Beauty at the edge of where we know

Some where in the mid 1970s - which is many years ago now, on some long hot days in the (then) small town of Akola in rural Maharashtra, a small boy avidly read old issues of Popular Science from the late 1960s.

The magazines had lavish stories about what the future will be like.  Space travel and colonisation were prominently featured.   Fanciful descriptions of personal rocket propelled vehicles, terraforming and high-tech mega cities that swirled around new and distant planets were devoured by the boy.  Images of sleek future dwellers were pored over.  Work colonies on other planets - with large bowl like covers to keep an atmosphere congenial to humans were pored over by the lad.

That fellow was me.  The stash of magazines was at some library which the Christian and Missionary Alliance Mission had started in Akola.  We were there to be with our 'adopted grandparents' the Carners - and for me the old library was heaven on earth.

I have shelved most of my interplanetary dreams... and then a spaceship actually illuminates the face of that remarkable body Pluto.  We grew up calling that tiny celestial object (1/3rd the size of our moon) that takes 248 earth-years to orbit the sun a planet.  A decade ago Pluto was (in my view) cruelly demoted by the astronomical powers to be to a 'dwarf-planet' - most likely the nearest one of what may by myriad such frozen mini worlds in the kuiper belt.

So yesterday the first pictures arrive back here on earth of Pluto.  The first real pictures that show what this world looks like.  The first time we have had a glimpse of that which we only had a name for - and the most grainy of speculations about what this world and her 5 moons ('satellites') may be like.

And what a set of pictures the first ones are!

Here is a NASA set of images of Pluto - taken as the New Horizons craft came closer and closer to it!

The final images are just the first of what will be a treasure trove of first views of a world till now largely unknown.  Almost 9 years after it was launched, the New Horizons craft has gone a jaw dropping 4 billion kms through space and has sent images that caused the head of the programme Alan Stern to react like this when he saw the first images:

Those eyes look about the size of Pluto - but that is sheer excitement about seeing things like this:

Wow - a whole new world.  And one which is being looked at right now with amazement and delight.  Especially when you get detailed shots of the surface with show what appear to be 'ice-mountains' that are over 3000 meters high.

So there we have it.  Beauty at the edge of where we know - and stunning images of places seen for the first time.

How about a bit of Keats to enjoy the moment fully:

Then I felt like some watcher of the skies

When a new planet swims into his ken;

Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes

He stared at the Pacific - and all his men

Look'd at each other with wild surmise -

Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

                                                                   - John Keats (On first looking into Chapman's Homer)

Hooray, hooray, its a chemo day today!

Dad met his oncologist today.  And the oncologist was happy.  A week into Dad's 3rd round of chemo, his White Blood Cells are up.  Way up!

2 weeks ago Dad's WBC count was 2800 and his neutrophil percentage was 20.  Both pretty low.  Dad's oncologist decided that he would wait for a few days to see if Dad's counts would go up.  They did.  5 days later his overall WBCs were 4800 which is in the realm of the 'normal values' (4000-10000), and though his neutrophil percentage was still low at 22%, Dr. Bakshi decided that Dad should go ahead and start the first dose of the 3rd round of chemotherapy.

Today Dad met Dr. Bakshi with is latest blood report.  Dr. Bakshi smiled.

Dad's counts have gone up to 9000!  And his neutrophil percentage is at 60!  And that after the first dose of this round...   We are so grateful for these mercies.

So tomorrow Dad is scheduled for dose no. 2 of this round - and then next week he should be getting dose no. 3.   The Lord is good - His mercies endure forever.

Each day we have Mum and Dad with us is a miracle and a blessing.  Yes those are words that people fling about, but they are true.  Yes, every day is not always happy-clappy - but we are just so grateful to be going through these days together.

Today Sheba and I were able to spend some time with Mum and Dad, praying before we went over to have an important conversation with Dr. Stephen Alfred.  Later in the evening, Mum was there with the other ladies from church and JSK who come for prayer from 6-7 pm on Wednesday evenings - and Dad met with us from 9.30-10.30 pm when a handfull of us men get together to pray.   At other parts during the day our lives intertwined in various ways both mundane and special and now the whole household is asleep except for yours trully typing in the quiet cool darkness (with the screen on of course!).

In a few minutes we will be able to say...  Hooray, hooray, its a chemo day today!

We have been blessed by generous gifts towards Dad's therapy which means that Dad now has a positive credit at the hospital.   And so we step forward into the next bit of chemo, the next tone in the melody of our lives, the next opportunity to see value and joy.

Thanks for being with us on this journey!

---------------------------------------------------

P.s.  the photo is from the time Stefan and Neeru and kids were with us 3 weeks ago.

Kim's next steps

When Kim came to Jeevan Sahara in 3rd week of May, he was fighting for life.  Again.

At the age of 14, he only weighed 14 kgs.  He was dying.  A painfully thin orphan boy, who had stopped taking his ART medicines and stopped eating.  Who cried as he pleaded with our staff to be admitted back at Jeevan Sahara where he had been twice admitted before.

We brought him back, but none of his relatives were willing to come here.  And so Kim was admitted with very slim hopes that he would survive.  Hopes almost as slim as his emaciated arms.

We have seen a miracle take place over the past 2 months.

Kim has come back to life.  His empty listless eyes are sparkling.  He has gained 7 kgs.  Kim is still very, very thin, but he is not battling for life at this point.  He has turned a corner.  The love and prayer and love and prayers and love and care that our nurses and other staff have given Kim have brought him back to the land of the living.

We now have the challenge of seeing what the next step will be.

One this is sure.  Kim is not going back to his relatives.  His maternal uncle kept Kim in a small shed and sent food to him.  He claims that they wanted Kim in their home, but Kim refused and wanted to live in the shed.

Whatever the truth of that absurd story may be - we know that if Kim goes back, we will never see him again.  We have had toxic families before - and we don't want to lose this boy.

So we have been looking around for other options.  None of the HIV care centres / orphanages that we know of in the locality are willing to take a 14 year old boy.  Most take kids below 6 years old.

At Jeevan Sahara we are not licensed to be a children's rehabilitation home (does anyone want to join us to do something like this?).   So we have looked further afield - and have found our dear friends at ACCEPT in Bangalore ready to take care of Kim.   We have a family who loves Kim and has been praying for him and will be helping out financially.  How we wish a family would come forward to foster and/or adopt him.  Let us see what the future holds!

So over the past 2 weeks our staff of Mahesh and Vikas have worked to get Kim's papers in order, to get his uncle to agree to come along with Kim to Bangalore, gone through painful rounds of negotiation with the uncle to get him to sign off a legal document stating that he is handing over Kim to ACCEPT for care.  Our staff have also gone to the govt. hospital and got a transfer of Kim's second-line ART treatment.

It was all the more difficult to do as Kim's uncle lives 2.5 hours away and is not the most friendly man.   But our staff prayed and persevered.  To have Kim's uncle's signature on an affidavit this afternoon has been a huge break-through!  We even had to put a very clear statement to this man we would not allow him and the other family members to once again abdicate responsibility.  Not going along with us may have invited  some form of investigation into their appalling neglect of this boy.

We have booked and cancelled one set of train tickets already - and now have a second waiting for a week from today.  On the 20th of July, Kim, Vikas and Kim's uncle are taking the train to Bangalore.

So this may be the last week Kim is with us for the forseeable future.  Last night at the gospel meeting in the JSK hall I was praying with Kim and Yohan and Abhishek afterwards.   Kim said that he wanted us to pray that when he grows up, he will meet his best friend again: Yohan.

What does the future hold this young man?

We are amazed that Kim is still alive.   Thanks for all who have been praying for Kim.   He is a living, walking testimony of grace.

Would that one day he will be able to go to his relatives and tell them how he forgives them for what they have done to him.  

We want to see Kim be a blessing.  To touch the lives of others.   In a small way, he already has.

The new normal

It's a normal rainy July morning.

Asha and Enoch were bundled off on the school bus just after 7 AM.   They were up at 5.30 and had their Bible time and breakfast.  Asha was in her white sports uniform today.  Enoch in the normal grey pant and white shirt and blue tie that BSS Powai has for most days.  The cement-grey pant mirrored the grey cool monsoonal skies.  An occasional spitting of rain.

Yohan woke up and had the first pill of his day (he now gets meds at 7 AM, 8.30 AM, 1 PM, 7 PM and 8.30 PM to cover the big three diseases this little fellow is battling).   By quarter to 8 he had his bath and breakfast and we prayed for him.  Oma normally takes him at this time to Mrs. Priya S. for his morning classes - but today I dropped him off in the Papaya.

The reason is that Oma will be going with Opa to the Bethany Hospital to start round 3 of chemotherapy this morning.   Last Friday his blood counts were at 2800, and were considered too low for chemo, so the oncologist said to wait a few days.  Yesterday night Dad met Dr. Bakshi again.  Looking at yesterdays report, he saw that Dad's blood counts had gone up to 4800 (in 4 days).  Though the neutrophil percentage is still low (22%), the oncologist had decided to go ahead.  And so as I write this, Mum and Dad will be getting into an auto and heading over to be admitted for the day in order to get his latest dose of chemo.

This is our new normal.  Dropping of kids to school and Dad for chemo.  And moving on with all the things that need to be done. I am off in a few minutes to go to Dadar for a meeting of the CORINTH network - a group of HIV charities in greater Mumbai who are living out their mission in the name and spirit of Jesus.   Sheba will be coming over to JSK to see new patients.  The world spins around and the prayers of the saints are being heard and acted on by our loving Father.

We are coming up on 13 years with Jeevan Sahara Kendra in Thane, 14 years being in the greater Mumbai area as a family and 20 years since I came back from a lengthy bit of study in the US.  It's time to pray and ask the Lord for what He wants of us.  Your prayers are much appreciated during a time when we listen to what our Lord is telling us about the next steps.

Getting back to Dad, one of the mercies is that the CA 19-9 test that he did last week seems to show that the chemo is working.  The test measures whether sugars (oligosaccharides) that are linked with pancreatic cancers are being produced at higher than expected levels.  We are glad that Dad's level's seem in the normal range - a peep into what is happening in his body - an indication that if there are cancer cells left, they are not at this point reproducing strongly.   At the same time, as with any test - there can be false negatives, so we take this result thankfully, but also a bit lightly.  It's good that we don't see a very high CA 19-9 level - but just having it at the normal range is not 100% proof that all is well.

Every day is a blessing - and we move forward into our new normal!

A new life together

Yesterday evening our dear Agnes married Ezra Kannayyan.

It was a blessed time with Agnes' family out in force - a group of 18 had come from her village of Lankalakoderu and it was a unique time when all the surviving siblings gathered to thank the Lord and pray for the new couple.

We wanted to much to be there as a full family but three things were in the way:  Asha and Enoch's school assessments on Friday and Monday, Dad's chemotherapy that was expected for the weekend, and Yohan's health and the fact that we have to get written permission from the authorities to take him out of the district.

So we had to make a call on who would go from the Eichers - and it ended up being only Sheba.  But we are so glad that she could be there.

Here is the first picture we have of the wedding - the bride with a smile that is bursting through her veil, flanked by (from left to right): David uncle, Amma, Sheba, Agnes' mother Stuthi (carrying a grandchild), Mary Auntie and Sheba's sister Sarah.  Agnes' late father was the sibling of David, Amma, Mary and the late uncle Isaac (whose widow was not able to join the marriage).  It's a tribute to God's grace across the generations so see these precious people together for Agnes' big day.

From the Thane church, our elder Rolly and Doris attended - joined by their daughter Juanita from Dehra Dun, and the other elder Jolly and Suma along with their daughter Reneta.  Icing on the cake was our dear John Gabriel who was in town for business, and who was pressed into service at the last minute to translate from English into Hindi and Telegu as bro Rolly shared the main message.

The wedding was held up in North Delhi - a good 36 kms away from where Victor and Sarah live.  So Sheba and the rest of the family got back late to the Gautam Nagar home.   For Agnes and Ezra, their long journey is just beginning.  We wish them all God's blessings in this wonderful pilgrimmage.  Fifteen years after Dec. 15th 1999, Sheba and I are so grateful for the blessings we have received on the way... and are experiencing as we make our next steps together.

Low counts, but moderate to high spirits

Dad met his oncologist this morning.  He has completed 2 rounds of chemo and is gearing up to start round 3.

But the Dad's blood counts are low.  Very low.  2800 WBCs and only 28 percent neutrophils.   Dr. Ashish Bakshi said that we will wait before starting the next round.  Wait till Dad's blood counts go up.  The chemo is clearly 'working' - and that blessed poison is doing a number on Dad's immunity too.

We faced this last round too.  After the first 2 doses, Dad's bloods were fine.  But then the 3rd and final dose of the cycle - and a 14 day break after which I expected his blood reports to have rebounded, but they stayed low.

Mum and Dad asked Dr. Bakshi if they could do anything.  Could they eat something - or avoid something to get the counts up.  The good doc had no answer for them.

I can see that it's not fun being a patient.  Dad's doing a pretty good job, though, at being gracious about the many small reminders that he has that he is not 'normal' - esp. at meal times.  Dad has strict instructions to only eat 'fresh' food.  And for some reason his doc says that chicken is a no-no.  So Dad has to keep asking about whether the food being served is kosher for him or now.

It's not fun not having as much energy - but Dad plugs on - going down stairs with Yohan for his daily walk - trying to fix the roller-scooter which Yohan has discovered and is enthusiastically learning to use.  

It's not fun being 'in a room' - and feeling that the other family members have to adjust.  Esp. when you have been living in as beautiful a place as Shanti Kunj.  Earlier in the week, we thought that Mum and Dad may be able to stay nearby, but that option did not open up as we had hoped.  So they are here in Asha's room - for the near future at least.

It's not fun having 'planned' to start your next round of chemo tomorrow - and then hearing that it will take some more time.

But then again, life is not all about fun.  We are so glad that Dad is with us these days. 

Someone said that Dad has a 'built-in' tranquiliser.  Not quite.  We do know, however, that he is working to make sense of things, and that the out-going, smile-inducing banter is not automatic, but the result of decisions he makes.

I watch him every morning reading from his harmony of the gospels, his feet up to reduce swelling, and a cup of tea or coffee next to him.  Dad listens to what God is telling him.

And so we come to the end of the 3rd of July in the year of our Lord 2015.  

I just got an SMS from one of our staff stating that a man we had been caring for 'is NOW with the Lord. pray for the family.'

An hour ago we had a small prayer time - Oma, Asha, Enoch and I - on behalf of Agnes and Ezra as they are being married at this time in Delhi.   Sheba took the train up to Delhi yesterday with Stefan and Neeru to be part of this beautiful day.

Death and marriage on the same day.  At the same time.

Our times are fleeting.  Oh that we would be more grateful for each day.  That we would be more grace-filled instead of being mean and curt and quick to think the worst. Oh that we would be able to enjoy and appreciate each other as the seconds melt into minutes, and the hours slip into the past like telephone poles whipping by an breezy open train-window.

Dad and Mum continue to push forward.  There is no magic wand to wave.  There is not little button to press to make everything 'happy-happy.'  Living with them, up-close-and-personal shows that Dad is not always a shining beacon of light.  But that makes is all the more special when he allows God's grace to work in and through him, when his spirits are lifted by the blessed Comforter, Advocate and Guide who comes from the Father and the Son.

Dad is in his room typing - and I am in this room typing.  His old friend Paothang Haokip has just called up so I took the mobile over to Dad.   The big smile is back on his face.  "Hey brother" he starts out with as I close the door and let old friends share their hearts....  
   

Last gol guppas, last supper, last...

Your cherished, hoped for event is suddenly upon you... and then it whooshes by, leaving you watching it dissappear as a little dot on the horizon.

We are still in the 'whoosh' of Stefan and Neeru and kids time with us - but have already come to start teeing up our 'lasts'.

This afternoon was the last gol-guppa and sev-puri chaat.  Mind you it was also the first we have enjoyed together as the 12 Eichers, but since we dug in on the day before Stefan and family are headed back to Delhi - and then later this month to the US for 2 years... it gets the moniker 'last'.

What do you say to these mouth-waterers?

Needless to say - they dissappeared rapidly down assorted Eicher gullets.

Not part of our growing up culture - but a glad addition to our tribe.

Having been strictly kept away from street-food, it is only now that we are biting in - and that too with great care to be very sterile... especially since we have two people with low immunities with us - Yohan and Dad!

Give us some advance notice the next time you come - and we will get some ready for you too to dig in with us!

So what do you do on a last afternoon together?

Well, if you are of a school-going age with 'assessments' (fancy name of the old fashioned 'exams') you do a lot of studying - and if you are small enough, Sheba aunty will read you a story...

Meanwhile in the front room - our other scholars are being taken through their paces by Neeru aunty...  How I wish I were back at that age and tackling those assignments (though I did not personally like school much for the first 9 years or so of instruction).

The  old saw about 'all work and no play' is quickly and constantly tested out in our household.  It wasn't long before a number of games broke out.  Othello and "Who am I" are current favourites, and Ashish and Enoch went downstairs for some football, and Daddies had to do some shopping, but a final 5 player game of Risk did take place too!

Earlier in the afternoon some kneading happened in the kitchen.  Not for the standard chappatis, but for some pizza!  And by early evening it had risen nicely and was ready to be put in the pans!

We have a jolly little past-time when it comes to pizzas - kids get to 'decorate' their pies.

So one by one (and after being examined for hand-washing too!) we had 6 of our 10 pizzas 'made' by the young generation.

And then into the oven they went, most 2-by-2 like the animals into Noah's ark.  The last two being biggest got single status!

The picture on the left is unusual - because it was taken by Dad - possibly the first time I have seen him take a shot in years - and he actually went outside the kitchen window to get the angle he wanted!

"Wer will fleißige Handwerker sehn?" goes the old German children's song! (go to google translate if you don't know Deutsch!).

Our expert cooks made sure that the pizzas were ready to take out...

Did we really make that many?

Who is going to eat them all?

Are they done yet?

A watched pizza seems to take longer to bake...

But yes, the first ones were ready and placed on the top of the oven to keep them warm, while the second batch went in, and then when these were in turn brought out...

we went to the table where 6 hungry cousins had gathered with empty plates and rumbly tummies (though not from the gol-guppas that they had scoffed just 4 hours previously)

And so we move to the next stage in our lives.  Stefan and Neeru in Indianapolis - becoming part of what looks like a wonderful community there - while Stefan does an MFA in painting from the IUPUI.   We 'looked' at the house that they will be staying at on google street view - and Enoch already wants to go and visit them there.

If wishes were horses...

But who knows?  Perhaps it will not be 2 years before we meet up again.

Perhaps one of these days the 5 of us will be boarding a jet plane...

In the meantime we still have the present.  The next few hours of togetherness.  The ache of wanting to talk and yet not being able to get the words out.  The blessed opportunities of being in the same place at the same time, breathing the same air and building our togetherness by the many small struts and lashings-together that are the common-place things that we can't do when far apart.

Until we actually live on the same street - or at least in the same city (unlikely at this point) - we will have to make do with these occassional meetings - blessed intentional gathering together to do both the special and the normal.

We are so very grateful for Stefan and Neeru coming and spending these crucial days with us.  As they do their final rounds of preparation before they fly to the US in the last week of July, we send them on their journey with a loud 'God-speed!'

And, strangely enough, we are not sending them off alone!  We booked Sheba on the same Rajdhani to Delhi as our dear Agnes is getting married on the 3rd of July! 

Picture please!  All together... all smile...  never possible, but each time a heroic try!  Here is our latest version: