My Part of the Conversation

Lately, I haven’t really had time to post.  I’ve been crazily balancing between these things:

1. High School Spring Retreat.  It’s this weekend.  It’ll be a big group, and I’m excited about it!
2. Youth Banquent.  Next week!  We have to send our seniors on with style!
3. Honduras fund-raising.  Lots of little details to keep up with.  I’ve had some amazing volunteers heading up different individual fund-raisers, but I’ve had a lot of little details to keep up with.
4. Selling my car.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH.  This has been tough.  I sold it, and it broke down.  Twice.  The whole thing is still in limbo.
5. Painting my new truck!  I’m learning a lot, but can only work on it a little at a time.  I have taken pictures and hope to post all about it, showing my work in progress.  After a week, I still don’t even have all the paint stripped off.  I should finish next week.  Or the week after that.  After that, forget it, it’s too hot.
6. Spending time with my little family.  My little girl is sweeter by the minute.  Hudson will talk your ear off.  And hit you with a plastic golf club if you’re not watching.  He started running up to me, handing me a plastic golf club, running out of the room for another one, and starting a sword fight.  He says, “You’re Captain Hook.  I’m Peter Pan.”  I still want to be Peter Pan.
7. Kate’s been healing well, and it looks like we’re getting back into a normal routine.  Thanks all of you for your prayers.

I haven’t given up!  I’ll be back!

For the first time in the history of this blog, I’ve deleted an entire post and the comments within.  It was my longest post and received some of the most well-thought and well-written comments.  I know those who wrote took a lot of time to do so, and I appreciate them joining the discussion.

However, it was brought to my attention I was hard on our teens.  My intention was not to bring a burden to them or make them face one more area of rejection from adults.  But, in my own re-reading, that’s exactly what I did.  The place for that conversation was with them personally, not on this blog for all to see.  I intended to address the big picture, and more specifically, MY place in it.  I was intend to write about my own brokenness and part of the problem.  But, I didn’t communicate that at all, and kept a post that had a greater potential to hurt than heal.

Don’t get me wrong- I’m not afraid of people disagreeing with me or with each other on my blog.  In fact, I’m proud when I can provide a forum for meaningful discussion, even when it’s heated.  But I never want that to be personal or hurtful
I also did not intend to begin a discussion about LTC.  Our church has been actively supporting LTC for several years, and our kids seem to genuinely love it.  I have a few philosophical issues, but they are dwarfed in comparison to what is good.  I greatly appreciate the work our kids do and the incredible acts of giving time and energy our parents and other adults have done to make it possible.  I think the post made light of that service.
Also, my eyes have been opened by the example of some parents as to how much I need to grow as a servant.  I don’t need 12,349,812,450 words to say that.  They haven’t said anything to me about my need to change, but how clearly I have seen the face of Christ in them has convicted me of my own shortcomings.  What a blessing to have people like that!  They are leading and teaching by example, and I hope to become more like them.  I don’t want them to get even the slightest impression I was talking about them.
I apologize for taking down your well written comments.  I know they took a lot of thought, energy, and time.  Thank you for writing them.  I have saved them on my hard drive, if any of you wish to look back over them.  The conversation had a great tone and was a perfect example of how we should dialogue with people even when we disagree.  I just decided I didn’t like my post.  I wish I could keep the comments without the post, but I’m not able to without them not making much sense.
Thanks for understanding.

Sincerely,

Blaine Tucker

Two people separately confided in me today that they each studied Ninjutsu.

Only one of them was joking.

I have several unhealthy addictions.  They don’t rule my life, but I make sure to schedule them in somewhere.

1.  24 and Lost.  Every week I need to catch up on these shows and debate the finer points with my wife and random people at the grocery store.

2.  Ebay.  I hardly use the internet to buy anywhere else.  The strangest thing I’ve sold: the glass plate from a microwave that went bad.  It brought $9, and I bought a new one at…

3. Yard sales.  I love finding great deals on things to sell on ebay, or on things I was going to need to buy anyway.  The trick to these places is not buying things you don’t need or can’t sell.

4. Fantasy sports.  I play baseball and football now.  My fantasy basketball days are over.  I’m in keeper leagues in both sports, usually with a yahoo! seasonal league with each one.  I consistently take either last or first.  Not much of mid range guy.

The past two weeks, despite bigger things in my life (a new baby girl!), I have still found the time to draft 2 baseball teams.  I think I’ll do okay in each league.  If not, my wife will hear me whine about it.

I’m glad I could get all that off my chest.  There are deeper things floating around in that head of mine, I just had to get those out.

Blaine