October 2009 Lower Family Newsletter

[Chad T. Lower]

So Bella turned 7 a little over a week ago.  Her birthday is September 22, but her party was on the 19th.  I was teaching motorcycle safety class that day, but four of her friends came and played.  Bella wanted a Pokemon themed party, so she (and Suzy) made Poke-ball invitation cards and her birthday cakes were in the shape of Poke-balls.  While at the party, Suzy had printed out Pikachu coloring pages and made a BINGO game for the children to do.

 

Bella is also enjoying 2nd grade.  She brings home books every night to read to us.  Last year, the school had books for her to bring home as well, but she would forget to "sign them out," so was not allowed to bring them home any more.  I enjoy having her read to me in the evenings to see the improvement.  She is not quite to grade level yet, but only one level behind, which is an improvement over last year.  She still takes longer to do her work because of distractions, but so far we haven't had any reports of defiance or refusal to do work, so she seems to be improving in that area as well.

 

Last month I had mentioned that, one day after Bella came home from school, she said she wanted to be fired from second grade.  Since school was her job, if she were fired, she wouldn't have to go anymore.  Suzy took that idea and wrote a children's book called Fired From Second Grade.  She wrote it with the intent that a second grader would be able to read it themselves.  She has shared the book with her writer's groups and is now looking to have it illustrated and will possibly self publish.  It is very difficult to get into the children's book market in the United States.  As such, many US authors have gone overseas to be published.

 

Speaking of Suzy writing, she has sent her manuscript off to the publisher (from the August newsletter) and we are eagerly awaiting a response back.  She is still writing on both of her blogs (http://susanlower.com and http://passiton.today.com) and she is still writing articles for eHow as well.  As always, all of her articles can be found at http://www.ehow.com/members/mrschadt-articles.html.  Her newest articles include:

How to Make Felt Chair Floor Protectors

How to Make a Holiday Table Runner

How to Make a Wall Hanging For Your Jewelry

 

Malachi went on a field trip with his school to the fire station.  While he was there, he saw firefighters and fire engines and a chain saw!!  He loves his new teachers and new friends.  Ali has become more coherent over the last few months, and is actually using the names of her siblings when she talks.  We have also moved her out of her crib and into a toddle bed.  Bedtime is challenging some nights, especially more so now that she doesn't take naps.  We still make her lay down, but with nothing keeping her in bed, she finds something to do and rarely falls asleep. 

 

The last weekend in September is the Harmony fair (the local fair from where Suzy grew up).  Usually she will take the kids down for the weekend to see their grandparents and go to the fair.  This year, she had to wait to leave until Saturday afternoon due to Isabella having swim lessons.  By the time she arrived, it was storming so bad, they decided not to go to the fair until it calmed down a bit.  Apparently everyone had the same thoughts.  When the rain had slowed, Suzy went down to the fair to find that everything had been packed up.  I think this was the first time in her life that she did not attend the fair.  On the other hand, our children did get to play with their cousins and spend time with their grandparents, so it wasn't a complete waste.

 

In addition to my classes at Penn College, we had our last motorcycle safety class for the season which ended last Sunday.  All 21 riders who were present on the last two days passed their licensing test.  Certainly a great way to end the season.  I have also been busy with the musical I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.  The performances are November 12, 13, and 14 at 7:30 on the Penn College campus if you are close by and interested in attending.  We have just over a month to get everything together.  Yesterday at rehearsal, the director said that she was happy with where we were a month from production.  So far, we have had rehearsals about 3 times a week.  That will increase as we get closer to production.  Also, rehearsals so far have been full cast.  Now that we are more comfortable with the music and are starting to get our lines memorized, she will start rehearsing individual scenes which means if I am not in a scene, I don't have to attend.

 

Last month, I started looking at the definition of love from I Corinthians 13.  We talked about Love being Patient.  Next in the Love definition is "Love is Kind."  So how does a person show kindness to others?

 

Proverbs 25:11 reads, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."  The word "fitly" is the adverb form of the word fit.  As such, it conveys a double meaning in this passage.  A word fitly spoken is said in "the proper manner" and "at the proper time."  By saying the right things at the right time to others, we are showing kindness and our love.  King Solomon compares it to golden apples in a silver basket.  Although I am not well versed in the meaning of his comparison, it sounds like a good thing.  When talking about golden apples, is he talking about gold (the metal) shaped in the form of apples?  Or real apples (fruit) that are golden in color, as opposed to red?  In some languages, the word for the citrus fruit "orange" can be translated as "golden apple." Does he really mean oranges?  (Some scholars think oranges were the true meaning as there are many other non-Biblical stories involving oranges.  They believe their popularity has to do with the fact that orange trees bear flowers and fruit at the same time--and is the only tree to do so!)  Regardless of the meaning of the second half of the verse, the first half is clear--we are to be kind in our words towards others.

 

In the 58th chapter of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah is talking about fasting.  I'm not going to go into fasting a lot right now (save that for a different day), but I will say that Jesus expects us to fast.  However, when we fast (as when we do most things), God is interested in our heart more than our actions.  We find this same scenario in this chapter; God is upset with the people who are fasting, but are doing it for the wrong reasons.  In verses 6 and 7, we read:

 

No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
   Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
      lighten the burden of those who work for you.
   Let the oppressed go free,
      and remove the chains that bind people.
 Share your food with the hungry,
      and give shelter to the homeless.
   Give clothes to those who need them,
      and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

 

So not only are we to speak kind words to others, we are to do kind deeds as well.  Try to find out what needs other people have and provide for them.  Strangers and family both deserve our help.  As a people group, Christians have been doing a decent job of helping others.  Back in the Middle Ages, it was primarily Christians who set up hospitals and took care of lepers--an unwanted part of society (approximately 19,000 leper hospitals across Europe in the 13th century).  A study published earlier this year showed that nearly 36% of Americans volunteer through a religious organization (http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/) and, published last year, "religious" people give more money, volunteer more, and donate blood more often than their "secularist" counterparts even when the data is standardized to account for things like income, education, age, race, and marital status (http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/a-nation-of-givers).  It is partly for these reasons that I am more in favor of the government allowing the people to take care of one another instead of creating a socialized health care (but that is a different topic for a different day).  As a group, we are good at doing kind things for others, but individually, how well do you do?  Kind deeds to people you don't know?  Kind deeds to people you do know?

 

Another reference we can find is in Ephesians 4:32, "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."  Of course, defining the word "kind" with the word "kind" is rather silly; however, the first word in this verse reads, "instead."  So we are called to be kind instead of doing something else, but what aren't we supposed to do?  Going back one verse, we find the anti-definition of kind:  "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior."  Instead of being bitter, having rage, or becoming angry, we are to forgive others.  Instead of speaking harsh words and slandering others (speaking untrue things), we are to be tenderhearted.  Instead of doing evil to others, we are to be kind in our words and actions.

 

Be patient.  Be kind.

Chad T. Lower
a.k.a. Chopper
http://chadtlower.tripod.com/

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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