I am pleased to say I arrived home and managed to get a few things done before this post. Scotty has an away game tonight, and I would have liked to have made it, but in all honesty, I was surprised to have enough energy to get home. I am receiving texts from the game, and at the half it is 4-4 playing a VERY good team. Scotty is apparently doing a great job.

Well today has not been all bad. I was able to get a page out to my wife, who called my uncle, and who then was able to speak with me late this morning. Yes, the call was indeed about my grandma who was hospitalized yesterday in Goshen. She has been having a lot of trouble, and will be staying there as they get things under control. It is not anything I need to leave here for, so I will be staying until my scheduled return. We will head up to see her after church on Mother’s Day. And as for the situation down here, retreat center has repaired its Internet connection, meaning I can make and receive calls as well as get online…..that it as long as I walk down to the conference area where there is a signal. My room is not close enough to get connected, but at least I am not completely cut off. I have not seen my buddy Dempsey, which is disturbing. I have written about him twice before, the Ferncliff Conference Center Camp Dog. I really am afraid to ask. If he has moved away then so be it. But if he was carried off by some mountain lion of bear I just do not want to know. I watched a lot of “Lassie” as a kid and know things like that are real possibilities in places like this. I just hope to see him tomorrow. I have however been stalked by the “camp ducks.” It’s not that anyone has told me that is who they are, I just named them that. They see me and the start quacking loudly from wherever they are at. They are all females, and I think they see me as their king or something. I am sure it has nothing to do with the crackers and cookies I have snuck them out. But regardless, I am blessed by the attention. I need a good distraction here, and quite honestly they are it. And I will be supplying them for the rest of my time here. But as for tonight, I am done. A large group went to the movie theater, but I am just too tired, plus I am stressed by home and the fact that my team is playing tonight without me there. I have GREAT assistant coaches, but as my cell phone came back to life I had messages from a bunch of players who were going to miss a probable WIN that without them may be in question. It is upsetting. I hope I have assistant coaches tomorrow. I am sure they are livid. But from here I can do very little but pray. My grandma is in great hands and so is the team. I hope to receive a positive report about it all via spotty cell coverage, sometime tonight. Goodnight my friends and God Bless. Tommy+

I am writing this from Ferncliff, a retreat center in Little Rock, Arkansas where I am meeting with Church Leaders who do the same job I do until Thursday when we will return home. Ferncliff is a beautiful place, and a place I thoroughly enjoy, but it’s a place that is quite remote and one in which I have poor (meaning almost non-existent) communication possibilities. I do not have a cell signal, nor do I have a car……BUT my phone lists a call from what I fear may be my uncle. My Grandma Middleton, my mom’s mom who really shaped more of who I am with my grandpa than anyone, has been sick. AND, there was a missed call on my phone from a number in my uncle’s (her son’s) area code….and I am OUT OF MY MIND! My Blackberry Messenger will occasionally get a message off to Amanda, but there is no cell service. Please pray that it is just a fluke, and that my worries are unfounded. Sadly, this post may not even get out in a timely manor……..their Internet is down too! God Bless you my friends……please pray that my fears are unfounded…. Tommy+

I posted last night about being a busy beaver, and tonight I am posting from a hotel 5 minutes from the St. Louis Airport (the one that was hit and closed by the tornado 7 days ago) where I will be flying to Little Rock tomorrow morning. But I have been to Peoria today where I met with Church Planters from Peoria and Bloomington, Illinois AND I am waiting for Stephanie to get out of the year-end lacrosse banquet so I can take her and her buddy Cassie (who will live with us this summer) out to dinner and give Steph her car. It has been a delight to travel in her 1999 Mazda 626 for all these miles. My almost 50 year old back feels like a cracker.

I guess I really do not know what a busy beaver is, nor have I ever seen one. But it is an expression from my childhood, and one that I must believe to be true, sort of like “Cubs win! Cubs win!” although this one I am sure is true.

Tonight we had the great honor and privilege to see Scotty and his girlfriend Lizzie off to the Prom! It was a wonderful experience. Scott, as you can see, was as handsome as ever, and Lizzie looked absolutely striking. Of course I see them both just about everyday, but Lizzie most often at practice since she is my starting center. Generally I see her in workout clothes with her hair bundled up…tonight was a pretty big difference.

Look what my youngest son found out the window today, not one, but TWO rainbows. We had just talked about rainbows, as we headed up to Christ the King Kokomo on a day I was supposed to have a lacrosse game, and a day it was not supposed to rain. My game was cancelled…..due to rain.

Rain rain everywhere. How I wish we understood it better.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE THUNDERSTORMS, and although April and May are famous for them in Indiana, all we get a lot of lately is rain. Oh sure, we get the occasional thunder-banger, but they are short-lived and not that spectacular. And on top of all of it, everything is saturated with water.