First(s)

It never fails to amaze me as much as I think I know something, how it can still surprise you. First experience was that I went to the hospital yesterday to get a refill of pain killer. When I got there I got really sick and ended up getting sick in the bathroom. No one asked if they could help or if I was ok.

Then I went home and slept the rest of the morning and afternoon. In the evening Lisa and I went out to dinner (at benjy's, which we both highly recommend.) then as we were headed to church for their Christmas program I got a phone call.

Who do you think was on the other side of that phone? Well, I personally wouldn't have been too surprised to have heard Santa Clause. It was in fact my oncologist (here at MDA) calling me. It took me a minute for my shock to wear off but we had a great conversation. It sounds like we'll be starting a new round of chemo (oral) this next week. He also told me to call his cell phone if I ever had any problems like I was having this past week. He said he's in lab most of the week and a phone call isn't going to mess with his schedule at all.

Two surprises in one day. How cold a place can be by yourself, and on the flip side, how much it seems that the doctor actually cares and how hard it can be to get past his admins, but I have been given a pass beyond all that. A huge thanks for all your prayers because I think this will answer a lot. Part of me even wonders if I couldn't use this to skip some appointments with him in the future. (IE: Waiting for several hours just to see him for 5 minutes.)

On another note the 12 days of Christmas this I have been doing with Lisa has been going really well. It's been fun to have her open one thing a night and you know, some of it is utilitarian and others of it is more interesting stuff she didn't expect. It's been fun to not be flooded with stuff all at once.

We also went to our churches Christmas performance last night. I'll let these pictures speak for how... intricate, it got:

Full choir... of course

Aerobatics from the ceiling with two large lengths of gauzy rope, check.

More rope work, and yes, that is someone dancing vertically on the wall

Fully trained children. Dance moves, lyrics and everything.

Full costumes. (I didn't get a picture of the couple ice skating)

Ghost of Christmas? Holy Spirit? Who knows, it was a person in a huge costume from the ceiling.

Yes, and an elephant. The Three wise men show up, so why not bring an elephant?

It was pretty crazy. I heard something like there have been 18,000 tickets purchased already for the shows. Last night I saw something like 200 empty seats so they can accommodate more. If you are in Houston looking for quite a holiday spectacular (music, lights, a giant elephant) then Houston First Baptist's Celebration (#Celebration12) is probably where you want go.

The interesting thing about this as well is that they do a brief overview of the whole life of Jesus. They do a big deal about his birth, but they also focus on the anticipation leading up to the birth of the messiah. Then they go on to show how He was the messiah. I think perhaps the part that most chocked me up last night was when they showed Jesus going around healing sick people.

It was a pretty sight filled evening, and after all the fun the gospel was clearly presented. It's worth going if you haven't been, and it'd be pretty easy to take a non-believer because the start of it is very, spectacular and draws the audience in and then they bring out the story of Jesus. 

Some Prayer requests:

• Been in a lot of pain the past few days. In fact I think I was so sick yesterday because of the rather high doses of pain killer I was on. I could really use some prayers for decrease in pain.
• I am not sure what this new round of chemo will mean for me energy/ overall health wise. It's supposed to be pretty easy stuff. We shall see.
• Effectiveness of this new stuff.
• I was thinking last night that there are a certain group of people that KNOW I am going to die from this cancer (like my oncologist here at MDA) that would really be one of the amazing "side effects" of being healed by God from this, is that someone that thought they knew something, would be faced with maybe they don't know everything they thought they did. Which could be a great opening to talk to him about God. I would hope though, however my health goes, that God would allow me to be a witness to him, and that no matter what happens God would be glorified and my doctor would think about his own mortality because of this.

Thank you for all the prayers and support. You all mean so much to me. The personal emails to me directly have also meant a lot. Thanks for reaching out and connecting with me. If you email me I will respond. Thank you.

~B.
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