I love my Officer

Josh is an Officer now! The ceremony was short and simple, yet held a lot of meaning for all who were involved. Several of our friends attended and made the event extra special. A retired chaplain works on campus and he did the opening prayer. A fellow student who moved here at the same time as us just retired from the Air Force. He did Josh's commissioning. I am so proud of Josh!

What this means is now, while we are in seminary, Josh will shadow a Chaplain for the United States Army Reserves one weekend a month. He will also spend one summer, probably 2011, in training and Officer's School. Hopefully this will help Josh & I to know if becoming a Chaplain is right for him.

Goodbye Air Force and hello Army!

Josh with Randy Nelson & Jim Pakala

Josh's closing words (I wish I would have recorded them, he did so great!)

Charlie Gibson & Jeremy Ruckstetter: friends from Virginia!

Wimm & Josh

Josh's study buddy for Greek: Jameson



Here is a video of the prayer and the oath:

Vacation Officially Over

Today officially ends Josh's vacation. Not that he has really been on vacation in the past month. He has been very busy with classes, transition, and getting our household settled. But his sabbatical from the military is officially cut short.

Literally.

Here is the "I've been on vacation for the past 3 months look":


Here is step one: hair gone

Step two: beard gone


We have been joking and wondering all morning if people will recognize him today?

8 months!

Hunter is 8 months old now!

He has five teeth (three on top, two on bottom), eats two meals a day, and sleeps like a pro. He loves music and is easily amused by anything he can fit into his mouth. For the very first time today, he crawled backward. He loves to play "up-side-down baby" and watch his mobile over his crib. Bath time is one of his favorite moments of the day. He loves playing with his rubber ducky the most out of all his bath toys. He loves people and doesn't show any signs of separation anxiety. We are pretty sure he is an extrovert already! He claps, gurgles, babbles, yells and bangs his toys together in his free time. We love our little boy!

Cheers!

So many wonderful things have happened in the past few days! First and foremost, my brother, Josh, proposed to Ashley this morning! YAY! My brother is getting married. I am so happy for him. Ashley is a wonderful compliment to my brother's great talents. I know they are going to have a great life together. Marriage is wonderful and I couldn't be happier for the two of them!!!!

Secondly, our house sold! :) Yay! We are officially no longer home owners. God really blessed us by allowing our house to be sold via short sale. It is like the year of jubilee-- our debts have been paid in full. Praise the Lord! We had a bottle of sparkling wine with our new friends Joshua and Katie tonight to celebrate.

Thirdly, Josh got his commission. So he is now a Second Lieutenant for the U.S. Army Reserves. This assignment will help us get through seminary as well as introduce Josh to the military Chaplaincy. He is a Chaplain Candidate and will get to shadow a Chaplain for the next three years. That should help Josh answer if he is called to Chaplaincy in the future.

Fourthly, we got to go on a date tonight! Hunter went to an on-campus ministry called the log cabin for two hours while we went to the city for a long walk, nice cup of coffee, and great conversation. It was so nice to be out of the house and just with my sweetie! :)

We are feeling quite excited and giddy around here. So many awesome things in the past few days! Plus, we both love our classes and all of the opportunites we have around campus. We are feeling so blessed! The only bad thing: Hunter had his first runny nose. He seems to be all better now, though.

So cheers to the future Mr. & Mrs. Josh Skinner.

And all praise be to the God & Father of my Lord Jesus Christ for blessing us in Christ with every blessing.

divine design

My other class this semester is one I am taking with Josh: Spiritual and Ministry Formation. Dr. Douglass is a personality and spiritual gifts expert and he seeks to help all first year students discern their calling. Right now we are reading The Call by Os Guinness. The book is excellent: it not only discusses calling in a vocational sense, it discusses calling as in being called unto God. Guinness expounds upon the thought that all of life is to be lives as worship to God, therefore whatever you do-- from changing diapers to cooking dinner and everything in between is as unto God. This certainly gives what could be considered mundane a greater meaning.

Dr. Douglass takes time to meet with every student one-on-one throughout the semester to go over what he calls "Divine Design." This 80 page packet is something he originally created for his daughter when she was 14 and uncertain about who God had made her to be. Over the years it has changed and grown into something that has helped thousands to see who God has made them to be. There were several diagnostic tests that gauge temperament, personality, spiritual gifts, passions, and skills. I found it incredibly enlightening.

Josh & I met with Dr. Douglass yesterday. Josh & I are very different (surprise, surprise! ha!) on most everything when it comes to personality and giftedness. Dr. Douglass was so encouraging with us as he went over out packets. He kept saying, "God did not make a mistake bringing you two together." He said that our differences will help to balance us as we move forward together in ministry. The way he explained our differences was really helpful, too.

As part of our packets, we had to come up with a mission statements for ourselves. Mine is still in progress. Dr. Douglass actually wrote parts of this one for me:

Kim Hammans is a compassionate Teacher—Shepherd called of God to make a difference for others by understanding, clearly explaining, and applying the word of God to the lives of people—especially her children—thereby causing greater Christ-likeness in the lives of listeners in order to assume a long-term personal responsibility for leadership and the spiritual care, protection, guidance, and teaching of a group of believers and especially caring for them with acts of love that help alleviate their spiritual, emotional and physical distress. Her ministries involve:

* Being a wife and a mother—preserving the faith from one generation to the next
* Discipling and training women by being an excellent listener, approachable, supportive, reliable and loyal.
* Providing hospitality and giving her time and energy to make sure that the needs of others are met
* Being Friendly, outgoing, neighborly and being extremely sensitive to the feelings of others, which leads to her being sympathetic to all types of people
* Organization: Being in control of time, priorities, possessions, and processes


Here is Josh's:
Joshua Hammans is a xyz discerning, knowledgeable, teacher called of God to assist people to grow spiritually as well as intellectually, pushing them where appropriate to take risks for the kingdom. For the lost, to speak into their life, piercing the darkness of their minds and life with God’s truth and love.

Implementation Strategy
Train at Covenant Theological Seminary, ferreting out my calling with prayer and practice in the local community, church and the local arm of the US Army Reserves. Currently, I am drawn toward Military Chaplaincy. I love my brothers and sisters in arms and want to bring the gospel to what I perceive as an oft-overlooked field ripe for harvest. However, I wonder if this is a good fit and how my others gifts of writing and teaching fit with this path. Also, only time will tell if this is a good fit for my family.

Here is a picture of Hunter, just so this post isn't too boring:

presuppositions

New books, new notebooks, classrooms and professors, grades and assignments...
I love my new school!! I must warn you, this post is a little... head-y if you will. My mind is being stretched and my world is being rocked. Here is a little bit of what I am learning:

I am taking New Testament History & Theology with Dr. Chapman. I was not super excited about the course until I sat in on his first lecture. He argued the importance of understanding the author's intent when you read any text. Have you ever thought about that? The author had a specific intent for writing the way he or she did. How often do we read a book, an article, or even scripture and think, "What does this mean to me?" before we ask or even wonder what the author was trying to say?

I know I am guilty of doing that all the time. Dr. Chapman discussed our presuppositions and how everyone has them. Presuppositions are the ideas and beliefs you base your life around. We all use these beliefs to help us define and categorize information. Have you ever thought about what shapes how you view the world? Or how those thoughts shape the information you are studying?

Then you throw in the issue of culture. This is an even harder problem because we are so encompassed in our culture that it is hard to even discern. We bring our own culture to that which we are studying and expect the text to fit into our cultural norms. This is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing! Text has little to no meaning unless it is placed within its CONtext.

Presuppositions. The word has been challenging me this week. When I start to think about it, almost everything I do is based on my presuppositions. The way I interact with my husband, the way I order my house, the way I take care of Hunter... all based on ideas and beliefs I had before entering into the situation. Nothing is wrong with that, necessarily.

But when I take what I believe and project it onto what I am reading ... especially scripture... is it really considered learning or studying anymore? Or is it just looking for confirmation of what I already believe?

If I am not studying the author's intent for the passage by digging into the author's culture and times, then why am I even reading? I think time might be better spent looking in the mirror.

oh the changes

Today has been a monumental day. When I went in to get Hunter out of bed this morning, I found him perpendicular in his bed, with his feet over the bumpers and pieces of his mobile laid over his chest. I couldn't believe that he was able to reach his mobile! I raised his little arm up and realized that if he stretched, he really could reach it. Yikes. Time to move the bed down, again. Now the crib is at its lowest setting.

At dinner, for the very first time, Hunter WANTED to eat his supper. Apparently, the kid likes carrots. Praise the Lord that we finally found something he will eat!! He ate twice as much as we usually offer him and there was little to nothing on his tray, in his hair, on his hands, or all over mommy & daddy.


Both of these are signs that my little baby is becoming more of a toddler. I am excited for his development yet still sort of in shock at how fast the time has gone.

Here are some more photos of the little guy learning how to eat from a spoon (all taken in the past week or so):