We Are Back!

Sun, 29 Apr 2001

Hello!!

First of all, thank you all so much for all your e-mails and thoughts and prayers. I apologize for not answering each one of you personally and hope to do so in the future. We read each and every note and it encourages us so much!! You are a blessing!

To catch you up to date:

Phil was baptized on April 14th, and it was a wonderful celebration!! We were surrounded by family and friends who joined us in our neighbor's backyard for some delicious food prepared and presented by my brother Keith, who is an excellent caterer as well as many other things.

We had music by my other brothers, Steve, Howard and Rick, and then a great time of singing some worship songs led by my sister Karen.

Our good friend John Conriquez spoke for a bit and offered a special prayer and then Ty Taylor climbed into the hot tub with Phil and baptized him! Phil, being the wise young man that he is, stayed in that nice warm water for over an hour after being baptized, while the rest of us put on our jackets as the evening got cooler!

Phil wore a new T-shirt for the event, given to him as a gift that evening by a good friend, that said, "...final answer?" on the front, and on the back, "JESUS, my answer and my lifeline." Very appropriate!

Easter Sunday was a full day with church in the morning, and family and fun in the afternoon, and then we came home to pack! We left for Hawaii Monday morning! Yes, we took too many clothes!!

I was asked what the highlight of our Hawaii vacation was....how do I single out a day when every day was so great!! We booked this trip one week before we left, and the place we stayed on O'ahu we didn't book until 4 days before we left. This whole trip was truly a gift from God as we saw him lead us through each day.

If I had to pick a day that does stand out though, I guess I would pick the very full day we had on O'ahu when we started with Pearl Harbor at 7:30 a.m., then went to the Dole Plantation, then over to the other side of the island where we went up in Glider planes, and then back to Waikiki where Phil and Chris did some para-sailing off the back of a boat.

If that wasn't enough.....after we got back to our room and were relaxing a bit, Jim came in and told me I NEEDED to look out the window, and so I went to the window to see a beautiful rainbow right beside Diamond Head....God's signature on the end of a perfect day! And that is how the whole trip went!

Maui was a week of total relaxation as we took things very slowly. Going to the beach, eating fish tacos as well as lobster!!! and buying Hawaiian shirts for the family which we all wore to a Luau with fire dancing and lots of great food. That was the only night we had rain, but they had handed out rain ponchos when we went in so we were set!

The weather was perfect everyday! Although Phil's energy level is very low, he feels good, so as long as we take things slowly, he is able to enjoy it all! Even swimming in the ocean. He didn't ride the waves, but bobbed up and down as they rolled past him and he loved it!

His bruising from lack of platelets was quite evident, but it didn't stop him at all! I told him when we got to O'ahu we could make an appointment if he'd like to get some platelets or blood if needed but he was having nothing to do with it! He said he didn't come to Hawaii to be in a clinic or hospital!! Very stubborn.....he must take after his mother! HA

By the time we arrived in O'ahu, his energy level was a bit better because he started taking some steroids around Easter, and they were helping him a bit. It was good timing too because we kept very busy on O'ahu compared to the quietness of Maui.

We took a zillion pictures, of course, and have wonderful memories that we will cherish forever!! With two of our boys Jim (22) and Chris (20), not living at home anymore, it was so important for us to come together as a family and spend that uninterrupted time together away from the hustle and bustle of the lives we all lead. We were disconnected from the world for awhile and like my husband Jim said, it was as if time stood still for awhile...it was very peaceful and as the boys said, "the best vacation we've ever been on", and yet at the same it was the most difficult vacation we've ever been on. Peace is not found in Maui or anywhere else, unless God gives us that peace inside.

I was reading a book over there called "How to hold onto your faith WHEN GOD DOESN'T MAKE SENSE". What a perfect book and I'd recommend it to everyone. What the whole book boils down to is, we have a choice, "Despair or God". The circumstances in our lives will always be there, good and bad, but if we choose God, they will not rob us of the joy and peace that God offers us. Believe me, I learned that on this vacation. As the day would go on I would fluctuate between joy and despair within just a few minutes, and realize that nothing had changed in those few minutes except what was going on inside of me. It got easier as the days went by to choose God over the despair because I knew he had given us this time together as a wonderful gift, and I was not about to let that be taken from us!! That would have been a shame!

I was sitting on our balcony in O'ahu re-reading the "Prayer of Jabez" and if you're not familiar with that book, it is a simple four line prayer in 1 Chronicles 4:10 about asking God to bless us. How he wants to but we neglect to ask him. I sat on our balcony on the 21st floor, looking out at a beautiful view of Diamond Head and the beach and the ocean, and the Lagoon and realizing that if I had to pick a room in this whole hotel I would have picked this one, on the 21st floor with this perfect view. God had provided it for us even though we booked at the last minute and had no idea what room we would be in. He has not removed our "mountain", this trial we must go through, but He is with us every single day, helping us and providing for us each step of the way. He is carrying us, as we allow him to. I know I don't have the strength, but He does!!

We are back home now and as I write this, Phil is spending the day in Santa Cruz with his grandparents and a friend who is visiting from Florida. Kendra and Phil have been friends since the 1st grade and it is so neat that she has come out to spend some time with him. He did receive a unit of platelets on Friday, and continues to take some steroids. He has chosen not to do any further chemo at this time, and is just living each day to it's fullest, with a peace in his heart that God can still heal him and He may, or He may not, but either way, his life is eternal although his body may lose this battle with Leukemia. Many have mentioned the new medication that has recently become available, and we have heard about it also. Unfortunately, it is for CML not ALL. Most children that get Leukemia have ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) as Phil does, which is about 80 percent curable today. CML for adults was a much worse diagnosis, but with this new pill, they are surviving. How wonderful!!

Please forgive this long long e-mail, but as many know I have the gift of gab, and it runs over into my writing as well! :) I'm going to have Jim scan a few pictures of Phil's baptism and our Hawaiian vacation and then get this sent out to all of you! Thank you so much for all your prayers!! I know that God truly protected Phil during our time away because he has very few immunities at this point and with plane travel, museums, restaurants etc...he is being exposed to everything. But at this point, it is more important that he enjoys each day rather than keeping him isolated from germs. We just ask for God's protection and His will to be done!

If I have bowled any of you over with my sharing and you really don't wish to keep receiving these updates, please let me know. I will understand, and I can remove your name from the list.

With love from the Shore Family

Click picture to see a larger version.

Phil, about to be Baptised Phil being baptised Phil enjoying life
Luau Us on the 'Reef Dancer'