Today we are helping some friends move and it takes me back over three years ago when the Tighe crew uprooted and hauled off to Colorado. As much as I wanted to move to CO back then, I felt very mixed emotions and it was a very difficult time for all of us. We had to adjust to a new house which didn't suit our needs, a new culture of people, new school, new job, not being able to sell our house in Nebraska and making new friends. The first year was a transition time, to say the least.
Looking back, however, it molded and shaped us into who we are today. It propelled us to make changes in our lives that are bearing fruit now. It gave us a renewed hope in the living God who dwells in our hearts. It gave us the long awaited opportunity to actually be ourselves and not feel pressured to fit into the culture surrounding us. And although we actually experienced some hardship after moving here that, in my mind, far exceeded the pain of moving, we are blessed by the events. We are blessed by moving here and experiencing them and are thankful. We now have some amazing life friends that we can't imagine living without, we love our community, we love our local church, work for a locally owned business and we have the icing on the cake of a pretty amazing view of God's mountains every day.
Back to the family we are moving. Nate and Heather just launched a photography business and seem to be fulfilling their passions. You can check it out at www.natedisarrophoto.com. Reminds me of a talk Jan and I had in 2007 when I got sacked from Schwab. Jan looked me in the eye and said, "what do you want to do with the rest of your life?" I told her I wanted to fulfill my passion to go into law enforcement or fire service, but always seemed to lack the courage to take the step of faith. She told me to go after it...and I did. If we had not moved to CO, I wouldn't be fulfilling those passions. I would most likely be struggling to find fulfillment in a desk job that maybe pays well, but saps life from within.
Flee the rat race. Find your passion. Do something about it. Live simple. And through it all, search for and love God with your life. The reward is great.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
My Fridays and Saturdays are completely shot until the fall, so to enjoy our last Saturday together as a family, we did what we love to do...hike. Took a good moderate hike up to the 2nd and 3rd Flatirons in Boulder. Liam did great and slept most the time. We finished off the hike with sandwiches from Snarf's, the sandwich shop that destroys all other sandwich shops. Good times!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
I thought I'd provide an update on the fire department happenings. I was sworn on to Louisville F.D. in December and assigned shifts starting in January. Academy begins next Friday, but we been quite busy with shifts, classes, miscellaneous training, etc. The busy schedule is only about to get more busy!
My very first shift I arrived to a call for mutual aid on a wildland-urban interface fire in Boulder. Basically that means there is a wildland fire and residential and city structures are endangered. I was ordered on the truck and told I was the luckiest probie ever to get this as my first call. I soon found out why as 3,300 acres were burning and hundreds of homes needed protection. Pretty much the dream call for the year, much more a probie's first call ever. "Probie" by the way is the name given to all first year firefighters. It's short for probationary. Picture below was taken from a few miles away. The fire was incredible with 100mph wind gusts, rapidly moving flames and some pretty intense structure fires at our staging area. We fortunately protected a house that was spared the drama but witnessed amazing fire behavior. And I finally have the cactus needles out of my skin from all the wind.
I have been very pleased with the environment of the department. We have an incredible volunteer/reserve crew and I am surrounded by a ton of experienced, passionate and professional firefighters. LFD spares no expense in training, gear, facilities and safety and for that I am very thankful. Considering I work in Louisville and love the city, it is a blessing to be able to serve in this manner.
I've been training hard physically and have seen some nice benefit to that, although I have to say I hate running still and probably always will. It's a necessary evil. I usually do my runs with full bunker gear, heat shroud and helmet so its pretty effortless to get a hard sweat going real fast and adds a lot of weight. In the pics below, I am training with not only the bunker gear, but also a 50lb weighted vest. So, I now know what it feels like to train as a 300 pounder.
I am excited and eager to start academy and complete my certifications by end of fall. I am sure I'll have more stories to share down the road. Jan and the kiddos have been wonderful in the transition and adjustment to a hectic schedule with a full-time job and all the training hours at the station. I am blessed to have my family for sure!
My very first shift I arrived to a call for mutual aid on a wildland-urban interface fire in Boulder. Basically that means there is a wildland fire and residential and city structures are endangered. I was ordered on the truck and told I was the luckiest probie ever to get this as my first call. I soon found out why as 3,300 acres were burning and hundreds of homes needed protection. Pretty much the dream call for the year, much more a probie's first call ever. "Probie" by the way is the name given to all first year firefighters. It's short for probationary. Picture below was taken from a few miles away. The fire was incredible with 100mph wind gusts, rapidly moving flames and some pretty intense structure fires at our staging area. We fortunately protected a house that was spared the drama but witnessed amazing fire behavior. And I finally have the cactus needles out of my skin from all the wind.
I have been very pleased with the environment of the department. We have an incredible volunteer/reserve crew and I am surrounded by a ton of experienced, passionate and professional firefighters. LFD spares no expense in training, gear, facilities and safety and for that I am very thankful. Considering I work in Louisville and love the city, it is a blessing to be able to serve in this manner.
I've been training hard physically and have seen some nice benefit to that, although I have to say I hate running still and probably always will. It's a necessary evil. I usually do my runs with full bunker gear, heat shroud and helmet so its pretty effortless to get a hard sweat going real fast and adds a lot of weight. In the pics below, I am training with not only the bunker gear, but also a 50lb weighted vest. So, I now know what it feels like to train as a 300 pounder.
I am excited and eager to start academy and complete my certifications by end of fall. I am sure I'll have more stories to share down the road. Jan and the kiddos have been wonderful in the transition and adjustment to a hectic schedule with a full-time job and all the training hours at the station. I am blessed to have my family for sure!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Christmas Letter
I'm jumping in finally into the 21st Century and posting and/or sending our family Christmas/New Year's letter electronically. Snail mail is so 1999.
They say when you're down you can only get up. While that may not be entirely true, for the year 2008 it rings pretty true for the Tighe family. It was just a year ago that we were contemplating the loss of a "steady" job and income and were deeply feeling emotions of frustration, hurt and worry. We knew God was faithful, as he always has been, but honestly were starting to get tired of enduring one trial after another. Looking back to this time last year, I was trying to figure out where God wanted me in the workplace, figure out how to pay bills, dumping every possible material possession we had to make it and generally feeling down. And we thought 2006 was tough!
Yet God began to work in our hearts in the spring of this year. He surprised me with an opportunity to work 4 miles from home with an organic food company, a job which I love more than any job I've held. You can check it out HERE. We also found out we had a new life brewing inside Jan and were thrilled to know God was giving us a new addition to love and know. It also became clear that while trying to find a place in police and firefighting work, that firefighting was the best option and quickly the opportunity came after lots of testing, written and physical, with the Louisville Fire Department. You can check that out HERE. We also were able to secure a long term lease in our house and are so thankful to be able to stay in a community we love with some of the best friends we could hope for in life.
My beautiful wife, Jan, is a stay at home mom who quite honestly works harder than I'll ever know. She is the very best God had for me in a wife and as a mom to our three children. Jan is a steady stream of friendship, love and mercy to me. I could never want any more.
Jonatha Shay is our 2nd grade daughter who lives each day as it were her last. She loves people, reading, climbing rock, skiing and mixed martial arts. My days of getting her to tap out are soon approaching their end. She is a few months away from earning her green belt in Tae Kwon Do, too.
Aidan Reece is our Kindergarten train engine. He never stops moving. Aidan is kind, gentle and loving, yet full of energy. He thrives in environments where he can run, jump, dive, fall, whatever, as long as he is moving. Aidan also was baptized this summer in Boulder Creek by his daddy in front of tons of witnesses. Pretty cool stuff.
Liam Drew is our new baby boy who joined us on October 22. Liam looks just like his older brother, yet has his very own personality. He is a very loving boy and enjoys his older sister and brother (so long as they give him his space). He is starting to laugh a lot and cooes so beautifully when held. He also has his daddy's haircut, which shouldn't last too much longer. We think he's a pretty darn good addition.
For us things have gone up in a huge way this year. But, we wouldn't change a thing in the difficulties that came before the blessings. Because when you sit down and evaluate everything God allows in your life, you realize they are ALL blessings. It's only a matter of perspective.
I wish you all a joyous holiday season and a new year of hope and love. Thank you for being a part of our lives and walking this journey with us.
They say when you're down you can only get up. While that may not be entirely true, for the year 2008 it rings pretty true for the Tighe family. It was just a year ago that we were contemplating the loss of a "steady" job and income and were deeply feeling emotions of frustration, hurt and worry. We knew God was faithful, as he always has been, but honestly were starting to get tired of enduring one trial after another. Looking back to this time last year, I was trying to figure out where God wanted me in the workplace, figure out how to pay bills, dumping every possible material possession we had to make it and generally feeling down. And we thought 2006 was tough!
Yet God began to work in our hearts in the spring of this year. He surprised me with an opportunity to work 4 miles from home with an organic food company, a job which I love more than any job I've held. You can check it out HERE. We also found out we had a new life brewing inside Jan and were thrilled to know God was giving us a new addition to love and know. It also became clear that while trying to find a place in police and firefighting work, that firefighting was the best option and quickly the opportunity came after lots of testing, written and physical, with the Louisville Fire Department. You can check that out HERE. We also were able to secure a long term lease in our house and are so thankful to be able to stay in a community we love with some of the best friends we could hope for in life.
My beautiful wife, Jan, is a stay at home mom who quite honestly works harder than I'll ever know. She is the very best God had for me in a wife and as a mom to our three children. Jan is a steady stream of friendship, love and mercy to me. I could never want any more.
Jonatha Shay is our 2nd grade daughter who lives each day as it were her last. She loves people, reading, climbing rock, skiing and mixed martial arts. My days of getting her to tap out are soon approaching their end. She is a few months away from earning her green belt in Tae Kwon Do, too.
Aidan Reece is our Kindergarten train engine. He never stops moving. Aidan is kind, gentle and loving, yet full of energy. He thrives in environments where he can run, jump, dive, fall, whatever, as long as he is moving. Aidan also was baptized this summer in Boulder Creek by his daddy in front of tons of witnesses. Pretty cool stuff.
Liam Drew is our new baby boy who joined us on October 22. Liam looks just like his older brother, yet has his very own personality. He is a very loving boy and enjoys his older sister and brother (so long as they give him his space). He is starting to laugh a lot and cooes so beautifully when held. He also has his daddy's haircut, which shouldn't last too much longer. We think he's a pretty darn good addition.
For us things have gone up in a huge way this year. But, we wouldn't change a thing in the difficulties that came before the blessings. Because when you sit down and evaluate everything God allows in your life, you realize they are ALL blessings. It's only a matter of perspective.
I wish you all a joyous holiday season and a new year of hope and love. Thank you for being a part of our lives and walking this journey with us.
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