Today is my dad’s birthday. I will not say how old he actually is, partly because I have my kids confused about it and I do not want them to know the truth. I told Steph he was 105 today and Scott 115…..neither is true. He is much closer to 120.

Actually, my dad is often confused for more of a brother of mine than my dad. He is in his 70’s but younger looking and definitely acting. He seems to be constantly on the move, and when he drives he actually uses his signals correctly rather than driving for miles with his left turn signal on. His great health is a real blessing.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad! I hope it was a great one, and here’s to many more!

God Bless!

Tom+

It is pretty warm tonight out on the back porch, but there is a nice breeze. Steph spent the day at King’s Island, Scott had summer school (taking 11th grade composition early) and Ben and I had a nice day together. It was all and all a good day.

All I have left to do tonight is this blog and to let all the dogs out. They like being out at any time, but the cool air I am certain is more enjoyable than the heat they had to endure this afternoon. They chased each other like maniacs in between drinks, but they eyed the sprinkler and were a bit miffed I hadn’t turned it on for them….maybe tomorrow.

Ben however was successful at getting me to turn it on for him. It was his first experience with one too. Needless to say HE LOVED IT, and I loved it too. It is such a blessing to see him laugh, and laugh he did! We will try it again tomorrow too.

But to get to tomorrow I must call it a day. It has been a long one, and I am glad it is over. I hope yours was as blessed as mine!

Goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

I am certainly tell the times I am having trouble…..particularly by looking at how I am keeping up to date with my blog posts. My apologies for being a bit of a forgetful goober over the weekend. It was quite busy and I was quite stressed. I am just glad to remember today.

I really feel the need to talk about how I see my faith in all of this, because often during struggles people move away from their faith rather than toward it. I certainly understand the concept of struggle. And I certainly do question why a guy in great health and living a great life would have to endure such things, but to be honest, if anything, my faith is stronger than it was before. In fact, I believe these struggles to be a gift, and a gift I would not want to return.

Sure there are things I want to be different. I hate how hard it is for my family at times with my forgetfulness or my sudden needs to sleep. I hate how short my fuse can become, or what a challenge keeping myself together can often be.

But in the end, I have learned and am learning more about important things such as patience, allowing others to help me, and most importantly the fact that this has not just happened to me….it belongs to my whole family. I may struggle with symptoms, but they struggle with me. Saints that they are, they have yet to push me off a cliff too! (Sorry for the idea honey!) But I do notice, and I do appreciate it. It is an unexpected blessing to have the opportunity to see how I am loved in this way.

I really have become a lot more than I was before and for that I am thankful. God has blessed me, not with struggles, but with new vision. And I intend to continue to use it!

Anyway, once again, please accept my apologies.

God Bless…

Tom+

Home, home at last. It was a long quick trip, but well worth it. I am just so very thankful to be home and back to my regular gig as Ben’s trampoline.

I am however, exhausted. I was on the phone for most of the trip, and though I got a lot of work done it was far from relaxing. I do not have any appointments till late in the day tomorrow, so other than the lawn and a sermon, I should be able to sleep in a bit.

For now I intend to call it a day. There really is no place like home and it is nice to be here. It is quiet, peaceful, and rejuvenating. The perfect place for me today.

My hope and prayer it that you find yourself in such a place as well.

God’s Peace to you my friends. Thanks for checking in!

God Bless!

Tom+

Well I am typing this in my hotel room tonight in Akron, Ohio. The funeral was wonderful, and perhaps the most amazing witness to the life and ministry of any Christian I have ever known. Bill would have been proud. He planned this service out in1995, and it was marvelous. I was blessed to be his friend, and it was no more evident than it was tonight.

As I prepared to leave the Church tonight Bill’s daughter Liz presented me with Bill’s Chasuble which was not only quite beautiful, but one of the most treasured vestments he owned. What an unbelievable honor! I was so very touched. Bill had already given me so much in my life, and now after his death he was giving more. I will wear it in all our missions with pride.

I also got to see many old friends. I was so happy to see them too. It was a pretty good night.I did however miss out on Amanda’s birthday evening as well as Steph and Scott’s last day of school. They are officially a Senior and a Junior respectively. And they celebrated all of it tonight together.

My room is nice and cool, it is late, and I have a meeting first thing in the morning so it is off to bed for me!

Goodnight from the Buckeye State my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Though it is technically tomorrow, we celebrated Amanda’s 33rd birthday tonight. The kids and I secretly met to detail her car, and we bought her a few presents, the ever popular ice cream cake, and took her to dinner. She chose “The Mellow Mushroom” which though it has good food has walls painted with disturbing murals from the 60’s and 70’s. I would have been much happier someplace else, but the rule is that on your birthday you pick. June 19th is coming…..it will not be anything 60’s at all.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I will head to Ohio to speak at the funeral of my good friend Father Bill Knapp. I have met many knights on my journey through life, and Bill was among them. There is no higher honor than to speak at his funeral and continue his work. I miss him.

Amanda and the kids will probably go out again, but to someplace that I cannot eat. They have a list of places they go when I am out of town, and all of them include things I am allergic to. They were probably excited to go out tonight knowing tomorrow would be anther opportunity! But they should go out tomorrow. A birthday is a big thing, and they ought to be celebrating it.

Anyway, I am off to bed. Tomorrow is a busy day.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless. Thanks for checking in!

Tommy+

Hallelujah…tonight Scotty finally took his BMV driving final. He passed with flying colors. Now all he needs to do is turn 16 and one month and pass the written test…..THEN and ONLY THEN does he get the keys to the Volvo. July 16th is D-Day and he can hardly wait.

Getting your license is of course a big thing. It certainly doesn’t mean complete freedom, but it is quite a bit more. For me it means no longer having to drop off and pick up perhaps the busiest kid in North America, but in truth I will miss it. Scotty and I have always been tight and to be honest I have enjoyed this last year with him driving me all around on his permit. It’s not that I need a driver, I am just proud of him and enjoy his company….and he enjoys mine. He doesn’t enjoy it enough to forgo his license and just continue driving me around, but he is a kid who clearly appreciates all the time we have given him. He is a great driver and a great kid, and he is a great son too.

Anyway, enough of the bragging. I am finishing this early with the hopes of an early bedtime.

I hope you have had a blessed day! God Bless you!

Tom+

This weekend has flown by, and a big part of my not posting has been the amount of activity. It is not that I cannot do a lot or handle a lot, it’s that when a lot of big things happen all at once I often find myself lost in the details……such has been the case this weekend.

We began the weekend with a trip to Goshen, Indiana to visit my grandma. She just turned 93 in April and we had not seen her since before lacrosse season started. I was looking forward to our trip. I was driving us through the country to get there. It was a wonderful drive and very relaxing.

Unfortunately, just south of Wabash, Ben coughed and then choked and then threw up all over himself (and his only outfit). He wasn’t sick, he just gagged. But what was up till then a pleasant trip turned sour, as did the smell of the car. Soon we were all out of the car, stripping him down, and trying to clean up the best we could. The 20 minute trip to the Wal-Mart seemed endless, but we made it, and got him a new outfit, lots of Febreze, and continued on. The car never did smell comfortable, but we got there, and had a great time with my grandma. It was a blast.

From there we headed towards Muncie, where my cousin Chrissy had just graduated from high school. It was a great time in Muncie. My other two cousins had brand new baby girls there and we enjoyed ourselves a great deal.

The hardest part of the day was between Goshen and Muncie when I received a call from Ohio informing me that an old friend, Father Bill Knapp had died that morning. Bill and I both served as Rectors of the same Church, St. Andrew’s in Barberton, Ohio. I was there for 8 years, but he had been there for over 20. There had been a priest who served in between us too.

I knew that Bill was old, and that he had been in poor health, but it still was something that saddened me. Bill was one of the good guys, a real straight shooter, and a real inspiration to me. We both told jokes all the time, but his were always bad….they were groaners, and something I was sure was intentional. It was kind of his trademark. Heaven had to wait a long time for him, but he was worth it. I am just thankful he is finally reunited with his wife Mimi who he missed so much.

Yesterday, quite frankly I have little memory of at all, other than I know I worked in our churches in the north. Scotty went to the 500 with my dad, and I know he and I watched the replay when he got home (it’s coming back to me!)

And today, the rain prevented a trip to the zoo, though we did try. This afternoon the kids had a few friends over for a barbecue, but now they are heading to study since this will be their last week of school.

As for me, I am fried. I have been on overload, and for some reason just unable to catch up. I am still at it though, and with this blog out of the way I can sit back and try and relax. Let’s just pray my mind decides to show up here sometime soon.

I hope you had a great holiday weekend.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

The back porch keeps getting warmer, much to my chagrin. I am not a big fan of the heat, but do enjoy a nice cool breeze as I am out here typing. Tonight I am doing double-duty. I am not only posting this blog entry, but I am also getting my sermon done for Sunday. With it being a holiday weekend, I want to be available as much as I can for my family.

Tonight it seems as if everyone has the same idea. The normally quiet back porch is filled with laughs and chatter from many of the other back yards near us. That’s a pretty wonderful sound…..people enjoying each other’s company. I just wish the neighbor across the field didn’t have that spotlight pointing right at my house!!

But all and all it has been a great night. Steph’s boyfriend was over for dinner, Ben played hard and then went to bed, Amanda and Scott went to the Wal-Mart to get a few things, and Steph is now in the living room playing her guitar. Oh no, I spoke too soon, everyone is now home and Steph is out on the porch (with the guitar and with Amanda) and the tranquillity factor is now down to zero. And my complaints have been met by deaf ears.

So sign off I must. Even the cat has had enough. I will still be available for them, but after the concert and the potting of plants that is accompanying it!! Off to my room to work on my sermon!

I hope you have had a blessed day!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Well in an effort to be responsible I made an appointment with my doctor this morning and went in, fully expecting him to dismiss my chest pains as “impatience” with waiting for a muscle problem to heal. Yep, it was for my sake and it was impatience because I have tried ice, rest, heat, Motrin, Naproxen, a plug in massage machine, and even the ever popular “Tiger Balm” that my wife hates but I love…it is not made from real tigers.

But with persistent pain I figured I would at least learn something. But when the physical exam (the pushing and the prodding) did not cause the pain, suddenly I found myself hooked up to an EKG machine and then an x-ray. Fortunately (really) I passed both and we were back to the muscle stuff…..but it was a hell of a detour!

My doctor is a great guy and just laughed that much of what happens to me is not textbook. For instance, a stroke after being on an apnea machine 4 months and losing 45 pounds with great blood pressure and in shape…..I am often a mystery! Today however I aced it all, and though I still have the pain, as of this point I have almost lived to 11 o’clock! I intend to see the morning too! I am just glad the nurse did not contort her face during the EKG or the tech did not scream when she read my ex-rays. I could use a break, and tonight at the end of the day I feel I have gotten one!

I am tired from the worries and scares of the last few years and I really want to get to where I feel comfortable. I am tired of feeling like a former athlete, and though I am almost 48, I will begin the journey of getting back to that (as much as a middle aged guy can) when I go to bed tonight. Time will tell, but one thing is for certain, I cannot stay where I am. Keep me in your prayers. This past year has been too scary to relive.

As my doctor says…it starts right now. And that it does!

Keep the faith my friends! I hope you have had a blessed day!

Tom+