Jeromy Deibler | FFH

Mid-Week Wandering

6 CommentsMarch 3, 2010

It’s just the kids and me tonight. Jennifer is out with her sister Jannell for a special night alone before her baby comes. Jannell and Brian are expecting their second son in two years this month and instead of a shower Jennifer decided to take Jannell away for some quiet time. It’s been anything but quiet here. I took the kids to Toys R Us for something to do and they tried to loose me. They needed me for check-out though, so I got them back. Sadie-Claire skipped her nap and rode her scooter around the living room most of the afternoon and we watched the new Lego movie. We had freezer pizza and ice cream for dinner and now Hutch is begging me to play Legos with him.

I got a call tonight from Addison Road’s bus driver tonight. They are borrowing our bus for their tour while we are home for a while. Strangely enough, the call came right after I downloaded their album from iTunes. I didn’t realize that Jennifer’s favorite song (Hope Now) was theirs. We’ve been trying to figure out who recorded the song for a few weeks, catching only bits and pieces of it on the radio, where they never announce who the artist is that performs the song. I got chills as I downloaded the song. Then their driver called to ask me how to get the bus generator started and the chills went away. Addison Road’s has had as many problems with the bus in one week as we’ve had over the past year. Figures.

Hutch needs to get to bed so I’m gonna go. A lot went on this week that I need to tell you about but I need to get past it a bit before I can collect the thoughts. Remind me if I forget. Talk to you Monday if not sooner –

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Addison Road, Bus, Travel@10:30 pm

Meridee’s Monday

7 CommentsMarch 1, 2010

Good Morning, I hope this finds you well. I’m on my way to Merridee’s but decided to stop at the car wash to have Jennifer’s car cleaned. We have so many bikes and toys and pieces of gear in our garage that the car won’t fit so it sits outside in the elements all winter ruining the paint. My kids think the inside is a trashcan so the interior is a mess as well. I’d normally clean it myself but this seemed like a job for professionals. I actually enjoy washing cars. It makes me feel like a teenager again. I used to work as a lot-boy at my Dad’s car dealership when I was a kid. It was my first and last real job. I would catch a ride with him to work in the morning and spend all day in the sun washing and polishing the new cars and listening to music on my Walkman. With my first paycheck I asked Dad to take me to Service Merchandise to buy a $50 Sony headset radio, the model with the radio built right into the headphones. I spent seven hours a day listening to the best mix of 90s music getting a suntan. After work I’d jump in the pool to get clean and refreshed. I didn’t shower much in the summer. I always felt like the chlorine was enough to bleach away anything I’d picked up. Jennifer makes the kids shower after a long swim to get the chlorine off of their bodies. I will never understand this line of thinking. Last spring I installed a “shower” on our back patio so we could just rinse off in our bathing suits before we went inside. Jennifer doesn’t like when I call it a shower because it’s really a garden hose that’s run around the house, under the garage door, and connected to the hot water in the garage sink. On the shower end is a hose extender (the one you use to water hanging plants) that’s bracketed to the rain gutter. It works though, and it’s lovely on a cool night under the stars. I’m sure the neighbors think so.

I had a meeting about you this week. It was with Brody and Randy, the guys that take care of our Internet sites. As usual it was an education. As I’ve mentioned before, Jennifer and I picked the worst possible time to move to Africa as far as technology is concerned. While we were away (Fall 2006- Spring 2007) things moved on right past us and we had to come home and relearn how people connect. We’re getting there but still need help. Turns out that my Mom isn’t the only one who reads these posts. Brody says that I should send him everything that I’ve been writing – record reviews, songs, devotionals, stuff about the kids, anything – and he will post it. Merridee’s Mondays will still be my official weekly blog, but there will be stuff coming mid-week as well. Here’s the deal though… For this to work we need to be able to communicate. So send me your thoughts and comments and I’ll write you back. And, as I promised before, I won’t use this as a forum for personal gain, trying to sell you stuff.

So here’s how this will work for the time being. Merridee’s Mondays (written from my favorite bakery in Franklin) will be my normal Monday blog. “Hey Mom” posts will be stuff during the week that I’d normally tell Mom that you might like to know as well; stuff about the kids and our friends, etc. Everything else will come as a special report. I still haven’t figured out a clever name for them yet.

Talk soon-
Jeromy

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Blogging, Car Wash, Communicating, Meridee's Monday@1:00 pm

Meridee’s Monday

CommentFebruary 22, 2010

A strange phenomenon happened in Franklin this weekend. Starting at about 11:00am on Friday a strange yellow orb appeared in the sky and stayed there until about supper time. It appeared again on Saturday and Sunday and lasted until about evening each day. Those of us who spend a lot of time outside vaguely remembered seeing this foreign light at times before, but most of us had forgotten it’s existence. The orb was bright and made everything yellow. Some of us even put on tinted glasses to soften it’s effect on our eyes. The orb also made the air dry and warm and pleople like me drove around in it with our roofs off and tops down. Our kids played in the street in flip-flops and we napped on the porch in the afternoons. The orb made everything better and everyone seemed to be enjoying it.

But today things are back to normal. The sky is grey and damp and people are huddled inside the coffee shops warming their hands around mugs full of lattes and americanos. But the memory of the strange orb-in-the-sky and it’s effect still linger in our hearts. We hope it comes back soon.

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Sunny, Weather, Winter@11:32 am

Meridee’s Monday

CommentFebruary 15, 2010

I woke up this morning to yet another blanket of white covering the neighborhood. Frankin was quiet as I traveled into town to sit at the bakery, which is uncharacteristicly empty today. I got to drive my Jeep here in four-wheel-drive and that makes me feel like a superhero. This winter has delivered the most snow I’ve seen in Franklin since Jennifer and I moved here sixteen years ago. I love it but Jennifer is miserable and Hutch is bored. I wish I was in Pennsylvania where my family is digging out from almost four feet of fresh powder. Last week my Mom sent me photographs of what used to be our back deck. It’s now dissappeared under soft dunes of white.

Fortunately the snow didn’t start until yesterday and our babysitter was able to get to the house on Saturday so Jennifer and I could go away for our Valentine’s Day “trip”. We traveled to a hotel in Cool Springs, about seven miles from our house in Franklin, for our getaway. We arrived and checked-in at three, watched a movie on tv, then went to dinner and out to another movie. We ate mostly chocolate and cheesecake and fell asleep reading books and magazines. In the morning we slept until nine and stayed in bed until eleven-fifteen then drove back home. It was no-pressure and that was special. I love my kids enough to die for them, but I need to be away from them at times. Jennifer said last night that we can actually “see” eachother when we’re alone together.

It occurred to me as Hutch and I showered this morning that I feel a little refreshed today, even after just a short time away. I realized that a“getaway” doesn’t have to be far away and for a long time. It can be just a night in town, or a movie, or a walk in the woods. I woke today more inspired and was even more patient with Hutch as he covered the shower with shaving cream, and he was more patient with me when I told him he had to clean his room and get dressed before he played Wii.

Everything is better after rest.

Have a peaceful week,
Jeromy

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Meridee's Monday, Refreshed, Valentines Day@11:42 am

Meridee’s Mondays

1 CommentJanuary 4, 2010

Good morning from Franklin, TN. Hutch is with me at Merridee’s today but completey heartbroken that I’m not letting him have a cinnamon roll. You’d think I just took away his favorite toy, which now happens to be his Wii. Jennifer’s parents got him one for Christmas a year ago but he never really got into it. Now that he can read he wants to play it constantly. He even plays with the controllers when the system is off. Sadie-Claire just lays beside him on the carpet and watches him chop little Lego people up with his light saber. It’s a good babysitter, a little too good.

Our house is empty again and things are all of a sudden back to normal, whatever that is. Hutch and Sadie-Claire are a little depressed, and I have to admit I am a bit sad as well. Having fourteen people in your home, all scurring around and making noise, makes you feel part of something bigger. I think that’s why I like snowstorms and thunderstorms so much. They bring people together and make them pay attention to something bigger then themselves. No snowstorms in Nashville though, at least not real ones.

I hope you have a great week and you sense the “something bigger” in what you do. I would really like to hear from you if you have a free second. ffh@me.com is my address.

Peace and blessings –

Jeromy

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Gifts, Post Christmas, Wii@12:18 pm

Meridee’s Mondays

1 CommentDecember 28, 2009

Good morning! I hope this finds you well and rested after the Christmas weekend. Merridee’s is closed today so I’m at Hot Spot down the street from my house. Jennifer is on her way to basketball camp with Hutch. Jennifer’s Dad is over at Jannell’s house (Jennifer’s sister) helping to assemble my nephew’s play set. Things seem strangely back to normal this Monday morning. Even the music playing in the café is the regular mix. This is dissapointing to me. Christmas is a lot like the Superbowl, a lot of hype and build up and then all of a sudden its over and forgotten.

Jennifer and I went out last night to get a burger at Steak and Shake and then wander around Target for an hour or so. Our kids have sucked our brains out over the past few days so it was nice to be alone for a bit and let them be with their Grandparents. While we were driving we were talking about how abruptly Christmas ends and how opposite it is from how Mary and Joseph must have been feeling. For them this was only the beginning!

I remember bringing our kids home from the hospital and how everything was different when they arrived. How new it all was but how I couldn’t seem to remember life without them. And love grew and continues to grow in my heart for them everyday. I remember talking with other parents when we were expecting Sadie-Claire and telling them how I wonderend how I could love another baby as much as Hutch. They would tell me how it just happens, how your heart expands to fit more love. Then it happened. Like it happened for Mary and Joseph. Like I hope it happens for me and my family this year. I hope it will be different for us this year because Jesus is here. I hope He will expand our hearts to fit more love.

Happy New Year,
Jeromy

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Happy New Year, Merridees Mondays@11:14 am

Meridee’s Mondays

1 CommentDecember 21, 2009

Good morning from Franklin TN. I brought Hutch with me this morning, he’s sitting beside me inhaling a cinnamon roll. He’s been up with me since 6:00am and I didn’t have the heart to leave and go to his favorite breakfast spot without him so he’s going to do his schoolwork and a puzzle while I write my blog. I woke up this morning at 5:30am to use the bathroom and decided to just stay up and try to have some quiet time with God. A few minutes later Hutch was in the room so we made a nativity scene out of clay. It’s a cold rainy day. 7 degrees colder and this rain would be snow. Oh how I wish it was. Few things are worse than 39 degrees and rainy. Merridee’s is warm though, and the pretty lights and woven reindeer make things better.

We played our last concert of the year this past Wednesday. It was a private event in Georgetown Deleware. My Mom came down from Lancaster (PA) to visit and keep the kids while Jennifer and I played the show. We won’t be seeing my family over the holidays so it was a nice chance for her to give the kids their gifts. We called it Grammy Christmas and brought a little tree to the hotel room and put a couple of ornaments that Jennifer helped the kids make on it. On Tuesday night (Christmas Eve) we ordered pizza in the lobby and the kids opened a couple of gifts. Hutch got a remote control car that he spent the rest of the night running up and down the hallway of the hotel. Then, in the morning we had Christmas. It was a nice memory and we joked about having Christmas in Delaware every year.

It occurred to me this week how different our celebration of Jesus’ birth is from the actual event itself. We go to such great lengths and make so much noise making it special. Lights, sound and food are the traditions. But Jesus was born into silence. It was dark, and quiet, and as far as we know, almost completely anonymous. I don’t think how we do it is wrong but it wouldn’t hurt to be quiet sometime this Christmas. Let us try to put ourselves at the manger scene to see and feel and smell how the Kingdom came on Earth.

Jennifer, Hutch, Sadie-Claire, and I wish you and your closest the warmest peace of the long expected Jesus this Christmas. Be at rest in the Savior’s hope.

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Christmas, Journal, Meridee's Monday@12:35 pm

Meridee’s Mondays

6 CommentsDecember 8, 2009

Merridee’s Mondays

Good morning. I wish I was at Merridee’s this morning but I’m six hundred miles away down in Orlando. It has been a wonderful week but today we fly home and I hate fly days.

Last year some time Rick Bristol from C.A.R.S. “Race for the Cure” emailed us to see about us playing a concert in conjunction with the C.A.R.S annual charity race. Even though it seemed like a long way off we confirmed the date. This past Wednesday we flew down for the concert on Thursday night. The show was held at Orlando Baptist, a place where we’ve got some history. Along with being gracious hosts, the Bristols also arranged for us to have friends walk us into the Disney parks on Friday and Saturday after the race so we planned ahead to stay the weekend.

We decided the kid’s first Disney experience should be at the Magic Kingdom, the happiest place on earth. On Friday it was also the wettest place on earth. It began raining before we left the house in the morning and got progressively harder as the day went on. We did our best to ride the inside attractions and stay dry but it was no use. By late afternoon we gave up. The kids did have fun in spite of the rain and Jennifer was a trooper. Sadie-Claire got to meet Mickey, Minnie, and three princesses. She loved it more than we could have imagined. On Saturday things dried out and we visited EPCOT center. Hutch had a blast collecting pins at each of the countries. We went back to Magic Kingdom to watch the big parade and Sadie-Claire fell asleep in my arms. She woke up right before we pulled out, so we parked the car and watched the fireworks from the parking lot.

Disney is wonderful and magical but it’s also expensive and crowded and crazy. Folks who have lived here for a while remember how quiet and safe and peaceful Orlando used to be. They joke that since the “Happiest Place on Earth” arrived things have become a lot more stressful. I felt bad for the families that had spent hundreds of dollars on park tickets and thousands of dollars on hotel rooms only to have it rain. I wonder if it’s worth it. But how much is it worth to watch your two-year-old hop into Tigger’s arms. You can’t put a price on that.

After all of this I’m most thankful for Jennifer. She’s the one who plans for all of the extra-curricular activities. Without her, Hutch and Sadie would have pretty boring lives. She’s the color in our family painting.

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Disney, Meridee's Mondays@1:38 pm

Meridee’s Mondays

1 CommentDecember 1, 2009

Good morning,

I just sank myself into one of the leather couches at Meridee’s in Franklin to write my weekly blog for our new website. This will be week one. I decided to call it Meridee’s Mondays because this is where you’ll find both Jennifer and I several mornings a week working and staying “connected”.

The weather is officially turning here in Tennessee. There are more leaves on the ground now than on the trees and the mornings are more chilly. Our dog Schnicklefritz eats his breakfast on the screenporch and this morning there was a bite in the damp air as I gave him his food. He doesn’t seem to mind, it just makes him more hyper which just makes the rest of us more irritated.

I’ve been reading Donald Miller’s new book in where he tells a story about a friend of his who journaled almost everything that happened in his daily life. This friend believed that an experience that wasn’t remembered may as well have not happened at all. So here’s a few things that I don’t want to forget from this past Holiday weekend…

On Thursday morning we went to our friends Carl and Heather’s house for Thanksgiving breakfast. After a quick bite Hutch got down to play with the other kids. He was the oldest boy, which is rare for him, and he loved every minute of it. Carl turned the parade on at ten and we watched the horrible lipsyncing for a while and then drove home to watch Disney’s “Up” by the fire and eat Jennifer’s favorite Honey Baked sliced turkey sandwiches. After a rest we headed to Thankgiving dinner at the Belbecks, another family from our church. There were fourty people there and they made us all feel welcome. Before dinner Sadie-Claire and I noticed the homemade hand-dipped chocolate covered marshmellows sitting on the cabinet beside the table and we both spoiled our dinners with them. After dinner I had ten more and had to ask for Tums. Then we sat in the living room and sang worship songs and said what we are thankful for. Hutch stood and said he was thankful for his Mama, Daddy, Sadie, his dog Fritz, and his hermit crab. His hermit crab died two weeks ago while we were in California. He still hasn’t noticed the crab cage being gone. That’s how well he fed him. I’m surprised the crab made it as long as he did. A few months ago Sadie kicked the crab cage down the stairs spilling it’s contents everywhere. The crab made a sprint for the front door but only got a few feet.

On Friday we headed out to look for deals on a new camera. As I was coming out of our bathroom Sadie-Claire came around the corner and I said, “Sadie, your look beautiful!” Then I asked, “How do I look?” She replied, “You look dressed.” We only made it a few hours until the kids melted down from being so tired and Jennifer and I melted down from the kids melting down. We spend the rest of the day hanging out at home.

Saturday was a better day. We hit the Franklin Farmer’s Market in the morning and the kids got their faivorite muffins. Then we went to Target to continue the camera search. The kids ran around the store beating each other with foam swords and annoying the other customers who didn’t have kids and appearently never were kids themselves. We went home for lunch and played ball outside for a while. In the afternoon Sadie-Claire and I took a nap while Jennifer went to the mall and Hutch helped our Jewish neighbor put up his Christmas lights.

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to church and actually got there on time. We kept the kids with us in worship because they almost always end up with colds when they go to the nursery and their classes. It was great having them with us and Jennifer and I both agreed that we want them to worship with us more often. It was so sweet to hold them while we sang. After lunch at Hutch’s favorite pizza place with the Belbecks and Ice Cream at Maggie Moo’s, Jennifer took Sadie-Claire home and I met my neighbor friend Kent and his son and we went into town for the Titan’s game. A friend of mine who plays for the opposing team had give me some free tickets. On the way, Kent and I talked about our Jewish neighbor with the Christmas lights and how he is always in the street playing with the kids and how I call him Super Dad. We also talked about Kent’s Mom who is suffering from terminal cancer and how we both hate cancer. After two quarter’s in the nosebleed section it rained a little and a few folks in the expensive seats left the game so we acted rich and walked to the front row and took their seats. The kids were in awe and the Titan’s won on the last play. Sixty thousand people cheered as Kent and I smiled at each other and relished the thought that we got to see it for free. As we walked back Kent’s truck the kids played football and pretended they were big and Kent and I thanked God for a cool memory.

Jeromy Deibler

Categories: BlogPosted Under: Meridee's Mondays@2:31 pm