.
*The girls will be in a Christmas program next week, and Mom will be here for that. They are both excited about it. Sierra told me today that she is nervous about being on stage because she's never done it before!!! I reminded her that she was on stage in Kindergarten at least twice a year--not sure if it helped or not. Kayla has been staying late after school for practice because she actually has a speaking part!
*Jennifer has been busy decorating the house for Christmas. She actually bought the tree (a bigger deal in Cheyenne than you might think--remember, it's the prairie!!!) and put it up. We had a decoration night last week, and then she and Mom put out the finishing touches. It looks REALLY nice.
*Part of my duties as a Chaplain is to give the invocation at various events. I'm the Duty Chaplain this week, and as such was tagged to give the invocation at a graduation. I sat at the Head Table. When the MC said he was going to introduce the Head Table and other Distinguished Visitors, I just sat back and relaxed. After all, I'm only a 1st Lt, and certainly don't consider myself a Distinguished Visitor. "Col . . . . , Command Chief . . . , Col . . . ., Col . . . . ., Command Chief of the 20th AF . . . . .," on and on it went, with colonels and command chiefs popping up all over the room. Imagine my surprise when he says, "And our Chaplain for the night, Chaplain Kraig Smith!" I just kind of half stood up, prompting the 90th Space Wing Command Chief to say, "We'll have to work on that."
*What do I do as a chaplain in the Air Force? I have two official duties--provide for the spiritual care of the airmen and advise commanders on religious issues. Here's how I do that--I preach for the Traditional Service on Sunday mornings at 11:00. I teach Sunday School at 9:30. I lead the Protestant Youth Group (PYOC) on Wednesday nights, thus caring for the airmen by caring for their kids. I counsel Airmen in my squadrons (I am the chaplain for 5 squadrons). This last week, I counseled one who lost a brother to cancer and one who lost an aunt suddenly. I also provided some re-integration counseling to someone just returning from a year-long deployment. I visit my squadrons, making myself available for further counseling. I try to maintain a presence in the squadrons so that I am known, and airmen don't hesitate to come to me for marital counseling, religious counseling, personal counseling, etc.

Were an airmen to come to his commander and request permission to wear a yarmulke, for instance, I might be asked to research the requirements of the airman's religious belief and how his wearing the yarmulke affects military order and discipline. That's one example of how I might advise the commanders.

Many have asked how I like my job. I like it a lot. This is EXACTLY where God wants me to be. It stretches me at times; it challenges me at times; it's different from anything I've ever done. It's everything I asked God for--I won't be a fat Southern Baptist preacher, because I have to be "fit to fight" (even though I'm a non-combatant). There's lots of variety. It's easier to do ministry in the world than it often is when sequestered in a church somewhere. On top of that, God has placed me under an excellent supervisor, who actually cares about people--including my family.

With that being said, we do miss our friends from Maryland (whether they have remained in MD or moved elsewhere!).

Have a Merry Christmas, and may Jesus Christ reign in your life.

Kraig

Newest Member!

The Smiths
What's up? Figured I would introduce our newest member of the family. When we were talking about moving from MD, we promised the girls a pet. Then, we rented a huge house here, and decided we REALLY needed a pet, especially as there are times I'll be away. So, my sister took up the job of getting us a pet, and here we have . . . . . . . . Milo!

Milo is a Blue Heeler/Lab/Other mix. He's very sweet and smart and terribly ferocious! He gets along well with the girls (all three of them), and he's already decided he owns the house. We do have to correct that 'attitude' every now and again. :)