The Flog – The Fabry Log

Here's the e-mail I talked about on the show today. What a wonderful listener. I hope this encourages you. Some names have been changed:

Dear Chris,
I want to thank for reading my e-mail on the show today. I am unable to call in because I'm at work when the show is aired in my area. I must admit I try to be at my desk when your show is on so I can listen. I am a seamstress at a little tiny shop across from _____ University. I have worked there for 22 years and with the same boss for the same 22 years. I run a 4 head embroidery (can't spell such a big word) machine. I also do heat press which I am not so crazy about but I take my poor little radio into that room and turn it up. My little radio has a broken antenna and I have to scotch tape a nail in the top to get Moody Radio.

I love my Job and although my boss says he's a Christian he can use some pretty bad words. But I have watched God move in his life without him even knowing it. I figure if he ever gets completely sold out to Jesus , God will move me on, but until then I bloom where I'm planted.

Over the years I have built relationships with the people who make their home in town. Mrs. _____ is in her mid seventies and she works at the church across the road from us. She comes over with prayer request every now and then. Mr. _____ just comes in and walks past the counter and we talk about his battle with cancer, and he sees his name on my prayer board. We have another man who's little boy has a brain disorder and his name is on my board. I have green dots scattered around my office with _____'s name on them he goes to my church and has cancer and he was the nurse that set in the ICU with my husband when he died 5 years ago. Now it's my turn to pray for him.

Some times I look at my small little life and can't believe where God has taken me, I love life, and I love my life. I love the people God places in my life and believe that relationship should be a starting point for the message of Christ. A small kindness in this cold world goes a long way. As I said my son's tell me I live in Bubble Land, and I guess I do to some degree. I do believe that the love of Christ should be a part of every fiber of our lives.

I will never be a Billy Graham, but I guess God doesn't need another Billy Graham. What He needs is someone to love the lost neighbor that lives next door. Or love the teenager who is having a hard time with life. Or the person who takes time to visit Aunt Jane in the nursing and take her dried apples because they were her favorite. Or send a card to a mom and dad who's 13 year old son was hit by a car on his birthday and died, 5 years ago , just to say I am praying for you this week. None of these things cost any money, just time. And they truly can change the course of someone's life.

In Christ,
Sue

PS. My son just came in and hit spell check so now I'm not a Hillbilly.

You knew there had to be some good news coming, and today feels like we turned a corner. The cactus are singing in Arizona tonight because we have Internet access again. Not only that, but the phone company installed a phone. Not only that, but the phone company says they installed an ISDN line at the house where we're renting. Never mind that I can't find it, they say it's here, so I guess it is.

It was warm today, in the upper 80s. Hm. 88 in February. What will it be like in July? I can't go there yet. But the evening was nice and cool and peaceful. Oh, and the trash guys came by and took all the trash we put by the side of the road. Andrea said they even waved, which is a far cry from the fellow who yelled at me in Tucson a couple of weeks ago because I didn't have the lids off and the bins spaced 3 feet apart. I don't know how I was supposed to know that, but evidently I made this man's day really bad by him having to get off the truck and yell at me.

The trash guys in Colorado never yelled at me.

So here we are, a little house in the desert, coyotes running around, the kids riding a couple of scooters and a "green machine" given to us by neighbors. They say home is where the heart is. My heart is with my wife and kids so home is Arizona.

As I write this, I am in a 7X7 closet in the back bedroom, the fluorescent light cascading down, three sons sleeping in three separate tents in our bedroom. It is beginning to get quiet now, people winding down from a day of activity and meds and nebulizing. That's what I'm doing as I write. You put a mix of medicine and water in this white thing that looks like an overblown peace pipe, plug it into the socket and start breathing through your mouth and out your nose. It's not easy because the smoke makes you cough until you get used to it. This is supposed to do something good for me. Same for the fish oil. And the Mucinex. And the charcoal tablets. And the clay drink. Honestly, we're drinking dirt and taking some other mix I can't begin to spell. And bathing with black soap. And shampooing with medicine. And eating sprouts of things.

I just had to pour out the red stuff into the cap and do some more nebulizing. I think people get arrested for this, I really do.

Why are we doing this? What's the point? I think the answer is survival. We were exposed to some really bad stuff. The kids were all sick and every doctor told us something different until my wife, who is a treasure, pieced it together. Now they're getting better and seeing improvement, though it's often two steps forward and one step on a cactus, and a drive to the emergency room, and one more step forward. The health insurance still doesn't cover any of this. The homeowners insurance doesn't cover any of our house problem.

But God knows. And I think he's led us to the desert for a reason. And not just to get us healthy again physically. I think there's something even bigger than that going on.

I know that because I read it on the Internet.

Here's a slice of life that has become our lives. We are sleeping on Coleman blow-up mattresses. Some of the kids who are scared of spiders are sleeping in zip-up tents, thinking that will keep them out. It's going to be a long spring in Arizona.

But one of the things Andrea has said over the past few weeks is, "If we can just get a couch where everyone can sit, we'll be in a better place." On Saturday we went looking for a couch, with instructions not to have it "treated" with any of those sprays they use. We found a furniture store, found a nice 4 piece set, complete with a recliner for dad at a reasonable price. We purchased it and they actually delivered it that afternoon.

Early in the morning, Shannon, who is sleeping on a blow-up mattress in the living room, woke up in repiratory distress, which means she couldn't breathe. She moved into one of the bedrooms and was fine. Upon inspection, this was not the actual couch we had bought, but another from another location where they sprayed the bad stuff on the cushions.

Well, I couldn't leave the thing in the house and there were no deliveries on Sunday, so I rented a U-Haul and got Ryan to help me load it. Then I drove back to the store. But wait. This is where it starts to really get good. They wouldn't accept returns at that store. I had to drive to the other store in order to return it. More miles on the U-Haul. So I took it over and was assured I'd be given "all" my money back because of their "mistake." Except they couldn't refund my money because I didn't have the credit card my wife used and they didn't have access to the other store's records.

I tried to keep my cool through the process, and I think I did a pretty good job, but there were several times when I just wanted to ram that U-Haul into something. I guess we all feel that way at times.

On the way back, however, I saw the White Sox or Rockies or some baseball team practicing. I guess there is a silver lining in every U-Haul, couch return story.

Due to some circumstances beyond our control, I haven't had a chance to upgrade the blog lately. We are living in a small town in Arizona that has little Internet access. So Andrea hasn't been able to update her blog and I can only do so when I get to my "office."

Thanks for your prayers for us. More news is forthcoming. We are in a rental now that we believe is clean and will help us stage our assault on the maladies we've been facing. Have a great weekend.
cf

I just signed a 6 month lease on a house in a remote section, outside the city limits of Tucson. It's small. It's remote. Did I say it was remote? But it is all tile floors and no one has ever lived there. Plus it only has electric appliances and that's a plus for our kids. The owner even said we could have a small dog if we want. No cats. Yes!

It will be good to finally land somewhere since living here the past couple of weeks. God has been faithful to uphold us through the strain of this move, and Shannon and Ryan are supposed to arrive today. So probably Wednesday the boot camp will begin for all of us and the kids can get back to their diet/supplement/medication regimen that they were on before and seeing such progress.

Thanks for praying. We've felt your care and concern.
cf