JUST ANOTHER POSITIVE ABOUT CARMEL, INDIANA (#22)

I love high school football. Always have. Moving to Carmel will be a cool thing as far as that is concerned. The Greyhounds have been Indiana State Champions in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1989 and 2007. They were runner-up in 1975 and 2006 and could be headed for a chance at yet another title this season after a resounding 41-0 playoff win over the neighboring Noblesville Millers (a pretty good team themselves). The Carmel football team took control early in their first round sectional game against rival Noblesville.  Carmel scored on their first two possessions of the game as they forced Noblesville into difficult field position throughout the game.  Carmel converted on a fourth down pass in the first quarter, a 23 yard pass from Morgan Newton to Troy Stratford, to go up 6-0.  With Noblesville driving deep into Carmel territory on their second possession, Scott Dehnke intercepted a Miller pass and returned it out of the end zone to set up a 76 yard touchdown run from Newton.  Carmel led 27-0 at halftime and scored 14 more points in the third quarter for the final margin of 41-0.  Newton passed for 158 yards and three touchdowns as the Carmel offense generated 446 yards of total offense.  The # 3 ranked Greyhounds now travel to Lafayette Jeff for the sectional semi-finals on Halloween.  Game tickets, priced at $5, will be on sale in the Activities Office on Monday through Friday (until noon on Friday).  The Hounds would host the sectional championship game against Harrison or Kokomo if they are victorious at Lafayette Jefferson. 

Carmel is featured on ESPN now and then and they have earned state titles in numerous sports. Check it out;

Boys’ Basketball – 1977 
Boys’ Cross Country – 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1996 
Football – 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986, 1989, 2007
Boys’ Golf – 1970, 1971, 1982, 1989, 1990 
Boys’ Soccer – 1985, 1987, 1991, 2006
Boys’ Swimming – 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Boys’ Tennis – 1980, 1981, 1987, 2003, 2004
Boys’ Track – 2000
Girls’ Basketball – 2008
Girls’ Cross Country – 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001 
Girls’ Golf – 1980 
Girls’ Soccer – 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Softball – 1994
Girls’ Swimming – 1981, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995,
 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Girls’ Tennis – 1989, 1990, 2003 
Girls’ Track & Field – 1998, 1999 
Competition Cheerleading – 2000, 2005, 2006

BATMAN, THE MAD HATTER AND THE FALL FESTIVAL 2008

Saturday Laura and I took the girls to the Fall Festival in historic downtown Franklin. As usual, it did not disappoint! Immediately upon arriving we were greeted by the Dark Knight himself. Gotham’s very own Batman was sent to patrol the streets upon the news of a lunch meeting at Mellow Mushroom’s between Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Jack Napier. The Joker and Harley never disturbed the activities, but who would? The Caped Crusader was huge and awesome. Brooke was impressed. Best of all, Batman called me by name; come to find out, the Bat’s true identity is that of an old friend. I won’t reveal his name but it rhymes with “Hob Rarris.” I was stunned, it was actually very funny.

The kids were even more excited to see that Tigger had made his way from the 100 acre woods to party with the crowd. Katie was still a bit nervous about anyone in a costume. Years ago when we went to Disney Tigger and Pooh and the gang really scared her, especially Eyeore (the Donkey). Now she is cautious. It didn’t help that a pirate walked up to her before this picture and said “Aaahhhrrrrrrr.” She just put her head down. As you can see in this picture, Brooke embraced the characters. Adrienne seemed oblivious. She just wanted down. Franklin always does a great job, all the kids got bags to collect candy with and all the games (most of which were set up by The People’s Church) were free!

Katie is really “coming out of her shell.” She played a ton of games from the bean bag toss to shooting baskets (with Daddy’s help). She even walked up and took a spin at the Wheel of Fortune. She scored gobs of candy as well. Her favorite part was a tea party with Alice in Wonderland and Snow White. Everything was great until the Mad Hatter sat down beside Kate. She was immediately up and walking for Mommy!

Adrienne was everywhere! First of all, she thinks she can do everything that her big sisters can do. Secondly, she is very independent and opinionated. As evidenced in this pic, she was not happy about having to leave this candy basket behind. She has candy in both hands but truly believed she was entitled to the entire basket. I simply said “Let’s go Adrienne!” And her face simply said, “Go ahead punk, make my day!”

 

As for Brooke, the highlight of her day was clearly the pony ride. I think it was a pony. A small pony. Or a big donkey. Kind of a ‘Ponkey’ or a ‘Dony’ I guess. She rubbed his head before the ride and just seemed to be in all her glory as she rode around in the circle. Her face was so beautiful – that happens when your child is overwhelmed with happiness. It was a great day. As we left for the parking lot, my wife led us around the back of the grills. This was one of my highlights. Smoked Turkey legs, bratwurst, burgers and steaks … whew! It’s a good thing I didn’t have any more cash on me! We are excited about moving to Carmel because they seem to have a lot of family activities up there as well (maybe more than we have here). But we will certainly miss the annual Fall Festival in Franklin. When we got home, Brooklyn said “Thank you for taking us to the Fall Vegetable.” Festival is not a word we use often.

BEING A GOOD PARENT IS REALLY HARD

Don’t let the picture fool you; I struggle with being a good Dad. Maybe it’s just me but parenting (really parenting) is really hard work. We have three girls all under the age of five and they conquer me daily. Almost every day I look back on the day and regret something. I think things like “I wish I had played with them more today.” “Why did I get so upset over what Brooke did? That was nothing.” “Why didn’t I talk to Katie about her tough time with the potty?” “I should’ve greeted Adrienne with a smile this morning, not a set of yawns and a pained, tired frown.” I feel tired a lot. I get frustrated too easily. I find myself thinking more of me than of them and their feelings. Sure, I help get them dressed, make them breakfast sometimes, take them fun places and I tell them I love them every day. But, there’s more to it than just doing what must be done. I wish I was better at being a Dad. I want to do better.

I wrote a book a while back and I stressed the idea of adopting a “More of you (God) and less of me” mentality. While I was referring to how to serve God, I was also saying that we should use this philosophy with people as well. More of my neighbor, less of me. More of my co-worker, less of me. More of my enemies, less of me and etc. Selflessness. I want to think of my kids and my wife the same way. The girls are growing up too fast. I fear that they are seeing an old man preoccupied with finances, phone calls and his computer; what I want them to see is that Daddy is fun. I want them to see that their Daddy values them and their Momma above all else. I want them to know that they are more important to me than anything else in this world. Unfortunately, they can’t read this blog. And even if they could, action speaks louder than words.

I have to start thinking “More of Brooklyn, less of me.” “More of Katie, less of me.” “More of Adrienne, less of me.” Of course, this is easier said than done. Pray for me and if you can relate to any of this, be encouraged; you are not alone!

THE FALL TOUR IS IN FULL SWING

Herrin, Illinois … Orlando, Florida … Paducah, Kentucky … Knoxville, Tennessee … Atlanta, Georgia … Vancouver, Washington … Bristol, Virginia … Gainesville, Florida … the fall is in full swing. This is the busiest fall we’ve ever had by far. My latest 20 performance tour begins this Sunday in Virginia and concludes the first weekend in December in Atlanta. All this while trying to sell our house, moving to Carmel, Indiana and working alongside Laura to raise three little girls under the age of 5. Whew!!! That’s not to mention Trick or Treating, doing Thanksgiving and attempting to pull off a half way decent Christmas as well. We honestly are losing our sanity by the day. Our wonderful neighbors, Brian and Jen, took our girls last night so that Laura and I could get away for a little seafood, some shopping and relaxation over coffee. It had been a while. Pray for us as we will have our first potential buyer viewing our house tomorrow. We really need it to sell!

I KINDA WOOK WIKE ELMER FUDD

I hate to admit it but the older I get, the more I kinda look like Elmer Fudd. It’s true. It never really occurred to me until this afternoon when I was struck with an overwhelming epiphany. My daughters informed me that they wanted to go to lunch at “Wed Wobster.” “Wed Wobster?” I thought, “We really need to work on those R’s and L’s.” I sat through lunch listening to both Brooklyn (4) and Katie (3) saying things like “Wasbewwy Wemonade,” “Cajun Shwimp Wingwuini” and “Wook at those Weal Wobsters Momma!!!” I was having a good laugh as we strapped the girls into our van, thinking things like “Duck season … Wobster season!” and “Kill da’ Wobster, kill da’ Wobster!” and “Come out you scwewy Wobster!” Then I sat back and caught a glimpse of myself as I adjusted my rear view mirror. 

It’s no wonder my kids are sounding like Elmer Fudd these days … I’m looking like Elmer Fudd these days! I didn’t say anything to Laura about it. I figure she will read about it here first. What say ye’ readers of The Blog of that Guy named Tony Wolf? Do I look like Elmer Fudd or someone else? Along with the Emperor from Star Wars, the “Rock guy from Fantastic 4 … before he turns into the Rock guy” (exact quote) and Mr. Clean, I’ve listed others I’ve unfortunately heard before. As with November 4th, your vote counts! 

 

 

POST CARMEL SICKNESS

We had a great weekend at Central this past weekend. We met a lot of the people, looked at houses and the service went really well. Saturdays practice revealed much rust on my part (7 years of inactivity on the worship leading front) but Sunday went really well. There was a lot of energy in the audience, everything seemed to flow quite nicely and it was fun. However, the weekend didn’t come off without a problem.

Saturday afternoon Adrienne started feeling sick. Her tummy was jacked up and it made itself evident when diaper time came around. We cancelled our dinner plans and stayed at the hotel (where Adrienne never sleeps well). After some convincing and blood curdling screaming she went down. And she slept like a baby (bad pun). But at 11 pm Katie woke up really sick. It’s really painful to watch a 3 year old little girl choking and struggling through this new physical hardship called throwing up. In the morning she just laid down on the chairs at church and didn’t move. We figured she had a 24-hour stomach thing.

We were right and she wasn’t the only one. As we left Indy Laura said, “You want to grab something to eat?” Uncharacteristically I responded, “No, I’m not really hungry.” By the time we had gotten back to Nashville, I started really feeling badly. Laura asked me, “Do you feel like you’re going to throw up?” I said, “No, I haven’t thrown up in years. It’s probably just diarrhea.” And it was until about 8 o’clock. I went to put a few things from the trip away under our bathroom sink. When I went to stand up, I immediately dove for the toilet. I have never thrown up like this. It kept coming and coming and coming and coming. At one point I called out for Laura. She came in turned on the light, saw what I was doing and quickly turned the light back off. “Can I help you?” she said. “No, no, I got it.” Then I continued to spray lung butter all over our poor commode. I sounded like Chewbacca singing under water. It was not pretty.

As Laura placed a wash cloth onto my head, I sarcastically said, “No, I haven’t thrown up in years.”

I woke up this morning, really sore, but feeling fine.

GET MY SONG “WAFFLE HOUSE” FOR FREE!!!

Starting today, I will send anyone who hits my blog my “Waffle House” song absolutely free. It is a parody of the Audio Adrenaline song “Big House.” Just comment under this post and say something to the effect of “I’d like some Waffle House please!” and I will email you the song. This offer is good until Sunday night at midnight. Spread the word if you like the song and keep me and my family in your prayers this weekend as we travel to Indy to be introduced to the people at Central. If you’d like an entire CD of this kind of stuff, go to iTunes and look for Tony Wolf. Thank you and enjoy!!!

JUST ANOTHER POSITIVE ABOUT CARMEL, INDIANA (#43)

I am going to be periodically blogging about the many reasons I am excited about our move to Carmel, Indiana. These posts will range from ministry notes to life changes for our family to new friendships to simple “fun facts” and useless information. This post (reason #43) is from the “fun facts” file. In reality, I’m not sure how fun it will be for you to read, but it sure will be fun for me and my tummy upon arriving in our new town. So perhaps this would qualify as useless information. That being said …

 

I look forward to any performances that take me through Cincinnati, Ohio. The “Nati” is a great town with an awesome river front, a beautiful skyline (especially at night) and I usually try to work in a time to see the Reds play. However, the highlight of each journey through Cincy is a heaping, breathtaking plate of cheese blanketed Skyline Chili. Admittedly, most people either love it or hate it. Few are “just okay” with it. Even fewer admire it and respect it. I am in the minority, I know, but I am absolutely and fully devoted to it.

If you have never experienced it, I implore you; take a few days off work, get a plane ticket, get yourself to the Cincinnati area and enjoy one of life’s finest splendors. Allow me to share the heritage behind this culinary wonder with the story quoted on the menu;

“From a small kitchen in the village of Kastoria, Greece, a fascinated young Nicholas Lambrinides watched as his mother and grandmother prepared authentic Greek dishes. Their recipes had been passed down from generation to generation. These were unique, wonderful dishes that had the power to bring his whole family together.

Nicholas dreamed that one day he would bring these recipes and traditions to America, where he could share them with friends and family. In 1949, his dream came true when Nicholas opened his first restaurant overlooking the skyline of Cincinnati, Ohio and began serving his delicious secret recipes to appreciative customers. Since then, Skyline Chili’s Coneys, Ways and table-side service have been enjoyed by generations. Skyline Chili continues to be made from Nicholas’s original recipe, using a secret blend of spices and only the highest quality ingredients. Skyline is dedicated to bringing friends and families together for an experience like no other and we will always be devoted to the American dream of that young man from a small village in Greece.”

That’s what I’m talking about! Skyline can be found all over Ohio, in Louisville, Kentucky and in certain locations in Indianapolis and nearby. They also have a few in Florida oddly enough. When weighing the idea of a move to Carmel, I was beside myself with joy to realize that there are several Skyline establishments within a reasonable driving distance from the church. Just around the corner in Noblesville is one that may host me regularly in just a few short weeks. This is reason number 43, that I am excited about our move from Nashville to Indy. Life is good!!!

IT’S OFFICIAL; OUR HOUSE IS FOR SALE

Here is a quick update for those of you who don’t know what’s happening with us or perhaps have been out of the loop for a while. December 1 we will be moving to Carmel, Indiana where I will be serving as the Creative Arts Director at Central Christian Church. My long time mentor Richard Clark has ignored my immaturity, lack of talent and the advice of my parole officer and has decided to bring me into the Central family. It will be a privilege to work with Richard and the staff he has assembled and I’m looking forward to meeting the people next weekend. I will lead worship next Sunday and we will begin looking for a place to live as well. We are torn between living in Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville – any advice from those of you in the Indy area would be welcomed!

That said, we are saying goodbye to the only home our family has ever known. Our realtor, Peggy, placed the sign in our yard yesterday. It was exciting and sad at the same time. I will never forget carrying Brooke up the stairs the snowy day we brought her home from the hospital. I will always remember Katie saying “Do it again buddy!!!” when I swing her in the backyard. Adrienne’s nursery will always be a wonderful memory for me along with her hugs and kisses at bed time. I will never forget sitting in the empty living room with Laura the day we moved in. We had so many dreams. Not all of them have worked out. We have had our share of fights and frustrations. But nearly seven years later, when I survey our lives at current, this place has been wonderful beyond my wildest imagination.

I head to Indiana a blest man. I will be serving an awesome church in a wonderful city, I will continue to travel and use my gifts in comedy and speaking, I have three of the most beautiful and amazing little girls a man could ever ask for as daughters and my best friend in the world is still standing beside me. There is nothing like being in love. Laura has lived with me here on Mollys Court for 6 1/2 years. These were easily the best years of my life thus far. 

Pray for us as we attempt to sell this wonderful house and as we search for the new address that we will call home.