Week in Review...

Hi Family and Friends,

It has been 9 days since I came home from my adventure in South Carolina and I wanted to keep you updated with life in the Nagel home...

It has been wonderful being home with Christina and the kids. Each morning I love being greeted by the sweet smiles of Herbie and Allie as they face the excitement of the new day. One thing I learned by my time away from home is how much I've been blessed with. My marriage and kids are the sunshine of my life. Thank you Lord!

I miss the boys at CH-BOLC. Many times throughout the week I stopped to think about what everyone would be doing in S.C. Each morning I get up at the same time to do PT. I'm afraid if I don't, I'll slip back to my old habits and get lazy and chubby again. At first I even tried to do the same stretches I knew the rest of the gang were doing a thousand miles away but soon realized it was really hard to stay focused when you don't have a drill sergeant leading the way. (Plus, I look really funny in the park doing some of those stretches by myself!) One thing I did learn is that in order to stay in shape you have to mix up your workouts and have fun! I now like to hike one big hike a week and run M/W/F and do upper body work on T/TH. (Another good thing about exercise is that if you sweat for an hour in the morning you can have pizza without growing too much!!!)

I weighed myself yesterday and I'm maintaining 195. My long term goal is to get to 185 so I have some work to do!

On Sunday we went back to my former church to visit and worship. It was wonderful to be greeted by all the people of GMCC. They have been so supportive and loving over the last several years! I had the chance to meet the new pastor and his wife for the first time and was overjoyed to see God had brought a great team to serve the church community. I was surprised when they asked me to come and deliver the closing prayer but it was wonderful to pray with the family once again.

Monday we were surprised to see a "For Sale" sign placed in our front yard. We were planning to stay in our current home until the Lord opened the next door for our ministry in the Army but it looks like our Father has different plans....Keep this minor development in your prayers...

On Monday I took both of the kids to the doctor for Allie's one year checkup. I sure have a lot of respect for ladies who do this all the time. Wow! Keeping Herbie entertained while keeping Allie in the right place was a lot of work. Allie had to have 5 shots...I hate watching my little girl cry as she looks at me with her blue eyes and seems to say..."Daddy, why are you letting the strange lady hurt me?"

On Tuesday I took Herbie to "Tumble Time." This is supposed to be a fun time for 2-3 year olds to learn how to do basic gymnastics...Let's just say that it was crazy!!!! Herbie liked running from one end of the gym to the other over and over...I guess I'm getting payed back for my wildness as a kid!

On Wednesday we celebrated Christina's 28th Birthday by meeting her at her company for a picnic lunch with the kids and with a special night out for dinner just the two of us. I'm glad I married a younger gal! She gets prettier as the years go by...

On Thursday I drove the kids down to Colorado Springs and spent the day with my sister Comfort, my nieces and nephew and even had the opportunity to grab lunch with my brother-in-law Justin. It was great to spend the day catching up...Beautiful family! Justin is now an iron-man from all of his cycling. Wow! He made me look like I should go back to boot camp. :)

Yesterday I hiked to the top of Green Mountain and had a special moment with the Lord while looking over the entire city of Denver...It was beautiful! I should have brought the camera to show you the view...next time maybe??? (I think that was a 4.5 mile hike)

Last night I rented a hotel room down by Cherry Creek Mall and we relaxed as a family. We went swimming, went to the mall, went to Target, rented Charlotte's Web in the hotel room and had a great time as a family...

As you can see, I spent the week soaking up my family as much as possible. I'm thankful my mom, dad and sister Joia made it back safely from Iowa and I'm thankful my brother Jon and his family are having a "life changing" adventure in Wyoming...God is good!

Talk at you soon...

Dave