Denier Annual Newsletter

Tom & Lois Denier
236 Drexel Avenue, Lansdowne, PA 19050
484-463-1048ladenier@comcast.net

Christmas 2006

"When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb."
~ Luke 1:41 ESV

Praise God even before he was born, John knew that his cousin was so special that he jumped for joy. Today Jesus continues to bring joy to our hearts for His gracious gifts.

Praise God with us — for the first time in years both of us have not been sick for most of this year. And when we were sick it was short, and we didn't share our germs with each other. We finally figured out the things to do to stay well.
Unfortunately, one of the things we had to do was to change where we sat at church. People who are sick still come to church, sharing more than their fellowship with us. We have to sit with our backs to the wall and with Lois in an aisle seat. Lois also has to stay away from large groups of people, such as at coffee hour.

Unfortunately, past illnesses and her current restrictions on meeting sick people, have isolated Lois from church life and she knows very few of the women in the church. Pray for her getting back in touch with the people at church and especially with the women.

Lois had a scare in the beginning of the year when new neurological deficits suggested that she might have multiple sclerosis (MS), but the blood test came back negative. That does not mean that she will not develop MS later, but for now she is in the clear, praise God.

Praise God, Lois' experience in disability ministry since 1983 will be used as she has been asked to join a disability task force for our denomination. And in January she will be speaking to a group of deacons from other churches about how they can identify people in their congregations who live with disability and chronic illness. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a series of seminars to train people for personal ministry.

This summer we once again attended a Joni & Friends Family Retreat in the Pocono mountains. We got seven inches of rain in the first few days. Tom discovered that his digital camera could take short video clips. He got some great video of waterfalls and rapids on rain-swollen streams.

Last year we had planned to take the train up to Saugus, MA to spend Christmas with Tom's mother and sister. We had to cancel all of those plans because of Lois' illness. Praise God, this year we took the train (a wonderful experience for Lois) and spent Thanksgiving with Tom's family. In addition to seeing their "new" home, we got to see the Saugus Iron Works where Tom's mother volunteers her expertise. We also saw the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem and the New England Aquarium in Boston.

Sunday we went into Boston to worship at Park Street Church. Both of us have heard of it for many years. We were surprised to hear people there talk about Tenth as a “sister church” despite denominational differences. In many ways Park Street is very similar to Tenth, especially in preaching and in the range of ministries they have. We were surprised and pleased to hear a guest preacher, Dr. David Wells, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, just north of Boston. Afterward we both walked a few blocks looking for something to eat — it was the most walking Lois has done in a while, without repercussions — praise God. Tom later wheeled Lois through Boston Commons where we saw an outdoor Episcopal service for the homeless and watched some people ice skating. A wonderful day of worship, enjoying where we were and some wonderful conversations with people in the church and in the park.

Boston and Philadelphia are very different cities. We were surprised at how very clean the cabs are in Boston. We were pleased to see how clean and well-lit the parking garage under Boston Commons appeared. Boston has one high-rise building next to another with differing architecture. We also got lost several times, with maps not matching what was really there, and many streets unlabeled. The streets are not laid out in a regular grid as they are in Philly — it gave us a whole new appreciation for Tenth's home city.

Tom was off from his deacon duties this year, so next year he will be back on. It was nice having him home more, but he does love serving others.

Tom is still working at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and still running a centralized backup service for hospital and university computers. The number of computers using this service continues to grow, and is now approaching three hundred. The hospital recently added a second CPU to support the backup service. This has greatly reduced the number of 2:00 AM problem calls.

Pray that we will continue to stay well; that Lois will continue to regain the strength and stamina she lost over all those years of illness, including the ability to climb stairs; for Tom's ministry as a deacon and his work with computer backups and disaster recovery at the hospital. We praise God for a wonderful year.