you could subclass a timer with a property of delay

when you start the timer, you set the delay you want and the current time (computed property)
in the timer action check the current time to see if your delay has expired yet and if it has
perform the action or raise an event

a version of this was used as a sort of stopwatch in some code i saw a long time ago.
to delay sending commands to a serial device
nicely re-usable and doesn't mean you have loads of timers

Not sure what you have tried but here is a print out of a very basic example using a window with a timer control, a label, a push button and a property.

Window1
Class Window1
Inherits Window
Private mTimerState_ As Int32

Window1 Control RunPushButton:
Sub Action() 
Self.mTimerState_ = 0
   Timer1.Mode = Timer.ModeMultiple
Timer1.Enabled = True 
End Sub

Window1 Control Timer1:
Sub Action()
Dim caption As String
Self.mTimerState_ = Self.mTimerState_ + 1
Select Case Self.mTimerState_ 
Case 1
caption = "1st Action" 
Case 2
caption = "2nd Action" 
Case 3
caption = "3rd Action" 
Case 4
      caption = "Last Action"
Me.Enabled = False 
End Select

Self.Label1.Text = caption 
End Sub
End Class

Be aware of this:

Threads run in the background, but are temporarily blocked by certain user actions:

While the mouse button is held down,
While a window is being dragged,
While a menu in the menu bar is pulled down,
While the mouse button is pressed on a control in a window (not true of Windows)

If you need to do background processing which must continue, I'd prefer putting this code in a helper application.

Steven,

The best way I have found to go from procedural to event base is to use a timer any time I need to pause, at least when loops are not involved.

Here is your example :

1. Trigger an event.
2. Run some code.
3. Update the UI with a graphic and text. // Best is to have a method
4. Start a 2 seconds multiple timer AND RETURN FROM THE EVENT

-- > this goes in the Action event of the timer : Update the UI with another graphic and text.

1. Pause for 2 seconds. // Taken care of by the timer
2. Pause for 2 seconds. // Taken care of by the timer

To count the number of times the timer triggered a refresh of the display, use a static variable which you increment each time the timer fires. When comes time to stop, something like this will do nicely :

me.mode = Timer.ModeOff

9. Run some more code. -- > That part is in the Action event of the timer, executes when the number of times it has executed in the static variable is OK.

http://docs.xojo.com/Static