Back Again

Well I'm back......its been about 6 months since I blogged last which makes me officially a blog slacker

The Last 6 Months

Since my last entry I have found a job doing the same job I did as a military member. I was working out at Schriever AFB in Colorado Springs. I commuted everyday from Denver to the "Springs" which is about an hour and a half drive and have done that since November. I then was offered a job (just recently) in Denver where I used to work and am currently work there now. Thank God I was able to get the job which makes my commute in the am to about 20 minutes. Of course there is still talk of this office moving to Colorado Springs but at least I can save on gas money for awhile. Lauren and I are praying to see if and when God will have us move. So far we have not come into agreement on this question but we will see.

I often wonder why God puts us in certain places to work and live. It is often only for a short amount of time. We meet people, make friends and then another door opens and away we go to another location. Why is that? It could be not only for the work but also to build relationships and witness to those around us or is it to be encouraged and grow with our relationships with Him. I have experienced all of these things while being associated with the military both in and out and I still believe the Lord puts us in these situations to grow, heal and gather wisdom but in all of this He wants us not only to have a closer relationship with Him but also to each other. Of course this is an area we have yet to master and recognize all the opportunities when they arise but I pray we learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when they do come.
I returned from a trip to Hawaii and Guam. I had to go there for business and brought Lauren with me to Hawaii. We were extremely blessed to be able to make this trip and the Air Force paid for most of it. Although I had to work for two weeks the weekends and evenings more than made up for that....besides I would rather work in Hawaii than Colorado Springs. Lauren and I did the Luau thing and spent a lot of time just with each other and seeing the sights.

Caught Up

Lauren and I went out to my friends house in Colorado Springs and spent two days with them. It was nice to laugh and just spend time with friends. We stayed up late and just talked...Goose is an interesting character (salesman by trade) and is always the life of the party. We also went to go play tennis at 0700 in the morning....well Goose and I played while the wives watched. It was the first time Lauren has seen me play in about 15 years which is a long time. She said I looked pretty good and my style was very smooth and effortless which made me feel good knowing I don't look like a fool on the court. It's good to know at 45 years of age (my God am I that old) I still look good (although I think Lauren's vision has been failing of late) -->

And now everyone you are some what up to date....hopefully I can turn the corner and blog at least once a week.....Here's Hoping.

I'm Back

I'm Back...I have been on hiatus for awhile and a lot has happened. For one I am now "Retired MSgt Marcel Pieters" and I have to tell you it feels a bit weird. I have nothing but time on my hands and I am not sure what I need to do with myself. I served 20 years 7 months and 2 days in the United States Air Force and it has been an experience. As I look back upon my life in the military I would have to say that it has been fun. I travelled the world and got to do some incredible things along the way and I am really proud to have served with the men and women of not only the Air Force but other branches of the military as well...I think I am going to miss it.
These days I am staying home and looking for another job. I have been retired for a week now and I am already driving my wife crazy. Everyday she asks me "why don't you get a job?" and for both our sakes I need to get one soon. I am looking to return to my old job of Senior Management Analyst but not as a military member but a civilian. No longer will I be MSgt Pieters but Mr. Pieters. I talked to my old boss and he is definitely trying to get me hired back on but it may take a while. Federal Jobs take a while to fill so I guess I will just have to keep looking and see who offers me a job first. I may take a tennis coaching job at the local high school while I am waiting for a real job but I will have to wait and see.
That's it for today and I am sure I will have plenty of time to blog more often than once a quarter. Till next time

Blog Slacker

Well the wife says I am a Blog Slacker...which I probably am but what can I say...I have to be "in the mood" to Blog. I am going to try and blog at least once a week to get in the habit regardless of if I am in the mood or not so, bear with me.

Early on in the week the weather was finally warm enough to pull out the bike from hibernation and hit the trails. I biked 20 miles on Sunday and 20 miles on Monday. It sure was nice getting some exercise and fresh air but I can tell I haven't biked in a couple of months (sore butt). I need to start training now because I plan on doing a 100 mile bike ride in June and if my butt is sore now after only 20 miles I cant imagine how it is going to feel after 100. The picture above was taken last year when I biked the Colorado Trail. I had a great time and camped overnight. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can explore the trails again. The woman loves cold weather but for me bring on the warmth!

The Australian Open has been on TV all week (which I could watch all day long). I record most of it so I can fast forward through the matches I really don't want to watch. I am trying to limit my TV watching time so I don't turn into a couch potato. I also need to start training for the 2009 Tennis Season which I plan on coming out strong this year after my dismal injury-laden 2008 season. I have something to prove to myself and my competitors that this "Old Man" still has a few good tennis matches left in him.

I hate being sick and for the past few days me and Mr. Toilet have become close friends. I am pretty sure it was something I ate and it seems over the years that my digestive system has been very sensitive to food. I think It has something to do with all the medications I have taken for the past ten years for my heart. I guess it helped with the heart but messed up the rest of me. It's funny how man in their infinite wisdom to cure an ailment will create another. It seems the doctors believe they have extended my life by trying all of these procedures to cure me but I believe that it probably has shortened it. But, in the end, God only knows and that is something I am sure I will ask him when I get to heaven.

I'm off to California tomorrow for work. We are conducting a new study for the Space Industry to determine if they really need all the people they have. It's funny but every Manpower study I go on everyone says they are working so hard and they need more people but if you really look deep into the organization most of the people down at the lower levels honestly say that either they have enough people or there are too many for the amount of work that they do. Space is unlike Fighter Aircraft (which I have worked for in the past) who actually work at least six days a week twelve hour days (they have lots of work and not enough people). I think people in the Space Industry should switch jobs with those in the Fighter world for a year and then they will realize how lucky they are that they are not working in that realm. Of course this will never happen and politics will rule over actual fact and the customer will get the people they want as opposed to the people they need...Se La Vie!

Well, that was my week in a nutshell and to quote the wife "Later my Peeps!" -->

A New Year...

2008 is already over and it has brought some joys and sorrows.

Joys -

Although 2008 was a tough year for a lot of us we did see some joy in our lives this year.

First of all, after numerous attempts to get promoted in my Air Force career, I finally was promoted to Master Sgt. God is good...and of course with the new rank comes more responsibility..overtime.

My good friend Gustavo got married. He met his wife Polly on e-harmony (which I find funny). I guess those internet dating services actually work.

Other friends of ours, Jason and Christina, gave birth to a cute boy, Oliver. Oliver was also blessed by his Grandfather Ross while still in mama's womb.


My youngest and most beautiful child (sorry boy) turned 18. She's a senior this year and I am so proud of her. She has been diligent with her school work (debate) and her acting (takes after her mom). She had a lead role in the play Aladdin for her school and she did an awesome job!


My favorite son finished his Associate in Applied Science degree in Biology and next week is headed to Blackburn College in Illinois. I will be driving him there and for those of you who read this please pray for us that his car makes it in one piece (it has over 200K miles on it). Of course Lauren is having mixed emotions about soon becoming an empty nester. Time for mom to let go and let these young adults make their contributions to God and their lives. We are excited to see them get married in the next 10 years and us become grandparents.



Lauren still enjoys every minute with me (of course she does) and still enjoys driving her mustang.

We also got to spend time with the twins up at Aspen and we had a blast. Of course they were really glad to spend time with their favorite uncle. :)

Lauren and I also got to spend time with our good friend Paul before he passed away.

Which leads to the sorrows...

2008 brought sad goodbyes. I had to say goodbye to two good friends of mine - Ross and Paul.

Both of them were my brothers...we had great relationships and good times.

Ross was and is a great encourager. I always liked comparing Ross to Barnabas (one of the original apostles) because no matter how bad you were feeling or what you were going through he would always come along side and not only help but cheer you up at the same time.

Paul was my mentor and close brother. When comparing Paul to the original apostles I always thought he was a mixture of two...Paul and John. Early on in our relationship he was more like the apostle Paul who was constantly teaching me how to walk with Christ, not only instructing me by his words but by how he lived his life. He truly was a man who not only knew the Word but he lived and modeled it. As I grew in my relationship with him and Christ, he became more like John. He had a soft heart and was the kindest most loving man I have ever known on this earth.




I miss both of my brothers and look forward to seeing them again someday.

I also lost my favorite Aunt right after Christmas. She was my mom's best friend and when we were young our families always visited. She treated all of us as her own. She married when she was in her 30s and was married for over 30 years. In high school, I lived with her for three years. She was a kind lady and although I can remember times when she got mad at me and would try and give me spanking...but in actuality it was more like a love tap. Now, there is only one left on my mother's side of the family - my uncle Johan. I will miss my aunt terribly and I thank God we had such a great relationship. She lost her husband (my uncle Andy) around 10 years ago. He was the love of her life and she was never the same after his passing.



And that's all I have in this blog posting.

May the Lord be with you and cause His face to shine upon you in this upcoming year.

No more turkey

Had a good time taking my woman out for steaks at Ted's (although I really don't agree with his worldview). Food was good and the company was better. We had a good talk about the future (kids, marriage, grand-kids, boat-living, retirement etc) and what each will be doing. I think the military has prepared both of us to live life as nomads. We both get antsy if we stay in one place for to long.

Pondering on these things I know God has prepared both of us to travel but I am still not sure where and why...sure I believe he wants us to spread the "Good News" but not sure in what capacity. Do we minister to those around us, or to misssionaries, or to people in foreign lands, or all of the above...that I am not sure of but I do know this....its going to be exciting.

Well another Christmas has come and gone. Where has the time gone? We spent Christmas with just the four of us this year. Such a relaxing time of lounging around the house, opening presents and eating. It was nice not worrying about entertaining or the expectations of helping out when visiting other people at Christmas. We watched a few movies and overall had a good time. The boy is off to college next month so it was nice to spend Christmas with him.

As you can tell by my picture and the title of my blog that my dream is to live and sail on my boat. My dream is to sail the ocean blue and to my surprise the wife is actually considering this as well. Of course her stipulation is we still need a place on land to store our stuff and live 6 months out of the year but I am hoping both of these are do-able. Actually I am pretty ecstatic that she is willing to share in my dream. I know it is going to be hard work not only acquiring a boat but to live on as well but I think the rewards out-weigh the negative aspects.

This has been my dream since I was a teenager. You see since the age of 7 to the age of 17 I have been going to Europe every other year. I have a cousin who is a year younger than I am and he lives in Holland. The year's that I didnt go to Holland was the years he came to visit me in California and we always had good times. But it was in Holland where we lived on my uncles sailboat in the Summer months and that is where my passion for the water took root. We had so much fun in ports and when we didnt like a place we just packed up and moved to another. There was always so much to do on shore as well as off and I loved it.

After watching the movie "The Bucket List" I decided that this is something I want to do. I have been perusing many websites of boats and of people who are actually livingaboard their boats. The boats I am considering are in the 40 - 50 foot range. I have looked at the Hunters, Vagabonds, Hinkleys and Tartans. All look really nice of course all will depend on my budget. I plan on retiring from the military in two years time and then working as a civilian for five more years. By that time I hope to have some money in savings and my pension. Of course I still have to plan all of this out (get out of debt, sell house, etc) and in the current economy selling the house to just break even will be tough. I think just planning this dream out and putting it down on paper will keep me focused and motivated to make this dream a reality (hence the title of my blog). I also plan on building a detailed plan in Microsoft Projects (awesome software) to get me on the 7 year plan of getting out of debt and saving enough money to pay off the boat and have enough money for expenses and to live off of. Its a tall order but with the Lords help it will be a reality.