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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.
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Where We Are Now
After finding and remediating mold twice in our Colorado home, we abandoned ship in October 2008. Because of the high levels of exposure, our entire family was affected. After months of seeing different specialists for all of the problems, we came to Arizona to begin comprehensive treatment to rid our bodies of the toxic buildup. In August 2009 we moved into a larger home, four bedrooms, south of Tucson, north of Mexico. I am doing my daily radio program/ writing from that location. Thanks for praying for us. We really feel it.
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Sunday, May 17, 2009
Andrea and I were planning the day Sunday morning, figuring out what to do with the kids. She’d been to a treatment for Reagan and Kaitlyn in Phoenix on Saturday so it was a rare Sunday together and I was hoping we’d get to the final service at church.
The phone rang.
Not unusual. Except she went outside and seemed to be talking with someone she knew well. “I didn’t recognize the number,” she said to the person on the other end.
The kids sat down on the couch with me and we were throwing the Nerf ball around. Since I had misplaced my copy of Microsoft Office, I was excited that Best Buy had a great sale. I could save $50!
“Mom’s crying,” one of the kids said.
I stood and headed to the door, but she came in, her face contorted, tears flowing.
“Who was it?” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s had a stroke. Mom had a stroke.”
My heart sank. Her mom and dad live in Naples, alone. The emotion was raw as Andrea recalled her last conversation, the plans she had for a trip there in the summer, and all of the things that flooded her memory.
We called other family and told them. The doctors didn’t hold out much hope. I called her brother who lives in Denver and caught him at the gate getting onto the plane. He’s a pilot for American Airlines and would get to Naples in the early afternoon our time.
"You prepare all your life for this and there's just no way to prepare," he said.
We searched flights from Tucson but came up empty. As the day wore on, the flight costs rose. Finally, I found one out of Phoenix that will get her there at about 9:30 local time in Fort Myers.
We drove to Phoenix late Sunday night with two of the kids and our thoughts. Barbara Kessel is a beautiful woman. She was about the same age as Andrea is now when I first met her. Tall and lean, always a good tan, dark, Italian features, and a killer smile. She was always so interested in me and anything I was doing. She had read my latest book, June Bug, and had called Andrea to tell her how much she liked it. I think she was my biggest fan.
We’ll know more from the tests run Sunday night and Monday, but things don’t look good for the long term.
When I left Andrea in Phoenix, she lingered at the side of the road there at the terminal, watching us pull away. Almost caught in two worlds. The one she knew she had to step into and the one she was leaving behind. I assured her we’d be all right until she returned. No one takes care of the children like she does. No one is quite the bulldog she is. She is so much like her mother.
And I think I'm her biggest fan.
The phone rang.
Not unusual. Except she went outside and seemed to be talking with someone she knew well. “I didn’t recognize the number,” she said to the person on the other end.
The kids sat down on the couch with me and we were throwing the Nerf ball around. Since I had misplaced my copy of Microsoft Office, I was excited that Best Buy had a great sale. I could save $50!
“Mom’s crying,” one of the kids said.
I stood and headed to the door, but she came in, her face contorted, tears flowing.
“Who was it?” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s had a stroke. Mom had a stroke.”
My heart sank. Her mom and dad live in Naples, alone. The emotion was raw as Andrea recalled her last conversation, the plans she had for a trip there in the summer, and all of the things that flooded her memory.
We called other family and told them. The doctors didn’t hold out much hope. I called her brother who lives in Denver and caught him at the gate getting onto the plane. He’s a pilot for American Airlines and would get to Naples in the early afternoon our time.
"You prepare all your life for this and there's just no way to prepare," he said.
We searched flights from Tucson but came up empty. As the day wore on, the flight costs rose. Finally, I found one out of Phoenix that will get her there at about 9:30 local time in Fort Myers.
We drove to Phoenix late Sunday night with two of the kids and our thoughts. Barbara Kessel is a beautiful woman. She was about the same age as Andrea is now when I first met her. Tall and lean, always a good tan, dark, Italian features, and a killer smile. She was always so interested in me and anything I was doing. She had read my latest book, June Bug, and had called Andrea to tell her how much she liked it. I think she was my biggest fan.
We’ll know more from the tests run Sunday night and Monday, but things don’t look good for the long term.
When I left Andrea in Phoenix, she lingered at the side of the road there at the terminal, watching us pull away. Almost caught in two worlds. The one she knew she had to step into and the one she was leaving behind. I assured her we’d be all right until she returned. No one takes care of the children like she does. No one is quite the bulldog she is. She is so much like her mother.
And I think I'm her biggest fan.
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5 comments:
You all are in my thoughts and prayers today. I am hoping and praying for a miraculous recovery; if God has other plans, I pray that your family will be filled with a peace that passes understanding as only God can give.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in Him."
Lamentations 3:21-24
Gosh Chris, just when you think it can't get any worse.....I will be praying for Andrea and her Mom....there are no words.....
We'll be praying for your family. I went through this with my father.
Chris & Family,
My heart goes out to you. It seems that we have much in common with the exception that I am a decade and more ahead of you and without my parents.
Where to begin? Born in Milwaukee, my patents moved West in 1948. One year earlier, Dad had helped his sister and her husband drive to California. He got out of the car to gas up in Phoenix ("Five Points at Grand Avenue) and inhaled the very first deep breath in his life (he was dying of emphysema). He then removed his suitcase, told his sister that she could make it to L.A. without him, and established residence in Arizona. At that time the population was about sixty thousand (if I recall correctly). My mom, sister, dad's father and I drove out and arrived in a balmy Phoenix July afternoon.
It was all too strange: Cacti, heat, mostly brown vegetation and blue blue skies. I hated it! At age seven I missed family and blue lakes all "back there" in Wisconsin. It took almost ten years for the new home to become my "real" home and Milwaukee relegated to the "place where I was born". When I finally did fall in love with Arizona and the West, I really fell HARD! Sons of the Pioneers cowboy music, Saguaros, dazzling sunsets and summer almost all year round became important to me.
My senior year of high school began as a D.J. at KHEP, a former "country music" station converted to a "Christian format" (no pun intended). Having found Christ through the ministry of Carl Hodges, director of Youth for Christ, I soon attended a Christian college in the Southern United States. After three years I transferred to Arizona State and got my B.A.
Arizona had become even more dear to me while out of state in yet another very different culture and location.
In 1965 my Southern Belle married me; I am still married to my Southern lady by God's Grace, Avaline's sense of humor and her great tolerance for pain.
Having opened our hearts to God's purpose for us "anywhere" He wanted us to serve has opened doors in Cairo, Riyadh, Saipan, San Antonio, Chicago and finally Indiana (Taylor University).
In our first year as Upland residents, my sister, brother-in-law, last remaining Uncle, father-in-law and mother were taken from this life. Being "far from kin and home" when needed there is too familiar. I have experienced the effect of distance when physical presence is needed.
My heart goes out to you and the family, Chris. May our Lord afford you and yours all that is needed to meet the painful challenges of a new life in a strange land.
In the Savior’s love and name,
"Kactus" Jim
You are in my prayers. What a beautiful analogy of the plane stepping into a world that we don't want to but we must walk through it. What a beautiful tribute to your wife and mother in law