Phill & Evan's Most Excellent Adventure

I have blogged on this site very little in the last six months.  Instead I have posted on my CaringBridge website. The blog below was originally posted on that site a few days ago on December 30, 2010.

At the moment I am sitting in a recliner at the Kennestone Cancer Center receiving chemotherapy. This is the last of four weekly infusions of Rituxin. I like a one drug out-patient infusion much better than week-long hospital stays with a spectrum of drugs! I have been in the hospital for seven weeks in the last seven months.

Most recently, I was admitted to two hospitals in Italy and New York for almost eight days over the last two weeks. Let me try to update what happened. This entry will be more like a blog than just a medical report. If you want to be spared the following read, the short story is that I am alive and fairly well.

SWITZERLAND

Since we had a little snow dusting this week, it reminds me of the last time I saw "real" snow.  Cissy and I made a trip to Switzerland almost five years ago.  We flew into Zurich. At train stops we spent a few hours in both Lucerne and Berne, but the rest of the week in the small village of Wengen.  We will always cherish that special time. We look forward to going back some day in the spring or summer time.

ADVENT PREPARATION

Advent is a time to prepare to celebrate Christmas, the miracle of God becoming flesh with the birth of Jesus. The four weeks of preparation help to focus on the hope foretold by the prophets, the peace born in Bethlehem, the joy announced to the shepherds, and the love of God proclaimed by the angels.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I had a serendipity personal preparation for Advent. A framed print hanging in the bedroom of our home caught my eye in a new and special way (image on the right). I bought the print after returning from a trip to Switzerland with my wife, Cissy. The scene is the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland as seen from the little town of Wengen. It is the same view that we had from our hotel window.

The week in Wengen almost five years ago was one of the most exciting and beautiful times of our lives. We were intent on "making a memory." A few weeks later Cissy had several surgeries at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for a rare type of malignant brain tumor. At the time we had no certainty what would be the outcome. God has been most gracious, as Cissy made a wonderful recovery.

Now when I look at the print on our bedroom wall I see it as representing our journey with cancer. It was a difficult valley passage. Though the valley seemed so deep and the way out long and steep, there were beautiful and precious moments along the way. Setting our heart and soul and mind to scale the lofty heights brought hope, peace, joy, and love, as we looked to God to meet our need.

Seeing the grandeur of the "big picture" gives perspective to the travail of temporary times.

May you look and listen for God to speak and show you His presence in your life during this very special season of Advent!

Gracious God, I pray that wherever each of us is on life’s pathway, we will anticipate the presence of Christ with hope, peace, joy, and love. Help us prepare our hearts for the Lord's coming. Help us to hear and to do your word as we desire holy and righteous lives. We ask in the name of the Prince of Peace, the one who is the lover of our souls, Jesus our Lord.

THE EIGER

As I write these words I am watching on TV the movie, "The Eiger Sanction." Clint Eastwood plays an ex-assassin art professor who must kill an enemy agent during a climb of Mt. Eiger in Switzerland.

Almost three years ago Cissy and I spent a week in the Swiss Alps. We stayed in Wengen, just below the Eiger. It was one of the most exciting and beautiful weeks of our lives. We were intent on "making a memory."

A few weeks later Cissy had several surgeries at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for a malignant brain tumor. At the time we had no certainty of what would be the outcome of the surgery.

God has been most gracious as Cissy made a wonderful recovery. We look forward to many more adventures. Click on the arrow below the video to see our view at the base of Eiger.

GOOD TIMES

My wife Cissy and I have some good times. I mean really good times. Yes, there are everyday delights and serendipity moments. But the really special and good times seem to be planned and anticipated vacations during the less than four years we have known each other.

One of the first trips we made was a week in Oregon while we visited her brother and his family. We traveled down the coast, then over to Crater Lake and up to Mount Hood. I was constantly awed by the awesome sights, gracious hospitality everywhere, and delicious food.

We spent a week on the North Carolina coast with my brother and sister and their families. At the end of the week my sister gave Cissy a gift that certified her as approved and accepted to become a member of our family.

A mission trip to Nicaragua was an incredible and joyful experience. A highlight was watching Cissy teach childrens’ Bible school without knowing a word of Spanish. She did marvelously well adjusting on her first mission trip to all the demands to be flexible.

The biggest surprise for Cissy in Nicaragua was when we spent a day at the beach. Sitting on a rock at sunset I asked her to marry me. While the rest of the mission team watched from a distance, they finally got the word that Cissy said YES!

On our wedding weekend in the North Georgia mountains, Cissy and I rented a large home on the lake where we hosted all of our children, grandchildren, and my brother and sister and their spouses. Can you imagine spending your wedding night with all your family? They reciprocated by serenading us below our window.

There have been multiple other beach trips to destinations like Hilton Head, Amelia Island, and Costa Rica. One week on the Florida Gulf coast involved our children with spouses and all their children. We are going to repeat that trip next month.

Last year a week in the Swiss Alps was a delightful adventure. We learned how to ride a bobsled and luge … and survive. Next year we anticipate taking a cruise and land adventure to Alaska. ,

Flash Slideshow

I read in the Bible great heroes of the faith had adventures and experiences far greater than mine. The writer of Hebrews sums up their lives:

“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

I have so many other places on this earth I want to visit. But I am heaven bound, and realize I am a pilgrim passing through this world on my way to my eternal home.

Make sure you have your ticket so you can get on board and go with me!