I have made it to my goal, although I have somewhat of mixed feelings about it, as Amanda is staying overnight in Indianapolis with both late meetings tonight and early meetings tomorrow.  It is Ben who is struggling with this, and it makes it far harder for me to shift gears into being “off work” for a short period of time.  He is really upset she is not here.

But I did get the opportunity to take him and his brother out for dinner tonight.  It is always such a pleasure and I am always struck at how it makes me want to pray for their two future wives….the poor girls.  But we talked about the Marines, and we also talked about all the strange stuff Ben wanted to bring up too.  My sons are pretty cool to hang out with, and their world is getting ready to change as Steph should be home for the summer on Saturday.

But now we are home and although Ben has school at 8, I will be working from home tomorrow and trying to take it easy.  I have been going non-stop for quite some time and need to rest a bit and recharge.  Of course rest means mowing and a few other things around here too, but that really does relax me.  I am just glad to get to this point.

I voted, I am home, and I am ready to just plug in and recharge.

I just pray it works!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Although these last few days are beginning to catch up to me, I intend to make it to the finish line, which should be sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Two more priests, who are also good friends, showed up for the meeting that we held today and will conclude tomorrow.  And in an attempt to show them a bit of Indiana culture, I did not play basketball with them but did make sure that their dinner was some good ol Indiana Pizza King.

It has been a really good time, and it has been a very fruitful time as well.  But I can say that I am clearly not made to sit and not move around that long.  That kind of thing I find pretty challenging.  I always think of what I once heard about sharks and how they need to always keep moving.  Sometimes I feel just like that, and if I sit for too long it kind of messes me up.

But I hope to have plenty of “get up and go” tomorrow.  It too will be a long day, but the end is already in sight.  And I intend to make it……….if only I had the energy of Ben!!

Goodnight (yawn) my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+  

Today I was able to be more of an observer in two of our churches, as we had a consultant here with us and plenty of clergy already assigned.  It was actually a real blessing to be able to see everything from a perspective I never get to see.

It made me think about the decision we made to plant the first church a little over 5 years ago.  And as I thought about it, I realized that a whole lot of people all over the central part of the state we worshipping together today all because of that first decision we made.  Some of the works we still staff and some are now on their own, but connected to us still through the Anglican Church, but all of them trace their roots to a small group of people who first chose to say “yes” to God when He called.

And of course we have been doing that ever since, but we would admit that we have been a bit slow to plant another church.  We will be taking care of that soon.  But for today I just am thankful for all that we have done.  It was a gift to see……I truly am blessed to work with some remarkable people.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

We have a consultant in town……the Reverend Canon Ron McCray.  Ron is a great guy and a good friend, and he came a day early as we (the members of the OSM here in Indiana) just happen to enjoy gathering together for a little shooting on the range.

So that’s what we did today.  We gathered together in Nashville and shot at some targets.  It was pretty fun, and no one was harmed in the destruction of targets in Nashville.  But it is always a great bonding time.  Ron had blast too (puns are not lost on me) and we ended the day with lunch at “The Holy Cow,” which seems to have nothing to do with religion OR bovines, but it does have good food.

And Ron came up a day early to do just this…….go on our adventure day together.  We were glad he came.  We are a serious bunch with a serious ministry.  It is just nice to be able to unwind sometimes and do something fun…..particularly with good friends.

Sorry about the picture.  We DID take some, but they are on Father Robert’s phone……I will try to get them tomorrow.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yep, I was able to go on Ben’s FIRST Field Trip today, as I was available AND I had taken the abuse prevention training as required by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette.  And it was a total blast (not the abuse training, but the trip), and I was glad to be able to go along.

We went to Mound State Park where we went on a couple of hikes as well as spent some time in the Nature Center.  We saw all sorts of things and learned all sorts of things, but more than anything, I got to be on the trip with Ben.  It was really special to me, and it was something I did with Steph and Scott too.

I did ask Ben what his favorite part of the trip was, and he replied, “playing.”  That’s right, a big field trip to a park with snakes, and turtles and bugs, and wildlife and his favorite part was the running around on the playground.

That’s my boy!  And I can tell too…..remember I went on all those trips with his brother and sister as well.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Wow, what a day!  I can hardly believe that it is over, if you want to know the truth.  Tomorrow I will help chaperone a field trip of Ben’s and then head to the airport to pick up Father Ron McCrary who will be with us until Tuesday evening.  He is a good friend and it will be a blessing to have him with us.

But tonight I began to write this from a chair in my backyard. (picture attached)  The dirt patch will soon be Amanda’s garden, but the setting for me is just not right.  In our old house the cat and I would post nightly from our back porch, but this is just not the same.  I suppose after a year and a half I ought to have this all worked out, but in all honesty I do not.  I do however, hope to have it settled by the end of August.

But now I am back in the house and have Ben in the bath, and the day is almost done!  Scotty’s girlfriend is coming over to eat pizza as I am told, but I will have to take his word for it.  Today has been a busy day and I am more than happy to see it end!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Had I not given the report yesterday on my knee, this would have been what I would have written about……our goofball of a dog.  Yesterday it rained like crazy, yet he spent a lot of the day just either sleeping or standing in the rain.  I suppose it doesn’t really matter if that’s what he feels like doing, but it really did seem a bit odd….even for him.

So in the midst of all we were doing, Scotty and I just kept track of him standing there.  I have included a 45 second or so video to show how very motivated he was to move.  But when he can, he hangs out by the cars, after all, if someone is going to go for a ride they will head that way.  And who wouldn’t want to take a wet dog for a ride?

Of course, it was me just a short time later as Viper and I went to pick up Ben.  The windows were open and he (Viper) was hanging out the window as usual.  I guess just having it fall on your isn’t sufficient.  Being pelted going 50 by it seems much more effective…..at least in the dog world.

But in all honesty, he cracks me up.  Life can be stressful, and even hard.  But Viper knows how to live it….on his own terms.  I couldn’t agree more.  He’s a heck of a dog.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Well I saw my doc this morning just after 10 to have him look at my knee.  And I am happy to say I was right…..I could have gone on for a long time.  I do NOT need surgery, and I do not even need crutches!  I just had my knee drained and a shot of cortisone, which should do the trick within the next few weeks.

I however was quite put off by not hearing from Amanda till late in the day. So when she finally asked me about my knee I reminded her I had tried to reach her all day, but there was some good news and some bad news.  A look of concern came over her face when I shared the bad news……I was to have a complete knee replacement roughly 10 days from now.  So she asked, “Well what could be the good news then?”  And I said, “I am lying.”

Now before you think, “wow, what a dirty trick,” please remember that she knew completely what she was getting into when she married me….PLUS, all Tirman males are just as hilarious (yep, it’s a gift) and she met them all.  And Ben is heading down the road to be the worst of the jokers…..it is going to be a long road for her.

But the real good news is the big thing of the day….that’s right, she married me and she is trapped!!  But things could be worse for her……I could be getting a new knee on May 10th!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Okay, here is the big news I have been waiting to share, but I was waiting until Scotty was able to notify a few people so that they would hear it from him directly, and not get it here from my blog.  But I am proud to share that my son, Scott Thomas Tirman has now signed with the United States Marine Corps and will be leaving for boot camp on December 10th.

This announcement come after a LOT of hard work on Scotty’s part.  We had moved during his senior year in high school and he had attempted to enter through the recruiter here.  There were not a lot of spots for entry here and a lot more guys than spots.  In addition to that, changes in the military recently made it seem like his dream of entering the USMC would be dashed.  He had already given up heading to St. Louis this past year to study Music Education so that he could enter.  He enrolled in college here full-time and is working full-time here as well.  It was just not what he had planned.

But it was at his work that he ran into the USMC recruiter from Noblesville where we used to live.  And in that conversation a month or so ago the recruiter said, “It’s too bad that you didn’t graduate from Noblesville High School,” because he had a few spots available.  And of course Scotty just smiled and said, “I graduated from Noblesville last year.”

This past month (a little less that that) has been a whirlwind.  Scott had set his dream aside a few months back and now had to pass a pretty stringent physical test that he was at one time pretty prepared for.  SO he worked like mad and dropped close to 25 pounds in less than three weeks and passed the test with flying colors, signing on last Wednesday.  He will enter to train to be a communications engineer, and will serve in the Reserves for the next two years while finishing up college.  He will now pursue an aviation degree as he wants to fly after college, and yes, in in Corps.

I suppose you might ask, “why the Reserves?”  The answer is really quite simple.  He is dedicated to his little brother and wants to spend the next few years with him.  Scotty figures Ben will do better with him leaving when he is 6 or 7, than now at 4.  And he is right.  Scott is a big part of Ben’s world and they are as close as two brothers can be.   And I respect Scott not just for his commitment to our country, but to his family as well.

He is a fine young man, and I am proud of him.  Yep, my son will be a Marine!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Well I apparently now CAN TELL you my big news, but I am going to do so tonight.  There are two reasons for this too…..one is that I need to make sure a few certain people are notified about it first, rather than reading it on the blog…..and two, I want to share that my daughter Stephanie and the Lindenwood Lions finished their lacrosse season tonight as CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!!

There is good news and sad news however in this impressive feat.  The good news is that their team is the very first NCAA Division II Conference Champion in the school’s history.  The bad news is that as this is their first year in Division II they are ineligible for the National Tournament to play for the title.  They will also be ineligible next year, which means Steph will be a senior when they are first eligible.  It will be a great way however to finish out.  And I am SURE they are celebrating their 15-2 season tonight out in Colorado!  And if you go to www.LindenwoodLions.com you will see the team and the story on the front page.  It is pretty exciting.

So for now this is all I will be saying, but I say it with great pride!  Way to go Lions, and way to go Steph!  And it could not come on a better day for me, as today would have been my grandma’s 96th birthday!  I am sure she is smiling down on the Lions as well!!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+