A Great Tuesday

On Tuesday Cory hosted the first neighborhood cookout in his neck of the woods. It started at 6:00, and as he, Michelle, our kids, Phil (a friend of ours) and I sat in the driveway I think we were all thinking we might be the only ones there. That was going to mean about 6 hamburgers and a bag of chips each. It was a chilly day and the clouds looked menacing, so we weren't too optimistic (I appreciate the reminder about having faith in God that's being concocted in your head right now, but we were reminding each other of God's power to answer prayer, so no need to contact us for that one).

About ten minutes after six a couple four houses down from Cory's came over. About twenty minutes later there were fifteen people in the driveway! We got to connect with a number of his neighbors and we are praying that this will be the start of some great relationships.

That same night I headed out early from Cory's cookout with the kids (Michelle was at a movie with a mom she's met through her playgroup) to a going away cookout for one of the workers I know at Starbuck's. We only got to stay for about twenty minutes, since we needed to avoid Ayla turning into a pumpkin at her bedtime, but it was great to see so many of the workers I know in a different context. I'm excited about the possibility of having them over in the near future.

So God really answered our prayers on Tuesday and we're excited about what he'll do with these reltionships!

From Steve

This is the latest message from Steve, Sarah Lowrey's brother. It's a pretty powerful message. Please keep him and his whole family in your prayers.

Unfortunately, this is the question I have been asking myself as of late. I'm 32 years old, my birthday is coming up very shortly and this question of quality vs quantity of life looms over head.

Last Saturday, I took part in an amazing and powerful thing. One of the ministers in the area organized a "laying on of hands" by elders of the Christian church from all over Chicagoland. I walked into Camp LRCA (where it was held) and was blown away as to how many men where there. Men I had never met or knew, gave up their Saturday morning to come and pray over my wife and I. Many of the other ministers from the area were there as well, but by-and-large, this was an elder driven thing. I will never be able to truly express how much this meant to me. I am still completely humbled and grateful for being a part of this.

Quality vs Quantity: The elders laying on of hands, their prayers and petitions, asking God to grant me more quantity of life.The next step we were planning was to be involved with a Clinical Trial up at University of Chicago. Again, problems arose. My body is in overdrive with this cancer right now. For their studies, they were not able to administer this new drug to me until I have been off chemo for 28 days. That puts my start date at May 20th. Problem is, things have rapidly progressed downward in my body and we can no longer wait until May 20th. We are stepping away from the Clinical Trial because we need something now!!! My Dr has now found cancer in my lungs. My body is getting weaker and weaker. My Dr will be administering different doses of chemo in different forms trying to get every lat bit of quantity for Ol' Steve that he can.

It would be great if I could share some good news in these mailings, so I'm going to do so now.

My church (Impact Christian Church) is everything I have ever longed and dreamed of in a church. I love the people that go there and they truly love me. Impact has been such a huge support for me to lean on during this fight with cancer. Impact brought together so many people that are family today, but never knew each other before. Impact brought together one of my best friend's, Dan and his future wife Jen. I cannot, nor will ever, say enough how much this church has meant to me.

My family continues to lift me up. All those crazy trips back and forth to Univ. of Chic. with dad driving, making sure I'm comfortable, waiting, waiting, waiting. I could go on and on about the deeds of my mom and dad during this time, but they truly serve as Godly parents of a sick child. Candy's work has been amazing with letting her take off whenever she needs to (it has been such a help to have a nurse for a wife throughout this whole process). Jada continues to do good in school, but is starting to go through a rough patch. She sees what is going on and is trying her best to adjust to it all. Sometimes I just sit and cry because as much as this is a huge burden and weight upon me, it is and will be even more for Jada to bear.

So, Quality vs Quantity: Anyone that's ever known me has known that I live life to the hilt. When I decide to do something, I go barreling forward and figure out the details later. I looked at my wife the other day and said, "I don't think it would be fair if I only get 12 years with you, but what an amazing 12 years they have been." Have I done bad things I regret? Sure. Absolutely. But the good things I have done with my life, my family, my church, my friends, in service to my God really start to stack up those "Quality chips." This is not a letter of me giving up, in fact, I plan on fighting for tomorrow everyday of my life. This is just me letting you know, God has filled this 32 year old punk to the brim with an amazing life.

Keep up the prayers.
Love Steve

This Week in Aurora

Regularly we will try to update you on some of the things (stories, events, development, etc) happening around Aurora in the previous couple weeks.

Here's the first installment:

• The 4th public high school in Aurora will being construction in the next few months, but we're not sure where yet. There's some controversy over the location and it's going to mediation and maybe court.
  
  
• Aurora's annual Cinco de Mayo festival is being held downtown this weekend.
  
  
• Mayor Tom Weisner gave his State of the City address this week, focusing more on progress made with crime and downtown development than any announcements of any new projects.
  
  
• The Beacon News featured a story on Hesed House (the homeless shelter and food pantry that Infuse donated food to this week)
  
  
• A local church, Warehouse Church, held their 8th annual Motorcycle Sunday, which brought out hundreds of bikers to Phillips Park.
  
  
• Last weekend was another large anti-abortion protest at the new Planned Parenthood on the city's far east side.
  

Food Drive--Take Two

Last night we carried out part two of our meticulous two-part plan to gather food for Hesed House. Last weekend Michelle and I went around to about 20 of our neighbors' houses to invite them to a cookout and ask them to bring some non-perishable food stuff. I got home from work and with Michelle, Cory, and Megan got out the lawn chairs, some blankets, and wheeled the grill around to the front of the house. At 6:30 I started cooking, wondering if I'd be cooking for anyone but the six of us (4 plus Isaiah and Ayla). It was a nice night, but still kind of chilly, and I know meeting new people can be intimidating, especially when there's a kid with muscles like Isaiah is out front--so I didn't know if anyone would come.

I needed not fear (that's a weird sentence, but I'm leaving it). We ended up having people from six of the neighboring houses stop by, and most of them stayed to talk and consume some cooked meat. Everyone who came was very generous with their donations for Hesed House.

There were a number of highlights from the night.

1. A couple long-time neighborhood families (15 and 19 years) saying this was the first time something like this had happened in the neighborhood. They were so excited to be there and were talking about getting to know each other better over the summer.
2. Our neighbor down the street offering his 4 month old son as a "perishable good" for the food drive. (Well, I thought it was funny.)
3. Two of the people who were there expressed interest in hosting something for the neighborhood.
4. We took a huge step toward knowing our neighbors.

This morning Cory and I took the food to Hesed House (it took the use of both of our cars!). We all are praising God that the food drive went so well and that in this one step we have made some initial connections with our neighbors. God is good!