Haydn doing it again

Posted: December 7, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Haydn Stories

The paragraphs below (in blocks) tell a snippet about our most recent trip to the Greenville Christmas Parade. We went there with our good friends, the Crumptons.

We sat on the street, waiting for the parade to come. We had some of the “best seats in the house.” We arrived 90 minutes early to put our chairs out and then went to get something to eat.

Once we got back, we settled in for the parade to show up. Haydn and Ansa were sitting in front of me and Tristen was a few spots over, all three of them sitting on the pavement.

A Target Float came by and some of the walkers were passing out candy canes, good size ones. A lady gave Haydn and Ansa one, but did not see Tristen a few spots away from them.

Without hesitation, Haydn took the candy cane and seamlessly reached out to Tristen and handed his to her, recognizing that he would not get one. The 17-year old son–Charles–of the Crumptons saw what he had done.

His mother sent the following email note to me a couple of days later:

Charles was utterly shocked at Haydn’s reaction with the candy cane. He said, “Mom it was an instant, normal reaction for him to look out for his sisters.”

I responded this way initially:

Okay…i’ll respond later to all of this, but wanted to tell you now that I am crying as I read what you said about my son. It’s my dream that he would love Jesus. He is such a good boy. He is amazing to me. I saw him do that. Thanks for reminding me. I needed to be re-encouraged today. I praise God for Haydn.

And then responded this way the next day:

Thanks again for the email. It was a lot of fun to read what you wrote to Haydn and the girls. He kinda hung his head down, kinda shy about being the center of attention. He is what he is and he does what he does, a total encouragement to me…and Lucia too. We have been blessed because God gave us those three guys.

Down on the Farm

Posted: November 26, 2011 by RickThomasNet in home life
Tags: , ,

Yesterday we went to the Merry Christmas Tree Farm in Central, SC. It’s our family tradition.

We have done this for a number of years now. You can watch the video.

We first began getting our trees from a “neighborhood farm” when we lived in Peppertree.

Tristen was a “babe in arms” when we went out to this man’s home, in a nearby sub-division. He had a smallish house, with a postage stamp backyard.

In his backyard were about 40 trees. That’s where we first began cutting down our own trees. We did that twice at his home. It was great.

Sometime thereafter we heard about the Merry Christmas Tree Farm and began the one hour trek to Central. One year we forgot when they opened and upon arriving found that they were closed.

That year we went to a neighboring farm. Otherwise, we’ve always gone to the Merry Christmas Tree Farm. It’s our favorite place. Usually we go on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Clemson vs. South Carolina football game is always blaring through their speakers on the farm.

This year we went on Friday, which was far better–not because of the ballgame blaring. The traffic was not as bad going to Central and it gave us an extra day to trim the tree.

This year was especially special. We bought two trees, one big one for downstairs and a smaller one for the upstairs landing. This is “Haydn’s tree.” He really wanted a small tree for upstairs so he could put his stuffed animals under it.

It looks pretty cool.

I let him pick it out. He covered the farm, looking at hundreds of trees until he found the perfect one. It was quite a ways from our van and the netting machine. I tied a twine string to the trunk and he pulled it all the way to the netting machine. Amazing.

His tree was on the “lower forty,” which meant he had to drag it up a very long hill.

We also made it a party this year. Some of the members from our small group came with us. We all met there at 11:30AM. Each family cut their tree and we took pictures and shot a video. Altogether, we bought five trees as a group–plus one friend of the group came too, and bought a tree.

We had our usual hot chocolate, candy canes, and each kid got a Charlie Brown tree. They have a surplus of Charlie Brown trees on one side of the farm. They give these away. We took ten of them. (See pic above.)

It was a wonderful blast, probably one of the best times we ever had. I already can’t wait until next year when we can go again.

We prayed for the kind folks at the farm that they will sell many trees this year. They are a wonderful family.

And a plus this year: the weather could not have been better. It was between 65 and 70 degrees, a gorgeous foothills of SC weather.

Tree Tip: They also sell Christmas Tree bags. That’s a plus. You don’t want to forget that. We placed our tree in the stand, and then put the tree and stand in the bag.

When we’re done with the tree after Christmas, we pull the bag up around the tree to tote it out of the house. That keeps the dreaded pine needles from getting all over the house.

Mini-stroke, Yellow Jackets, & Chipmunks

Posted: August 24, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Our Family

(An email from Lucia to our small group about her mom having a mini-stroke on Monday evening.)

Thank you all for your messages of support and prayer. I took the kids to my parents house for the afternoon to spend some time with my Mom. Amazingly she shows no signs of a stroke. She is mentally alert and shows no sign of any gaps and physical had no signs that anything had happened.

It is very kind of God for the reminder that either she or my Father could pass away at any time although they are in good health. I am grateful for the time spent with her. Even though it has been an emotional roller coaster for me today and thus tiring, I am grateful for the opportunity to express my love for her and give our kids yet another memory with Grandma.

That memory will be cemented in their minds as both Tristen and Haydn were stung by yellow jackets. Tristen in the knee but Haydn in the lip. Haydn’s lip was probably three times the normal size and he had the cheeks of a chipmunk storing away nuts for the winter! Thankfully they are both doing fine.

So glad we can walk through life together supporting each other in the unexpected events of life as well as the mundane.

Look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Lucia

Days at the lake with friends

Posted: August 7, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Our Family

Last week we went with some friends to Lake Marion, SC. It is east of Columbia, right in the middle of the state. It’s in Clarendon County, which is one of the poorest counties in the state. It looked that way. Lake Marion is a manmade lake. It was hulled out circa WW2. There are still stumps on the lake from way back when.

My friends had a very nice lakefront home. It was spacious and we enjoyed time with them and their kids. They were very generous to us. Per usual, it takes me about a day to unwind. I did and it was great to lounge around and do nothing.

The kids did not get water-logged. I’m not sure why not. They spent more time in the lake than out of it. I think that is a literal statement. They jumped, dove, swam, dug, paddled, fished, and pushed the whole time they were there. At one point I took several of them across the lake in a paddle boat. That was dumb.

About halfway I realized it was a long way, but pride kicked in and I determined I was going to go all the way across that lake. We did and then paddled back. That was a lot of paddling.

Another amazing factoid was that my children could get up without provocation, very early in the morning. Tristen even got up to go “paddle boat fishing” with Hannah, our friend’s oldest child. Their endurance and initiative was amazing. I can’t wait for school to start to see some more of their unprompted willingness.

I broke my bottom

Posted: May 18, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Uncategorized

Haydn said, “Daddy, I think I broke my bottom.”

I said, “I think you did cause there is a crack in it.”

The kids laughed a lot. I love hearing my children laugh and love even more making them laugh. There is something about the laughter of my children that satisfies something deep in my soul. Their laughter communicates contentment to me.

We laugh a lot in our home.

Ansa learned how to ride a bike

Posted: May 11, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Ansa's Stories

The past four weeks I have been taking Ansa, at her request, to the cul-de-sac to teach her how to ride her bicycle. Logan and Loren, the next door (two doors down) twins are a month older than she is and they have been riding for about two months.

Ansa was properly motivated that it was time for her to learn how to ride a bike.

We probably practiced for 12 or so of those days. Well…yesterday was the big day. Ansa took off and became an official bike rider on May 10, 2011.

Her tongue was wagging and her teeth were glowing as she could not stop smiling as she went around and around and around and around the cul-de-sac.

She only had one little spill that hurt her. She fell off several times on her own. Thankfully it was a tragic free day. She would ride straight for the neighbor’s yard, after jumping the short hump/curb and dismount in the grass. It was sorta cute.

She is stoked.

My back is quite grateful.

Tristen’s First Newsletter

Posted: May 11, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Tristen's Stories

Tristen wrote her first newsletter this week. She was pretty stoked about it. I’m not sure where she gets her ideas for things, but there seems to be quite a few of them.

Last month she started a vacation bible school in an impromptu fashion. She wrote out the lesson plans, created the games, had prayer time, and more.

These things are unprovoked by Lucia and me, which makes me quite glad. It is cool to see what is being provoked inside of her. I respect Tristen a lot.

On the newsletter, she wrote it and picked the pictures. I did some of the formatting as her “oversight” editor. It’s mostly her though. She encourages me soul. Here is the newsletter: Tristen’s Newsletter

Unprovoked Gospel-Goodness from My Daughter

Posted: April 4, 2011 by RickThomasNet in AWANA

Tristen sent this email today to the AWANA Leader at our church. It was pretty cool. Though she asked us before she sent it, I was blessed that she would think of this on her own.

Dear Mrs. Katie,
I’m pretty sure that my grade is going to win the cupcake party this Wednesday. I am going to ask my class if we could give the cupcake party to sixth grade girls. I have a friend in sixth grade named Hannah Suber. She told me through out all the years that she has been in Awana she, and her friends, have never had a cupcake party. And my friends and I won the cupcake party last year when we were in third grade.

So, on Wednesday I am going to ask my class to give our party to the sixth grade girls. If they are willing to give up the cupcakes we need to let someone know on Wednesday night. Would you ask the person who is going to give fourth grade the cupcakes, to ask us if we decided to keep them give them to the sixth grade? Would they be able to delivery them to the sixth grade?
Love,
Tristen Thomas

A funny thing happened on the way to McDonalds

Posted: April 3, 2011 by RickThomasNet in home life

Here’s the irony: I made a New Year’s resolution to stop texting while driving. I proudly (emphasis on proudly) say that I have not texted while driving since late last year. I made the resolution after watching the sobering video.

On February 17th a lady pulled out in front of me and totaled our car. On April 02 another lady rear-ended a car, that rear-ended a car, that rear-ended our car. It was a four car chain.

Lucia got a slight case of whiplash and there may be some damage to the van. I’m sure there is some kind of irony in all of this, though I won’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. I not a “looking for subjective signs” kind-of-a-guy.

It is more humorous than anything else. Cars go to the junk heap. People are more important and in all of these collisions, the people have been okay.

Today was a great opportunity to stand on windy Woodruff Road (maybe the busiest road in Greenville, SC) for two hours serving the three other drivers and passengers who were more shook up than we were.

It was kind of God to let us be there in order to magnify His name to two unbelieving drivers. One of the drivers is a Christian.

Though we made our plans for they day, God always orders our steps. (Proverbs 16:9) Once we realized He was involving us in a traffic accident we were, by the grace of God, able to quickly adjust.

The kids got to talk to the officer and see his taser. That was cool. Officer Mize was a very nice gentleman. The kids also got to see a smashed-in car with a deployed airbag. It was a good time for teaching about God’s kindness to our family and to others. It also allowed us to bring things into perspective for them, without a major liability.

All-in-all it was a good day, though not one we anticipated. This is just another reason why I am thankful that God would regenerate me. I need someone looking out for me and He is a wonderful Father to me and my family.

If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. – 1 Corinthians 15:19

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal… – Matthew 6:19 (ESV0

 

 

The Day the Festiva Died

Posted: February 20, 2011 by RickThomasNet in Rick

Last Thursday on my way to work I wrecked the Festiva. I was almost at the office, heading down Lovett Drive. I was going somewhere between 15 and 20 MPH. As I was heading into an intersection a lady pulled out from her stop sign right into my path. My street did not have a stop sign so I had the right of way. I was so close to her when she pulled into the intersection that there was no way I could avoid hitting her.

It happened in slow motion. I’m not sure how that happens. It was like my mind slowed the event down, frame by frame even though it was in real time. I hit her on the front passenger side. Her front side was knocked in and her tire was bent. My front end was knocked in, pushing the hood up out of place. The passenger side door was jammed as well.

Because my car (really the car Lucia bought when she was single) is a 1992 Festiva, they have to total it. It would cost probably two to three times its current worth to repair it, therefore there was no option but to total it. This is sad.

Interestingly enough, I was praying on the way to work about whether to put the car in the shop. It has been a good car. God answered that prayer. I’m curious as to what God has in mind. We were okay with getting it repaired prior to the wreck. Now that it is wrecked, we’re okay with replacing it, if we choose to replace it. We may just go with one car. We’ll see what He has in mind.

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