Remembering a friend

Tom and Carol Coffman with Tristan 6 days post Norwood Procedure

This past Wednesday morning the gates of heaven flew open and our friend and brother in Christ, Tom was taken Home. After three years of battling cancer, God in his infinite wisdom and control decided that Tom's suffering needed to end. Through the suffering and death of God's own son, Jesus, Tom was called "Righteous" and was welcomed to the place that all the saints before us have gone...where the Angels sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!". 

My first memory of Tom is his voice. Call Day informed us we were heading to Grace Lutheran Church in Port St. Lucie, FL. We had already received several phone calls from various members and leaders of the congregation and we were busy planning our move from St. Louis to Florida. Gene was at Concordia Publishing House (CPH) working his part time job for LWML in their shipping/stocking department. The phone rang with the caller ID showing it was a Florida area code. It was Tom. He asked to speak to Gene, which I promptly answered that he was not there. Tom introduced himself as a member and Elder of Grace. The conversation lasted all of around 4 minutes and ended with me giving him Gene's cell phone number. I quickly got off the phone and called Gene to forewarn him that a phone call would be coming from an elder at Grace. I declared to Gene, "I just got off the phone with the nicest person! Extremely friendly and nice!". Friendly and nice....such an understatement. 


Above is a picture of Tom and his wife, Carol visiting Tristan. They made the long 2 hour trip down to meet Tristan 6 days after his 1st surgery. Some day Tristan will look through his photo album from that time period. Upon seeing this picture he will ask me who the man in the picture is......and I am going to tell Tristan that Tom was a man who loved Jesus, loved his wife and son, and was a great friend to us. A man with great character and integrity. A man who could sing a song at the end of a church service and have the members leave crying because how beautifully it was sung. A man who would come up to church and quietly clean or fix something without fanfare or praise. A man, who despite fighting and suffering from cancer found time to pray for you. And even though you will have no memory of Tom, I am thankful he was able to meet you.


There are many other memories I have of Tom, but if I named them all this blog would be a hundred pages long. The most important thing to take away is that the memories are fond.  


It was my honor and privilege to have known Tom.  For having known him, I am a better person. He will be greatly missed by this family.


Yes, we will all see Tom again..... And what a glorious day that will be. 


Amen.

Tristan finally walks!

This is the day we thought would never come. The other day we were joking that we were convinced Tristan would be crawling to Kindergarten. But on October 11, 2011 he proved us wrong. The day prior he was not even taking a single step on his own without holding onto the wall or furniture piece. Just this past Sunday he cruised down the "pew" (chairs) holding onto lovely knees of some of the seated members. They were all kind of enough to smile and talk to Tristan as he "passed the peace". Tristan never ceases to amaze us. The joy he gives us is only slightly expressed in Gene's voice. Every milestone he meets is not taken for granted and we celebrate 100 fold.

Tristan and the Fan

This was for more our entertainment than anything else. We bought an air purifier for our bedroom and Tristan discovered the joy of having the air blown out from the top of it (look at his hair). The video was not shot well by Ann but you'll get the jest. We could not tear Tristan away from it all evening long; it was like a new toy on Christmas morning!

Caught In The Act

Sunrise at Daytona Beach

We spent the last several days in Daytona Beach for the FL/GA President's Convocation 2011. It has been three years since we attended. In 2009 Gene's grandmother passed away and in 2010 we were in Miami Children's Hospital with Tristan. Gene was able to attend some wonderful break-out sessions, see old Sem. classmates and even caught up with President Emeritus Kieschnick long enough to plan a possible golf game when we are in Texas next month. Ann was able to spend time with several pastor wives and their children, walk on the boardwalk with Tristan and enjoy a couple of days off of work. Tristan was introduced to several people that had spent much of 2010 praying for him. It was nice to be able to report all positive things regarding Tristan's health.


While we were staying at the Hilton, Tristan was limited to our hotel room with a handful of his favorite toys. Despite that, he found several ways to entertain himself. Anytime our attention was turned away and the room was too quiet, we knew Tristan was up to no good. See below....

 

The ride home was full of hilarity---at least now it feels that way. An hour and a half into the drive, Tristan got cranky about being harnessed in his car seat. Usually his trusty stuffed dog does the trick. The only problem was that "Mine" (as Ann's mother has named the beloved dog for Tristan) had a battery problem; as in completely dead. Tristan kept pushing on the paws, the ear, and the glowing heart to now avail. Cranky Tristan turned into a screaming maniac. I don't think we have ever heard Tristan cry so hard in the car....and remember we just made an eight hour drive to Destin back in July! It's amazing what an uncontrollable child can do to you....no dinner and a non-stop screaming child made for two unamused parents. We, the sound parents that are supposed to remain calm at all times even started getting frustrated with one another. With tempers flaring we became one of THOSE parents. You know, the ones that stop 45 minutes away from home at a Target in Palm Bay to get three AA batteries for their son's stuffed dog. With a quick grab of burgers to go at Five Guys and fresh new batteries in the singing dog, there was silence in the car. The flood of tears turned into contentment as long as his trusty dog sat on his lap. We never thought we'd become one of those parents that would stop and do anything to get the screaming to stop. And now after a good night's sleep, we can laugh about it.