August 2010 Lower Family Newsletter

[Chad T. Lower]

It feels like I just finished and sent out the last newsletter, yet here we are again a month later.  Maybe I will have to do a digest version for summers!

 

Usually I try to do newsletters the first Sunday of the month.  In July, the newsletter was sent on the 12th, primarily because we were in New Jersey the first Sunday of the month enjoying our 4th of July and a family reunion at my Uncle Roy and Aunt Kathie's.  Although Suzy normally has one of her writer's group the first Thursday of the month, she decided to skip that and we headed for NJ after I got done teaching that day.  When we arrived, we helped set up the camper in their backyard that would be our home for the next several nights.  The next day was full of swimming and relaxing--mostly swimming for Bella and Chi.  Ali was too close to the edge of the pool and fell in the first day.  She did not get in after that.

 

I don't remember the final count as far as people attending, but it is usually around 30.  We had family come from Virginia Beach, Washington D.C., Maryland, and even Illinois and a friend from Canada!  Meal duties are split over the course of the weekend.  The evening of the 4th, Suzy and I were responsible for dinner.  When I was a kid and would attend these reunions, my dad would always make barbecued chicken.  Last year and this year, I was able to keep the tradition alive by making the barbecued chicken.  I would also play with my cousins Jim and Brandon all weekend when younger, and the three of us were assigned meal duty together.  It was just like old times, except now we are older and making the meals while our kiddos play with their cousins.

 

I had to head home on Monday, July 5 since I had to teach Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Suzy and the kids stayed and played while other family came and left.  On Thursday after class, I drove back to New Jersey.  We all went to Chuck E. Cheeses that night for dinner to celebrate Aunt Kathie's birthday (she had two candles on her cake, but I know she is slightly older than that) and as a special dinner for Bella.

 

The next day was July 9th, the day of Bella's surgery.  It was a day of Bella being Bella, but fortunately she doesn't remember much of the day.  Since the surgery was in Philadelphia, it was more convenient to come from Roy and Kathie's house as they live less than an hour from Philly (whereas we live 3+ hours away).  They were also gracious enough to watch Ali and Chi while we took Bella.  Bella's surgery went well.  She was not as panicked as she was the first time when she came out of anesthesia.  She did touch her lip, but said it didn't bother her.  We were given a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and she complained of pain the first night, so we gave some to her, but after waking the next day, she never once complained about it hurting.  We had a follow-up appointment with the doctor last Friday and he said it was healing nicely, but it will probably take 6 months for the swelling to fully go down and about 12 months for the scar to heal as much as it will.

 

So backing up, surgery was Friday, we left NJ and came home Saturday.  The next Thursday, we went up to Montrose Bible Conference for the CMA Pennsylvania State Motorcycle Rally.  It was the first motorcycle rally I have ever been to.  Wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't quite what I had imagined.  We were told that there would be stuff to do for kids, so we bought all three of ours to find that there really wasn't anything to do for kids.  The first night there, our kids ended up playing with the campers (kids) who were there for the week.  The camp was for 6-12 year olds, so Bella could have been a young camper, but Malachi and Alessandra were much smaller than the other kids.  I taught a safety class on Friday and a different one on Saturday.  Sunday morning, we headed back home again so I could teach on Monday.

 

The next weekend, I taught Motorcycle Safety class.  Suzy and the kids went down to her parents house during the week so Suzy could help her dad at a farm auction.  Bella stayed the week and Suzy brought the younger two kids home, which made a little less stress at our house.

 

Chronologically, at the end of the above week was our follow-up visit with the doctor in Philly.  After visiting the doctor, we went to Pat's who is credited for being the inventor of the Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich.  The restaurant is still owned by Pat's family and there is only one location (no franchises), so that was exciting.  To order, you tell them if you want onions (wit') or no onions (wit'-out), and then what kind of cheese you want.  Suzy and I had the classic whiz wit' (cheese whiz with onions).  Bella had a whiz wit'-out.  Ali and Chi had hot dogs.

 

From there, we made our way to the Visitor's Center.  Around the visitors center, they have benches with people telling stories about the founding of our country and Philadelphia in general.  There are 13 benches total and kids can get a star to put on a flag at each bench.  We arrived at 3:30 and the benches stop at 4, so we were able to listen to two stories (ironically bench numbers 1 and 13--the first and the last).  From there, we went to Franklin Square which celebrated its 4th birthday the day after we were there.  There is a playground for the kids to play on and a carousel that we rode.  After that, we had ice cream, then headed for home.  July was certainly a full month for us.  I hope it slows down a bit in August... My class I am teaching will end, and classes in general will begin a week after.

 

In our love definition, verses 4 and 5 had MANY descriptors of love.  Verse 6 only had two, which brings us to the first of four parts of our definition from verse 7.  "It [love] always protects."

 

James, in the last verse of his first chapter tells us some people we are to protect, "Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil."  Orphans and widows are considered to be some of the neediest people in our society. Orphans--very young people with no one to help them; widows--very old people with no one to help them.  Suzy and I have sponsored a child through Compassion for each of our children.  We try to get someone from middle America who is about the same age as our child; in that manner, they can communicate with each other as they both grow up.  They don't allow children into their program until 3 years old, so Ali will hopefully be getting a sponsored child soon.  As for widows, we have talked about taking in our parents should the need arise as they get older.

 

In addition to protecting others, we also need to protect ourselves.  Proverbs 4:14-15 tells us, "Don't follow the bad example of cruel and evil people. Turn aside and keep going. Stay away from them."  We live in a corrupt world.  Even scientists tell us that the world naturally moves towards chaos.  Our sinful nature helps to draw us to bad, but we need to resist.  I subscribe to a newsletter by Dr. Oz (from Oprah) and this morning's column was about temptation.  Specifically it was referring to weight and people who are trying to lose weight need to keep themselves from tempting situations.  Specifically, they mentioned, "The real-life lesson: Underestimate your willpower. Rely on avoidance tactics instead. Your office has cream cheese and bagels every Friday? Pack a juicy peach and stay clear of the coffee room. There's half a birthday cake left after the party? Give it to the neighbors. The grandkids want ice cream? Wait in the car. It's way easier to be smart than strong."  They are talking about "leading us not into temptation."  If food tempts you, stay away.  If sin tempts you, stay away!  Protect yourself.

 

Another thing that we should protect is the name of Jesus Christ.  I believe the last poll I read declared that 80% of Americans define themselves as Christians, but many, many less than that actually honor and respect God and Jesus.  My preference would be for those people who claim to be Christain to become serious about their declaration; if they don't want to be serious, then don't say you are one.  I Peter 3:15 reads, "Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope."  That last sentence, giving an answer...  That answer is often referred to as a testimony.  It is helpful to have a prepared testimony so that we can "be ready" to give it.  Roughly about 1-2 minutes long, telling where you were before Christ, why you decided to follow Christ, and your life now that you are a Christian.

 

As Dr. Oz said, it's way easier to be smart, than strong.

Chad T. Lower
a.k.a. Chopper
http://chadtlower.tripod.com/
 
Fight Spam! Join CAUCE! == http://www.cauce.org/
 
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
                               Philippians 2:3-4