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A new day, a new era……………..

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Today the world watched as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. And though I did not vote for him, I do hope and pray for him, for his success is ultimately our success. And in these tumultuous times, we need success more than ever.

Ultimately we as a people, we as Americans, are much stronger by what bonds us together than the disagreements that keep us apart. I just hope in time we learn to define ourselves more by the label Americans than political affiliation, ideology, or race. It’s doable, and I pray that it happens and that a sense of civility can be restored to our society.

President Obama may not be the President I wanted, but he is now my President, and the one I will have for at least the next four years. He is not the first President I have not voted for, and Lord knows, he will not be the last. But our great nation is a free nation and a melting pot of voices. And on this day I give thanks to God for the opportunity to voice mine.

Congratulations to President Obama. May God Bless him as he serves this great country, and may God Bless all of us in these United States of America.

Fr. Tom+

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Calling the day………….early.

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Sadly, my stress level is over the top this evening, and despite my best efforts (about an hour sitting here typing a variety of things) I think it would be best to just call it a day and hopefully try again tomorrow. Some days we are just not at our best, and today is certainly one of them for me. And the pushing forward, is doing nothing but producing things I am not happy with, and the mercury of my frustration thermometer up to the top.

Say a prayer for me and know that I am going to just head to bed. Tomorrow is another day, and like God offers us each day, a new chance to begin again. I will take it, because today is just not doable!

My apologies….goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

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An icky and sad experience…….

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I came into the CVS where my daughter works tonight to see if she wanted me to go pick her up dinner and she was visibly shaken. A woman came in who was angry about the Minute Clinic not being open for her young son to get his ear checked out absolutely unloaded on Stephanie, yelling at her in front of customers. To make it even more sad, the woman did this with her young son with her. What a wonderful example.

It saddens me that these types of incidents are more frequent these days…..they should not happen at all. People treat others with disrespect and this takes place all around us. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though, seeing as that’s pretty much the examples we see on TV. The election itself was filled with a nastiness I cannot ever remember happening before, and there seems to be no end to what is acceptable.

I do hope this woman gets some help, both for her son’s ear, and for herself. Her anger will leave an indelible mark on my daughter, and it certainly wounded me. We all want the best for our kids, and even at 17 I want to be able to shelter her from the pain the world can inflict upon her. Sadly, she will continue to learn a lot of that on her own.

Please pray for Stephanie, for this woman, and particularly for her son. He is learning some pretty poor lessons.

But most of all pray for our society. It’s never too late to remember that we are all God’s children and with that should all treat each other with dignity and respect. I hope you take that to heart. We all can be better people.

Goodnight my friends, and God Bless.

Fr. Tom+

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Of living at and in the pseudo-airport……….

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The industrial fans are running and their friends the industrial dehumidifiers are on as well. We are so used to these that they are like furniture. And though it sounds like we are working as a ground crew for an airplane that has its engines on, the good news is that this airplane is going to be taking off…..perhaps Monday morning. We were out looking for flooring this afternoon, and by Monday that should be done too…….leaving nothing but putting it all back together for us to live in (hopefully) blissful peace.

In truth, I am glad that all this is coming to an end. Our house has been out of commission too long. It is hard to have things piled up in different areas, and though the guys who work to put it all together are great guys, and I mean really great guys, it is hard having people in and out all the time. And with our busy schedules, adding all this in just makes things so hard. It will be nice to get back to our regular chaotic lives.

Anyway, nothing too deep today. It has been a busy but productive day. I am looking forward to tomorrow too. It is always such a privilege to be among such wonderful people. I hope you have had a great day!

God Bless!

Tom+

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Hell freezeth over……….

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I wish I could say today’s entry was about my beloved Chicago Cubs winning a World Series, but it is not. Sadly, this is to share that we had another freezing problem in the house. I was so glad I was home, but I was extremely upset that it was all preventable. The contractors, who still have yet to repair our home from the busted pipes, temporarily insulated between the new pipes and the wall, but only put insulation on the outside of the washer drain…..leaving it vulnerable to freezing, which it did.

The only good news in all of this is that the water that couldn’t go down a frozen drain only damaged stuff that was already torn up. The contractors were to start the repair/rebuild next week, and now that our house is full of drying equipment again, that work may not be delayed all that much. What upset me about all of this (at around midnight) was that it was all preventable. If the insulation was just put behind the drain, I would not only have a dry house, but clean laundry.

I already apologized to Mitch, who is a great guy and who had the pleasure of talking to me last night at midnight. He was horrified and apologized to me as well. I mopped up what I could and told him to come in the morning. There was no sense in risking waking up Ben with 4 or 5 contractors and industrial dryers. I just want my house back and I want some peace. Maybe by summer I can get it. By then my Cubs will be well on their way to making hell freeze over in the proper way!

God Bless……and if you come over, bring your skates.

Tommy+

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The cold cold weather…….

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WOW…..I haven’t experienced this kind of cold since my college girlfriend dumped me! I was so very disappointed to have to be out in this, but Ben was out of milk and he can be pretty pushy! We were able to get his milk and get home without too much trouble. Scott had a lacrosse game tonight and we were all out for that too. It was only -6 at that point…..a heatwave! It is great to finally be safe at home!

The big news is that the schools are already closed for tomorrow! I think that is such a wise move. No kid should have to wait for a bus in this kind of weather. It is not fit for man or beast!

Of course the last cold wave busted our pipes, so we are hoping to escape this one unscathed. My hope is to just hibernate and work at home again tomorrow with Ben as my aide. I LOVE Winter, but this is just too much. I am already looking forward to Spring and the rain and I would even welcome a temperature around 40! Keep praying that it gets warmer here!!

Anyway, I am off to let the dogs out and head to bed. Please stay warm and stay safe. Even a Polar Bear would rather be inside!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

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Be careful….please!

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It seems that we are living in Antarctica (minus the penguins)! The temperature is dropping. Schools are already delayed for tomorrow before we even are going to bed, and the kids are already praying they just say it’s too cold to even go. We will see.

The weatherman says that these next few days may be the coldest of Winter. It is going to be so cold that even Fr. Terwilliger would stay inside! Okay that may not be totally true since Dave now moved back to Alaska where the average temperature is about 600 degrees below, and that’s in the summertime! But for us here it is cold!

So if you need to go out be careful and cover up! Make sure to be smart for this is weather is dangerous.

As for me, I am working from home, God willing, all day.

Off to a warm bed probably taken 3/4 up by a toddler in full-body jammies who wants to make sure his mom is warm!

Goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

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The slow progress of negotiation…………

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God willing, tomorrow we will hear from the contractor about getting our house back together. They have been going back and forth with the insurance company, not about what need to be done to repair the damage from our busted pipes a few days before Christmas, but instead how much it will cost. The sad reality in all of that is that we still do not have use of a large portion of our house, and that is pretty frustrating! Hopefully tomorrow will see things get moving forward again.

In the meantime, we continue to adapt. All our bathrooms are now upstairs, and that is only inconvenient when we have company. Not everyone does stairs well, so it will be nice to have the downstairs bathroom back. We do a lot at our home, gatherings, meetings, Bible studies, etc. Not having it completely functional is a real pain.

The big problem is that all the kids music stuff is in the basement, which is total disarray. Both Stephanie and Scott are musicians, so they love to play. But with Ben having an early bedtime, they need the basement……and so do we! Wandering minstrels make doing lots of things pretty challenging!

So please keep our house in your prayers! Hopefully all this will be settled soon!

Keeping the faith here!!! God Bless you!

Tom+

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Faith in action……

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Ben and I stopped by the Christian Center tonight, which is a large ministry for the homeless in Anderson. We were going there because part of the outreach of our mission in Anderson (St. Anne’s) is to make and serve a meal there once a month. It was both impressive and effective. Within an hour over a hundred meals were served. It was a real blessing to be able to be there. I only wish Ben were a bit older to comprehend how important this was.

I am always pleased to see people putting their faith into action. It is exactly what we are supposed to do as Christian people. To me it is always so hard to get across to people that church is not just a place we come to be fed with God’s Word. In truth, from there we are to go out and do ministry in Christ’s Name!

Tonight was a great example about that, and it gave me great joy. And though I was saddened that many of the people who were fed were struggling, I thanked the Lord that there were good folks reaching out and taking care of them! Praise God!

But the day is now done and tomorrow is coming soon. It is off to bed so I will be sharp in the morning!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

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A day of celebration………

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Things were pretty sparse in all our missions today. The weather had been poor, and many of the roads, the side-streets in particular, were very icy. It was too bad too, because yesterday we also celebrated our two year anniversary for the launch of our entire ministry. St. Anne’s in Anderson, our oldest mission, is now two!

We did have a nice pitch-in there and it included cake and all the goodies. It was a great time. I got to sit next to Ben, which can always be an adventure, and I marveled at how at 18 months he can suck the filling out of a creampuff without having to eat any of the puff. He is a talented boy.

But now as the day is over I am struck by how far we have come. We really never intended to start a Church, let alone four of them. We only wanted to gather for worship with a few people after I retired. It amazes me at how the Lord’s vision is always so much greater than our own….AND how when we follow it things happens that amaze us!

I will not worry about it and just concentrate on being faithful. The Lord has blessed me and this ministry. I am just glad to be along for the ride!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tom+