Our lives are forever changed...

2 days ago, it happened unexpectedly for the very first time ever.  Last night, it happen 3 times in a row.

Our lives, will never be the same.  We have to make some really big adjustments and think critically about how we will respond.

If you have been through this, you know what we face...

Curious?

Our Lives are Changed Forever Video

Rob

Becca's Shower was a hit!

Thanks for a great time!

On Saturday, April 7th, Becca and I attended her wedding shower (yes, I was graciously invited also). We were very touched by the amount of planning time and effort went into this event. Becca and I got to spend the afternoon with about 40 friends and family. It was hosted at a little development club-house very close to the Massanari's house. Obviously, Mom and Mrs. Massanari had been planning this event for some time.

It was a great day filled with fun, laughter, and good food (and great cake!). One highlight was the "How well do you know Brian" game that Becca played. I had been given this questionnaire to fill out a few days earlier. The trick here was that when Becca got a wrong answer, she had to put a piece of Bubble-Yum bubblegum in her mouth. For those of you who know this gum, the pieces are huge. Despite what the picture may look like, she actually did quite well.

We were truly blessed and humbled by the graciousness of our family and friends. We have had a great time getting to put some of the gifts to immediate use (Shari, our entire apartment smells like a cinnamonny dessert). It was a tough decision when we agreed that I would not use our bedding until the wedding.

When Mrs. Massanari was planning the food for the party, she remembered Becca and I raving about Mom's Iced Tea "recipe." So, she got Mom to make gallons and gallons of Iced Tea and drive them to the party. That way we all got to enjoy it. It was a funny and cute touch.

I must say, I felt especially proud to be a member of this family as I saw all of my friends and family reach out to Becca and really accept her into the fold.

Thanks again to everyone far and near! I leave you with a picture of Becca and I donning our new feather boas. They were given to us by, take a guess, Mom and Dad in honor of my pretend pet snake (feather boa) that I carried around when I was about 3. By the way, Becca and I did not intentionally wear our wedding colors, which were the shower colors. I swear!

New Media Available, plus...

Hey everyone, we've posted 2 new videos and more pictures on our website, check them out!  Will "Daddy" dunk Tessa in the pool?  What hymn has Drew been singing? 

Also, praise the Lord with us, our church officially joined our support team by financially supporting our ministry each month.  While we praise God for this, we remain under supported at 86% of our need.  We were down to 74%.   We remain concerned about this immediate need for additional support.  Please pray that we will be committed in the next few days to putting together a plan to raise the additional 14%, ($740 a month).  Interested?

Rob

Tessa's TRYING to Crawl

Tessa's up on all fours, rocking and moving those back legs! She even moves her legs forward as if she's crawling, but she hasn't yet figured out how to move her arms!

Tessa's always smiling! I may be a biased Mom, but Tessa's smile is my favorite!

Table and Chairs for Drew

I just got done making a Table and Chairs for Drew's 2nd birthday. Take a look!

More pics are on our website.

Wrestling Fun

Last friday Toby finished up his school wrestling season with a Conference tournament. He pinned three kids to win the 88lb weight class Conference championship. He has entered a few tournaments on his own now to gain experience in advance of next years high school season. Most of the wreslers he will face have been wrestling since they were 5. He was late starting but has progressed rapidly and is have a lot of fun.

Toby is holding the bracket card showing his victory in the 88lb class. Next year he will have to wrestling 103lb. His only loss this season in the school league was to the kid on the right who won the 95lb class.

Loomis Tournament Champions

Sam enjoyed playing basketball this winter. He played on the sixth grade team because there were not enough to make a 5th grade team and the sixth grade team was short players.

His team lost only one game the whole season and then won the Loomis Tournament.

Jesse who is a fourth grader got to play in a few games when other kids were sick.

"We are number 1"!!!!

A gift to locks of love...

Today Mattie had her hair cut for locks of love...
an organization that makes wigs for children out
of real hair blended with synthetic hair.



















what took so long to grow,
11 1/2 inches,
was gone so quickly!






















she's checkin out her new look!




















we decided on a wedge for the back,
with the front still long enough to
clip back or tuck behind her ears.



















the conclusion of her goal...
she's been planning this for a long time.
She has a very tender heart for those who
are hurting, and this was one small way
she could minister to other children.

Toby shot this doe on Monday 1/8 during the late antlerless season. It was about 150 yards when he shot. It weighed 100lbs. The deer ran about 30 yards after his perfect shot.






Toby shot this deer on Saturday 1/13, also during the antlerless season. We saw about 50 deer. I shot at a running doe but missed. We have not wieghed this deer yet but it is bigger than the first. Toby is quick to remind me that he has killed four deer in the past two years and I have killed two. If Toby looks cold that is because it is 6 degrees.

News from Nebraska

I figured Tom and Steph can't post this information due to no power so I am posting what information they have been able to send in quick emails.

Thursday Jan 4 - I just wanted to let everyone know that we arrived home yesterday about noon. The devastation caused by ice is quite large. We are now hearing it may be a week to two before we have normal power returned. Even Kearney is having rolling blackouts to conserve power. There are so many poles just snapped in half from the weight on the ice on the lines. Many miles of lines down.
We, however, feel so blessed. Through Toms involvement in the fire department, we were able to buy a generator that has heated up our house to 55 degrees, and climbing slightly. (I was so excited when I could not see my breath in the house!!!) I just jumped on the computer for a minute, as we have pretty much everything turned off to help keep the heat up. Within minutes of our arrival, some friends were backed up, unloading, and connecting the generator. So many others are less fortunate. We had one friend sleep over last night, and possibly more as we find those in need. With our camp stove and BBQ grill we are pretty self sufficient. Tom is out on a unit call right now (the unit was stuck on the country roads and I listened as Tom walked up to the house. The country roads look like someone melted wax and poured it over them, and it hardened. I have never seen such "Sheets of ice"), so a friend came just to check and refill our generator. It is indeed a blessing to live in a small town.
Please pray for everyone in our area, as many are truly struggling just to survive. I'm off to go help prepare and serve lunch at the red cross shelter at our school. School has officially been cancelled until monday, but really until we have power back. We love you all and had and truly wonderful time being with you. The memories made and the love shared are treasured, and we can't wait to see you again.

Friday, Jan 5 Hooray!!!!!!!!!!! Our power company brought several large generators to power our whole town. As of 2:00 PM Friday we have temporary power. The power went off at 7:00 PM last Friday. It may be 2 more weeks until we have permanent power again. We arrived home at 12:00 PM Wednesday and had a generator running at home by 12:30. However since we are fully electric we could only run the heat and few lights. We had to shut everything else off in order to run the hot water heater for a short time this morning so we could all take a shower. We have been eating at the red cross shelter at the school. Life has been fun. It has really be interesting to watch a whole town come together to care for each other. We are safe and looking forward to "normal" again. More to follow later.

New Blogger!

The Tom Thompson Family Blog has been switched over to the New Google Version. Apparently Google is making a change and moving more toward requiring Google Accounts. So, from now on, to post to this blog, you'll be required to switch your Blogger Account to the new version... which requires a Google Account. It's really very simple. If you go to your Blogger homepage, there is link there to switch your blogger account. It takes less than 5 minutes and is pretty painless. If you have any questions, email me at spenglerchip@yahoo.com

Although I won't point fingers, suffice it to say that I am not to blame for switching over our blog... I am merely informing you of the change :)

I hope you're all adjusting to the real world after our great holiday together!

Chip

What a wonderful Christmas!

I wanted to say what a wonderful holiday I had with everyone. What a special time it was. It is holidays like these that remind me of what family is really all about. As I look to start my own family very soon, I realize how lucky I am to have had such a wonderful example all of these years. I love you guys.

Christmas is coming!

We had a little photo shoot with our boys the other night... they're excited for Christmas!

We've been practicing everyone's names with Chase for our trip to NJ!






Zach is now sleeping almost 12 hours a night, eating solid foods (fruits are his favorites), and making SOOO much noise!

Are Grandmom & Pop Pop sure they're ready for all this madness?

Happy 25th Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

We're all thinking of you today! We love you!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas


Its that time again. Merry Christmas to all! Mark your calendar for Friday, December 29 at noon, Uncle Tom's house. We will party all day long. Let's catch up with the new details in our lives. This family has three new details, Zachary, Tessa and Becca. Do we win the growth prize?

Here's the details: food, beverage, dessert provided. Bring a pollyanna gift. Make the gender of the gift match the giver and it should work out. On the tag, mark: Girl, Boy or Uni. No gift cards, that's too easy, just make sure it is something that you would like. $10 limit. Please RSVP to let314@comcast or home at (609)927-0248 and then I will call with kid name exchange. If any of your children wish to participate in the adult abuse instead of the kid's personal exhange, let me know when you call. I need to make plans for the food so the count is important. Here are some memories from last year. See you all soon, we hope.

25 Years--Oh My!

And they said it wouldn't last! Where did all that time go? Here is a pic we just came across. Yes that is the Browers wishing us well. And could that cute blonde on the right side be our future daughter-in-law? Who'da guessed? Our real celebration was this summer when we went to the Virgin Isles. But we have had an extra special weekend. Brian and Becca spent Friday with us and we all went to dinner. (Surprizing how different you spend your 25th anniversay versus your 1st, Huh?). Saturday Chip's family sent flowers and a strange CD came from Tom's gang. We were reading the mail as we drove. It said to listen and then call. When we got home, the CD player kept playing the Christmas music from the other CD's. So finally I took all the others out. And it still played "I'll be home for Christmas." Well we listened to the end, expecting to hear the kids wish us "Happy Anniversary" but the song just ended. So I played it again. After several minutes, Dad said maybe that IS the message. But he said the rest of the line is, "IF only in my dreams!" We were afraid to get too excited and just call. Quickly Stephanie enforced our dreams, and said "Yes they were coming home for Christmas!" What a beautiful holiday this will be. Everyone home except, Brian's Becca. She is going to Italy with her family. Poor girl, she has to go to Italy and miss the other 21 Thompson's holiday. This girl has no idea what she has said "yes" to. So we have decided to give it another 25 years and see if this marriage is really as good as we think, considering the first 25 went so fast.

Becky's father passed away today.

After living almost 5 years with pancreatic cancer, Becky's father Bob Brower died today around 6 pm.

We are heading to NJ tomorrow. We had already purchased the tickets earlier today hoping we would get there before the Lord took him home, but that didn't happen. Becky will be staying in NJ for 3 weeks. I will be there for 1 week, then back in FL for 1 week, and then traveling to Haiti for 1 week.

We appreciate your prayers!

Rob (and Becky)

R6s Certification!

Yesterday I certified as a Raytheon Six Sigma Expert! This certification is the culmination of my work for the last year. In order to be certified, I had to give a presentation on the project I've been spending my time on, what I have learned, who I have influenced, how I have shown leadership, how I partnered across organizational boundaries, my own understanding and usage of 6 Sigma principles and tools, and what I plan to do with it in the future. It was only 10 slides, but took close to 45 minutes to present, while answering a host of questions. There were 7 people on my "certification board", who saw my presentation and then determined I was worthy of certification. Although there is a monetary award, the real reward is successfully completing the requirements and being recognized as a Certified Raytheon Six Sigma Expert. I will now spend the next year + working additional 6sigma projects across the company. While it doesn't necessarily mean a promotion, certification certainly identifies people as "high potential" leaders.

I know that there were a lot of prayers lifted on my behalf yesterday, including my own, and I recognize that my success had nothing to do with my own efforts, and everything to do with what God has done for me... whether it be the opportunities He provided, the people He put in my path to help me, the skills and talents He gave me, and the strength and peace He provided to me yesterday. Praise God for His goodness to us! I thank each of you for your prayers and encouragement throughout this process.

For those of you who do not know, Raytheon Six Sigma is "the philosophy of Raytheon management, embedded within the fabric of our business organizations as the vehicle for increasing productivity, growing the business, and building a new culture. Raytheon Six Sigma is the continuous process improvement effort designed to reduce costs." If you'd like to learn more about it, you can check out the following link:
http://www.raytheon.com/about/r6s/index.html

For a well-done marketing video, go here: http://www.raytheon.com/about/
It briefly mentions Raytheon Six Sigma and how it works in our business. More than that, though, despite sounding very much like marketing exaggeration, it does highlight some of the reasons I've really enjoyed working for such a great company!

He is IN PA

He is IN. Lock, stock and many barrels! His parents are exhausted, so is his fiance, cousins, sister, brother-in-law and niece and nephew. Wow! Now we know why they charge so much for moving vans. The only thing that seems more daunting is the unpacking of the many tubs. "That is his job. Here are few pics, if you want the snapfish album, write: let314@comcast.net.

It's Official: I'm moving!

It's Official: I'm moving! In the past few weeks I have made a lot of decisions and made quite a few changes. First of all, I have officially accepted a job offer with SKF Inc. They make many thing for all different kinds of machines. Bearings (like the one on the left) have long been their main business, but they also make motors, pump, seals, etc. I will be an applications engineer, which is a mix of mechanical engineering, project management, and sales. This is a really exciting move for me, although leaving Raytheon will not be fun. I've had a great year there and learned quite a bit.

The second bit of information is that I now have an apartment lined up. I will move into my new place this Sunday (10/8). My plan is to get the Budget Rent-A-Truck and car-towing dolly Friday night after work. I'll put all of my pre-packed stuff in that night. Saturday, I'll drive down to NJ and add all of the stuff that I still have at home. Needless to say, Mom and Dad are excited to get their basement back. We'll drive the full truck to PA to my new apt. on Sunday and move in! My new apartment is about 1/2 hour West of Phila in King of Prussia (it's about 2 miles from the mall). Here's a link on the map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=649+S+Henderson+Rd,+King+of+Prussia,+PA+19406&ie=UTF8&z=12&ll=40.078334,-75.354881&spn=0.18205,0.472412&om=1&iwloc=A.

Here are two pics of my new apt. complex:

I am renting a 2 bedroom apartment on the fourth floor, but you only have to go up 1 1/2 flights when you enter. I've got a dishwasher and every floor has a washer/dryer room. It's a corner apartment. I will be about 35 minutes from work and 20 minutes from Becca. We are planning to move into this apartment when we get married. It should be big enough and her commute will only be ~20 minutes.

I know this got long, but there's a lot going on.

By the way, here's my new (and old but current) contact info:

(610) 491-8172 home

(609) 457-0522 cell

649 South Henderson Rd

King of Prussia, PA 19406