Writing in my 5-year journal this morning during my quiet time, I was stunned to read the entry from exactly one year ago, which sits just north of today’s entry: "Lisa and I left for Tanzania to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro today after church." My entry the day before was “T-1: still 60% excited and 40% terrified.”

All the feels were generated as I read what I had written. Everything from “How could that have been a year ago?” to “That 40% never dissipated!” to “I still can’t believe we got to do that!” to “I still sort of want to try it again with better altitude preparation.”

A year later, I’m still so glad Lisa and I had that experience. It was truly one of the most challenging and difficult physical feats I’ve done in my now 71 years of life, but it was also magnificently beautiful, awe-inspiring, and unique. Besides the overwhelming majesty of God’s created world, the sentiment which stitches the whole experience together is that I was accompanied by the most encouraging, sacrificial team of porters, lead by Kombe and Jackson, and best of all, my hiking partner, daughter Lisa, who made the adjustment from “child” to “parent” seamlessly, was “as good as it gets.” They confirmed that “who you are walking with makes all the difference.”

Memory is a funny thing. Within months of returning from Tanzania, as I was putting together a photo/journal book of our journey, my very romanticized perspective of the climb concluded that it wasn’t really that hard until the summit night when I was defeated by altitude sickness. Fortunately, for the sake of truth, I consulted by journal for accuracy and was sort of surprised to read that at the end of every day, my journal entries recorded: “I can’t believe how hard this is!! Why did I ever think I could do this at my age??”

I’ve often quoted the Chinese proverb which reads: “The faintest ink is stronger than the best memory.” Apparently, history is best revised by memories, not by ink records.

*After four days of hiking, we’re dwarfed by the still distant but looming presence of the tallest free-standing mountain on the planet.*

*Seven days later, we’re back at the beginning with our beloved guides, Kombe and Jackson, and we are a little worse for the wear.*

Some of you may remember this post I made just after arriving in Tanzania:

Not surprisingly, but deeply moving, our “village” responded quickly and generously, and $25K was raised for the Mukatas, which they received humbly and gratefully.

And many joined their prayer team. Though it’s been a long and hard trek for Jennie and family as they have settled in Colorado Springs near Jennie’s family to facilitate her treatments, the Lord has graciously met them and brought significant healing to Jennie’s body. Her latest update was posted today:

Hello, dear friends and family! It's been a while since I sent an update, but it's only been this week that I really had anything to report...

Overall, I am doing so well- so well, in fact, that (in defiant faith mixed with fear and trembling) I tried out for the music team at our church here, and I am scheduled to SING on the team on May 24th!! Earlier last year, I had to step down from the music team at our church in Kenya because of my uncontrollable cough, and since then, I have been praying and asking the Lord to let me be able to sing again. As the cancer has decreased, so has my cough, and now the pulmonologist has me on some new medication that has helped even more. It seems those prayers are being answered, and so I want to use the breath God has miraculously given me to praise Him! (I still can't play the guitar, as the Tagrisso affects my finger tips, but I'm praying God will help me with that, too!)

My recent PET scan overall looked very good, and we praise the Lord that the cancer has reduced significantly again! I have to admit, though, I really struggled because I had my hopes up that there would be no living cancer left (a possibility the specialist had mentioned before). I battled hard to rejoice that the cancer had decreased because I felt crushed as I had expected it to be gone. The possibility of living with cancer, and the reality of (likely) having to have emotional roller coaster-inducing scans every 3 months, likely for years to come, felt like a weight that would crush me. But, as I grieved and gave thanks, I began to wonder if the way God wants to glorify Himself in my story is not (necessarily) through complete/instant healing, but through the miracle of sustaining me in spite of the presence of cancer. And so, as we continue to pray for complete healing, I will continue giving thanks for the miracle of health and sustenance in the meantime... and I will keep singing!!

Since there is still some living cancer, the specialist presented my results to a Tumor Board, which decided it would be best for me to do radiation. This afternoon, I met with the doctor who will be overseeing my radiation. He said I need to come in for another scan on Monday, and then he and his team will work with that info to create my exact treatment plan. In 2-3 weeks, once that is done, I will be scheduled for 10 days of radiation over approximately a 2-week period. I felt quite overwhelmed at the beginning of the appointment today—heavy again with the reality of cancer and worried about what radiation will be like. But the doctor was so kind, and I left feeling so thankful for the team of excellent doctors God has given me, the amazing progress in modern medicine even in recent years, for my family and all of you who are such amazing support on this journey, and for God's grace and mercy. Thank you so very much for your love and prayers!

Jennie

Let’s continue to uphold Jennie and her family as they press on towards more healing.

And now: a current update on our comings and goings.

The three weeks following our week in Mexico at YWAM’s Rancho Abierto, with the exception of a few counseling days, have been guided by our belief that “At the heart of every family tradition is a meaningful experience.”

The tradition of spending Mother's Day with Lisa in Riverside has become one of my favorites. With thoughtfulness and generosity, Lisa makes the day very special for me, which besides the predictable going to her beloved church and getting in a good 5-mile walk, this year also included brunch at a restaurant in downtown Riverside. The day was delightful in every way.

*Mother’s Day brunch in Riverside with Lisa.*

The next tradition was the last of our “Ten-Year-Old Adventure with Papa and Gigi.” Paul flew to VA to retrieve Rachel and I flew to Oakland to get Micah, and along with Lisa, we joined forces in Riverside to launch our exciting week together on Tuesday, May 12th. The goal of the week is to have lots of fun together while deepening our bonds of connection and understanding. The ten-years-olds get to choose the adventure and after many considerations and ideas, they landed on a southern California-based plan which included Disneyland, California Adventure, the Santa Monica Pier, and Wild Rivers Water Park. We stayed in a hotel in Anaheim for three nights to minimize driving and it worked out perfectly. We were at the parks when they opened and when they closed, which surprises no one who knows us (or at least me). :) And we managed to log about 10 miles each day, except at Wild Rivers, where we spent plenty of time going up stairs to long exhilarating water slides.

We truly had a blast. And we collected new insights into each other, imbuing the week with many meaningful moments.

*Micah and Gigi on the flight from Oakland to Ontario, CA.*

*Our first morning together at the hotel 10 minutes from the Magic Kingdom.*

*All smiles still hours into the day at Disneyland.*

*It was both 10-year-olds’ first trip to the Magic Kingdom since they were 3, so it was all new and exciting.*

*Day 2: California Adventure. Another great day with perfect weather.*

*The iconic photo in front of the Mickey head.*

*The Santa Monica Pier was where we spent all day Friday, our third day, and the kids and Lisa rode carnival rides for hours.*

*They ended our time in Santa Monica by jumping in the 55-degree waves for about 30 minutes at 6 pm! Crazy! I was happy to be taking photos.*

*All day Saturday at Wild Rivers Water Park and we all had a blast there too.*

*And e-bike riding! Lisa’s dear friends, Tracy and Roman, generously allowed us to experience their e-bikes, which was definitely a highlight for our bike loving Micah.*

*After a swim party at Lisa’s home Sunday, we had an outdoor dinner and showing of “Cars”—which Rachel had never seen!*

*More swimming Monday and a trip to the local theater to see “The Sheep Detectives” (which we highly recommend) before packing up to fly out early the next morning.*

*5 am came very early Tuesday, May 19, and Lisa headed to Oakland with Micah and Paul and I headed home with Rachel.*

We all agreed it was a week to remember with great joy. Our only sadness is that we’ve now run out of 10-year-olds, but Brandon’s 16th is coming …

We were home to celebrate my sister’s birthday and then Derek’s, which provided great times of fellowship with family.

We were fortunate to go with our neighbors to Wolf Trap to hear the Marine Corps band on Memorial Day weekend and thoroughly enjoyed that.

And then we were to fly to Portugal May 25 to hike the Camino from Porto, Portugal to Santiago, Spain, in honor of our 50th anniversary. Due to an unexpected turn in the road, those plans are on hold until next May (the next time Lisa will be available to go with us) so we find ourselves unprecedentedly home for a period of time. Besides some doctor’s appointments and some counseling days, we’re taking advantage of being “grounded” and purging files and closets and boxes which haven’t been tended to in many years. And Paul has spent hours building a garden “fortress” to protect future produce from invaders. Each of these projects have been silver linings to our shifting plans.

*Paul designed and built the whole thing.*

*The “fortress” is completed. Now we wait with hopes that we’ll have plenty of tomatoes to share!*

It’s good to be home, having bbq’s with the family, swimming in the pool, watching Nathan’s football games, and getting things done. Though this part of the plan wasn’t in ours, it was in God’s—and we trust Him as we make adjustments needed during this time. We’re very much looking forward to continuing the traditions of speaking at Forest Home’s family camp June 14–20 and to Papa-Gigi camp July 14–20. Truly there are meaningful experiences at the heart of each of these treasured traditions. How blessed are we!!