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- Chris Fabry
- Married to Andrea since 1982. We have 9 children together and none apart. Our dog's name is Tebow.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
It was a hard night last night. Shannon and Kristen left Colorado for Arizona and now Ryan and I are alone here. I kept looking at Kristen's snow boots, her drawings, Shannon's candles, and all the stuff they've left thinking that we are coming to the end of a chapter. A hard chapter.
Before they left I had to have her car repaired, and then, as they were packing, I whisked over to a store in town called Toys 4 Fun. For Christmas someone gave Kaitlyn a $25 gift certificate to the store, but she's been in Arizona, unable to spend her gift money.
As I walked into the store, a friend passed with a couple of wrapped packages. "You're Chris, right?" Suddenly I thought of all those unpaid bills. Not to worry, she was a friend of Andrea's (now there's a big pool) and had read my blog. "I've seen your van down by the river," she said.
She said she was praying for us and I thanked her.
I called Kaitlyn and said, "I'm at the store. What do you want?"
Before they left I had to have her car repaired, and then, as they were packing, I whisked over to a store in town called Toys 4 Fun. For Christmas someone gave Kaitlyn a $25 gift certificate to the store, but she's been in Arizona, unable to spend her gift money.
As I walked into the store, a friend passed with a couple of wrapped packages. "You're Chris, right?" Suddenly I thought of all those unpaid bills. Not to worry, she was a friend of Andrea's (now there's a big pool) and had read my blog. "I've seen your van down by the river," she said.
She said she was praying for us and I thanked her.
I called Kaitlyn and said, "I'm at the store. What do you want?"
Here's a picture of Kaitlyn with Tricia last year just before we started doing the Chris Fabry Live radio program.
That little tremble of excitement sounded in her voice. Like the Christmas gift you find in the trash before it goes to the curb. "Okay. You know where we got those animals in the packages? Go there and turn left."
It was like a toy Mapquest. She knew exactly what she wanted and where they were.
"On the wall is a big display of animals. Look at the second shelf where the dogs are. What do you see?"
I told her about all the dogs and the puppies.
"What kind are there?"
"Well, I see a black lab and a yellow lab and a..." Suddenly I didn't know my dog breeds as well as I thought. My back tensed. I was choking. "A border collie! That's what that is. And a German Shepherd..."
"I'll take a Border Collie," she said. "And the two labs. And what other kinds are there?"
"There's a Great Dane...no, not a Great Dane, the kind of Dog that was on Beethoven." Where is the American Kennel Club when you need them? I couldn't tell the difference at the moment between a Shiba Inu and a Cairn Terrier.
"And the Beethoven dog has two puppies."
"Oh, get the Mama and the puppies," she said.
I took the litter to the cashier and the whole thing, with tax, was $25.20. I went back to the house, stuffed the pups into one of the bags Shannon and Kristen had in the car, then stepped back to wave.
The house we're renting is right next to the road and when they went out of sight I ran into the kitchen so I could step onto the porch and wave again, but they passed before they could see me. So I just stood there and watched them drive away.
One day the pain of all this will pass. We might even laugh at what's happened.
Some day.
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7 comments:
Chris -
I happened to see the comment you left on Cindy Rojas' FB page and immediately came over here, then went to Andrea's blog to find out what was going on.
I'm so overwhelmed with everything you've gone through that I'm sitting at my desk in tears ... but I'm so GLAD to know so that I can be praying for you.
As I said to Andrea, you two have always been so special to me. I'm always had a kind of proprietary feeling about all the kids and it has broken my heart to read about all they're going through. Please know that I'll be praying for you, and if there's anything specific I can pray about, I hope you'll let me know.
With great affection,
Aimee
I think your Kaitlyn is close in age to my Bethany (March 1998), so I can picture this whole scenario very well (but Bethany would have gone for a dog with long white fur).
It must be so hard for you to be apart from most of your family, even in this age of instant messaging, cell phones with photo capability and blogs.
We're praying that you are able to tie things up in Colorado so that your whole family can be together again!
Elaine
hi daddy its kaitlyn i luv u! we were all gathered around the computer listening to your program and it was really sweet we were all laughing. we all love you and would write to you if we could. we miss you a whole lot. Shannon says stay warm in your camper with electric blankets!
Wow, do your girls/daughters ever look like their mother! All very beautiful, too. I love your program and your stories and insightful thoughts. Lynette
mom was tearing up she was laughing so hard...headlamp in bed how sweet. :)
I went to Bethany's room for prayer time. She was reading in bed... so I told her the headlamp story. Okay, maybe I embellished it a bit... you mentioned snoring, so I added some sound effects.
I think she was tearing up a bit from laughing, too. I've learned, though... I backed off before she got the hiccups! If I get her laughing too much and she gets the hiccups, she has to have peanut butter to stop them, then brush her teeth again.
Does the camper go to Arizona, too? When you mentioned how cold it gets in the camper in CO, I was thinking of how hot it would get in Arizona!
Thanks so much for making me CRY while working today! :-)) The dog story was way too much for me!
Blessings,
Jen in Ohio