It is truly back to the grind here. Although I was able to spend the day with Amanda and Ben at home, soon the time came for me to head off to lacrosse practice. Then home, then dinner with the family, and now homework and other family stuff. Our days are pretty regimented, but that’s a part of what makes them fun. We can usually count on dinner together, and some time a little later too.

Of course there are days, like tomorrow, where a game will interfere with our routine. Scott plays tomorrow night at Carmel, so we will be hanging out there instead. Hopefully they will have concessions. I love stadium hot dogs! I hope to not be disappointed and to see a big Noblesville win.

Of all of us, Ben seems to be the happiest. I guess we will never know what he wondered had happened to us when he was away in Arizona with Amanda, but clearly he is enjoying seeing us all now. He just smiles and looks at us. It warms your heart.

Anyway, I don’t want to miss a thing, since everyone is still up. I hope you have had a great day! God Bless!

Tom+

I know when the President flies into somewhere an advance team is there ahead of time making preparations for his arrival. Everything is in its place in advance, so that when he arrives everything will go smoothly.

In preparation of Amanda’s arrival tonight from Arizona many similar things are taking place, but of course all without the aid of an advance team. We have been straightening things, cleaning, organizing, and making things “Amanda ready.” Sure, we are certain there will be something that we will miss, but hopefully she will be too tired to care! I am certain she will just be thankful to be home.

And of course then there is Ben! The house has been toy-free for a few days, and whereas we are not allowed to be such tornadoes here at home, with him it is expected. It has been too quiet. We are looking forward to the noise. I am taking tomorrow off just to get to hang out with him! I cannot wait.

The cat is even lonely! She howls when she cannot find Ben, and will be happy to see him. It is no surprise that his first two-word sentence (just last week) was “Hi Kitty.” They will be happy to be reunited.

Anyway, back to the grind I go. Steph is now at her work, and Scott is doing homework, so unless the cat does laundry, I am on my own. BUT, we will get it done, and she will be happy to be home. No one however will be happier than I! Things are always so much better when we are all together!

God Bless you my friends, and thanks for checking in!

Tom+

Well the day has gone very well. Scott’s team played in Bloomington today, and the won! He has scored in every game so far, but today he put four in. My only regret is that I was not there. Being the women’s coach I was up here in Noblesville for a home game.

The good news here is that we extended our record to 4-0, our best start ever, and are now off for a couple of weeks with Spring Breaks. We will practice next week, but our next game is quite a bit down the road.

We also have a little over 24 hours before Amanda and Ben get home. No, we are not worried about that. The house is still very clean, and we all just miss them bot being around. It will be about midnight, but we will welcome them with open arms! It is just too quiet without Amanda (I mean Ben!)

As I sit here tonight I am struck at how very blessed I am. It is raining outside, which makes for good sleep, and having a great family helps that a great deal. Tomorrow will get it all back to normal, and I cannot wait. I hope and pray your day has been as blessed as mine!

Goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

Yep, three in a row…..how’s that for a recovery??? I am working hard to keep up, and it helps that so many people are reminding me! It is quite possible that I will post four in a row tomorrow!!

I want to talk tonight about how very blessed I am to be able to coach lacrosse. I coach a bunch of teenage girls, and though that is really challenging sometimes, I feel more blessed than ever to be among them. In fact, being around them give me a lot of hope about our young people.

Sure, I overhear talk about boys, what they want, and a variety of female issues, some of which I was even unaware of…..but I am amazed at what solid, wonderful women God has put into my life. These are not just great athletes, they are pretty solid girls who are heading into life much more prepared than I would have ever imagined!

We had a great practice today, and we expect to end the day tomorrow 4-0, and head into Spring Break on top. I am happy to be where we are, and blessed by the team that I have. I will let you know tomorrow how we do!

Steph and Scott and I are doing well while Amanda and Ben are traveling! I hope you have had a great day!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tom+

Two in a row may not seem much of a streak to you, but for me it currently feels monumental! I have been pretty upset about my memory as of late, and even began the day by being late to a meeting I almost forgot! BUT, in the end, I did actually get to everything I was supposed to, the day is at its end, and I appear to have finished it by completing everything. Of course Amanda is in Arizona with Ben, so I really do not have her to tell me what I have forgotten. So I suppose I shouldn’t feel so confident. But for now I just will. She can be the party pooper when she returns. I am just going to enjoy it!

I am also enjoying lacrosse season. I have actually been able to see Scotty play, and that is big considering I am the head coach of the women’s program. We have played 3 games and have a full practice schedule as well. We won again tonight and are now 3-0 going into our game on Saturday morning against Concord. It has been an exciting time, and I am enjoying it very much.

Oh but of course I am lonely!! I was actually right all day long! Husbands, do you have any idea how odd that is??? I may even be a rebel and sleep on her side of the bed tonight too!! I know, daring, but I just may! She will be home late on Sunday, so all this wild living will be coming to an end. But it has been just like being a bachelor again, sans the messiness, the pizzas, and the delusions of my value as an attractive man! I am married now, keep things (fairly) clean, eat better, and have no doubt that my clergy credentials, two teenagers and a toddler, probably would earn me a silver medal in any two man race. Thank the Lord I need not worry any more! I was brought down hard tonight when talking to someone tonight about Ben and they asked me if I had any other grandchildren! I am blessed Amanda is in my life (of course she tells me that all the time!) because without her I would be clearly doomed!

So let’s end this ramble with the acknowledgement that I am looking forward to their return. Steph, Scott and I will grill out and hang out tomorrow night for fun, but I know we are all better when we are together. It is coming, it is just going to be a bit longer.

My hope and prayer for you is that you day was filled with God’s abundant blessings!

Goodnight to you my friends, and God Bless.

Tom+

You would think I would be brighter than all this, but I swear I am trying. I have been doing a lot lately, and this blog has gotten lost in the chaos. Please know that it is not the only thing. That may be a comfort to loyal readers, but to me it is quite horrifying. I am however committed to continuing on in my struggles to do more. I have found that when things are easy, I can handle it all. But when things get a bit stressful and overloaded, I have a lot of stumbles. It would make sense to not worry about it if all of life were easy, but in truth we all know it is not. I am glad to be fighting to get through this, because that is how I will finally be able to put it all behind me. Time will tell how I do, but I am writing tonight, and that is a big victory for me in itself!

Amanda and Ben are now in Arizona for our niece’s birthday (Kayla). I would have loved to go, but after I heard that Ben cried for 2/3 the flight, I am okay with staying home. Amanda will no doubt make me pay when they get home, but somehow it will be worth it!

After leaving the airport, I stopped at the Cracker Barrel and had breakfast with Mike Constantine of Family Life (who I have mentioned before in this blog) and who was in Indiana with his family visiting supporters of their ministry. Mike and I had actually never met in person prior to today, but seemed like old friends. It is both refreshing and encouraging to have the opportunity to walk with people as committed to the Lord as Mike. He will be returning in September to speak about Family Life’s “Weekend to Remember” in our Churches. Amanda and I are alumni and we recommend it highly. It is the shot that every marriage needs, regardless of its condition. It helps couples understand God’s intention for their marriage. And if you would like to know more, please contact us!

Anyway, I can make a mess of the house now until at least Sunday, but I want you to know I won’t. (I’m a pretty smart guy!) But I will fall asleep watching TV and act like I am having fun while missing them both terribly. It’s only a few days. I will do my best to get by!

Thanks for your understanding, and keep me in your prayers. I am still at it and hope to post again tomorrow!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Yep, technical difficulties, and all of them in my brain. I received an email this morning from Deacon Dan Conley reminding me about the blog! Thanks Dan! We had been out of town all day Thursday, from around 5am till just after midnight, okay, in re-reading this, I see it was WEDNESDAY. I think you can begin to see my confession it legit.

I have TONS of people (not talking about cumulative weight, but numbers) tell me not to worry, and jokingly mention they forget things all the time. The hard part for me is that I really do regiment my schedule and life in order not to. I know where I was, and quite frankly, post-event, I am no longer there….nor am I close. Things like forgetfulness to others is a nuisance, but to me it is pretty stinking scary.

With that, this blog today represents the Plan B of the times that I struggle…..don’t TRY to remember later, do it when it comes up and do it right then. This is to say that there will be no posting later today, just as I work to get back on track these next few (hopefully) days. Just keep me in your prayers. I am not overloaded or anything like that personally. In my experience thus far it is just like having a cold…..it can get bad for a while, but sooner or later things come back around. At least that will be the theory I will hold onto.

Of course, only if I remember it that is!

God Bless you my friends!

Tom+

Dear Lord I am forgetful as of late. I apologize for it too. With the start of lacrosse season, my time is much tighter, but I would not have anticipated how forgetful I am now. It reminds me of months ago in speech therapy. I would do so well, but it was partially because my problems manifested themselves when I was stress or tired. That was never recreated in speech therapy.

Of course with all that is going on I am a lot more tired, though I do not feel all that stressed. I may need to go back to the dreaded list making for a while, but I suppose it would help. It may not seem like a big thing to those of you reading this, but it is frustrating to me. I keep my life pretty routine in order to avoid missing things. My forgetfulness, to me at least has been glaring!

But why worry today? Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and I want to enjoy it. I will be at our very own St. Patrick’s for much of the morning finishing up a few things, and then back there tonight for a small celebration. It’s a great day, especially where I grew up (by Notre Dame). We have a saying there…..”everyone’s Irish on St. Paddy’s Day!”

I hope you enjoy the day! It is going to be sunny and 70 here. I cannot imagine a better day!

God Bless!

Tom+

Okay, I need to apologize. If I could just remember which teacher who told me geometry was important in life I would go back and make amends. Unfortunately I have trouble remembering even the recent past, let alone over 30 years ago. It will just have to be one of those things I regret for the rest of my life.

This afternoon a few of us gathered together to stake out and line the women’s lacrosse field at the high school. As I was sort of “sighting” the outer stakes, fortunately Mr. Bob Latini (the only one with the right kind of needed experience) showed up and mentioned “Isosceles triangles.” Ironically, I not only knew what they were, but also remembered the formula. But when it came to the math part, well I just sheepishly retired back to my grunt work.

The good news is that the field is marked and it looks great! Thanks Bob! The bad news is that my hands are still covered with spray paint and I am less that 12 hours away from my first service in the morning! There is some scrubbing in my future!

Anyway, it is a day I will not soon forget….just the details. Thank God Scott was there with me to fill them in!

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

Tom+

Well, though we played for the championship tonight in the women’s indoor league, in the end we lost by two goals….to Carmel. The girls were deeply disappointed, but in truth I was very proud of them. To me as a coach, the indoor season is just developmental. We are already practicing for the regular season, and those games are what really counts. We will do great there…..even against Carmel!

It would be nice if everything we did in life was a win, but in reality that is not the way it works. It’s a good lesson to learn. Each day brings new challenges and with it new opportunities to do better, to do our best.

As a former athlete, I always thought it a bad idea to give everyone a trophy and to never keep score. A ten year old really doesn’t need to have an embroidered letter jacket and travel all over the country to play ball. It’s not reality. Life catches up. In fact, we compete in a lot of life…..getting into schools, getting jobs or promotions, and even in relationships. Life is full of wins and losses, and we are at our best when we learn to deal with them both.

Sure, I would have liked a different outcome. But come Monday I will have a much more determined team. A loss tonight will help us play better tomorrow……but even more so March 23rd when we play them again! It’s already on their radar. I will look forward to that win!

All this coaching has made me tired! Off to bed I go. So goodnight my friends and God Bless! I hope you had a wonderful day.

Tom+