Sometimes when I try to type while Ben is with me, I feel like a hawk with one of those birds that is always trying to interfere. (I believe it is the Montreal Canadien) Unlike the interfering bird, Ben is really trying to be helpful and is really interested in what I am trying to do…….but just like the bird, he is really not all that helpful.

Although I was out working today, Ben managed to get a little pool time with Anna, one of my lacrosse players and his summer babysitter. I stopped to see them at the pool for a little while too……they looked miserable, laughing and splashing in the cool refreshing water.

This afternoon Amanda hopped onto another airplane for another business trip, leaving us boys to rule the roost. I would like to say that Stephanie is around, and she is, but she is so busy we hardly see her. Amanda will fly in on Thursday morning and we will meet her at the airport with an extra car. She and Steph will head to Lindenwood that afternoon for registration for classes for the upcoming semester. They will arrive home, I think, sometime Friday.

Today we celebrate the birthday of this great nation of ours! The blessings we enjoy as Americans are abundant. It is such an honor to live in these United States!

I have a young woman who is a member of our church in Kokomo, Christ the King, who has decided to step out and make a real difference. Erin Tidd, who is entering the 8th grade (pictured here with her mom Stephanie) on July 18th will fly to Houston, Texas to take part in “Soul in the City,” which is an outreach program for youth geared to reach out to inner city Houston. Here www.theamia.org/new/events/ is the site.

Although this post will SAY 10pm on July 2nd, if the truth be told, I am writing this from my bed at a little after 1am on the 3rd. I am finally getting around to posting tonight because we didn’t finish up at the church until midnight. I have been home only a short while.

Thankfully, June is over for the Tirman family, meaning the birthday celebrations are all over too. The cake is gone, the cookouts (at least the required ones) are finished, and we can get back to normal lives (and sizes) soon.

Today, three years ago, our lives changed forever, and most of the time we feel that it is for the better, although the pudding in the hair part I was not totally convinced about. Yes, today is Ben’s birthday, and we celebrated with a nice little party/cookout and of course CAKE!

Our modern church world is filled with new lingo that we didn’t have when I was a kid. Back in the Dark Ages we had terms like “Altar” and “pew” and “Holy Mysteries” and “Sacraments.” But now I guess I am a dinosaur because we have words like “emerging” and “post-modern” and a “host” of others (not “heavenly host” because I would actually understand that) all of which I have trouble understanding.

It is a little after 10pm, and instead of sitting out on the back porch with the cat and dog, I have been relegated to my room with Mr. Incredible, because he and his mom just got home and she has some work to do for a meeting that begins tomorrow morning at 7:30am. My final piece of the day is often this blog, and dag nab it, she knows I can do it from our room. So I am typing, she is downstairs, and Ben is watching an episode of “Phineas and Ferb” on Disney. And unlike many of the awful shows for kids that are on, this one is awesome…..so I do not mind.