Friends in Cleveland

me, Judy, Julie, and Dave

Saturday we (me, Judy, Allyson, and Mackenzie) left Cedar Rapids for Cleveland and arrived here in the evening, but not before stopping off at our fave ice cream shop Honey Hut. I had my fave chocolate chocolate chip and chocolate peanut butter. Judy enjoyed the mint chocolate chip. Andrew could not come due to work and Morgan is on her 7-8th grade trip. As always, you can click on the pic for a slide show of some pics. Enjoy!

We are staying at the Christopher's house and it is like a resort. We have our own room and bathroom and since they have 6 kids still living at home we made slight dent into their lifestyle. Also, they just put in a pool so I have been out at poolside a lot!

Sunday afternoon I was able to go bike riding with Dan Gibson and then Sunday night Bill and Barb Cunningham came over and we spent the evening grilling and enjoying some great time together. We dropped Allyson off at the Lanasa's house and we'll get her Thursday. Have a nice time sweetie!

Monday morning and afternoon Judy spent the day with a friend going through a terrible divorce. Then in the evening we went to see dear friends, the Cerveny's. It was great time reconnecting and seeing how much the kids have grown. And of course there was coffee, cherry cobbler, and ice cream just like we used to do!

Today I spent some time reading the word and catching up, then some blogging. I'm going to head on out and get some rays this afternoon. Tye out.

To Medina County Court of Medina, Ohio

Dear Medina County Court,

I am confused about something. How can a man who has neglected his wife for several years, not been around for his children (and most recently has been physically abusive with one daughter) leave his wife for another woman and turn around and sue for divorce and in one fell swoop have her kicked out of her own home and restrained from seeing the children she gave birth to - for 9 weeks.

Then she was found to be unstable and not have the ability to raise her kids. What mother wouldn't be emotionally distraught when she is kicked out of her house and told to ordered to stay away from the kids by a man who was rarely there to begin with. And all this knowing that she did not have a job or a place to go. How could this happen?

You then decided to have the father live in the house with the kids one week, then the mother moves back in and lives there a week and so on - week after week. What psychological study endorses this decision? How in the world can this be construed to even be close to a healthy situation? Could you please help me understand this?

Yesterday the attorney's strong armed this woman into signing away her kids (2 weeks with him, one week with her) saying that if it went to hearing she would lose the kids all together and never see them again. How can this be? (her lack of funds resulted in her having inadequate representation)

Is she a drug addict? No. Has she been a bad mother? No. She is guilty of caring for and loving her kids something that could never be said of the father - just ask the children. The court appointed guardian (I don't know her name) made her recommendations having observed our friend for 15 minutes. How can this be allowed to happen?

The father? He set this whole thing up, treated her like the enemy and caused her unbelievable emotional stress. Then he stole the house and kids away because she was emotionally stressed. And he did this with his money keeping it all away from the mother.

We drove here from Iowa to speak to the character of our friend (the mom) and what a wonderful mother she is and we were even denied the opportunity to do this. I'm not mad about this - we still would have come to support her no matter what.

Medina County Court, how can you let this happen? There is something terribly wrong here and I hope to God (and I have prayed a lot about this terrible situation) that this injustice is exposed and the truth wins out. Tye out.

___________________________________________

To anyone reading this blog: can you help me know what a logical next step would be for this woman? She needs a good attorney but has no funds. She is truly trapped. Please email me and let me know if you can help: tye.male@yahoo.com

Divorce Court

WARNING - this is a rant. Nothing less. I am pretty heated up on something so if you don't like rants you should probably stop reading. Consider yourself warned.

Monday a good friend, neighbor, and best friend of my daughter Mackenzie was in divorce court which explains the reason we are in Cleveland Ohio right now. I'm going to leave out the real names but everything within me wants to expose this individual for the real person he is and how angry I feel right now.

We arrived at court on Monday morning to help support our friend to find that her husband together with his attorney and court appointed guardian of the children have made a case that she is emotionally unstable (she is NOT) in spite of the fact that she has numerous people who can vouch for her abilities as a wife AND mother. argh!!!!

The husband/father was able to gain custody of the children and also won the house to live in. Essentially, the wife/mother was kicked out of the house and her children taken away from her. He gets the kids for two week and and she gets them for one week.

There are so many issues here, but I want to deal with just one: husbands are called by God to love their wives unconditionally. Men are supposed to love and protect their wives (and women in general!) and this man did none of the above.

I am so angry right now. How can a man (who claims to be a believer and his work involves churches) have an affair (uncontested fact), sue his wife for a divorce, kick her out of the house and take the children away from her. She had no income at the time and could not afford a "high-power" attorney like her husband could - did I tell you he kept the family finances away from her and when her food allowance ran out she was on her own - for years? Then, make a case that she is emotionally unstable? DUH!!!!

This man (the evil one who is treating his wife like dirt and then claiming that she is emotionally unstable) - I forgot what I was going to say. argh!!!!



Back to my one point. What part of "husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave..." don't you undersand? My job as a husband is to love my wife - period. Man I'm hot. Tye out.

Where has Tye been?

Wow - I've been gone for a while. Sorry if I let you down. Here's a few quick highlights of what's up in my life and ministry right now.

1. Remodeling the basement - I am finally motivated to work on the basement project and it is going pretty well. We have one more session (4 hours) to go and the bedroom and family room will be drywalled. yippee.

2. Coaching - I am taking a course that teaches you how to be a life coach. Part of this involves me being coached. My coach Dan Mattson has been working with me on organization of our home office, files, and finances. I have made incredible strides already! More later.

3. Ministry stuff - I am the team leader for our small group ministry and we are getting ready to launch our fall Impact. There is a lot of behind the scenes work involved and we have been busy getting ready for the launch in September. We are also launching a Tuesday evening Men's Fraternity group September 18 and the team has been working on this as well.

4. Extra-curricular - I am still working at Panera on Friday's and that has been going well. Bike riding? Not too much, and now I have a toasted rear wheel - $150 bucks and I'm not sure what to do. anyone have an old racing bike laying around from 1988 and on?

Needless to say I have been very busy. I'm actually on vacation (well, sort of) this week visiting friends, reading, and blogging. More on my week later! Tye out.

Mackenzie at VBS @ Saint Mark's this week

We are so thankful for St. Mark's Lutheran church just around the corner. She really enjoyed herself yesterday and was quite anxious to tell us all that she learned about Jericho, Rahab, and the spies! Good stuff! Hats off to everyone there for doing such a great job! Tye out.

P.S. I have a special affinity for St. Mark's because I have had the privilege of starting a Small Groups Pastor's Network and their small group's Pastor Jana Swenson and Mary Morton meets with me and a group once a month. Thanks Jana and Mary!

Baptizing my daughter Mackenzie

Wednesday night New Covenant Bible Church held it's 7th annual Picnic and Baptism at Pleasant Creek Lake. We started off with a picnic with many guests as well as the church family. Click here for a slideshow courtesy of Kim Pagel and his camera magic.

I love baptisms because it is a beautiful picture of the Lord's death, burial and resurrection. You see, when we trust Christ as our Savior we are baptized as an outward act of what Christ has done inwardly. Baptism does not "wash away" your sins, it merely pictures what Christ did for us on the cross.

The best part of the evening came when I had the privilege of baptizing Mackenzie. The next best news is that Mackenzie was one of 33 people who were baptized. The next best part was watching father's baptize their children. Finally, the last best part was the awesome food and fellowship. It was a wonderful night! Tye out.

Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. Colossians 2:12 (NET Bible)

Tour de France Stage Three

Today was Stage Three of the Tour de France which featured a flat stage that was 237 kilometers long. (multiply times 6.1 to get miles) Yesterday's stage was only 102 miles and for the second hour of racing the average speed was 28.5 mph. That changed today.

Because it was a long stage and for a lot of good reasons, the riders never really decided to race. In fact, the second hour of "racing" only posted an average speed of 18 mph. (That is what I typically do!)

One day it's nearly 3o mph; the next it is right around 20 something. To read more on this click here to read Chris Carmichael's analysis. Chris is the guy who helped train Lance Armstrong after his bout with testicular cancer. Cool stuff, if you like cycling. I do. Tye out.

P.S. I only got in 12 miles this morning. I was sore from Sunday and Monday and had a difficult time shaking out the sore muscles. Still averaged 18 mph.

The Tour de France is "flying" through Belgium

Stage two of Tour de France is a 168.5km stage from Dunkerque to Gent in Belgium. (that's about 102 miles. I'm doing the math in my head - ouch)

The average speed for the second hour of racing is 46.3 km/h - that's about 28.5 mph.

28.5 miles per hour!!!

P.S. This morning I averaged 18 mph on my little 18 mile ride. Not too shabby for a 45 year old guy. Tye out.

This is why I watch the Tour de France

This is why I watch the Tour de France: Click here to find out why. Tell me what you think. The voice is that of Phil Leggett, the voice of cycling.

(Photo at left: Robbie McEwen wins Stage 1 of the TDF)

Tour de France

The Tour de France started yesterday and I am amped! You can watch videos, view pics, and read newsflashes on Versus.com. For the next three weeks I will be glued to the computer reading the newsflashes and watching the online videos.

The Tour de France is a 3 week stage race where the winner will be the rider with the least amount of elapsed time wins the race. This year's race started in London, England for the very first time and then moves over to France, with a brief ride through Belgium. The race will go through the Swiss Alps for three days and then the Pyrenees Mountains bordering Spain for another three days of horrendous climbing. (click here for an animated map) Click here to learn more about the TDF.

There are 195 riders with 9 riders on each team. (I think that's right) Each year the Tour starts with a Prologue which features a short ride one rider at a time. They ride time trial bikes that are designed to slice through the air that cost well over $8k dollars or more. (click here to watch a video about these state-of-the-art bikes).

The winner of the Prologue receives the coveted yellow jersey (Maillot Jaune) and becomes the first tour leader. That's it for now. Keep checking back for regular updates. Tye out.

Meniscus Band 30 Year Reunion - some pics

Click on pic for a slideshow from my weekend with our high school rock band Meniscus. It seemed only fitting that we would be practicing in a garage - just like old times. I am expecting more pictures from Dorii soon and will post them as well. Enjoy!

Two concerts on Saturday

Yesterday was a rare day for me. I played in two different bands in two concerts.

The first concert was a benefit for Makayla's Miracle, a little girl who has cancer. I played with the Christian band 3 Days (named for the number of days the band actually practiced prior to our first gig) at 4 PM outdoors under the hot sun - but for a worthy cause!

Then I headed home to change for a wedding reception the D Anthony Big Band was playing at 7 PM for a former member of the band, Chris Hodge. It was a good gig and Chris even sat in and played a set. I enjoy playing big band music, but I have to confess that the dance music gets old fast. You can have the waltzes, foxtrots, and tangos. Nonetheless, it was a fun time and the crowd seemed to enjoy the music.

The only thing about this gig is we played for 4 hours. Man, I'm toast. So today is a day of rest and relaxation. Tye out.

Hanging drywall with a drywall lift

Tuesday morning 60 sheets of drywall were delivered from Menard's and placed in our basement which means I've got my work cut out for me! Click here for slideshow of delivery.

You can click on the pic for a slideshow of the work.

Roger Ouverson and Larry Smith came over and helped me for about 4 hours. We managed to hang 12 sheets of 10 foot drywall and nearly finished the ceilings of the family room and bedroom. I rented a drywall lift from Home Depot (I love that place!!!) and it made a very diffcult job much, much easier. Click here to see some more pics.

The second tool that made life simple was a RotoZip saw. Instead of having to precut the openings for the lights, we just used this cool little tool.

It was a good morning and I am really happy about the progress. Thanks Roger and Larry for all your help! Tye out.