I had just about $40.00 left over from my birthday and tonight I decided to do something with about 30 of it. When Amanda went to the exercise class at the Church tonight, Ben and I took off for Walmart where I bought the modern version of a pup tent and of course the Lightening McQueen flashlight.

You might think that this was a gift for Ben, but in truth Scott and Ben love to hang out playing. Ben used to have a kid’s SpongeBob tent that they destroyed in a day. This is a tent that will fare a little bit better I hope. I am sure they will camp out (inside of course) and do the movie thing together.

Scott however is not home….just Ben and I. So I need to get back to “camping.” I hope you understand. Two year olds are pretty impatient.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Tomorrow is Scott’s last day of summer school. He has done well and will now be ahead as he enters his Junior year. He has been a real trooper too, waking up at 6:30 every morning. Fortunately for him there will be a few weeks of break left in order to sleep in. I know he is looking forward to it too.

And time for him is standing still I know. I know it seems like tomorrow has taken forever, but the real kicker is waiting for his driver’s license and that is Thursday. I can still remember that wait myself. The poor kid must be out of his mind by now. I am just glad we are finally getting somewhere. Of course now that school will be over I will not have to drive him every morning or pick him up. Funny how that works. My duty ends just in time for him to drive himself. I didn’t even get a day!!

But in truth, I am going to miss it. Scott and I have spent a lot of time driving together and it has always been a special time for me. I will have to fill the void with something else I guess. I doubt if it will be sleep….perhaps Ben will need some rides.

Anyway, the day is done and I am tired. Steph is surviving engineering camp, Scotty is working and Ben is sawing logs. With a little effort I may see my bed very soon.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless. I hope you had a wonderful day.

Tommy+

Today Amanda and I dropped Stephanie off at a week-long camp at Purdue University for top engineering prospects. It was just another exercise in preparation for me. Yep, I dropped my 17 year old daughter off at college and I left. It killed me, but it was good practice. The real date is just a year away. She is considering Purdue too…..60 miles would be good for me! But I am wondering if she is considering Hawaii. She is an amazing young woman, and it is wonderful to see her begin to focus upon what she intends to do. But her being away, and Scotty getting his driver’s license on Friday I expect will put me in the grave by the weekend. I am going to wait to write my sermon just in case too!

In all truth, I am proud of them both….AND, I expect I will live quite a bit longer to be tortured with anticipation as their parent. They are both wonderful kids and I cannot imagine doing better, but it doesn’t mean I do not worry about them! It is now 10:15 and Steph is in a dorm and NOT CALLING!!! Dear Lord I am going to have a rough week! BUT….we have raised her well and underneath all the worry, I do believe she is fine. I am excited to see what she will be doing and where she will go. And right after she figures it out we will do the same with Scott. It is a time of extreme transition, but we are happy for them both. We are blessed, and we are excited for them too!

Anyway, I best go to bed and try to get some sleep. It is going to be hard, but I expect to survive. These kids are going to keep my blood pressure up for years to come!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Today has been downright amazing, and a big part of that reason is that I have spent most of my day with Ben. He has talked non-stop, other than when he was napping, but if he could figure out how to talk then I am sure he would.

What is funny about him is that he has always seemed to talk in sentences although it always has come out as babble. It has never bother him. He talks to you as if you understand him. He uses inflection, different facial expressions, and doesn’t seem to repeat. But now that he is adding actual words it makes you wonder if he hasn’t understood the whole time. He is out here with me on the back porch as I type, and he is, as I say, “holding court.” He pulled up the chair next to me and talked to me as if we had met for coffee just to do so. It is important time for the both of us…..after all I also have two teenagers and not understanding my kids is something I do quite well!

That really is not true. I have a great relationship with all three of them and would sit out here and talk to any of them at anytime. I know all three of them don’t think I know as much as they do, but I am always willing to humor them because ultimately as a man of faith I have confidence that God will pay them back one day with children of their own…….children who will be perfect, children who will think I know everything, and children who already have their grandfather’s love years before they are even born!!

But for now I must sign off and finish my sermon for tomorrow. It will be a busy day, but I am looking forward to it. Life is good, and I am truly blessed. I am expecting tomorrow to reinforce that. It should be a wonderful day!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

It is rare these days, but yesterday I didn’t post. I did well on my cardiac stress test, but it clearly wiped me out. I then had a formation meeting for a church we hope to plant in Kokomo, and I did the whole thing while having chest pains that developed mid-afternoon. Of course being a guy I expected them to go away, and as they were still there this morning I put in a call to my cardiologist’s office. They confirmed that I had done well, and said that it was doubtful it was my heart since that is a pretty thorough test, and heart pain is generally not constant. There went my plan for taking a few weeks off with three meals a day in the Heart Hospital. It looks like I will be mowing the lawn tomorrow after all. The pain is still there, but I am confident it is not my heart. If it is still there tomorrow I will seek out some further advice.

The formation meeting in Kokomo went more than well in my humble opinion. It was a good-sized group and they seemed very receptive and positive about what we do as a church and where we are going. It was very encouraging. I love the city of Kokomo, and my family and I are frequent visitors due to the fact the the closest Sonic Drive In is there and my wife is an addict (really, she needs to get treatment) BUT, it will be meaningful to us to be going up there for a more noble reason…a MUCH MORE noble reason in fact. We have not worked out all the details, but we just may launch up there in September. It is SO exciting and SO encouraging.

Anyway, my heart is still ticking and I am now on the porch, not with the cat but with the puppy working on my sermon. God willing, I intend to post tomorrow. Life is busy, but good. Keep me in your prayers. I am still working on juggling a few balls.

Goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

It has been one of those days. I swear I thought I started this post a couple of hours ago, but by the time I sat back down to continue there was nothing there, nor do I have any memory of what I was typing! Thank God I am not your doctor! I suppose I will have to start again….that is, if I ever started at all.

Tomorrow we will head to Kokomo to hold a formation meeting about planting a church there. We are excited about the prospect. Kokomo is a pretty big city, but heavily reliant upon the auto industry. It is struggling. We do not intend to plant a financially prosperous cathedral there, but instead a place where people can draw closer to God. It is an important mission for us, and we believe God’s Hand is upon it. Please keep it in your prayers.

Of course to get there I am going to have to not die during my cardiac stress test in the morning. It will be my second. I had one in 1991 after they thought I might have had a heart attack between services. I didn’t, but since my test was two weeks after that with the cardiologist I decided to train for it. I was up to 5 miles a day by the time I got on the treadmill. In 1991 however I was 30. I am 48 now, a lot heavier, and I had pizza today in lieu of training. I am anticipating not doing as well. BUT, I am also anticipating I will do fine.

Keep me though in your prayers. If I really had my life together I wouldn’t be a life-long Cubs fan and would never see the doctor. I am sure I will do fine. I figure the Lord will get a good 90 years out of me, and I will work most of the day tomorrow. After all, why give me the day off?

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

In retrospect, a 37 mile bike ride was probably a mistake. Yesterday it seemed such a great idea to keep on riding, but when I woke up this morning (very early) certain I was paralyzed from the waist down, I suddenly had thoughts of regret. Sure, Scott probably was impressed that his old man could do 37 miles on a bike, but what about today? I was certain to get a good ribbing about how much I had aged overnight. Coming downstairs expecting the worse, I was comforted to see him on the couch waiting for me……not smiling but rubbing his legs and complaining. I did try to act like I was fine and doing better than he was, but my screams with each step probably gave me away.

And, in retrospect, the fish that Scott and I bought for Ben was probably a mistake as well. He was having a meltdown in the Meijer (Ben) and Scott pulled him up to the fish tanks that mesmerized him (Ben again). The little red beta we got him was on sale, as was his almost “maintenance free” tank, and we got everything for about 10 dollars. And everything was right. Had Ben not acted like he loved that fish in front of his mom when we put him in his new bowl (the fish), I am sure I would not be here to blog.

Anyway, I am here and apparently have survived the day, but I intend to lay low tomorrow. There needs to be time for healing.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

I took a little mental health break today and managed to convince Scott that a bike ride would be in order. We left from our house at around 2 and rode all the way to Broadripple and back….a total of 37 miles. It was quite a feat, especially at my age, but considering that I am having a cardiac stress test on Thursday, I was glad to see I could I could make it. I figure if I didn’t keel over on this trip, I would have a chance of passing in a few days!

In truth I did fine, BUT what I want to confess is that I could see a BIG difference between a 48 year old man and a 16 year old boy. Scott, despite riding a bike that was 21 years old and heavy, far and away pulled away from me time and time again. Sure I acted cool like I was fine, but I was just in awe at how he seemed to effortlessly out pace me. It reminded me that men really are in their best shape between 16 and 18. I saw that I am just a little bit beyond that.

I was able to see a clear transition in our relationship that I remembered with my dad. When I was young, he was Superman. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do, and not a thing I could do better than him. But at a point, I realized I could out do him. I suddenly could beat him at a few sports, and could do a few things better than him too. Today was that realization for me. My son is a younger and clearly has it going on more than I do! I spent most of our ride following (and clutching my chest and checking to see if I was still breathing). He just kept on moving ahead.

But all in all it was GREAT DAY for me. I got a lot of work done and then had a great time with Scott. There are many monumental days in a man’s life and today was one for me. My son is taking the lead, and I am proud of him. He gets his driver’s license in 11 days and is turning into a fine young man. I am no longer Superman to him, but to Ben……I still have him fooled!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Some days just seem to fly right by and today was no exception. I seemed to just get up and then suddenly it was night…..and no, I didn’t sleep through the day either. I just got up and went to work, and work I did until I found myself in a daze wondering where it all went!

Hopefully Monday will be a day I can enjoy a bit more. I certainly do not have to work as much, and the things I have to do are not scheduled in such a way that I need to be doing them at certain times. I even will get to mow my lawn which is a type of work (not work work) that I actually enjoy!

So I will call it a day (I think) and try again tomorrow. This plane is landing and going into its hanger!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless. If you saw me today, make sure you send me a note to tell me how I was doing!

Tommy+

I love birthdays, especially when they aren’t mine, and today is a big on! 233 years ago, our great country was born, as brave men stepped forward and said no more to oppression and tyranny.

Independence Day is often celebrated with family, friends, barbecues, fireworks, etc…….but I believe a lot of its importance is missed in being declared another holiday or day off work, or a chance to get together to eat and drink. It is so much deeper than that!

When our Founding Fathers stepped forward they were intent on righting wrongs, professing freedom, and giving all an opportunity to be who it was God was calling them to be. God’s Hand was strong upon their hearts, and He blessed them so that they not only established their freedom, but they gave birth to the greatest country this world has ever known, a beacon for freedom for all to see.

As you gather today to enjoy the holiday please keep this in mind. Great Americans have gone before us, and our call is to be the great Americans in our day. It wasn’t easy then and it is not easy now, but with God’s Help and His Blessing there will be many more celebrations and great days ahead.

God Bless you my friends on this most important day for our country, and God Bless the United States of America!

Tommy+