At the Open House yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph three young men who have all grown up together in the same church and who all happen to have served or are serving our country as well.  And the funny thing is that they come from a parish that seems to just produce guys like this….St. Patrick’s.

So anyway, this picture and another like it, will grace the walls of St. Patrick’s Church to remind those who enter it of those who have knelt there before them, yet who have chose to leave them to serve.  We have had Marines, Army, Air Force, and National Guard in just our short six year history.  Two of these men have deployed, one to Afghanistan (USMC Lance Corporal David Crowmer on the right) and another not pictured in the National Guard to Iraq).  It has been an honor being their priest, and I believe their witness will allow St. Patrick’s to continue to produce some fine young servicemen and women.

But for now I will just post and call it a night.  It has been an unbelievably busy few weeks and I am up early tomorrow to help finish them out.  But I am thankful for all these fine young men and women who choose to serve.  Keep them, and our country, in your prayers…..I know I will.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

It seems as we had just done this, but in fact it has been over three months.  But tonight we had an Open House for PFC Scotty Tirman, and a lot of people came to join in, including quite a few Marines and another PFC from the US Army as well.  It was a great time!!

I do have pictures of it, and I suppose I will post them sometime soon, as being able to see all of them was a great treat for us all.  But what was really funny was Ben, who was holding court all through the night with whoever will listen.  I made a “joke” about him going to the hotel and spending the night with his grandma, and not only did that little snake hop right on it, but his grandma did too!  And tonight’s picture is of them both getting ready to head out for their slumber party.

But besides that, it was a high honor to host so many of our nation’s heroes in one place.  I KNOW we do not do enough for our men and women in uniform, yet they do so very much for us.  Our home will always be open to them and our hearts as well.

On Monday, two of them will return to their duty stations.  It is doubtful that this group will all be home together again at the same time.  But tonight I thank God for each and every one of them.  It was a blessing to have them here with us.  And they will remain in our prayers as they head off faithfully to defend our freedom.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I was kind of wondering why I wasn’t all that busy today.  Apparently I have lost my phone, which generally means I have put it on silent, and cannot hear it ring.  But I am not too worried about it and will find it tomorrow.  Tonight I am just relaxing.

Tonight’s picture(s) are of Scotty and Viper in my (new to me) truck.  After years of driving around that little Matrix and hating it, we finally decided to trade it in on a truck.  The truck is still a Toyota and 3 years older than the car, but did I mention it was a truck?  Scotty and Viper LOVE it, which means a lot to me AND it has a “temporary” Marine Dad plate now on the front until the one that matches Amanda’s Marine Mom plate arrives next week.  (you can make it out if you strain)

But somehow I think the subject of tonight’s post was really not this, but in the photos of my phone.  Not that I can remember what is on it….I don’t.  So this will have to suffice, but heck, it is a post with it all…..trucks, dogs, Marines…it really couldn’t get too much better.

Today however was busy.  The snow gave our snow blower a lot of overtime.  TWO times on our drive (one for me and one for Scott) and then Scotty also did the drive next door.  They have five kids and the husband is deployed in Afghanistan.  He was more than happy to do it.

But it is now late and at least I AM tired.  That California Marine hasn’t seen much snow, but this will make a dent.  It was a pretty great time to see him out there doing what we remember him doing all the time….after all, this is Indiana.

So it is off to bed now for me.  Scotty and I are now sharing a vehicle (it’s a truck) and I hope he needs it tomorrow.

After all, I need some time to find my phone.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+  

I will be taking the rest of the day off today but wanted to post this as today’s blog post.  So on behalf of our family, Merry Christmas to you and yours.  I am thankful for your reading of this blog, and today’s post comes with my prayers that your celebration of our Savior’s birth is filled with joy!

Have a great day today and God Bless you!

Tommy+

It’s a little after 11:00pm here.  I had the privilege to Celebrate at two Church services tonight and to deliver the sermon at one.  And we are now home.  Ben is in his pajamas, and tonight’s picture is of him leaving the cookies out for Santa.  I am not sure how to read him, but he appears to be kind of happy.

As a kid, I remember this was the hardest night ever to go to sleep on.  Sure, not sleeping kept Santa away, but I was always too excited to go to sleep.  I experimented with counting sheep, counting backwards, forcing my eyes closed, reading boring things…..yet none of it ever worked.  I can see Ben is going to be the same.

But I will admit, it is funny to watch.  I do not have any of the services tomorrow, so I can spend the entire day with him and his brother and sister….and of course my wife.  It should be a great time.  I am just glad to see this long day at its end.  Unlike him, I will not have a problem getting to sleep.  For I find that the older I get the less sheep I need.

It’s a good thing too…….

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

With all the “yes sirs” and “yes ma’ams” coming out of Scotty’s mouth lately, when my wife took tonight’s picture of me giving Scotty Communion at St. Patrick’s this morning and said “use THIS as your blog picture tonight,” all I could say was “yes ma’am.”  So here it is.

And what was even better was that I was delivering the sermon this morning there with my longtime friend Father Tony Bender, who I had assigned today as the Celebrant.  And what was cool about that was that Tony, Uncle Tony as my kids know him, was able to be a part. It made it all the better.  It was a great honor I will confess.

But more than anything, it was great to have Scotty back in Church.  He was going to try and play the music this morning, but since he had not done it in over three months, he decided to sit it out until Christmas Eve service where he will play at St. Patrick’s at 9:00 pm.  But he was home and it was great.  And everyone enjoyed seeing him.

But what was even greater was that Scotty was joined by John Crowmer, also a PFC and in the Army. John was home on leave as well.  And the other one in the picture with Tony and I is Lance Corporal David Crowmer, John’s brother who is also a US Marine.  ALL of them here for Christmas.  It was so great!

Anyway, I have done my duty.  No, it is far less strenuous than any of the men (including Uncle Tony who was in the Navy), but it will please my wife, which is important to me.But in all honesty, today was a great honor.

Welcome home boys!  Your service to our country is greatly appreciated, and your presence among us an honor!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Well we are now finished in San Diego and are preparing to head home.  Scotty has graduated and we have taken him for REAL FOOD and did a tour of the USS Midway together this afternoon as the first excursion he took post-graduation.  It was an awesome day.  And tomorrow he will see his flags, his newly renovated (meaning really cleaned) room, and his beloved dog.  It will be great!

But as for us, we are all exhausted.  My back is a mess and that makes the prospect of riding on a plane for that long not too appealing.  But if I can get back I can sleep in MY bed.  That should help, and I will push through the pain to make it there.

But for tonight I just want to get to bed.  It may be only 10 pm here, but that is 1 am at home…..and my body thinks it is at HOME.  But before I signed off I wanted to share this picture of Scotty in his Dress Blues.  He will wear them Sunday and on Christmas Eve.  I just wanted you to see this new Marine!  He is coming home tomorrow!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

WOW….this was one of the best days of our life!  We got to finally see and hug Scotty at his base in San Diego.  He looks different, he acts different, and he is different…..BUT he is still very much Scott.  It was a GREAT TIME!

I had posted via Twitter to Facebook, but the picture never made it through.  So here is one of all of us tonight.  Scotty is now back in barracks and we will return early in the morning to see him graduate and then take him home!  We can hardly wait.  He was not allowed to leave base today, but we had 5 hours with him.  It was awesome.

He has been promoted already to Private First Class and will return for 10 day leave and then it will be extended for 21 more days for him to work with the recruiter in Noblesville recruiting students at the high school.  And the best part is that he will be AT HOME!  Beyond that, I will let him share, but he is very excited about everything.  We have been very blessed.

But our biggest blessing today was to see him in person.  It has really lifted our spirits and has made every bit of missing him and worrying about him worthwhile.  And tomorrow should be even better!!  Keep us in your prayers, we are not used to being this happy!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Oh do NOT WORRY.  Sure, we are IN San Diego now after a long day, but despite sharing that publicly we are not too concerned.  Our home is SECURE.  Not only do we have alarms and a BIG DOG, but we also have a few Marines on duty there……what could be better?  And in a few days we will be bringing home our own to take leave for a short week or so before heading back to California.

But we are glad to be here, despite the busy-ness and the stress of the day.  We had a LONG flight into Las Vegas and that is where the picture is from.  Steph and I both lost ONE DOLLAR on a slot machine at the AIRPORT.  We just wanted to say that we did, and now we can.

So now we are in our hotel, and trying to adjust to the time.  It is 3 hours different from home and everyone is feeling it.  We will SEE Scotty tomorrow from 1-6 for ON BASE leave.  Friday, after his graduation at 10, he gets to leave base with us and is on total leave for 10 days.  We will hang out and eat before flying him home on Saturday.  I will be posting some pictures!!

But for now we are just glad to be here and settled in.  Going home will be the harder adjustment, but we are looking forward to that too….I more than most.  California is always a culture shock to me, and not one that always makes me all that comfortable.  I will be fine on base, but I have not really ever been too far or often off the farm as they say.   I will be happy to get home for Christmas and with all of us.

But for now I can say that I have “been to Vegas” and gambled big with my daughter….all in the airport 20 feet from our gate.  Sure it is not as glamorous as it could be, but it is big for me.  Tomorrow however will be bigger……and nothing could please me more.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+