Well, my wife was unable to make her trip to Belgium, which in many ways will make my life easier this week, but canceling the big party I was throwing tomorrow at the last minute will be hard.  But in all seriousness, big changes to plans such as this (the trip and her being away a week, not a party) are hard…..especially today.

And as for the rest of the day……Scotty, a few days ago, slid into a curb at work in his car……DAMAGE.  We THOUGH it was just the rim, but the repairs may be more than the car is worth.  We dropped it off at our VOLVO MECHANIC and we took the truck.  Sadly, the truck did not make it home on its own….it had to be towed.  So I have listed a non-running truck on Craigslist.   The car, we will see.

As I sat down to do this blog, I realized I am doing the sermon tomorrow at 2 places and have no sermon. I did go down and make sure my clothes were clean and ready….they are.

You just cannot write a sermon in this state of mind.  I would not dare try either.  Tomorrow will be an early morning, but all things considered, at least it will not be today!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

This may surprise the regular readers of this blog, but tonight’s picture is of my 4 year old son Ben IN MY BED.  (Okay, it is not a surprise to anyone)  He is currently in his Batman pajamas, which he incidentally wore to school today as it was “pajama day,” and now he has taken up residence in my bed waiting for his mom.

Oh she is a ZUMBA, which also is no surprise.  It is Mardi Gras night at Zumba tonight, and as she has been on death’s door and to the doctor this week (she is now on antibiotics and pain meds), she clearly had to make sure she went there and did too much…….and of course tomorrow morning she will again be up bright and early to head to Zumba again.

What makes this all even more insane is that she flies out for a week long business trip to Belgium tomorrow afternoon.  The whole rest and take care of yourself conversation is lost on her, but then again if she were a woman who made good decisions I would be single.

But that is why I am in bed typing with two of Batman’s feet jamming into my side.  His mommy is going away for a week, so that is license (apparently on both their parts) to have this sleep over.  He does sleep in his own bed a lot, and honestly having him in here all night is often far better than the door wildly slamming open and then closed abruptly between 3 and 4.  Regardless of how you prepare yourself for that possibility, it always rattles your nerves.

So Batman is hanging here tonight.  Oddly enough he wanted to stay up till she got home.  He did, but instead of waiting for her to finish with her shower, he is sawing logs next to me already.  The adventure never ends…….there’s never a boring day.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+ 

Tonight my mind was taken back many years ago where Father Kelly Irish delivered the sermon at my ordination to the priesthood.  The theme was evident, and we have since titled it “Father Phony,” and it was about what would happen if the higher ups discovered who we really were.  It was actually a great sermon, and it reminded me that it is only by God’s Grace that we are called.  No one is really worthy, but we, Kelly and I, have had many years joking about flying under the radar.

In all honesty, I used to have a lot of insecurity about being in this vocation, but much of it subsided as I met others in it, particularly these “spiritual giants” who I discovered were just men called like I was.  In fact, I watched many of them fall too, leading me to see the extreme fragility of life and ministry, and to thank God for being able to stay in it.

But really, I am over most of that, as my concerns and worries really do not revolve around me anymore, but more so around my kids.  Steph is away at school and traveling the country for lacrosse (tonight and the next few days they are in Florida for some games).  Scotty is working and going to school full time, and rarely home.

But Ben is omnipresent, and in school, and a Catholic one at that.  Sure he looks harmless in this picture, but he is really turning on the heat!  As he is a pastor’s kid, and MY KID, my anxiety is once again all tied up in that.  Steph and Scott started out in Catholic School and had exemplary careers for their stints.  Ben however, is a different breed.

Tonight for instance, we talked about Jesus….who was his mom, who was his dad?  And then I asked him, “Where was He born?”  And Ben said, “In a manger.”  So I asked, “What’s a manger?”  To which he replied, “It’s a place with a lot of those yellow things (straw) that look like fries.”

Yes, Ben Tirman, the son of a priest of well over 20 years, envisions Jesus being born on a bed of fries.  Yep, I have made it a long time…….he however, will clearly be my Achilles’ heel.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Oh sure, I know you were expecting a picture of Ben and SCOTT, but there are actually three of them.  Ben here is pictured with their middle brother Viper, or in dog years their older brother Viper.  Either way you look at it he likes to be under the covers.

Viper is actually Scott’s dog.  We got him as a pup, and Scott took primary responsibility for him and even showed him in the ring (the PRO ring……AKC, not 4-H).  But Viper, although very loyal to Scott, is an opportunist.  And he had the opportunity to watch “Homeward Bound” with Ben and “under the covers” at that, so he took it.  Viper looks a lot like Shadow in the movie, but he is clearly younger.  Either way, he was milking it for all it was worth and enjoying the night.  And when Scott got home he expected us to not say a thing…….fortunately for him, Scotty never reads this blog.

So Ben and Viper had a great night, and the cat, whose bed they were in, was angry.  But such is the life here at the Tirman home.  The day is done and all that is forgotten but for this blog.  Even the cat has let it go.  Tomorrow is yet another day.  All are significant, yet not all are memorable.  Even so, I thank God for each and every one of them!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Oh the romance is abounding in our home for Valentine’s Day.  We ate dinner, did some laundry, and Amanda asked me to run Ben’s bath……so that he apparently would not be stinky for her falling asleep with him in his bed tonight…..although she told me it was so he would not be stinky for school.

But alas, that is the life I lead.  I take care of kids, work, and write this humble blog.   I am 50 years old and yet speak to an audience under 5 90% of the time.  It is really no wonder I am how I am.  It is now 9:00pm, and I am in my room typing and the cat is somewhere in here with me.  If I just had a handbag and some books (and was female) I could be a cat lady.

Of course I am holding out for something far more glamorous and worthy of my sacrifices.  If the house I am building in heaven is in proportion to all I am doing right here I am betting I should have some pretty awesome digs. But who am I to complain?

I had a front row seat at the Ben Tirman comedy bath show tonight…..AND he is clean!  And a clean (non-stinky) boy makes for a happy (no-grouchy) wife.  They may be off sleeping in another room, but it smells great in mine, and I am not in any kind of trouble!  A victory for sure!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I have to confess, I have received all of this information second-hand, but tonight I was out at work and Amanda made a pizza for the boys and had it out to cool.  She went to another part of the house for a little bit, and when she returned, it was gone.

The picture is of Ben and his buddy Puddy playing in the door of my office.  It is more disconnected to this blog than a hot dog at a 5 star restaurant.  But I just liked it, and I hope you do too.

Today was a real blessing to me.  It started out with my picking up a college student from Anderson University to take her to St. Patrick’s in Noblesville.  She had been to our Church in Anderson a few times, but I thought she might like to see St. Patrick’s as well.  What warmed my heart, was not what she saw there, because I really didn’t talk to her about it.  But what warmed mine was what I did.

Here was a college student making the time on her own to attend church.  That was pretty cool in itself.  But at St. Patrick’s today the sermon was delivered by Ethan Harrison, a young man in his 20’s heading to seminary later this year.  The Celebrant was Deacon Robert Jennings, who just turned 34, and who was training for what is coming up after his March 17th priesting by doing this Deacon’s Mass.  And then of course there was the musician, Scotty, my son who is 18.

It really brought a lot of things back to me.  I remembered when I was in college and getting ready for seminary.  The older guys called us the future.  I guess they worried about it then.  But I know the feeling.  I am one of the old dogs now and with great joy am watching God raise up a great group to continue it all.  I am far from being sent out to pasture, but today I realized I need to worry about it less.  It’s not my responsibility, apparently God has been working on it all along.  And for that message given to me this day, I am truly thankful.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I was rummaging around in the basement a couple of days ago and came across this valuable piece of art. Stephanie drew it in 3rd grade and it had been on the wall of my office at home for as long as I have had it.  It was packed in the move last year and I have missed it.  It will now grace my wall with these other works of art.

You can call me Reverend or Doctor, but to prove it we will need to go down in the basement…..that’s where all those important (and professionally framed) documents are stored.  But the scarecrow (Stephy), the flower (Scotty, probably in 1st grade) and the butterfly and Transformer (Ben of course), grace the walls of my office.  

It reminded me of an interview I had many years
ago to become the Dean of a Cathedral in one of the plains states (I was the bridesmaid in the search) but the question was posed to me by an actual US Senator who was on the search committee.  He asked me, “What is your greatest accomplishment?”  The answer they expected of course was an explanation of all my work and academic accomplishments, which even then were pretty extensive.  But I just smiled and surprised them, because I answered, “My kids.”

One day I was 16, the next I had my driver’s license.  One day I was 17, the next day I was an adult.  One day I was 20, the next I was able to have my first (legal) drink.  One day I was 49, the next day I was a member of the AARP (not by any means politically, but by age).  And one day (yesterday) Ben was a sick little mess, and today he is his old self!  Praise God!  He is back to invading my space at every turn!

Well this is my 1300th post, but it has been a trying day.  It is so very hard being gone and then catching up, but I spent the morning at the eye doctor and then the afternoon with Ben who was sick.

The good news is that Ben is on antibiotics and will recover (although not soon enough).  He has an ear infection (no surprise to us as it is also his 1300th) but he will need to shed the fever if he is going to school tomorrow.  So far so good though.  He seems like his old self.

The bad news is that the top shelf expert I went to about my eye has referred me to another top shelf expert in the area of my actual eye problem and this means a few more weeks of dealing with this.  Of course it has been over a YEAR now (that’s why the new docs) and at least I finally feel I am on the right track.  The next doc is a surgeon who specializes in the eye and is ALSO a plastic surgeon.  They are confident he can fix me, and if my insurance will cover it, I may just have a little work done.  We will see……

But for now I will post this blog and picture of Ben at the doctor’s office today.  We saw his favorite.  She is actually a PA, but we call her Dr. Kelly.  He had her cracking up, but the best part is that she has him in the road to recovery!

Thank God for that!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+