one more mom update

I just wanted to share my thanks again for your prayers for my mom. She's on the upswing and doing well as she recovers from heart surgery, or as she says it, "The Lord has been good to me." Given her financial issues and uphill battle to keep getting by, that's rather inspiring.

Although I think my favorite quote of hers this week is, "I'm glad I live in the 'world of tomorrow' or else I wouldn't be in the world today."

heart stuff

If you're a praying type, I'd appreciate your prayers today for my mom. She's undergoing heart surgery (planned and everything), and at the best hospital for it in the country (which divinely happens to be 45 minutes from us). Her odds are amazingly great... and as I sit here on the free hospital wi-fi, I'm thankful for the comfortable atmosphere all around that has soothed her into her procedure.

Nonetheless, prayer would rock. Thanks!

indy again

So for some crazy reasons I don't want to get into, I had to relist my mom's Indiana Jones action figure... because it is NOT a doll.

Interested? Swing on by.

a little art break

So here's the context... my mom has survived the junk from the summer/fall and made it out of her house, but she's essentially getting hosed and will walk away with zero money. Nonetheless, we've welcomed her into our house as she's preparing to head into a local apartment that will be based on her minimal social security finances.

Now the cool story... last year upon the passing of my mom's husband we began the process of sorting through any valuables he’d left behind to try to help my mom. In that process I discovered a hidden panel behind the bed frame that contained two poster-sized tubes. Preserved within one was a rare painting by Paul-Emile Lecomte.

In the event there's an art lover/liker out there (or if you know someone along these lines), I'd happily suggest you take a peek at this auction. All proceeds will help my mom have a few extra dollars to start her new life in a healthy place. Here's the link - thanks!

a heart wrenching epilogue/prologue

Thank you for those who have been tracking the story with my mom. As I recently shared, she has moved in with us until she can breathe and try to put the resources together needed to move on toward independence.

In case you're interested, here's the final story run on her just yesterday from the Chicago Daily Herald.

CLICK HERE.

my mom

Help Annshirley Bowie! Who? - Check out the story! Overview 1 Overview 2 CBS News Kane County Chronicle 1 ABC News Tony to HPC Chicago Tribune Daily Herald 1 HPC Update Kane County Chronicle 2 Tony's Editorial Kane County Chronicle 3 Overview 3

an ending that creates a beginning

So here's the news - this past weekend the guy who started all this stuff against my mom backed off. The press covered this well:

Kane County Chronicle

Daily Herald

I got the news and freaked out!

Wow... can't ever doubt what can happen through prayer and diligent pressure against an obstacle.


However, this isn't the end of the story... I know we've all wanted a happy ending and it may easy for the public to treat this as such. The financial needs for my mom are still great, and she's now lost two months of momentum because buyers were scared or unable to approach her during this landmarking junk. So your continued prayers are being asked for - that we might be able to see a buyer for her property step forward right away and for the Paypal donations (see the link in the sidebar) to keep coming.

The story isn't over until my mom gets into a moving van, and that's not happening tomorrow just yet.

"So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone..." (1 Samuel 17:50a)

sidebar: explanation of my sidebar

You may have noticed the sidebar that talks about my mom. A story was written about this and her financial needs in the paper today: Kane County Chronicle

If you are so inclined to help, that would be an amazing, tremendous blessing. Even five bucks is five bucks... thanks.

another blog to pop in on

Got a moment? Please head over to http://www.annshirleyfight.blogspot.com/ and share a comment or vote about the stuff with my mom. The Chicago Daily Herald gave a nice nod to this: http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=36448

For an update on what this all about, please read these posts.

sidebar: links

More links to more news on my mom's situation. Please comment on the second one if you can via their web site:

• Daily Herald
• Kane County Chronicle

sidebar: prayer for my mom

My mom headed into her big meeting before City Hall and had a "good" meeting. Nothing was decided except to table the discussion another month. If you're the praying type, please pray they reverse the Historic Preservation Commissions decision.

Two bits of good news:

• I had the chance to write an editorial on this for the Chicago Daily Herald last week: CLICK HERE.
• The mayor asked Dr Smunt, the HPC guy who unfairly set all this into motion, to withdraw his nomination of forcing the landmarking. He said he wouldn't, but the mayor challenged him to do it in the next thirty days anyway. Yes... the mayor is on my mom's side.

sabbatical?

So here's the deal... some of this you may already now.

Last month, just a day before our vacation, my stepdad died.

As a little context, my family hasn't had a vacation in several years due to a lot of junk we've gone through... most of which cannot be adequately summed up in a few words. In any event, we were looking forward to this time when that tragic news hit. We ended up going through the motions of vacation the first few days, but felt this tremendous backdrop of tension... which led to a visit to Chicago that kind of sapped our last bit of strength that week.

Flash forward to today...

Tomorrow (Sunday) I am set to engage in a "Sabbatical," a gracious gift of time I am allowed by my church each year to recenter with God personally and professionally. According to a disturbing survey about pastors who burn out, this kind of preventative maintenance is absolutely needed. Having been on board for almost 9 months now, I feel like the Lord and I can really have some clear conversations about what the "next hill" is for us as a church and me as its pastor... not to mention some good heart to heart I've been hoping He and I could engage in personally.

Honestly, my hope is that the time I'm about to give Him would be so that He could mess with my world in any way He sees fit... ultimately giving me a healthier mindset/soulset/heartset to take with me on the "next hill."

Then tonight... again, a day before this "set aside time," I received a phone call telling me that my mom was taken suddenly ill in a public place and had to be rushed to the emergency room of the local hospital.




Can I just confess something here?


I'm angry. I don't mean to say that I'm not worried for my mom because I am and am obviously concerned for her health and future.

But I'm angry... angry that I can't seem to quite get to that sweet spot of Sabbath that I've been yearning for (and honestly believe I need). Angry that any attempt I've been trying to make in this direction as of late has seemed almost attacked... roadblocked... halted.

It's always awkward to say this kind of stuff out loud, because it sounds selfish. And I wonder if sometimes we're afraid to confess our need to "breathe" because it seems like we don't care for the needs of those around us. Of course, that's not the case... but it can seem like that, so we often "keep it in."

Yet... Jesus spoke about a rather interesting principle...

"Love your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27b)

So in other words, if we are to be able to practice love for another we need to actually practice self-care first. Granted, this all flows out of the statement Jesus made before this verse - to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

So...

• If we don't practice good worship we can't practice good self-care...
  
  
• And if we don't practice good self-care, we can't practice love for our neighbors...
  
  
• And if we can't practice love for our neighbors, we can't practice love for our enemies/opposers...
  
  
• And if we can't practice love for our enemies, we can't practice the very nature of the Gospel.

So I don't know how this week will turn out. I set some organic goals, meaning I will start to walk a certain way with God to try and listen to His voice but allow Him the right to redirect me and my plans.

Which instigates a rather interesting tension...

Perhaps all of this stuff with my mom is so that I won't grow dependent on "special blocks of time" to nurture my relationship with Him but rather find ways to do so on the daily battle field of the spiritual war we're all in.

Or maybe it is God's intent that I do make the most of this Sabbatical, but a certain "enemy" is trying to devour me.

I know this is a lot of personal info, but I share it with you for two reasons...

• I won't be blogging this week... if blogging is a verb, that is, but you get the point.
  
  
• If you pray, please pray for all that I've shared - from my mom to me and everything in between - marriage, kids, church, etc.

Thanks for your friendship and support in this, whether or not we've ever met face to face.

look at my sister go!

That's my sister... uh huh!!!!

Read more here (and a slightly more mechanical version of the story here)

update

A full meeting happened in St Charles, Illinois tonight regarding my mom's house. From 7:20pm CST to 9:15pm, letters were read, comments shared, questions asked, and politicians plotted.

The Historical Society pushed their recommendation through.

Now it goes before the city council on September 10.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. Please continue as you are able to keep this situation in mind.

One of my relatives who was present said that they walked into the meeting with their votes already in their pocket.

I still have hope, though, for if I recall my pop culture history, that's just what happened in Footloose when Ren McCormack appeared before Reverend Shaw Moore about the prom. Then the kickin' soundtrack faded in with a bass line and everyone started breakdancing (because, as we all know, all teenagers from movies in the 1980's are professional dancers).

Anyone know Kevin Bacon in six degrees or less?

I'll even take Kenny Loggins if you got him.

and another

Wow! Love the mayor's lines in the Daily Herald.

Press must be getting to him.

another stone for the sling

Today's Chicago Tribune - CHECK IT OUT!

my letter

This is the content of a letter I've faxed to have read tonight at my mom's meeting. If you're a praying person, please pray from 8pm EST on. I'll let you guys know the results as I learn of them.

I love that part in the Bible where a runt stood against a giant... and the giant fell down.

----

To the City of St. Charles Historic Preservation Commission and Chairman Steve Smunt:

Thank you for the opportunity this letter provides for me to speak on behalf of my mom, Annshirley Bowie, St Charles resident and homeowner of 405 S 7th Street. I am her son and currently live and pastor in Medina, Ohio where my mom hopes to relocate. This situation has created ripples into our life as we, also in our limited funds and limited space, want to figure out how to help her. While she has dealt with cancer in recent years, I fear that the stress of recent events (including this matter) has put strain upon her health and future.

I am aware of the move you are attempting to make upon her rights as a homeowner.

However, I want you to imagine for a moment that your vote doesn’t count in any of this. Pretend if you can that regardless of what you think or feel on this matter your voice has been silenced… your values and unique slant don’t matter. I’m sure you have an opinion, and yet (please play along) imagine that your opinion must be suppressed and you have absolutely no say in this issue at all.

If you have allowed yourself that momentary leap, this is what you are attempting to do to my mom.

According to the arguments I’ve heard on your behalf, you allege that this landmarking would not prevent her from “selling or developing the property.” Great! There is someone who would like to buy the property so he can develop new homes on it by demolishing the house. So this okay, right? Especially since the home is outside the historic district.

Or... is that allegation on your behalf not quite what it seems in the press? Is that in reality only a partial response to a whole question? A knight in shining armor hasn’t stepped up to buy the house “as is,” has he?

I’ve also hear it said that “this can be a win/win situation if both sides can simply take out the emotions, look at the facts of the matters and work it out.” Interesting… is it possible to have no personal feelings on this matter? It seems to me that the value to “protect significant historic and architectural resources” is more art than science, requiring you to engage your thoughts and emotions. After all, emotions are a part of the whole person… so I would encourage you not to cast them aside… nor the value of considering the whole person.

On that note, your committee is made up of a 7-member board where “at least one member shall be a representative of a local historical society or preservation organization; at least one member shall be an architect with an interest in historic preservation; at least one member shall be a representative of the business community; and the remaining four members shall be at large and who shall have demonstrated an interest in historic preservation.” Do you see a common trend? There is no counter-intuitive thinking on your board but all have a vested interested in the preservation of things. Is it possible this has created a biased blind spot on your values that creates an oversight of the human individual? Please think about it.

It is my concern that in the process you are pursuing to preserve the wants of a few neighbors and manufacture the “rights” of a thing you are thereby removing the rights of a person – a homeowner. As my mom is dealing with the recent loss of her husband who served his country in the military as well been a resident and “customer of St. Charles” for many years, this movement on your part is taking her rights away. While she can protest, if this goes through (and why would you, for that matter, want it to?) the red tape you will place around her may well become a noose around her neck. In doing so you would create a rather interesting responsibility of emotional damage, financial difficulty, and physical stress upon her health with the breadcrumbs leading back to you organizationally and individually. Hmm.

Please hear this… my mom, Annshirley Bowie, widow of Tom Bowie and sole homeowner of the property on 405 S 7th Street in St Charles, does not want her house to become a landmark. I know you did read that last part… but does that reality matter? Please answer that question – is there value in being a homeowner in St Charles if you have no voice in these matters?

I’ve heard talk from one of your members that this is happening because “in the past her late husband Tom explored the possibility of this landmarking.” I’m quite confident and clear in a conversation he and I had before his death that the conversations you shared in February were simply to see if this would be a way to immediately sell the house to you. Am I to understand that without any legal documentation from him stating such alleged intent you are using hearsay as the “reason” to move forward? Is that legal?

Please help me understand if you’re so interested in preserving this house why you’re unwilling to buy it? Perhaps you have limited funds… much like my mom who is quickly, quickly running out of hers. It sounds like you’d like all the benefits of this deal without any responsibility. This isn’t consistent, either, with the recent demolition of several “historic buildings” in your business district to make way for “progress.”

Please pardon my frustration. I don’t know how any of this comes across to you, because it can just be plain black letters on a white piece of paper. Perhaps you’ll see more than that, though, just as I hope you’ll see more than the issue of a house in this matter. A woman’s future is at stake because instead of valuing a person you’d like to value the bragging rights of a neighborhood and a decaying home (you’ve been inside, right?). Please tell me that on some level within you know that is not right to value things over people.

I know in an ideal world someone will step forward and save the day. Perhaps that will be you?

Sincerely,

Tony Myles

and another

Thanks to ABC news for covering this, too. A bit more texture than the CBS piece... I hope this all leads somewhere.

LINK

please comment if you can over on this link

More on my mom HERE... you can actually comment on this one, too, via this newspaper's site.

landmark news

If you live in the Chicago area, my mom was on Ch. 2 WBBM news today sharing her story (or if you don't, check out this link).

Certain individuals in the city she lives in are trying to landmark her home as a historical house (against her wishes), thereby preventing her from selling it to a contractor who would like to clear out the old house and build on it (her only real offer on the home since January). All she's trying to do is move on with her life since recently losing her husband, only to have the Historical Preservation Commission in her town (and its chairman, specifically, who lives in her neighborhood and seems deceptively biased in all of this) deliver notice to her just a few days after his death. Now they're trying to tie her hands via an unfair and unwarrented hearing... crazy days.

My mom recently survived cancer... maybe she can survive this, too.

But her finances are absolutely scary right now.

She has only short-term funds to pay utilities, a mortage on the house and another on the land (both of which she has been unable to sell), and is growing sicker with stress and depression by the day. As the months gets colder in an already cold real estate market, she's absolutely scared about how to survive in light of this chaos.

When I was there a couple of days ago I contacted all the major news about it, including The Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald, and the Kane County Chronicle. Many are even doing stories on it, which is very cool... apparently they think a city that wants to put its history above its people's future is worth the public's interest.

Please consider how you can help... maybe prayers or finances? And feel free to contact the St Charles Historical Society and the St Charles City Council if you so choose.


For more on this story, click on this link, start at the bottom, and work your way up.