Prayer update for Billy

I'm posting an email I received from my brother in upstate NY. He is a pastor there and still needs our prayers. Please take a moment and read what he has to say.

Greetings Everyone I know it has been a while since my last update on my Son Billy. Needless to say, all of our lives have been pretty much being in the hospital and waiting to go back. What I mean by that is that Billy treatment is every 9 days and in between the 9 days he has off , he goes back to the hospital twice at least for check ups and blood work or blood transfusions. Today we were back in for a Blood transfusion and for platelets. Billy has had a number of blood transfusions but today was the first time he needed platelets. As of today Billy has completed 8 hard chemo treatments with 6 more to do. He does go in for his 9th treatment if his counts are up and ready on Friday the Oct. 26. I would ask everyone to pray for the Lord to strengthen Billy as each treatment has become harder and harder. He has not bounced back as he had in the first few treatments. He is really vulnerable for infections. Chris and I have pretty much "locked Billy up" in his room to keep him away from people and sicknesses. He has not been to church in months but we do church at home. I can say that we as a family are tired. It has been real hard on my wife and I concerned for her. She is a strong women ,but she needs a break (prayer). I do stay with Billy while in the hospital on weekdays as my wife continues to work for the school district, but she still drives a hour up to see us and then drives home in the evening. Chris stays with Billy on weekends . No one (other than the Lord) can take care of their children like a mother. I do my best but God created mother with very special gifts. I do have some good news. We have only 6 treatments to go and after that our doctor tells us that Billy has a great future. He tells us he has a great prognosis. Also, out of his 6 treatments left 3 will be a hard 5 day treatment and 3 will be a mild 2 day. He will no longer have to do the 48 hour "Doxio" chemo. We thank the Lord for this as he was blistering on his hands and feet from the our his chemo. I have to say that Billy still has a positive outlook and is upbeat. He still likes to pick on his mother, but we have noticed changes in his personality. He has sudden "outburst" which is not like him at all. We talk to his doctor about this and he told us it is not only the Medicine but all the stress from all that he has gone through. But I want to let you all know I believe he has endured and handled this cancer/treatment better than I would have. I am so proud of him. He is a strong young man and I pray that the Lord would use this situation to grow Billy close to Him and to use his sickness to help others. Speaking of others, We have met some wonderful people up in Syracuse. The doctors/nurses are now family. I never knew how hard all these in this profession worked. Not only is the work hard but so stressful too. And then all the children and parents we have met. Every time we leave the cancer ward we leave half our hearts there. When we go up for check ups we go and check up on our friends. I want to all to know that Leon that we all prayed for is cancer free. He is home and is doing well. I want to thank you all for your prayers and Give God all the Glory. I have seen many miracles in the last 6 months. Many the doctors cant explain but I can. Please add Robbie, Jonathan and Chandra to your prayers. They are 5, 6 and 7 and are some of the strongest kids I have ever met. Bobby Ostsman 16 is doing much better , After almost loosing his leg after surgery he is doing well but still has some cancer left. He has 11 more treatments before he is finished. Bobby and his Mom are followers of Jesus Christ so we have become close over the last few months. Well I hope I have not taken too much of your time but It has been a while and I want everyone to know how we are doing. We are holding on to Gods word "That He will never leave us or forsake us" and I can tell you he has not. It is so true When we are weak then we are strong. I have never been stronger in my faith. He has been so faithful to us and I have seen so many prayers answered. Yes our life is hard and out of our control, but we know he is in control and we are thankful for that. I could not even imagine going through all this with out the Lord. I do not know how people with no faith no belief do it.Chris and I and Billy and Mariah want to thank each one of you for your continued prayers for us all. We want to also thank our Church WHCC. West Hill has been to good to us. We have a special group of people there. All the men that have helped and all the Ladies that have cooked us food or have given us gifts. What a Honor to be your Pastor and more importantly your brother and friend in Christ. Someday when we are all together in Heaven We will have the need time to tell you how grateful we are for you and your prayers for us. It will take years I am sure, but I am looking forward to it in the future. May God Bless you.Bill Lower.

I talked to my brother on the phone just the other day, he sounded good, but I could tell he is very fatigued. Please lift them all up in prayer. God is real and working in this family’s life big time... thank you ALMIGHTY GOD!!Peace to you all... and may the good Lord keep you safe and well.Tim

Tuesday Oct 23rd 2007

Greetings!!

Today was a busy day. I had two extra loads of mail to take out. They tell me as the holidays approach, this will only get worse... crazy kind of worse. The job is not that hard, but the hours are taking its toll on me. I'm taking tomorrow off. I need the day off to work on one of the surveillance jobs I have going. I'm also taking the day off to spend with the family. Suzzanne (my wife) has the day off, we don't see much of each other anymore. I never wanted to get to the point in my life where all I did is work... and look where I am. What do you do though, you gotta have the money to live and support your family. Oh well... enough bitching!!

I did see Transformers the movie over the weekend (for the 2nd time). Really entertaining!! Lots of action, with a really good story line. Suzzanne watched it, and she loved it. She usually does not like those kinds of movies, but she did this one. My son (Roscoe) and I had seen it when the movie came out in the theaters. This was one of those must see movies in the theater... crazy graphics.

I did have the chance to minister to a fellow co-worker today. She is a follower of Christ, but only for about 7 months now. Prior to that she knew about the Lord, and went to church on Sundays... kept the pews warm as they say, but she never made a commitment until this last year. She is truly a Godly woman. She had lots of questions for me, and I answered them the best I could. She is hungry for God, so good to see.

I also talked to my brother in Ithaca, NY. He is a pastor at a local church there. His life is really going crazy right now. He is the one with the son who is dealing with cancer. He is going through chemo right now and has about 6 treatments left. They have to travel to another town that is over an hour away. My brother also owns his own business... so he is being pulled from many different directions. Please lift his family up in prayer... for not only healing of their young son Billy, but that God would give the family the strength to get through all of this.

Enough for now.... Peace to you all. May God keep you safe and well,
Tim

Be careful what you pray for

Greetings family and friends...

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything... I'm sorry. The title of this blog is "Be careful what you pray for". I titled the blog that for this reason... As you all know, if you follow my blog, I was out of work for about 4 months. Well, I prayed, you prayed and many others from other postings I have that I would find a job. Well I did, or rather God found one for me. Now, I have more work than I can handle (Thank you God!!!). Things are getting better... big time!! One big help is our room mate. He is staying with us while recovering from an illness. He is better now, and working some again. He has a friend in the church who loaned him $1200.00 to help us get caught back up with rent. I want to publicly thank Doug and his friend for their friendship and faithfulness. Without their help we would be homeless!I'm working allot of hours, I mean allot!! So I don't have the time to spend that I would like writing here or other places. I will post when I can.

One last thing, our friend Doug has an older sister who just had a heart attack this morning. Her name is Barbara Pinkston. If you would lift her up in prayer, ask God to heal her. She has survived the attack so far, but she still is in the intensive care unit and has a long road of recovery ahead of her.

I hope and pray that you are all doing well. May God bless you and keep you safe and well.

Tim