Monthly Archives: June 2010

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Living in the post-secretarial age…..

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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.

I suppose I deserve it. I remember when I was a young buck, and was riding that cutting edge, and had that sharp disposition. Of course now I am 49, ordained over 20 years, and my priorities have really changed. My faith and my understanding of it have simplified. Perhaps it is due to my diminishing capacities, but I have my doubts about that. I think at the beginning I was too smart for my own good, and that faith is far more simplistic than the current terms or theories.
And than God for that, because it really needs to relate to us in our lives. It is not meant to be some theoretical or intellectual exercise. It is experiential and personal. And for me, praise God, simplistic.
Fortunately for me, I hang with a 2 year old and 364 day old kid most of the time who really doesn’t care about the latest thing I have read as long as I will play. And for me, that it more than fine. I have spent most of the day doing just that too…..playing, while finishing and printing ordination bulletins and my sermon for Friday. And it has been a productive day too. When I had a secretary we never played “monsters,” but today we did and I got a lot done. Who’da thunk I could do so much in this “post-secretarial” age?
And I was going to post a picture of a secretary, but an image search produced much less than the “G” rated results I was expecting. I guess that makes my point….I am out of touch. Enjoy this sexy copy machine instead!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Ferb, I know what we are going to do tonight……

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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.

I am certain hell has many of the bad shows there running 24/7. Thankfully I am heading in the right direction. I cannot imagine an eternity of that kind of torture!
So in truth, it is a pretty easy night. I am already in bed and Ben is laughing at me because he has managed to weasel himself into our room yet again. I am clearly not as smart as any of my kids. But fortunately at my age, the blessings of sleep are not that far away!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Oh get real……..

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When you are a little boy, your life is often all about “mommy.” And Ben is the poster child for this concept. He loves me, I do know that, but he would gladly throw me under the bus to be with his mom. In the end I have the upper hand though……he loves sports, and she throws like a girl. All little boys also abandon their moms, at least for a short while when they think they are superstar athletes (in my case roughly from 4 to at least 49….but I am an anomaly.)

But driving home from Kokomo yesterday I saw this sign, and I had to get them both in my car and drive them out to see it. It was too funny to me. And although illegal in ALL STATES, it cracked me up. Ben really does see me as in the way most of the time.
But in the end, I will have the last laugh. Ben, like all little boys will have to come to the realization that their dads are married to their moms and they need to find someone of their own.
Not that this is a real comfort to me…….Amanda also would gladly throw me under the bus for Spiderman too.
Off to play third wheel!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+
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Spiderman dreams…..

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Yes, that is Ben and Amanda at the Wal-Mart with Ben pulling his new Spiderman blanket through the store because he trusts no one else to do so. Parents will do a lot to get a toddler to sleep in his own bed, and if his attachment to this blanket is any indication, we may not see him out of his room for years.

It was pretty funny though, not just to us, but to all the people at the store. The package was about as big as he was, and yet he just pulled it along. He did manage to let it go long enough to get it home and has set up shop on the couch in the living room where he insists he is now going to bed….fat chance!
We did let him pick out what he wanted though, and there were plenty of choices too. It came down to Spiderman verses Toy Story, and no offense to anyone, but I am glad he picked Spiderman. Spiderman is not just popular now, but it was when I was a kid too. Every boy wanted to be him and many still do. Even I will admit, Spiderman is a lot cooler now than when I was young….sort of like me, just ask my kids….okay don’t. But he has that manly and exciting persona that all men are drawn to be. Plus, the blanket matches his light up shoes and pillow!
So Spiderman it is, but somehow I am still expecting his little feet digging into my side tonight. Not that I would be disappointed, I am very used to it and have trouble sleeping when I travel and he is not kicking me. But Spiderman doesn’t sleep in his parents room. After all, we would notice if he headed out to fight some bad guys. We will see!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Missing Buzz….

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I suppose when you are just shy of 3, and just had met the very real Buzz Lightyear in person, you might, upon your return to Indiana, be experiencing some sort of withdrawal. So I am not surprised by Ben’s behavior. He sees his Disney stuff in a new way. He stares at it, and you can just tell he is remembering. There is always a smile on his face, but though his body is here, his mind is elsewhere……he is missing it, and we can tell.

I am glad though that he had the experience. He is such a happy little guy, and he was just so over-the-top with happiness when we were there. I am sure it will not be his last trip, but right now the world of fantasy and reality is blurred…..just like me and my athletic career. I am just glad his memories of all of it are more accurate and realistic than mine!
So for not it is off to bed to dream of a trip just past. He got to meet all his heroes in person, and I hope he dreams about them all. I am so glad he had the opportunity.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+
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The good news and the bad news….

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The good news is that we are back home from our vacation and we are so very thankful. The bad news is that my weight is out of control. I would HATE to traumatize you with a picture, but I am going to be honest, I am moving on from this. By the end of this I hope to be some sort of AARP beach model.

But for today, I am on the porch with now just the cat because Scotty and Viper have gone to bed. Steph is at an overnight, and I am just trying to get my bearings. Tomorrow I begin a Marine regime, and I am serious. Tonight there is calm before the storm.
I do not regret all I did on vacation, but in order to have others I need to be alive! I intend to be on my way in the morning! Keep me in your prayers! Disney cost me in more ways than one!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+
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Clicking our heels, but not for Kansas……..

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Well although Dorothy clicked the heels of her ruby red slippers to get back to Kansas, in less than 12 hours we will be leaving it. It is certainly not because of anything we dislike here, Kansas is really a wonderful place. It’s that we have been gone long enough and as Dorothy said, there really is “no place like home.” And our home is Indiana.

I will not be disappointed to get there either. Our vacation has been great, but I miss things like my own bed, Viper and Puddy, the back porch, and even mowing my yard. I will enjoy getting back into the swing of things too. I have a lot to do in preparation of the ordinations next Friday, so getting back to my familiar environment will be quite helpful.

Anyway, click the heels we will, and thanks to Southwest we should be home before noon. It has been quite the time and a great trip to celebrate Steph’s graduation. I hope she has time to go with us next year when Scotty graduates and we head to the McDonald’s by our house. It will not be quite the trip we have been on this year, but at least I will get to sleep in my own bed!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

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The long way home…….

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Yep, we are in Kansas, known for its flatness and weather! Even Dorothy was ejected from Kansas before returning! But we made it here just fine. Our flight, as far as any of us could tell since we were up at 3:30 and on the bus to the airport at 4:30, seemed uneventful. We landed shortly after 9am here and learned a valuable lesson……never fly that early again.

But thankfully we are here and having fun. I was ready to restart watching what I was eating, but my mother-in-law had a little birthday shindig for us all. So tomorrow I can do better, and Thursday we will be home. It is hard to eat right while traveling, and birthday/celebration cake is, in my mind, rude to turn down……and I thank God for that!

But all the activity is catching up to us. I can see everyone slowing down. It has been fun so far, and we always have a great time out here in Kansas. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day….and then sadly, we will be on the plane early again (I meant we will learn NEXT TIME) on Thursday!

Off to bed!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

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The Grand Finale…..

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Tonight we spent the last part of our evening and Epcot, eating and dancing at the Biergarten again, and watching the fireworks finale from there for the second night in a row. Our flight to Kansas leaves early in the morning so our bus ride and wake up call comes quite a bit earlier….3:30 in fact. But the harder part is the realization for Ben that he is leaving Florida. He has really had the time of his short little life, and that has made it fun for us all. Sure, the trip was to celebrate Stephanie’s graduation, but Ben and Amanda had never been here and it was fun for us all watching them both. The picture is of them watching the fireworks together.

Tomorrow at this time we will be in Kansas. My mother in law is expecting us, and Ben will have her undivided attention. Of course she will be asking him all sorts of questions, and as long as they are about Disney, he may answer them. My guess is that she would do well to take him to a Biergarten to dance too. He ripped up the floor once again tonight.
So farewell to you from the Magic Kingdom. Tomorrow I will post from Kansas. We are looking forward to it. And then just two more days until my own bed!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Post 700 – Dancing the night away for Father’s Day!

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Yep, my 700th post, and on Father’s Day too!

Today was busy but fun. We started off at Hollywood Studios where we ate last night for a stage show of Playhouse Disney. They had four parts really…..Mickey Mouse and friends, Handy Manny, Tigger and Pooh, and the worst show in all of Disney the snooty Einsteins, I mean little ones…..though I certainly wish there were less. But Ben thought it was marvelous and that’s what counts the most.

I will say if I would just stop eating here I would have already lost about 100 pounds. We have walked miles and miles, and quite honestly, though my legs hurt, it feels great. Oddly enough I am feeling something far more important stirring in me other than just rest and refreshment. I guess without playing a sport it is sometimes hard to see what your body craves…..this trip is giving me a much clearer picture.
At the request of the kids and I we changed our dinner from an Italian place in Epcot to return to the Biergarten. I suppose it makes sense, for before the spelling of our name was changed at the start of the last century it was Tiermann. (It is the German word for incredibly insightful and handsome priest, or something like that. I only had 4 years of German and it was over 30 years ago) But at the Beirgarten you don’t have to remember.
This time we were right by the dance floor and I let Ben out on it. Everyone was afraid to join him, so I did. I grew up in an area where it was very ethnic, and it didn’t matter….German, Polish, Slovac anything, it was Polka music and drinking songs. Neither Ben or I had anything, but I was out with him before anyone. I finally convinced Amanda out who I filmed on my phone so you could see. Steph and Scott were chicken, but in time I know they will be out there with their kids. Heritage is a big thing, and though our name is German, it’s really all about family. I would do anything for my kids, like tonight dancing with one who clearly had no rhythm. That’s a heritage I want to pass on…….and one that I have.
Gute Nacht und Gott segnen Sie!
Tommy+