evaluation of the baby situation pt 2

it was a waiting period. the only difference from the waiting that took place in a state side hospital was that this room felt like we were waiting literally while on the sun's surface. i didn't mind waiting so much because the anticipation of a whole new life completely removed that frustration that comes with being forced to wait. while i waited i took advantage of the internet as soon as i could to enjoy a little texas rangers baseball.

actually, the way this whole search for the "wireless password" began was i had a monster energy drink that i had purchased for the explosion meeting. usually these all day events drain me by the time the meeting is actually supposed to begin so a little pick me up is appreciated. however, at this particular moment at the hospital my energy drink had began to heat up, as everything else did in that inferno of a room, and therefore rendered my beverage too unbearably warm to consume. it seriously was like a sauna in there. you may be able to drink a coke at room temperature but i dare you to drink a red bull or monster energy drink at 90 degrees.

the same shirt that welcomed dutch, titus, and now baby finn

i searched for a nurse to retrieve me a fridge and the wireless password so that i could access twitter and inform the very anxious grandmas from all the way around the world about the happenings. upon asking for a fridge she quickly gave me the look as if to suggest she knew american's spoiled rotten nature of needing a lot of ice and free refills. the answer to the fridge was a quick, "no we don't have that" and i would only be able to retrieve the wireless password when i had a room registered to me. i found said room which had a fridge in it and quickly moved the stuff in order so that i could find entertainment. this fridge, even at maximum cooling capacity would be useless but i still gave it a shot. around 9pm belgian time i not only was able to enjoy my beverage but the rangers as well.

nearly 45 minutes later liz began the process of multiple contractions that were very painful. the strength of that woman as she clenched my hand ever 30-45 seconds. after nearly an hour of this i didn't know what to do. i wanted to call a nurse in and tell her to check on liz but i didn't want to leave her either so i waited. finally a nurse came in and i tried to aggressively nudge with my vocal tone that my wife need to be attended to by a medical professional. she checked and sure enough liz was ready to push this nugget out. the nurse said she was going to go call the doctor, i knew this meant i wouldn't see anyone for another hour for sure.

the chair in the far corner folded out to a rather comfy bed

surprisingly 5 minutes later the doc came in and they stared sliding stuff around, turning directional lights on, shifting the bed at the footboard, getting the warmer on, and of course, suiting up...oh, and that trash can looking thing was wheeled over as well. i had some experience in helping liz before with this sort of thing so helping her breathe and count was easy enough. and  before you knew it, all of a sudden voila! baby finn comes out 10 minutes before the 19th of august. it really was only about 15 minutes of pushing.

overall the staff was awesome, the room wasn't too bad in size, the bed was great for me, privacy and noise was superb. so i would say that if you are thinking about having a baby in belgium...go for it. oh, but make sure and have some money to pay for it or have insurance.

now we are balancing 2 young boys and a new born. i have been really trying to tend to all the boys needs while liz focuses completely on baby finn. sleep is a commodity that is as valuable as gold around these parts.

we will persevere!!!

evaluation of the baby situation pt 1

liz had come home from her doctor's appointment and kind of casually revealed her doctor's thoughts on lowrie number 3.

"the dr. said that she would be surprised if i didn't have this baby this weekend."

it went into my brain but it didn't really register as a possibility. actually the thought that came to me was that i have an explosion service tomorrow so hopefully it comes late that night. liz would have another appointment the next day (saturday the 18th) so that the doctor would make another evaluation of the baby situation. both of my other boys were late so to have one early was new to me and therefore the urgency of it all escaped my conscious.


the next day was a big deal because of the explosion service and possibly the birth of lowrie number 3. i felt it so i tweeted it.

as you can see this was on the day before his entrance.

waking up on the 18th my honest thoughts were, "please baby finn wait until late tonight." i really wanted to be apart of the worship service and carry my weight in the meeting. we were doing a new stage design and playing new songs and i was excited to do this.

this is without the lights on by the way

the whole day of course i had to just plan like i was going to do the service...set-up, rehearse, interact, pray, and then play the guitar. well...someone had other plans. at 2pm i had everyone who had a phone on alert and ready to receive a call incase i would not respond promptly enough. the dr said contractions that are 10 minutes apart consistently for at least one hour is reason to come in.

that call came about 430pm and it hit me like the police car lights flashing in the rear view mirror...oh my goodness! except i knew i wasn't in trouble.

i grabbed all my stuff and headed to the house. thanks to christophe vandeput for the prompt ride to my house to get my wife and go to st. elizabeth's hospital (how appropriately named).

now, here i need to mention that this was already one of the hottest days of the summer so combine excitement with the heat and NO a/c in the car and you have for yourself the perfect cocktail of sweaty back and butt.

this is our car, dash, literally right in front of the hospital

upon our arrival of the hospital, i remembered how we were told that even in the case of a baby you are not given a refund for your parking. here in europe they charge for

EVERYTHING!

there are just a few spots that are right in front of the hospital on the street and not behind the gated area. lucky me, lucky me as the parking spot gods were smiling upon me.

never having to rush to the hospital i didn't know what kind of time we had. did i need to leave the stuff in the car? do i need to grab a wheelchair? did i need to phone ahead? i abandon all of these thoughts and began the trek up to the 2nd level maternité luggage in tow.

this long hallway to the birthing room resembled that of an old western ghost town. it was quiet and dark. i found out why the reason for low lighting...less heat generated. this birthing room was equipped with cheapest a/c unit known to man, otherwise known as the window. this system literally made the lynn lowrie sweat shop seem like the arctic pole.

don't let the look of a ghost town fool you in these parts. it doesn't mean they are not busy but rather that they are not prompt. we played the waiting game for a few hours as the contractions grew worse and worse. thankfully the excitement of an early, european style birth drowned all the excuses to complain about the temperature or lack of prompt service. if you know liz, you know she gets cold in even the sahara desert. for her to not be wearing a sweater gives you a clear indication that we were dealing with heat. not to mention that a tired, worn out, contracting woman who is NOT lying down in the bed because said heat would cause this to be a tub birth experience.

lets call it dash

there is a wonderful new addition to the lowrie household. no, i am not talking about a little soul...yet.

it so fun and exciting to see god provide something right before your very eyes. this whole process of provision has been an adventure that will forever mark my heart.

it was a big deal. when liz and i moved here there was so much shifting that took place. even the very week when we moved liz had to change job posts, we weren't able to move into the location we originally thought was available for us and so many little detailed changes took place which far too many really to get into at this time.

a huge reality was not having a vehicle to commute daily to the things that were going on around us. thankfully we moved into a situation where our team was very understanding and able to accommodate us in our transportation needs (GO TEAM 9TH HOUR!!!).

soon enough we found our groove and those little cultural shortcuts that made life much, much easier. the bus became my friend with my boys as we would take it every morning to dutch's first school. similarly, the train was liz's friend as she rode it over and over until she figured the belgian system. it really become fun for me as the boys' faces would light up at every train riding opportunity.

there is no cool way to spin it...i have a station wagon

when the school dutch was attending informed us that they would not be continuing the next year we had very little options. we, along with our team's kids, put dutch into another school that is not too far away but still required a good walk. dutch became good at a little pedal-less bike that he rode as i pushed tites in the stroller every morning to to school. this routine was working well in the months that were temperature friendly. however, once the winter began to settle in we had to take our transportation to another level...i got a bike and a little kid trailer to pull them. we tucked it with blankets and i packed them both in very tightly with coats and hats. me, i had quite a few rides where i was glad my boys couldn't hear my frustrations venting. it was a good time for me as i poured out my feelings on needing a vehicle. well, god heard...per usual.

we saved and saved every penny we could. we asked and asked everyone we knew to ask for help. i didn't want to borrow money for a car. i have taken that road before and i was not in a place financially to rely on the payment being there. call it lack of faith, call it extreme faith, call it whatever you want but i kind of took pride in the suffering.

the tape deck was essential for iPod usage

anyway, we finally came up with an amount that would get us something decent. maybe not brand spanking new, but decent to last us and get us from point a to point b. i had been giving guitar lessons to a young man in the youth group and this was raising some money. his father who is originally from iran, was always asking me about a car and telling me that i needed to get a bmw 520 series. that sounded nice, but not realistic.

one day after many, many, many emails to many individuals i found a car online that was a bmw and looked ok for our budget. we called and set an appointment up to go look at it. i knew nothing about bmw's much less the belgian system of buying cars (there are some things that are slightly different). i called my best belgian friend, jon vandeput, and the guy who always told me to get bmw's, ahmed. they both came with me to look at this car. it turned out to be a bust. on the way back home as i was taking ahmed home he turned to me and said, "zach, do you really want to buy a car?" i was taken back a little because i wasn't sure what he thought we WERE JUST DOING. i emphatically replied, YES!" we went to a garage in a little town close to waterloo called braine l'alleud (bren-lah-luh). we walked into this little lot area that was hidden off the main road and there were quite a few cars being sold there. i held in my deck of cards the trump card that was going to get me the deal i needed...a middle eastern man. ahmed, was gold i tell you, GOLD!

we walked into this place and everyone knew him by name and he was like their long time family member who didn't come around unless he needed something. as we walked around looking for a car in my price range of 2500 euros (about $3000) i found this gem. i asked ahmed about it and he said, "is this the one?" i said nervously, "i don't know." it was a lot of money that i had saved for a long time and i didn't want to throw it away. ahmed said let me take care of it. the dealer said it was 2000 euros but with passed inspection. i could over hear ahmed telling the guy to come down and make a better price. the guy came down to 1850 but without inspection. ahmed, again, i could tell, was looking the guy in the eye and very emphatically told him to "come on!" the guy said ok with inspection 1850.

YES!!! it happened, i got it! i was so pumped and came home to tell the family the good news. after a couple of weeks of back and forth (it didn't pass inspection the first time but ahmed told them to fix the problem and they did) i finally took the boys to the garage and drove home in our very own car.

on the way there i was asking the boys, because they too shared the excitement, "what shall we name our car?" dutch replied, "mcqueen" (after the character in the disney cars movie). i didn't think it was a good name. he then changed his mind and said, "no, lets call it dash!"

perfect.

take the nuggets but give me jesus

weapons of warfare are not typically reserved to a particular entity involved in the combat. you will not find knives given to the bad guys while the good guys are given guns and vice versa. this is what makes super heros so great and admired because they have this transcending element that enables them to not require instruments made by human hands in order to defeat their opponent (for all of us followers of the way say amen). we all love the defeat of the enemy and the triumph of good against the odds.

with this understood, you can be assured, if you are wanting to engage in combat, there is a strong chance that your enemy will likewise be using the same weapon that you are using to fight the battle against you. you really shouldn't be surprised by this. in fact, you're a fool to suspect otherwise.

this is why as a follower of christ and a believer in his sanctifying work on the cross, paul writes to the members of the ephesian church urging them to fight using a different weapon because the adversary is of another realm (ephesians 6:12-18).

there is warfare taking place and thus weapons are used to engage in this struggle. i am challenged daily to ask myself which weapons am i using to fight this war.

as a citizen of the greatest nation on the face of the earth i am proud to study the historical body of work that outlines how my nation has gained what it now possesses. much of what i have is because men fought, poured blood, gave family and property, in order to make freedom a reality for themselves and generations that followed. this cause is great and daily under-appreciated.

however great the cause is it still falls short of divine. it represents a great shadow, but fails to accomplish my souls greatest need. it fails to meet anyone's greatest need of redemption. the constitution, the bill of rights, or any other document will ALWAYS fall short. a culture war might be won by such a document. a battle to back a particular legal position might appropriately be able to utilize the principles in ink of our great founding fathers and their handiwork. using the language of "rights as an american" is NOT language used in the kingdom of god. in fact you might find the citizen of the kingdom of god standing opposite, as it is outlined in matthew 5.

you will not be able to fight a spiritual battle ever with the constitution of government. even if it is the government of the greatest nation on this earth.

1. imagine if every one of those individuals who went into chick-fil-a to get food to support mr cathy's right would have given even half of what they spent at chick-fil-a to their local church?

2. imagine if the church had the traffic problems chick-fil-a had with people wrapped around the building and officers there to direct the flow of traffic into the parking lot.

3. imagine if we could love righteousness as much as we love chick-fil-a sandwiches (or if you are me, those wonderful nuggets).

4. imagine if we could faithfully minister to the lost as boldly as we stand up for our "rights." regardless if they want jesus and his definition of marriage or not.

this isn't a john lennon song, this is watching my nation, from the outside in (living in belgium), mobilize for a cause they believe in. i am confused as to which cause they were even fighting...free speech, or immorality?

i believe the cause was free speech because...
-no one, in their right mind, would wait that long for lunch. especially in a land that hails of the fastest food provided.
-no one has changed their perspective on gay marriage today that had the same perspective as they did august 1st when they went into chick-fil-a.
-no one is going to exclusively eat at chick-fil-a the rest of their life.

i love the u.s.a and the freedoms it provides to its citizens. mr. cathy's statement and position concerning marriage is one that i share. i believe in his right to say it and think it is absurd how the idea of tolerance is out of balance. i also EXPECT the lost people of the united states to approach christianity using the instrument of law and the constitution. therefore i expect in the arena of same sex marriage for them to present the case through the angle of civil rights. that is how immorality becomes justifiable to the lost...through the law (isn't that twisted?). but i do not wish to engage in a war with lost people using carnal weapons because what it accomplishes is the bolstering of more pride. please don't see this is as condemnation against the many who plea for a righteous government and intercede on behalf of our president, congressman, and those who work to keep jesus as the center of this nation in the political field.

if we are going to fight morality with the law we are ALL condemned. that is why jesus came...because we couldn't fight morality with righteousness. so lets put away this carnal, american, ideology of our "rights." an action to voice/proclaim your right to have rights and the opposite side of this particular battle of immorality both carry the same heart issue...pride and idolatry.

when i get back to the states i am going to have chick-fil-a nuggets and i will also enjoy a cup of coffee from starbucks, but not together, thats gross.

better and newer

this was an exciting night for me. i hadn't led worship in a while and so i had this golden opportunity to stretch myself ministerially. i rode my bike to the train station got on the 1657 towards anvers central. this enabled me to get plenty of time to go over my songs i was leading before the encounter service.

the service went great and i sang my heart out. the service ended and i got back on the metro to head to central train station. took the train to the waterloo station and found that my bike had been stolen!

the old bike with the seat on back

i was crushed. it was only a bike but nevertheless i had some memories with this bike. i poured a lot of my guts and sweat into it. it is the bike i took dutch to school on in the trailer and the whole winter in below freezing weather i gave god an earful about how i needed a car and that me riding a bike was unfair.

it was the bike that we got the child seat for so that when #3 came we could fasten him in it and i would  ride around with dutch and tites on their bikes. i actually took dutch to school on the seat a few times because it was way easier to take him in the little seat than the trailer. he would wear his sunglasses, helmet and hold onto his backpack while i cruised the rue de la station towards his school.

so this bike had more memories than value and that made me a little frustrated. i remember praying the whole walk home from the station, "lord please just cause my bike to be in the closet at the apartment" (our apartment has a storage closet for bicycles).

the thing is that all the pieces that fastened to the trailer and the bike seat were ON the bike. now i have to hunt down the companies that sell the products to find the spare parts because we have the seat and trailer in the storage closet downstairs. so i was annoyed about this as well.

i tweeted it immediately when i got home (some of you may recall). i really went to bed that night with peace because i knew we were close to getting a car and so i was thinking of god's provision for this. the next day i awoke to amazing news of donations for a bike.

it is just like the old one but better and a newer model.
and here it is: