For the past few years, many have undertaken, during the month of November, to post something new each day on Facebook for which they are thankful in the spirit of Thanksgiving later in the month. This year, I want to post 30 things for which I am thankful in regard to one particular person around whom a great deal of my life revolves ... my wife, Andrea.
There are in fact far more than only 30 thing about my wonderful wife for which to be thankful, but I thought I'd pick the top 10 in 3 categories: Inside (her inward beauty), Actions (how that inner beauty expresses itself), and Outside (her outward beauty). Other than the categories, they're in no particular order.
Inside:
1. Humor - This is one of the greatest things about Andrea. She is fun, funny, and loves to laugh and joke. From what I can tell, she always has. Her relationships with her best friends is largely based on humor and fun. Though health problems have dimmed the humor in our lives of late, it's always there ready for a good belly laugh or a quick jab or a practical joke.
2. Intelligence - Her intelligence is one of the first things that
attracted me to her. Well maybe not the very first, but it was up
there. Though I too often make fun of her for not getting all my jokes,
she has always been amazingly bright.
3. Faith - From our very first "kinda-date" with a group from church, we hit it off with a common faith and a deep reverence for our Lord and His reign in our lives. That faith has pulled us through innumerable storms over the past 24 years and through it all, she has remained steadfast, dedicated, and always growing in her faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
4. Wisdom - She has often been the voice of wisdom into my life and for our family. Though she does not often speak up or against my course of action or decisions, when she does, it is almost always to bring needed balance, direction, and counsel ... in a word, wisdom. I've watched her grow immensely in wisdom over the years and I hope she will find ways to share more of it with our younger female friends in the days and years to come.
5. Duty - Though she would quickly disagree if I said she had lots of self-discipline, I think the better word for what I see is a sense of duty. Whether to family, friends, former employers, or simply to what she knows is right, she is always willing to DO what needs to be done - almost regardless of personal cost or pain. She will likely be surprised to hear me say this, but she is one of the most inwardly strong persons I know.
6. Honor - Where she gets this from, I don't actually know. :-) But she has a strong and courageous sense of honor that always wins out over personal inconvenience, fear, pain, or the danger of damaged relationships. She acts with integrity.
7. Devotion - Whether to God, me, Daniel, family and friends, country, employer, or others, she is a devoted woman to those whom she loves and serves ... often at great personal sacrifice and/or without thanks or repayment. Once she has committed herself to you, her devotion is fierce.
8. Righteousness - Her moral compass is true and strong, powerfully indicating right and wrong. Though I've watched her grow over the years in her understanding, or perhaps "application" would be more descript, she is powerfully dedicated to her sense of whatever is right and good and holy and just in whatever situation she finds herself.
9. Gregariousness - In this regard, she is often enigmatic, even paradoxical at times, but I discovered early-on in our marriage that, under the shyness and sometimes difficulty with which she makes friends, Andrea THRIVES on being around people - especially those closest to her, but almost any party will do in a pinch. haha. While my own social tendencies come and go (mostly going as I grow older), she would almost always be "out" with a group of friends having fun, fellowshipping, or even studying or working ... as long as it's with those she loves.
10. Humility - Make no mistake, there's a temper under there and plenty of stubbornness to go with it. But in the end, she has learned, continues to grow in, and frequently exercises amazing humility. As she has further sensed and grown in God's calling upon her life, this has become all the more obvious and expressed in her life ... before God, before her husband, and before others.
Actions:
There are 1001 things that she does through the day, the week, and the years. These may seem mundane, trivial, and ordinary, but they are the "little things" that make our family work - they are representative of the 1001 things that NEED to happen to keep our family and our lives moving. And though they may seem small, I know they only seem so because they get done. When they don't get done, they become very burdensome for me. Thus, to me, each one is very important and her steadfastness and trustworthiness in getting them done is worthy of my great praise.
11. Homeschooling - While I help with overall direction and a few of the individual subjects, Andrea is the gearworks that makes this happen. She oversees the curriculum, the record keeping, and the day-to-day execution and administration of the Miller Academy of Excellence, and has done so faithfully for 6 years and counting.
12. Cooking - She has become an excellent cook and strives hard to keep things interesting, nutritious, well-stocked and readily available for our family
13. Dishes - Over the years, I've offered multiple times to install a dishwasher, but each time she has refused. Mostly, this is due to lack of space, but ultimately, it's her willingness and faithfulness to get this job done without complaint that is one of those things that keeps our family going.
14. Shopping - Andrea faithfully keeps our refrigerators and pantry well-stocked, strictly budgets, and is ever mindful of the best deals and, increasingly, of the most healthy options for food as well as clothing and other household items. While do a significant amount of this for household goods as well, she remains the primary shopper and almost exclusively so for our family's food.
15. Calendar - She largely manages the family calendar. While I usually do the long-range and "recreational" planning, she's the one who knows "what's going on this weekend", who's birthdays are coming up, and more recently - what's on Daniel's calendar!
16. Banking - As a former assistant manager for several banks, she is good at this. She knows the system and moves through it with ease. On those occasions when we've had to change banks or shuffle around how our accounts are managed, she has managed this with ease and wisdom.
17. Finances - Related to "banking", but different in my eyes, Andrea also manages the daily, monthly, and yearly finances of the household. For several reasons which include what I wrote under "Banking" as well as various issues in her own family growing up, Andrea is conscientious, punctual, and almost obsessive about getting bills paid on time. Early in our marriage, this was a rough subject for awhile until we devised a plan to split responsibilities, "personal spending money", and create a general budget plan we could both agree to and follow. Now, I manage the "big picture" budget planning, and she manages the day-to-day execution. Since setting this up, it has been a WONDERFUL system playing to both our strengths and (mostly) compensating for our weaknesses. The time we spent struggling with finances before we worked out this system has taught me to greatly appreciate her abilities and attention to detail in handling the day-to-day execution.
18. Laundry - While I've never had a problem with doing my own laundry, and still help from time-to-time, this is another of those day-to-day activities that she does (mostly) without prompting and keeps our family running smoothly.
19. Medications - By God's grace, this is not something I've had to ever do much management of in my own life - so I'm not that good at it. But Andrea's health problems over the years, and now with all that Daniel is going through and even our pets, the management of the rather LARGE cabinet of medications, supplements, and other drugs we possess and must take on strict schedules is somewhat staggering in size. But Andrea has faithfully kept track of these details and managed it consistently and effectively. By choice, I intentionally stay OUT of this field as I believe having two people involved only invites disaster. I do my best to stay on top of the "big-picture" and take a VERY active role in general healthcare management and decisions for the family, but again, when it comes to the day-to-day management and execution of who takes what when and how much, Andrea does a fantastic job at it.
20. Cleaning - Unfortunately, both of us seem to have been born missing this gene, and it comes easily to neither of us. And while I consider myself the "better" cleaner, I'm worse at keeping up with it or even keeping on a schedule despite my best attempts. In recent years with the various health problems for both Andrea and Daniel, I've taken a far more active role in this than ever before, but it hasn't made it any easier and I'm really no more "regular" at it. So once again, it is her day-to-day execution of many of these tasks that helps me immensely and is worthy of my grateful appreciation.
Outside:
Sorry folks. What lies in this category is strictly for Andrea's eyes only. Suffice it to say, she's a beautiful creature and my physical attraction to her has grown continually over the years. The details of which are none of your business! But rest assured, she'll be hearing exactly what I think in the version of this list that she gets. The rest of you all can just go read Song of Solomon! :-)
21. - Censored -
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Grace and peace to all.
- Tim -
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
A Long Overdue Update
Hi everyone. This update on Daniel is horrendously overdue, I know. But at least, in this case, no news is relatively good news. Things have been largely uneventful for Daniel and his leukemia treatment (PTL!) First, a HUGE thank you to everyone praying for Daniel, Andrea, and all of us. You can't imagine how comforting it is to know that others are standing with us on his behalf through all that we've been through.
Daniel remains in the 5th / final stage of his chemotherapy called the "Maintenance" phase which consists of a monthly visit for IV chemo drugs and daily drugs in pill form at home. If all goes as planned, we'll remain in this stage until spring of 2015.
In
general, he's doing well and continuing to improve. Life has largely
gotten back to a sense of "normal", though we can never completely get
away from the ever-present knowledge and effects of his cancer. The
things that continue to plague him are:1. Effects of chemo drugs. The primary culprit seems to be Vincristine which he gets IV once a month. It is a particularly nasty drug and has potentially long-term or even permanent side effects. He experiences pain in his muscles and joints, much like arthritis, which is particularly bad after his treatment each month. Usually it goes away after a week or two, but seems to be lasting longer recently. It comes and goes, but occasionally, all 3 of us are acting like we're all 70 years old. It would be comical if it weren't for the reasons!
2. He still dreads his monthly hospital visits. They have reduced the number of spinal tap procedures (for which he has to have a general anesthetic - which he HATES) to 1 in every 3 visits. That's down from 2 in every 3, so that's been really good for him. But even the ones where he only gets an IV are still traumatic for him - he gets himself all worked up about ANYTHING having to do with doctors, hospitals, or sickness. I've been working with him on prayer and "taking every thought captive", etc. which has helped and is, I think, getting better. But video games are still more effective. hahaha.
3. He still takes a handful of pills every evening (not including various vitamins & supplements) as part of his chemotherapy. They often result in mild to moderate nausea as would be expected.
4. His osteoporosis (which predated the leukemia) continues to improve. The last bone density scan showed marked improvement and we continue to anticipate an eventual full recovery. In the mean time, the fractures in his spine continue to result in fairly frequent backaches & headaches that I believe are the result of muscle tension from the misalignment. I'm trying to get BOTH of us on an exercise schedule to improve his core strength and help make that alignment better again. Heaven knows we both need it! haha. Though his level of activity and strength are returning, he's still got quite a ways to go to get back to "normal" 11-12 year old activity levels and strength. He's still largely sedentary which I think is partly from lack of energy (from all the above) and partly it's just become habit. I very much believe that more exercise will improve a lot of this as well as to build self-confidence and help break him (and me!) out of the sedentary habits that have developed over the past few years. Heading into winter makes this more challenging, but hopefully, we can keep each other motivated!
In general though, we are VERY pleased with his progress. There have of course been no signs of the leukemia since we initially went into remission a surprising 2 weeks after starting chemo way back in Jan of 2012. The unfortunate part of that is that there is currently no way to tell whether the cancer is truly gone or not at this point. It is completely undetectable. All of the chemo treatment that remains is being done in an attempt to assure that it doesn't return. "Relapses" are horrible. The treatment starts over again from the beginning and the cancer itself tends to be much harder to get into remission and more likely to come back. The thought of a relapse is terrifying - and that's why we spend more than 3 years pumping him full of poisons to make absolutely, positively certain (as possible) that every trace of the cancer is gone. Unfortunately, since nobody knows what causes it in the first place, it's a complete guessing game as to why, how, when it might come back - or not.
One really good piece of news from the past few months is that he seems to have returned to a normal growth & weight gain curve. He's once again outgrowing his clothes for which we are abundantly happy! There are two unfortunate parts about this (other than the normal clothing expenses of course!). First, the additional weight has bumped him into a higher category for the chemo drugs. Believe me, the LAST thing I want to see is increasing doses of the chemo/poisons being dumped into his body. Obviously, we believe it's for the best (or I wouldn't be continuing the course), but that makes it no less difficult to watch it happen - especially when you know he just barely qualifies for the higher doses and already suffers side-effects from the lower doses.
The second aspect of the weight-gain is that it's not all "good" gain. The fact is, he's becoming slightly overweight! I haven't computed a BMI yet, but you can definitely see in his face, chin, chest, and waist that much of his weight is not healthy. This, in a sense, puts him over the weight category line artificially, and adds its own stresses to his system at the same time. So it underscores the need for exercise, better diet, and less being sedentary in general (for ALL of us!) Let's hope / pray for a relatively mild winter that will allow more outdoor activities!Andrea remains about the same. One really good piece of news recently was that the doctor finally agreed to try reducing her daily dosage of the chemo drug. As a reminder, Andrea was diagnosed with a slightly different form of Leukemia (C.M.L. as opposed to Daniel's A.L.L.). Her's, while not cureable without a full (and hugely risky) bone marrow transplant, is treatable with a drug - a single pill, once a day. And while that in itself is truly miraculous, it is still chemotherapy and comes with all the same (plus some additional) side-effects. For her, the most troublesome are the horrible lack of energy and the constant muscle and joint pain. She feels like she's just run a marathon 24/7 and just getting up enough motivation to get out of bed is a major challenge every single day. So the news that we could reduce the dosage by 25% was a huge blessing. The jury remains "out" as to whether there's been a noticeable, lasting reduction in side-effects, but there seems to be a least some reduction. And we'll take anything we can get!
There was a brief discussion about reducing it to 1/2 dose, but the doctor is reluctant to do that - at least not yet. She even brought up the idea of trying to go off it completely (recall the above details about relapses). He's very resistant to that idea, but the statistics he quoted really surprised me. He said that about 40% of people that go off it completely have it return. That's actually MUCH smaller than I anticipated (I figured it'd be more like 90-95%). So that's something we remain in prayer about seeking wisdom & direction.
Thanks again everyone for your thoughts & prayers.
- Tim -
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Update on Andrea's Neck Pain
As many of you know from following us on Facebook yesterday, we had a little crisis with Andrea having really severe neck pain. She had mentioned to me a day earlier that it was really stiff and she thought she'd "slept on it wrong", but apparently it was something that had been building for awhile unbeknownst to me.
Yesterday, it launched to crisis level when she woke up screaming in pain (literally, she tells me, though I was already gone to work). She said she was glad Daniel had been staying at a cousin's house because she was screaming and crying all morning trying to get dressed, feed the dogs, and get a hold of me. I'd already been at work a few hours by the time she let me know what was going on. I left immediately and got home to her, applied heat, did some light massage to the neck and shoulders, and called her oncologist to get permission to give her some prescription pain reliever we had for Daniel.
Within an hour things were a bit better and we discussed options eventually settling on the ER at Hancock Regional (Greenfield) hospital - mostly because they're so much less crowded. Sure enough, there was no wait at all.
As a friend of mine predicted though, the ER did nothing but treat the symptoms and refer us back to our family doctor (which is another story, perhaps for another time). As they treated her and discussed what they wanted to do, I was repeatedly reminding them about Andrea's chemotherapy medications and how she's extremely limited on what other meds she can take because of interactions with it. Both the doctor and primary nurse were visibly annoyed with me (which is normal by the way), but at least twice, I saw them change what they were doing or planning because they'd forgotten to take that into account even though I'd already told them. Very frustrating, but again - quite normal. This is exactly why I annoy the heck out of them constantly bird-dogging them and insisting they tell me everything they're doing.
After giving her an injection of an anti-inflammatory drug, the doctor prescribed two high-strength pain relievers and a muscle relaxer - again - after my repeated warnings that they needed to closely evaluate interactions with her chemotherapy meds. So as soon as I got Andrea back home, I called the oncologist to run these drugs by them and as I expected, 2 of the 3 prescriptions were rejected. We ended up settling on a different set of meds which we hope will help a lot today - we'll see when she gets up and moving this morning.
I was able to get 6-1/2hrs in at work after all, but didn't get home till nearly 9:30. By then Andrea was doing pretty well though. Unfortunately, we're kind of "between" family doctors right now, so we'll need to decide who to see about getting to a root cause with this. For those who asked about a chiropractor, we almost certainly will not be going that route. After a couple dozen years of combined experience between Andrea & I and a fair amount of my own research, I put very little faith in chiropractors any more. Notice I did not say "no faith". I'm convinced there's still a "baby" in all that "bath water" - and I remain open ... a little ... but the next time I hear the word "subluxation" or am told we'll need a full set of X-rays, I may actually scream! :-)
I know I owe everyone a major update on both Andrea and especially Daniel regarding the cancer and our recent trip to Orlando. I promise, I'll get them out soon.
As always, we're extremely thankful to everyone for the prayers - by far the BEST treatment for any illness!
Grace and Peace to all;
- Tim -
Yesterday, it launched to crisis level when she woke up screaming in pain (literally, she tells me, though I was already gone to work). She said she was glad Daniel had been staying at a cousin's house because she was screaming and crying all morning trying to get dressed, feed the dogs, and get a hold of me. I'd already been at work a few hours by the time she let me know what was going on. I left immediately and got home to her, applied heat, did some light massage to the neck and shoulders, and called her oncologist to get permission to give her some prescription pain reliever we had for Daniel.
Within an hour things were a bit better and we discussed options eventually settling on the ER at Hancock Regional (Greenfield) hospital - mostly because they're so much less crowded. Sure enough, there was no wait at all.
As a friend of mine predicted though, the ER did nothing but treat the symptoms and refer us back to our family doctor (which is another story, perhaps for another time). As they treated her and discussed what they wanted to do, I was repeatedly reminding them about Andrea's chemotherapy medications and how she's extremely limited on what other meds she can take because of interactions with it. Both the doctor and primary nurse were visibly annoyed with me (which is normal by the way), but at least twice, I saw them change what they were doing or planning because they'd forgotten to take that into account even though I'd already told them. Very frustrating, but again - quite normal. This is exactly why I annoy the heck out of them constantly bird-dogging them and insisting they tell me everything they're doing.
After giving her an injection of an anti-inflammatory drug, the doctor prescribed two high-strength pain relievers and a muscle relaxer - again - after my repeated warnings that they needed to closely evaluate interactions with her chemotherapy meds. So as soon as I got Andrea back home, I called the oncologist to run these drugs by them and as I expected, 2 of the 3 prescriptions were rejected. We ended up settling on a different set of meds which we hope will help a lot today - we'll see when she gets up and moving this morning.
I was able to get 6-1/2hrs in at work after all, but didn't get home till nearly 9:30. By then Andrea was doing pretty well though. Unfortunately, we're kind of "between" family doctors right now, so we'll need to decide who to see about getting to a root cause with this. For those who asked about a chiropractor, we almost certainly will not be going that route. After a couple dozen years of combined experience between Andrea & I and a fair amount of my own research, I put very little faith in chiropractors any more. Notice I did not say "no faith". I'm convinced there's still a "baby" in all that "bath water" - and I remain open ... a little ... but the next time I hear the word "subluxation" or am told we'll need a full set of X-rays, I may actually scream! :-)
I know I owe everyone a major update on both Andrea and especially Daniel regarding the cancer and our recent trip to Orlando. I promise, I'll get them out soon.
As always, we're extremely thankful to everyone for the prayers - by far the BEST treatment for any illness!
Grace and Peace to all;
- Tim -
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
America's Choice
America stands upon the brink of a decision this day with eternal consequences - whether she will openly embrace the sin of homosexuality and protect it with her laws, or whether she will hold to her Godly heritage.
But first let's be clear about a few things. True Christians - those who have given their lives to Jesus Christ and follow His teachings - do not hate homosexuals, nor do they fear them. True Christians hate homosexuality and fear the consequences to their society and nation. There is an enormous difference between the sinner and the sin itself, for each of us are sinners by nature. Christians hate homosexuality because God hates it. This is ABUNDANTLY clear and easily shown from His Word throughout both Old and New Testaments. God hates all sin, yet loves all sinners and desires deeply for us to come to Him in repentance and humility, but the choice is given to each individual.
Likewise, Christians recognize that marriage is an institution created and ordained by God - not Man! From the very beginning of Creation this has been so. It is specifically and explicitly designed to join one man and one woman in a life-long bond that produces offspring and, by its very nature reflects Who He is, who we are, and portrays deep spiritual truths about our relationship to God in ways which specifically require one man and one woman. This too is affirmed throughout both Old and New Testament and in the words of Jesus Himself repeatedly.
Human history is littered with the wreckage of nations that have abandoned God's moral laws and, specifically, His design for marriage. From the time before the Great Flood, to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Egypt, Greece, Rome, and so forth, one of ... perhaps THE primary trigger of the downfall of each of these empires was their abandonment of God's Laws - and homosexuality in particular. More specifically though, it is not the just immorality in general that portends the destruction of a nation, for there is always sin present in every nation. Rather it is the point at which the nation's leadership begins to publicly, officially, and even legally protect and promote such immorality. For THIS is the point at which the nation's leadership has openly and officially defied God, His design, and His laws.
Such a nation cannot long endure, and history bears this out.
America was founded upon God's laws and rose to greatness because she proudly proclaimed the Lord as her Source, Protector, and Light. Though children have been taught otherwise in public schools for decades now, even a cursory review of the actual writings of our Founding Fathers proves this in abundance. Yet in recent decades, America has increasingly drifted from her roots and her God. Her governing institutions have been systematically eradicating every public proclamation of her reliance upon God and set about erasing all traces of her historic roots in His Word (The Bible). Steadily, America's populace has softened to, not just the presence of, but the "normalcy" of homosexuality and begun to openly embrace and even promote it. I have watch with both sadness and horror, the percentages of the population opposed to open, legal, homosexual unions plummet. In many places, the majority opinion is no longer held by those who understand and respect God's design and Word. Not long ago every state in the Union held laws against homosexual acts, and the very idea that the legal institution of marriage could be perverted to apply to homosexual "unions" was so unthinkable that virtually no such legal definitions were thought necessary. But recent history has seen many states have to pass laws or constitutional amendments defining and protecting marriage as God designed it and requires.
Today however, even those states' efforts to protect the historical, Biblical definition and institution of marriage has come before the highest court in our land and are in imminent danger of being struck down permanently. Today, having already slidden far down this slippery slope of immorality and defiance of God, America stands upon the last precipice ... her last opportunity to turn back, or at least postpone, an official, legal embrace of defiance against God's most sacred institution. If America's government officially states that homosexuality is not only acceptable but protected and even promoted by law, we will have taken that last fatal step of defiantly slapping the face of God and daring Him to render judgment unto us as He did the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ... along with every other great nation in history in who's footsteps we now tread. I emphasize again that the downfall of Sodom was not simply the sin of homosexuality, but the open condoning of it by its leadership.
In the first chapter of Romans, the Holy Spirit, through Paul the Apostle, lays this out with precision and clarity:
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ... who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." -- Rom 1:26-32 (emphasis mine)
That last line highlights the point here ... they not only do such things but also "approve of those who practice them".
And as George Mason1 so aptly stated at the Federal Convention of 1787,
"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities."
This is it America. Before you lies the same choice that lay before the ancient Israelites 4 millennia ago:
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." -- Joshua 24:15
To paraphrase a line from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "You must choose. For whereas the true cup will give you eternal life, the false cup will bring death."
Choose wisely America. For Heaven's sake ... choose wisely.
- Tim -
1. [George Mason: Virginia delegate to Constitutional Convention, often regarded as "the father of the Bill of Rights"]↩
But first let's be clear about a few things. True Christians - those who have given their lives to Jesus Christ and follow His teachings - do not hate homosexuals, nor do they fear them. True Christians hate homosexuality and fear the consequences to their society and nation. There is an enormous difference between the sinner and the sin itself, for each of us are sinners by nature. Christians hate homosexuality because God hates it. This is ABUNDANTLY clear and easily shown from His Word throughout both Old and New Testaments. God hates all sin, yet loves all sinners and desires deeply for us to come to Him in repentance and humility, but the choice is given to each individual.
Likewise, Christians recognize that marriage is an institution created and ordained by God - not Man! From the very beginning of Creation this has been so. It is specifically and explicitly designed to join one man and one woman in a life-long bond that produces offspring and, by its very nature reflects Who He is, who we are, and portrays deep spiritual truths about our relationship to God in ways which specifically require one man and one woman. This too is affirmed throughout both Old and New Testament and in the words of Jesus Himself repeatedly.
Human history is littered with the wreckage of nations that have abandoned God's moral laws and, specifically, His design for marriage. From the time before the Great Flood, to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Egypt, Greece, Rome, and so forth, one of ... perhaps THE primary trigger of the downfall of each of these empires was their abandonment of God's Laws - and homosexuality in particular. More specifically though, it is not the just immorality in general that portends the destruction of a nation, for there is always sin present in every nation. Rather it is the point at which the nation's leadership begins to publicly, officially, and even legally protect and promote such immorality. For THIS is the point at which the nation's leadership has openly and officially defied God, His design, and His laws.
Such a nation cannot long endure, and history bears this out.
America was founded upon God's laws and rose to greatness because she proudly proclaimed the Lord as her Source, Protector, and Light. Though children have been taught otherwise in public schools for decades now, even a cursory review of the actual writings of our Founding Fathers proves this in abundance. Yet in recent decades, America has increasingly drifted from her roots and her God. Her governing institutions have been systematically eradicating every public proclamation of her reliance upon God and set about erasing all traces of her historic roots in His Word (The Bible). Steadily, America's populace has softened to, not just the presence of, but the "normalcy" of homosexuality and begun to openly embrace and even promote it. I have watch with both sadness and horror, the percentages of the population opposed to open, legal, homosexual unions plummet. In many places, the majority opinion is no longer held by those who understand and respect God's design and Word. Not long ago every state in the Union held laws against homosexual acts, and the very idea that the legal institution of marriage could be perverted to apply to homosexual "unions" was so unthinkable that virtually no such legal definitions were thought necessary. But recent history has seen many states have to pass laws or constitutional amendments defining and protecting marriage as God designed it and requires.
Today however, even those states' efforts to protect the historical, Biblical definition and institution of marriage has come before the highest court in our land and are in imminent danger of being struck down permanently. Today, having already slidden far down this slippery slope of immorality and defiance of God, America stands upon the last precipice ... her last opportunity to turn back, or at least postpone, an official, legal embrace of defiance against God's most sacred institution. If America's government officially states that homosexuality is not only acceptable but protected and even promoted by law, we will have taken that last fatal step of defiantly slapping the face of God and daring Him to render judgment unto us as He did the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ... along with every other great nation in history in who's footsteps we now tread. I emphasize again that the downfall of Sodom was not simply the sin of homosexuality, but the open condoning of it by its leadership.
In the first chapter of Romans, the Holy Spirit, through Paul the Apostle, lays this out with precision and clarity:
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ... who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." -- Rom 1:26-32 (emphasis mine)
That last line highlights the point here ... they not only do such things but also "approve of those who practice them".
And as George Mason1 so aptly stated at the Federal Convention of 1787,
"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities."
This is it America. Before you lies the same choice that lay before the ancient Israelites 4 millennia ago:
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." -- Joshua 24:15
To paraphrase a line from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "You must choose. For whereas the true cup will give you eternal life, the false cup will bring death."
Choose wisely America. For Heaven's sake ... choose wisely.
- Tim -
1. [George Mason: Virginia delegate to Constitutional Convention, often regarded as "the father of the Bill of Rights"]↩
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Happy Palm Sunday!
A happy and blessed PALM SUNDAY to everyone!
Few Christians know the true significance of Palm Sunday in that it was Jesus' formal presentation of Himself as the Messiah to the leadership of the nation of Israel. As He rode the donkey into Jerusalem, He fulfilled multiple prophecies of the coming of the Messiah and many of the Jewish people recognized it as such singing Messianic Psalms (Ps 118, etc.) to the consternation of the Pharisees (Lk 19:39).
What even fewer Christians realize is that the exact day of this "Triumphal Entry" was given to the prophet Daniel by the Angel Gabriel more than 450 years earlier and recorded in one of the most amazing and precise prophecies of the Bible (Daniel 9:24-27). In 1894, Sir Robert Anderson (Chief of Criminal Investigation Dept. of Scotland Yard - 1888-1896) published the book "The Coming Prince" in which he detailed the calendar, archaeology, and Biblical scholarship that shows that Gabriel's prophecy was fulfilled to the exact Day on April 6, 32 A.D.
Jesus Himself confirms this in Luke 19:41-44 where He holds the nation accountable for having missed this special day of days. Even the Creation itself knew that "this [was] the Day the Lord has made..." (which is another prophecy concerning Palm Sunday, from Ps 118) as Jesus indicates that if His followers were silent, that "even the stones would cry out" in praise of the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah (Lk 19:40).
Luke 19:41-44: "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
Here, Jesus pronounces a national blindness ("now they are hidden") upon the Jewish people because they rejected Him on this day. Yet God has promised that He is not finished with Israel. For there will come a day, after the "fullness of the Gentiles has come in" when He will turn His face back to the nation of Israel. Paul emphasizes this heavily in Rom 9-11, but in particular verse 11:25-27 spells it out clearly:
Romans 11:25-27 "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."
Our God has always been a God who makes and keeps His promises. He is eminently trustworthy and His timing is always perfect - even when we were expecting something different or miss it entirely. Jesus is always right on time.
For more information on the 70 Week prophecy see this link:
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/552
Or hear Dr. Missler teach the subject personally here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PywcLTSCs60
Grace and peace to you all this Holy Week and Easter.
- Tim -
Monday, March 4, 2013
An Update From The Millers
Hi All;
It's been way too long since I've written anything here and folks have been asking how things are going. Well, things are going - sometimes it seems way too fast. Weeks and months roll by and at some point I sit up and wonder where it all went. Some of it, I'm sure is just a by-product of my new senior citizen status. There are in fact way too many of those by-products in my life right now, but I'll not go any farther down that road.
ANDREA:
Andrea has been reasonably well. Things are largely holding steady. She continues to struggle with lack of energy and "gut problems" of all types. I'll spare both her and you any further details. Her oncologist continues to blame the chemo therapy drug she takes daily. However, we know that many of these problems preceded the cancer treatments and it's been extremely difficult to sort out what's what and what we might be able to "fix" vs. what we just need to learn to live with. So we continue to try various things through our family doctor and on our own to improve what we can. She's doing her best (and succeeding) to keep up with most of the housework and Daniel's school. Her family is going through some real challenges right now and that's been stressful on all of us, but especially her. It's been a difficult situation for many years, but it appears things are rapidly building to crisis level and we're trying hard to figure out the wisest form of involvement for us to have.
Lately, she's been busily trying to plan Daniel's trip through the Children's Wish Foundation (we recently found out it was NOT the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but apparently the exact same kind of thing. Regardless, They provided Daniel with one "little wish" and one "big wish". The little one was a (rather large) Lego set early last year. And for the big one, Daniel has chosen a trip to Disney World - which is, not surprisingly, a popular choice. As he's getting much of his strength back now, we thought it would be a good time to try to get him down there. So Andrea's trying to coordinate all the permissions and paper work and timing, etc. It'll be fun to see how this all comes together. But the stories we've heard form others who have done this are just phenomenal. I think Andrea's more excited than Daniel! :-) If all goes as planned, we'll be going in early May.
DANIEL:
Daniel is also doing well. His hair is coming back in really full now and he's quite happy about that. He's NOT been very happy about the fact that it's come in very curly. Formerly, his hair was bright blond and very straight. Now it's a fairly dark brown and curly. Despite a couple of dozen people assuring him that this is going to be a big hit with the girls one day soon, he remains skeptical. We've also been glad to see him beginning to grow again in both height and weight. He's behind the curves a bit, but moving the right direction and that's a HUGE relief to me. I remain frustrated that we've never gotten any traction from the medical community as to why he was completely stunted in both height and weight gain for two to three years, but at this point, it appear we never will. Unfortunately, much of his weight gain has been the result of gaining disproportionate pounds - probably as a result of ongoing steroid treatments. Though both the dosage and frequency are greatly reduced in the current Maintenance phase, he's once again putting on quite a bit of weight. Some of it is likely from simply being house-bound in the dead of winter. I've been extremely cautious about letting either one of them out with as bad as the cold and flu season has been this year. For awhile, it seemed EVERYONE was sick and I was terrified to let either of them out of the house. But by the grace of God, we've made it through largely unscathed to date ... well until today, but I'll come back to that. Daniel has been slowly increasing his involvement again in both his weekly home school co-op and the church's AWANA program. He's doing very well in (home) school and excels at Math. Last weekend, we attended the Heroes Foundation Gala / fund raiser downtown where Daniel was invited to be a V.I.P. representative of Team Joey - a program that raises support for both cancer research and cancer patients. The Team Joey component was created in honor of Joey Keller's legacy, our friend who lost his battle with brain cancer last November. Daniel took the stage with Colts coach Chuck Pagano (who's fighting leukemia himself), radio personality and former pro football player Joe Staysniak, and Heroes Foundation founder Vince Todd during the evening and thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was his first formal event and we had to get him a suit for the occasion. He loved dressing up and proved himself a natural "schmoozer". I was in awe!! There must have been a dozen different women fawning over him afterward and telling him how special (and cute) he was. As a V.I.P. he'll be delivering toys (mostly Legos) to other cancer patients on behalf of the foundation.
His chemotherapy is still a daily routine with a few different drugs he takes daily (along with various vitamins & supplements), but the clinic visits are down to once-a-month and will remain so until we're finished in the spring of 2015, God willing. It's a 3-month repeating schedule where 2 of the 3 months include a spinal tap & injection at the clinic visit. He hates those with a passion ... and so do his mother & I. But this is the course we've chosen to follow and, right or wrong, it's the one I believe best. I remain open and often searching for any word from the Lord that would release us from continuing down this road, but until it comes, we will stay the course we're on. Yet it doesn't stop the almost daily heart-ache at having to put my son through all we've done and all that lies ahead. We rely regularly on Romans 8:28!
ME:
For myself, things have remained busy. VERY busy. I'm down to the last couple of weeks in teaching my Systematic Theology class with Water-To-Wine. It's been enjoyable, but actually much more work than I anticipated. Things at work have continued at a fairly steady pace and the job itself remains enjoyable overall. I'm extremely happy to be in a job at all, especially one with good health insurance. The fact that it's also largely enjoyable has been a huge blessing. Not having to deal with past stresses and simply dreading going into work every day in the midst of all we've gone through in the last couple years has been of immeasurable value. I thank God regularly for that!
In the past couple weeks, we've finalized plans to start up another weekly Bible study that I'll be teaching at our friends the Rikker's house. We did this for several years awhile back and it was a fantastic blessing. We still count those folks among our closest friends and we're very much looking forward to getting most of the old group together again as well as some new faces. I'll be teaching Genesis (which is actually where we left off when the group ended several years ago) which is always a favorite for me. So despite the fact of having two studies going for a brief overlap coupled with a busy work schedule, trying to keep up with the house and some remodeling projects, and several family problems right now, the next few weeks are looking a bit challenging!
Right on cue, as we finalized plans for the new study over the weekend, I came down with what appears to be laryngitis. It's like clockwork. It was the same month in which I agreed to teach with Water-To-Wine that Daniel was diagnosed with Leukemia last year. I was teaching Genesis as my first course in fact. Before that, it was while teaching this same group at the Rikkers' house that I had an eye infection that had me out of work for the better part of 4 months and ended up with corneal replacement surgery. When I got through that and eventually started teaching Genesis, the group disbanded. It's always something - especially when teaching Genesis. The warfare that comes with any form of ministry is intense. Teaching the Bible is obviously something our enemy hates vehemently ... and Genesis in particular for lots good of reasons! I believe it was Martin Luther who said something to the effect that, "anyone who doesn't believe the devil exists need only try resisting him!" Amen to that!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. So we could ALL use your continued prayers. The road ahead remains challenging in lots of ways, but we're also very relieved that it seems the worst is behind us (famous last words, I know).
2. I would like to specifically ask for your prayers for myself in the next few weeks as I try to juggle a lot of plates and keep healthy. Please pray for this throat infection in particular.
3. We could also use your prayers for several family members also going through some real difficulties right now - as well as wisdom on our part in how best to help them.
4. Lastly, I'd like to pass on a special prayer request for another family that a friend recently brought to my attention. They are a Christian family who immigrated to Indiana from Iraq last year because of the intense persecution of Christians there. Their son Lowees (Luis), who is 12, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphatic cancer (Burkitt's Lymphoma) and is undergoing chemotherapy at Riley. Having been in the states for only a very short time, they don't have a lot of connections yet much less having to adapt to a new culture. Learning to navigate the medical system is challenging enough. While learning a new language, culture, living situation, and all the rest at the same time is just unimaginable. I was also informed that Lowees' father recently lost his job here and is struggling with depression. They certainly need our prayers. I'll pass on more info as it comes.
Thanks everyone for your ongoing love, support, and prayers. You have been God's hands, feet, and voice to us more times than I can possibly count or even acknowledge. And above all, we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who's love, faithfulness, peace and comfort through these times has sustained us in every way. To Him be the glory in all things.
Grace and peace,
- Tim, Andrea, & Daniel -
It's been way too long since I've written anything here and folks have been asking how things are going. Well, things are going - sometimes it seems way too fast. Weeks and months roll by and at some point I sit up and wonder where it all went. Some of it, I'm sure is just a by-product of my new senior citizen status. There are in fact way too many of those by-products in my life right now, but I'll not go any farther down that road.
ANDREA:
Andrea has been reasonably well. Things are largely holding steady. She continues to struggle with lack of energy and "gut problems" of all types. I'll spare both her and you any further details. Her oncologist continues to blame the chemo therapy drug she takes daily. However, we know that many of these problems preceded the cancer treatments and it's been extremely difficult to sort out what's what and what we might be able to "fix" vs. what we just need to learn to live with. So we continue to try various things through our family doctor and on our own to improve what we can. She's doing her best (and succeeding) to keep up with most of the housework and Daniel's school. Her family is going through some real challenges right now and that's been stressful on all of us, but especially her. It's been a difficult situation for many years, but it appears things are rapidly building to crisis level and we're trying hard to figure out the wisest form of involvement for us to have.
Lately, she's been busily trying to plan Daniel's trip through the Children's Wish Foundation (we recently found out it was NOT the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but apparently the exact same kind of thing. Regardless, They provided Daniel with one "little wish" and one "big wish". The little one was a (rather large) Lego set early last year. And for the big one, Daniel has chosen a trip to Disney World - which is, not surprisingly, a popular choice. As he's getting much of his strength back now, we thought it would be a good time to try to get him down there. So Andrea's trying to coordinate all the permissions and paper work and timing, etc. It'll be fun to see how this all comes together. But the stories we've heard form others who have done this are just phenomenal. I think Andrea's more excited than Daniel! :-) If all goes as planned, we'll be going in early May.
DANIEL:
Daniel is also doing well. His hair is coming back in really full now and he's quite happy about that. He's NOT been very happy about the fact that it's come in very curly. Formerly, his hair was bright blond and very straight. Now it's a fairly dark brown and curly. Despite a couple of dozen people assuring him that this is going to be a big hit with the girls one day soon, he remains skeptical. We've also been glad to see him beginning to grow again in both height and weight. He's behind the curves a bit, but moving the right direction and that's a HUGE relief to me. I remain frustrated that we've never gotten any traction from the medical community as to why he was completely stunted in both height and weight gain for two to three years, but at this point, it appear we never will. Unfortunately, much of his weight gain has been the result of gaining disproportionate pounds - probably as a result of ongoing steroid treatments. Though both the dosage and frequency are greatly reduced in the current Maintenance phase, he's once again putting on quite a bit of weight. Some of it is likely from simply being house-bound in the dead of winter. I've been extremely cautious about letting either one of them out with as bad as the cold and flu season has been this year. For awhile, it seemed EVERYONE was sick and I was terrified to let either of them out of the house. But by the grace of God, we've made it through largely unscathed to date ... well until today, but I'll come back to that. Daniel has been slowly increasing his involvement again in both his weekly home school co-op and the church's AWANA program. He's doing very well in (home) school and excels at Math. Last weekend, we attended the Heroes Foundation Gala / fund raiser downtown where Daniel was invited to be a V.I.P. representative of Team Joey - a program that raises support for both cancer research and cancer patients. The Team Joey component was created in honor of Joey Keller's legacy, our friend who lost his battle with brain cancer last November. Daniel took the stage with Colts coach Chuck Pagano (who's fighting leukemia himself), radio personality and former pro football player Joe Staysniak, and Heroes Foundation founder Vince Todd during the evening and thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was his first formal event and we had to get him a suit for the occasion. He loved dressing up and proved himself a natural "schmoozer". I was in awe!! There must have been a dozen different women fawning over him afterward and telling him how special (and cute) he was. As a V.I.P. he'll be delivering toys (mostly Legos) to other cancer patients on behalf of the foundation.
His chemotherapy is still a daily routine with a few different drugs he takes daily (along with various vitamins & supplements), but the clinic visits are down to once-a-month and will remain so until we're finished in the spring of 2015, God willing. It's a 3-month repeating schedule where 2 of the 3 months include a spinal tap & injection at the clinic visit. He hates those with a passion ... and so do his mother & I. But this is the course we've chosen to follow and, right or wrong, it's the one I believe best. I remain open and often searching for any word from the Lord that would release us from continuing down this road, but until it comes, we will stay the course we're on. Yet it doesn't stop the almost daily heart-ache at having to put my son through all we've done and all that lies ahead. We rely regularly on Romans 8:28!
ME:
For myself, things have remained busy. VERY busy. I'm down to the last couple of weeks in teaching my Systematic Theology class with Water-To-Wine. It's been enjoyable, but actually much more work than I anticipated. Things at work have continued at a fairly steady pace and the job itself remains enjoyable overall. I'm extremely happy to be in a job at all, especially one with good health insurance. The fact that it's also largely enjoyable has been a huge blessing. Not having to deal with past stresses and simply dreading going into work every day in the midst of all we've gone through in the last couple years has been of immeasurable value. I thank God regularly for that!
In the past couple weeks, we've finalized plans to start up another weekly Bible study that I'll be teaching at our friends the Rikker's house. We did this for several years awhile back and it was a fantastic blessing. We still count those folks among our closest friends and we're very much looking forward to getting most of the old group together again as well as some new faces. I'll be teaching Genesis (which is actually where we left off when the group ended several years ago) which is always a favorite for me. So despite the fact of having two studies going for a brief overlap coupled with a busy work schedule, trying to keep up with the house and some remodeling projects, and several family problems right now, the next few weeks are looking a bit challenging!
Right on cue, as we finalized plans for the new study over the weekend, I came down with what appears to be laryngitis. It's like clockwork. It was the same month in which I agreed to teach with Water-To-Wine that Daniel was diagnosed with Leukemia last year. I was teaching Genesis as my first course in fact. Before that, it was while teaching this same group at the Rikkers' house that I had an eye infection that had me out of work for the better part of 4 months and ended up with corneal replacement surgery. When I got through that and eventually started teaching Genesis, the group disbanded. It's always something - especially when teaching Genesis. The warfare that comes with any form of ministry is intense. Teaching the Bible is obviously something our enemy hates vehemently ... and Genesis in particular for lots good of reasons! I believe it was Martin Luther who said something to the effect that, "anyone who doesn't believe the devil exists need only try resisting him!" Amen to that!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. So we could ALL use your continued prayers. The road ahead remains challenging in lots of ways, but we're also very relieved that it seems the worst is behind us (famous last words, I know).
2. I would like to specifically ask for your prayers for myself in the next few weeks as I try to juggle a lot of plates and keep healthy. Please pray for this throat infection in particular.
3. We could also use your prayers for several family members also going through some real difficulties right now - as well as wisdom on our part in how best to help them.
4. Lastly, I'd like to pass on a special prayer request for another family that a friend recently brought to my attention. They are a Christian family who immigrated to Indiana from Iraq last year because of the intense persecution of Christians there. Their son Lowees (Luis), who is 12, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphatic cancer (Burkitt's Lymphoma) and is undergoing chemotherapy at Riley. Having been in the states for only a very short time, they don't have a lot of connections yet much less having to adapt to a new culture. Learning to navigate the medical system is challenging enough. While learning a new language, culture, living situation, and all the rest at the same time is just unimaginable. I was also informed that Lowees' father recently lost his job here and is struggling with depression. They certainly need our prayers. I'll pass on more info as it comes.
Thanks everyone for your ongoing love, support, and prayers. You have been God's hands, feet, and voice to us more times than I can possibly count or even acknowledge. And above all, we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who's love, faithfulness, peace and comfort through these times has sustained us in every way. To Him be the glory in all things.
Grace and peace,
- Tim, Andrea, & Daniel -
Sunday, January 20, 2013
2012-13 New Year’s Letter
Family and Friends;
Greetings! We hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas and
holiday season. 2012 was an
eventful year to say the least. It’s been a challenge for us to even get this
letter out! Yet we wanted to try to sum
up the way each of us experienced these past 12 months and, in some way, to say
thank you to all who have been a part of it with us – through your prayers, help,
encouragement, and thoughts. We’ve
appreciated each one of you through both the dark times and the
highlights. Thank you all!
TIM’S CORNER
 | |
| The Miller School of Chivalry |
As I write this (Jan 2nd), I
recall a year ago at this time when Daniel was suffering daily, horrible head
and body aches, frequent fevers, and I was in near panic searching for any possible
forms of treatment - traditional, chiropractic, holistic, or faith healing for
some kind of answers for Daniel. The events that followed in the next few days
changed our lives forever.
Page Training
For the past couple years, I’d
been designing a program to be more “intentional” in my father-son time with
Daniel. It would focus on activities
ranging from Bible study, to learning crafts & trades, to P.E., to
developing character virtues and manners using the theme of “chivalry” to progress
through ranks from “Page” to “Squire” to
“Knight”. On Jan 1st, 2012 we
inducted Daniel into the “Miller School of Knighthood and Chivalry”
after taking his oath and signing his “Page’s Pledge”. He received an honorary dagger and a
“Certificate of Induction”. (See picture
links at the end)
An Unexpected
Change in Character Development Curriculum:
However, we had no sooner gotten started
when my curriculum took an unexpected detour.
On 1/5, we had a doctor's appt. at Riley hospital. I’d been extremely frustrated with previous
doctors’ inaction and expressed to her the seriousness of Daniel’s
symptoms. She listened to me and we
began with some blood tests The
appointment ended and I went back to work.
A few hours later, she left a message telling me that she was concerned
about the test results and had scheduled an appointment the next morning for a
bone marrow biopsy. I was pleased that
she was being “proactive” but I’m glad I didn’t understand the implications of
her ordering that test or I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep.
The next morning, we were back at
Riley for a bone marrow test. The
doctors met with us in the recovery room and broke the news ... Daniel had Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (A.L.L. for short) – cancer of the bone marrow. It was similar to Andrea’s C.M.L. diagnosis
from a couple of years prior, but the treatment would be very different – full
blown chemotherapy. He was immediately
admitted to the hospital and surgery was planned for the following morning to
install a “port” (an under-the-skin pin cushion) in his chest through which
they would administer the hundreds of injections and blood draws over the
coming months along with the first spinal tap.
We cried – all of us. Our world stopped, spun backward awhile, and
then flipped upside down. Breathing
became a labor-intensive process. We
phoned, texted, and emailed family and friends.
And I wrote my first blog entry on http://timmillersblog.blogspot.com
titled “Jan 6, 2012 - A Date of Infamy”. The doctors told us how he would be “immune
compromised” for the next 3 years or more and we began to learn the lingo,
process, and what our lives were going to look like for a long time. We learned how to monitor his health, about
new diets and drug restrictions, and how to protect him from infections …
especially molds & fungi. I
instantly thought about the lousy old carpets in our house that we hadn’t yet
been able to afford to replace. More
than once, I’d discovered mold hiding under it during repairs. So I decided I would rip them out now and
just put sealer on the underlayment until we could replace the actual flooring
later when we had the time and money. I
wouldn’t allow Daniel into the house until everything was at least sealed. But I knew tearing out all that carpet,
cleaning, and sealing was going to be a huge job – especially while trying to
keep up at work and spending huge amounts of time at the hospital.
God Comes Through:
 |
| Daniel at Riley Hospital |
God showed up early in all of this
though. Of course, He’d never really
left! We were immediately surrounded by
family, friends, and a constantly growing army of people willing to help. My folks volunteered to let us stay at their
place until I deemed the house safe enough for Daniel. We were admitted to the hospital on Fri
1/6. On Sunday morning (1/8), I made a
brief Facebook petition for volunteers that afternoon to help me start pulling
up carpet – I would be home by about 2:30. Most people I knew were at church and
unlikely to see the post until much later.
I headed home about 2p. By the
time I got there, my driveway and entire front yard was filled with cars. I never counted, but figure about 20-30
people showed up - one even drove up from Kentucky to help! When I walked in, the job was nearly
done. They boxed up our Christmas
decorations, moved the furniture from 3 rooms, and tore up the carpet, padding,
and tack strips from every room. Already
home, Andrea was overwhelmed with trying to direct the work, or answer many of
the questions. I left instructions, and scrambled
to the store to pick up enough sealer to do the whole 1st floor. Andrea ordered pizzas, and then headed back
to the hospital to be with Daniel. By the time I returned almost everyone was gone
and all the carpet, pad, and tack strips were loaded into my trailer. “Awesome” doesn’t cover it. A job I expected to take at weeks was done in
a couple hours. It was only the first of
MANY blessings God would be sending our way.
With the help of other great
friends over the next 2 weeks, I was able to purchase and install laminate
flooring in most of the first floor (all except the hallway & entry which
will require some repair first). I
blocked off the Family room from the dogs, bought a special air purifier, and
made it Daniel’s room for the foreseeable future. With the new easy-to-clean laminate flooring,
no stairs, and immediate access to a bathroom and small entertainment center,
it was a much better choice for him than his bedroom. This set up remained largely unchanged
throughout 2012.
A Very Long Year:
 |
| Daniel & Papaw after the State Fair |
The year has consisted mostly of
innumerable trips to Riley Hospital, mid-night ER visits with fevers, many scheduled
& unscheduled hospital admissions, learning to give chemo drugs at home,
and my working some horrendous hours at work trying to make up for all the time
at the hospital. But through what can
only be described as another miracle of God’s timing and providence, my
employer has been wonderful. Not only
has the work been mostly enjoyable, but the insurance is considerably better
than any of my previous employers, and my boss and team have been incredibly
accommodating with my work schedule.
It’s meant precious little time at home with the family in the evenings
and that’s been hard on everyone. Daniel
complains he never sees me anymore even though we’ve probably actually spent
more time together this year than several previous years – it’s just all been in
hospital rooms on fold-out chairs, often with him asleep. My clearest memories of this past year
revolve around endless hours of research; long sleepless nights of alarms, and
nurses, and urinals, back massages, endless McDonalds food, uncountable
Facebook/CaringBridge/blog entries; and prayer … lots and lots and lots of
PRAYER.
Some FUN Along the Way:
 |
| Daniel's 1st Small Plane Flight |
There were of course MANY other
things happening this year too –there were also good times & fun
activities. In Feb and March, I taught a
class in Genesis at a local Bible college and currently teaching a class in Systematic
Theology in the evenings. In March a
number of our musician friends put on a benefit concert for Daniel to raise
awareness and money to help with his medical bills. We were blown away at the response and the
generosity of those who performed (some coming from other states!) and those
who attended. In May, Rolls-Royce
sponsored several cancer patients at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for
Carburetion Day. It was Daniel’s first time to the Track! He was given a huge duffle bag
filled with gifts, and visits from the drivers and the Mayor. In June, Daniel & I visited the Air Force
Museum in Dayton. In July a friend from work, and fellow pilot,
flew us to Greensburg
for dinner – it was Daniel’s first flight in a small plane (since Daniel’s own dad hasn’t been flying since
he was born!) In Sept, I was invited
back to Lawrence United Methodist Church, for their 175th anniv. (I had
been a Youth Pastor and on several committees & boards there for many years). In Oct, we attended two Renaissance Faires – and
in Nov, Andrea put together a wonderful surprise birthday party for my 50th. She also collected nearly 50 personal notes
from friends and family and put them into a binder for me. It’s one of my most prized-possessions.
Joey:
 | |
| Daniel & Joey Keller at Joey's 9th bday pty |
In July, we attended the 9th
birthday party of a very dear friend of ours named Joey Keller. Daniel and Joey had met in our homeschool
co-op. Joey had been battling a very
serious form of brain cancer for the past couple of years and so they became
much closer when Daniel was also diagnosed with cancer. Over the past year, our paths crossed frequently
with the Kellers and we often exchanged experiences and MANY prayers for one
another. We got to know one another much
better. Joey became markedly worse in
October and we began praying very often for them as a family. I felt led to set up some on-line prayer
vigils to schedule people to pray around-the-clock for the Kellers during some
of the worst times. Joey recovered briefly
and our hopes soared. But after a couple of weeks his cancer returned and his
condition deteriorated rapidly. He went
home to be with the Lord on 11/18 and we were all absolutely devastated. Having fought constantly against this very
nightmare ourselves for the past 11 months only to watch it happen to our
friends Nick and Elizabeth cannot be expressed in words. We continue to solicit your prayers for them
and Joey’s grandparents as well.
Thank You!
There are many more people to whom
we owe a debt of gratitude than I could ever write thank you notes to this
year, but again here I will express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to
the many who have come alongside us this year.
From helping with the house, to bringing food, to financial gifts, to
going shopping with or for us, to the fathomless amounts of prayer which has
gone up on our behalf … thank you! And
may the Lord richly bless you as only He can in the coming year.
ANDREA’S
CORNER
As you have seen, this year has
been one of stretching, growing, crying, and above all else, trusting in the
Lord. Never in a million years would I
have thought our son would get Leukemia also.
Tim and I have both frequently said that if we could trade places with
Daniel we would in a heart-beat! But,
for whatever reason, this is the road we are on.
Our new “normal” has been changed
for years yet to come. I never expected
to spend Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day at Riley hospital with
either clinic appointments, or admissions due to fevers. Nurses, needles, hospital lingo, etc. have
all become common-place for us now. I
still remember walking through a grocery store once, looking at the “healthy”
kids, and wanting to scream inside, “it’s not fair!” But, if I am honest with myself, I have to
admit I have seen our family draw closer, and grow more this year than ever
before. The outpouring of love and help
from our brothers and sisters in Christ has been overwhelming! All the meals, help with cleaning, running of
errands, financial help, and especially the prayers have been our life-line this
past year. The growth and maturity I
have seen in our son as he gone down this path has been humbling, and makes
this momma’s heart swell!
I’ve struggled with my own health
issues during all this too. I started
seeing a new holistic Dr. and he has me taking a fistful of vitamins now daily. Some have helped, but I struggle daily with
low energy levels, body aches and pains, and stomach issues. A lot of it may be side-effects of the oral
chemo drug I take, and will be on the rest of my life. This year I became a distributor
for Young Living Essential Oils, and
have found some to be helpful at helping me keep from catching bugs so easily. I had a sleep study this spring and was also diagnosed
with Fibromyalgia, and Sleep Apnea. I
still haven’t done much to address these issues. This spring I developed a bad case of Planter
Fascitis in my left heel, and am seeing a podiatrist. Walking is very painful most of the time
now.
But despite of all the health
issues, we’ve managed to have some fun this year! We had play days, trips to the park, and pool
days this summer. In the Spring my
cousin Ed from Tampa was here a couple of times on business, and one of them both
he and my cousin Kammie and her family from Evansville were over for
dinner. I was so happy to get to spend
time with them! We finally made it to
the State Fair with the Grandparents and cousins and Daniel had a ball.
Unfortunately shortly afterward Daniel got the flu (probably at the fair) and
ended up back in the hospital for several days.
We spent Labor Day weekend at Turkey Run Inn while friends from church
camped. We were giving Daniel his last
at-home IV chemo treatments in the hotel!
In spite of the heat and rain we had a great time. Daniel also had fun dressing up for Halloween
this year as a character from one of his video games. He looked great, and had fun
trick-or-treating with our dear friends the Loobies. We also got in our annual trip to the pumpkin
patch, and Daniel and I went to the Headless Horseman hayride at Conner Prairie
for the first time. We had hoped to spend Thanksgiving in Iowa, but with the sad news of the passing
of our dear friend Joey Keller, attending his Celebration service the day after
Thanksgiving had to be our priority. We
still enjoyed a delicious meal with Tim’s family and extended cousins at a
local restaurant. In mid-December we
celebrated our 23rd anniversary in Nashville, IN and enjoyed walking
around town, touring Oliver Winery, and seeing “The Hobbit.” Daniel and I both had pretty bad colds, but
we still had a great Christmas with the family.
We continue to homeschool Daniel,
and that has been a huge blessing with our schedule now. Daniel would have missed so much time if he
were in public schools, but finished 4th grade just a couple weeks
past our normal time. So far 5th grade hasn’t been far behind
normal, and Daniel is doing well with his studies. Having had to miss most of the second
semester of co-op and AWANA 2nd semester last year, it’s been nice
to be involved again this school year.
He’s missed some meetings due to low blood counts, and the bugs going
around, but has been able to participate a little more recently. We got rid of our chickens and miss the fresh
eggs, but couldn’t keep up with their care with all going on this past
year. We still have our two dogs, Diezel
and Samson, who have lovingly been by our sides through thick and thin. This year has been a stretch for them as
well! We briefly had a pet garter snake,
but released her this fall back to the woods.
Our newest family member is Daniel’s Leopard Gecko named Draco. We’re hoping
and praying that 2013 will be a “healthier” year for the Miller family, and
that we will continue to grow ever closer to the Lord and to each other as we
continue this journey together.
DANIEL’S CORNER
This past year has been the most
intense year of my life. The worst
things were being diagnosed with A.L.L., which was the worst of all, and all
that came with it – getting the port installed, all the shots, spinals, chemo
drugs, bone marrow tests, being admitted to the hospital so many times, not
being able to have play days (because of low counts or having to stay away from
others who might be sick), and not being able to eat many of the foods or
places I like to eat, and losing my hair.
Although they were very hard, tough, intense, and stressful, I’ve made
it through, I’m OK, and now that I’m in the Maintenance phase, things should go
smoothly.
 |
| Christmas at Tim's folks' |
Other than all the bad things,
I’ve had a fairly good year. I’ve gotten
many presents and surprises, such as my Nintendo DSi (which Dad would have
NEVER let me have if it wasn’t for Riley), my “small” Make-A-Wish Foundation
gift (a giant LEGO Star Wars ship with an eight-legged tank), making several
new friends in the cancer ward at Riley, getting to know Joey Keller better,
and the nurses – some of whom I’d almost consider to be close friends now, and
many new LEGO sets. We had a great
Christmas this year, and I can hardly believe I’m 11 years old now. I actually feel older this year – taller,
stronger, and more mature. I always
remember looking up to others who were 11 years old, and now I’m 11 and I want
to be the kind of person I most appreciated in older boys when I was
young. I remember certain friends who
never left me out or walked away from me when I was littler than them and I
remember how that made me feel.
This year, I’ve also learned a lot
spiritually. I’ve learned a lot about
spiritual warfare, and my dad taught me how to visualize Jesus sitting next to
me and I use that a lot when I’m fighting depression or feeling anxious, or
sometimes just to have Him with me. I
look forward to my hair coming back in to be as long as it was before. I hope everyone else had a good year last
year and will have a great year in 2013.
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone for all the great presents,
cards, games, visits, and those who looked after me (especially the one who
brought cookies!) Thank You!
Wishing you all the very best in 2013,
Tim, Andrea, Daniel,
(Samson, Diezel, and Draco)
To see our "Best of 2012" Photo Album, please visit one of the following links:
Facebook: (small size. No account needed)
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Other
Miller Links:
Daniel’s Caring Bridge
site here:
Tim’s
Facebook page:
Andrea’s
Facebook page:
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