Cindy Lowrey - Darn It All

About the Author

C indy and her husband have been married since 1985. They were blessed with four beautiful children who are now adults with growing families. It brings her great joy to be able to spend time with all her grandchildren. Her family Pocono vacation is one of the best weeks of the year. She values and cherishes her family. In her spare time, Cindy enjoys cooking and tending to the vegetable garden in the summer. She enjoys blessing neighbors with meals and the bounty from the garden.

Darn It All

Cindy Lowrey

ISBN 978-1-63814-217-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63814-218-8 (Digital)

Copyright 2021 Cindy Lowrey

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

2 Corinthians 4:711 (ESV)

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to know, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

It Is Well with My Soul, Philip Bliss

I feel blessed to be able to share my story. I have learned that God never makes mistakes, and he is always with me. My story does not start under the best of circumstances. So lets start at the beginning.

My dads name was William Joseph Strong. He was born on July 7, 1939. His parents (my grandparents), Charles and Frances, had a tumultuous relationship. My grandmother was a model. She was beautiful. My grandfather was an alcoholic. He beat my grandmother constantly. The women in the family would take turns staying with my grandmother during the day so she would not get beat. As soon as they would leave, my grandfather would start beating her. Things just got worse. My grandmother received very bad advice from one of the women in the family.

She said, Frances, if you want to stay married to Charles, you need to join him. So that is what she did. She began to drink and soon was an alcoholic herself.

When my dad was thirteen, his parents would take him to the bars as their drinking buddy. He was an alcoholic by the time he was eighteen years old. They lived in a low-income housing community in Warminster, Pennsylvania, called Lacey Park. Lacey Park is still there. In fact, if you drive on Jacksonville Road, you would pass the field behind the house we lived in.

My mothers name is Marlene. She was born on August 12, 1939. Her parents, oma and opa, Louise and Ernst, lived in Germany until my mother was about twelve years old. During the war, they saw their home being bombed two times. My grandfather had about seventeen dollars to his name when he, along with his wife and two daughters, Rosemary and Marlene (my mother), came to America. He became a barber. He built a home in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mothers womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:1314 (ESV)

G od made me. He made me for a special reason. It took many years for me to understand this but let us see how he works. Even though my siblings were born in the same mess I was, it affected each of us differently. Here is my story.

My parents met and started dating and were expecting their first child when they were sixteen. Debbie was born when they were seventeen. They had six children by the time they were twenty-four: Debbie, Mary, Nancy, Myself, Billy, and Marlene.

March 1, 1960, was the day I was born, Cindy Lou Strong. Our house was not a house full of love. My dad drank all the time. He would beat our mother and burn her with his cigarettes. He would take us on walks in the field behind our house and pick wild potatoes and wild asparagus with us. This was a pleasant memory of my dad doing something with us. I remember at one point our mother putting music on and dancing with us. I do not remember her saying she loved me. I do remember one night someone threw a rock through the window. It woke me up and I was scared; she let me lay on the couch with her until I calmed down. Other than that, I remember her being absent.

We hardly had any furniture in our house. Our house had two bedrooms. My parents had one room. We kids had the second room. Five of us would sleep on the bed, and my dad put a drawer on the floor with blankets in it for Marlene. She was just a baby. I was three years old at this time. There was hardly any food in the house. I remember there were many bugs in the house. Sometimes my dad would put beer in our bottles because there was not any milk. We did not have much clothing and would sometimes only have underpants to wear.

We would go outside by ourselves to play. There would be a group of boys in the neighborhood that would always make fun of us. We had a little dog named Poochie. Our dad found him and brought him home. Poochie would always follow us. One day when we were outside with Poochie, the boys came over and started making fun of us. They started throwing rocks at Poochie. We could not get them to stop. We carried Poochie home and he crawled under our bed and died. Needless to say, we were very sad and brokenhearted. I remember one night while we were all sleeping, our dad came home drunk. He came into our bedroom and took off his belt and started beating us. We woke up crying, jumping on the bed in hopes of getting away.

He did not beat Marlene. I was only three when this incident took place. I remember our dad being the parent that was home. I do not remember our mother at home much. While we were sleeping one night, she left. She left in the middle of the night. She was just gone. Our dad would have his buddies over and they would drink and get drunk. Our grandmother spoke with the other women in the family and said, We have to get those kids out of that house. The six of us were divided amongst the family.

My sister Nancy and I went to live with our Aunt Jeanne and Aunt Margie. I do not think they liked having us. They would tell us to sit on our hands and not talk. They would tell us to go to bed and not get up until we found pennies under our pillow. We never found pennies. This arrangement did not work long. Our father didnt give any financial support, so the family didnt want us. Our dad took us to the Guardian Angel Home. This home was part of Catholic Charities. I was only three years old at this time. This was a very abusive home. We slept in large metal cribs. We were given a small receiving blanket. I remember always being cold. When we would sleep, I would lie on my stomach with my bottom in the air. The blanket would cover most of me that way. I would cry and rock myself to sleep.