What's on My Mind at the Moment » Family

Thanks for praying

sunnythomas — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:32:36 +0000

Wow… has it been a year since my last post? For those of you that are still here, thanks for praying for my oldest son. His surgery last year went well. The recovery process was a long one. He was a in a wheelchair for a few weeks and then was using a walker for a few weeks. I know it was hard for him, but as usually, he did a great job with it. We went in for a followup visit just yesterday. The doctor said everything with his feet look great.

So thank you again for praying. And I’ll try to post more often.

Prayer Request

sunnythomas — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:57:57 +0000

I’d appreciate your prayers. Tomorrow, at 6 am, we will be checking my oldest son, Caleb into the hospital for surgery. Over time, the big toes on both his feet have started to curl in. The time has come to do something about it. The surgeon will be cutting into the bone and will straighten them.

The surgery will last two to three hours. To minimize the time that Caleb is under, two surgeons will be work on both feet simultaneously. Thankfully, this is considered an outpatient procedure.

The challenge will be his recovery. Caleb will have to be off of his feet for the next eight weeks. It’s going to be hard for him to be confining to a wheelchair for that long.

Please pray that everything would go well tomorrow and the recovery would go better than expected. Thanks.

One Year in Oklahoma

sunnythomas — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:40:20 +0000

Another anniversary that we just celebrated was the one year anniversary of our move from Illinois to Oklahoma. It was this time last year that we packed up our belongings in a semi truck and moved to Oklahoma. It’s been a challenging and rewarding year.

Some of the challenges that we have faced included ice storms, tornadoes, missing my family, and getting lost more often than I would like.

But for the most part the move has been good for us. The people here in Oklahoma are very friendly. The school system has been great for our kids. Traffic is not bad here. Because of a well laid out road system, I can get to anywhere I need to within 15 minutes. Other than the occasional tornado, the weather is a lot nicer here than in Illinois. The cost of living is lower here as well.

So even though, I miss my family, friends, and real deep dish pizza, the move has been a good one and I’m happy to be an Oklahoman. But I don’t think I’ll ever understand my fellow Oklahomans’ obsession with college football.

I’m Back

sunnythomas — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 02:39:52 +0000

Hi everyone. From a blogging perspective, I’ve taken the entire month of November. That’s not good. I didn’t mean to. I’m realizing that I need to make the time to blog. Like so many things in life, it’s not going to happen on its own. Thanks for sticking with me during this break.

There are a couple of anniversaries that have occurred over the past few days. Over the next few days, I’ll writing about each of them.

Today, I’m writing about my one year anniversary with no TV. At the end of November 2007, my wife and I made the decision to no longer have cable TV. We don’t have an antenna either. We still own a TV, but we just watch DVDs when we want to watch something. I’ve also started watching Battlestar Galactica on Hulu.com. So more accurately, we don’t watch live TV anymore. I’ve noticed that since we’re not watching live TV any longer, our overall TV watching has greatly decreased. Instead of watching 2-3 hours of TV a night, it is now 1-2 hours of TV a week. My wife and I have used this extra time to spend with the kids, read, exercise or just talk with each other. It’s been awesome.

So while I’ve never watched a episode of American Idol, Lost, 24, or Grey’s Anatomy, I don’t feel I’ve missed out. On the contrary, I’ve gained so much more.

How about you? How much TV do you watch? Have you tried cutting back?

37 and counting

sunnythomas — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:43:28 +0000

I few days ago, I celebrated my 37^thbirthday. I didn’t feel old until I started working at LifeChurch.tv a few months ago. It seems that most of the staff here is in there twenties. One person that I know of is only 18. 18??? I was in college when he was born. I’m trying not to dwell on this.

I got some nice gifts from the family. My wife gave me the third season of Battlestar Galactica on DVD, which I’m very excited to see. But I am more excited about the gifts God has given me. He has blessed me with a wonderful wife, three great kids, a nice house, good health, two reliable cars, a fantastic church, and a very exciting and supportive work environment and most important, my relationship with Him.

Thanks God for 37 years. You have been so good to me.

An Update

sunnythomas — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:18:15 +0000

Life has been pretty hectic lately. It seems that as soon as we get back from one trip, we are on the road again. Right now I am writing this from a hotel room in Indianapolis. The family and I are on our way to New York to spend some time with my wife’s family. Indianapolis is the halfway point between Oklahoma and New York.I’m excited to see the extended family again. It’s been nine months since we’ve seen them. I’m especially excited to meet the newest member of the family, Ethan. He is brother-in-law’s newborn son. He just came into the world last week.

So what else has been going on? Well, effective June 1, I started in a new role as Technical Director for LifeChurch.tv. My team and I are responsible for all the audio, video, lighting, and satellite systems for all the church campuses. It’s a big job and I am very thankful for the dedicated guys I’m serving with.

So what else is going on? I have been working very hard to lose some weight. For the first six months of this year, I have not made much progress in my weight loss. So at the beginning of June, I decided to get back on track. I’ve worked hard to improve the quality of what I’m eating and I am now working out 80 minutes a day, six days a week. The hard work has paid off. In the last 14 days, I’ve lost 12 pounds. I praise God for that. I’m going to continue to work at this until I get to 165 – 170 pounds. With God, I know I can do it.

For the next few days I probably won’t have internet access, so I won’t update the blog too much. But as soon as I get back, I look forward to sharing with you what God’s been doing in me.

Good Visit Home

sunnythomas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:21:17 +0000

On Memorial Day weekend, we took a very short trip to visit my family in Illinois. It was a great, but too short. It was interesting to see how things have changed in the six months since I moved to Oklahoma. My nephews and niece got bigger. One of them got really tall. Another one will be going away to college in a few months.

It was nice to see some things hadn’t changed. Interacting with the family felt so familiar and comfortable. It was as if I had never left. It was a great time and I was sad to leave after only three days.

Here are some of the highlights…

My sister made sure the deep dish pizza was waiting for me when I came in the door. I miss that pizza. No, I didn’t eat the whole thing. I only had two pieces. But in the three days I was there, I gained six pounds.

On Sunday, after church, we had a birthday party for my dad. He turned 70 that day.

On the last night we were there, I went bowling with some of the family. I am a terrible bowler. I usually get one strike per game, but for whatever reason I was on a roll that night. This was my best game ever and a perfect way to end our trip. And by the way, that is not my nickname on the screen. One of my nephews was trying to be funny.

Going back home

sunnythomas — Sat, 24 May 2008 10:37:08 +0000

Today, we are driving back home to Illinois for a very quick visit. I’m really looking forward to it. I haven’t seen my parents and sisters in six months, which is the longest I’ve been separated from them. We’re having a birthday party for my dad. He turns 70 this weekend. One of my nephews graduates from high school as well this weekend. I’m getting old.

It will be interesting going back there. Have they changed? Have they stayed the same? Will they say that I’ve changed? Six months has been a long time. God’s been doing a lot in me over these past few months. Will those internal changes be visible?

These are some of the things I’ve been thinking about. But for whatever reason when I starting thinking about home, my mind keeps coming back to the deep dish pizza I’ll be having in a few hours.

Praise Report

sunnythomas — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:37:49 +0000

Hey…what’s been going on in the Sunny world? Where to start…Let me begin by praising God for selling my house in Illinois. In December, I moved from Illinois to start my new job at LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma. We left our house unoccupied and prayed someone would eventually buy it. It finally sold last week after being on the market for 5.5 months. I’m so thankful that I don’t have to pay two mortgage payments a month anymore. It’s also nice not having to write checks for two sets of water bills, electric bills, etc.

This story could have been much worse. It seems, everyday, I’ve been reading articles about foreclosures being at record highs. Thankfully, God provided the resources for us to pay the bills. I didn’t know how we were going to continue to do that past this month, but thankfully, God provided the solution at the perfect time. Thanks God. And thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

Where’s Sunny?

sunnythomas — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 04:28:39 +0000

I’m sure that’s the question that’s been in your head lately. Where’s Sunny? Well, I’ve been sick. The reason for me getting sick lies solely with my children. It was their entire fault. I hadn’t been sick in years, but because of them, I was sick enough to miss a day of work last week. I was so tired last week and spent a lot of time sleeping. Hence, no blogging. But I’m back now and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

One good thing that came out of this illness was my loss of appetite. Because I was eating very little, I ended up losing 5 pounds in two days!!! Now, I know what you’re thinking…oh you just got dehydrated, that was just water, when you start eating and drinking again, you’ll gain that right back. Nope…I don’t want to hear it. That maybe true…but I don’t want to hear it. For the next day or two, I will be relishing the fact that my scale says I’m 178 lbs. when I’m on it. Woo hoo!