much to be thankful for...

we just wanted to wish all of you a happy thanksgiving!  our family has so much to be thankful for this year.  each day, each hour, and each minute we have together is truly because of God's grace.  we hope each and every one of you has a blessed thanksgiving, and will take time to thank God for His provision and faithfulness this past year.

we also wanted to again send a special thanks for all of you who are praying or fasting on behalf on our mother.  words can't express the encouragement and blessing you have been not only to our mother, but to each and every one of us.  for those who are fasting, we have another couple weeks to go (2nd week of december) toward our goal.  we continue to especially ask for your prayers this week.  as we mentioned previously, our mom will be getting another CT scan on monday, and should get the results tuesday (12/2).  at that time we may need to decide whether to continue with treatment or not.  please pray for strength for our mom and our family, and complete healing from the cancer!  thanks again so much for fasting and praying alongside us.

we are so thankful for all of you, and for the community that God has surrounded our mom with.  God is good!

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you..."
- 1 Thessalonians 5 :16-18 

November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month (contd.)

[M] Hello everyone! In honor of November being National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, we decided to buy a bunch of wristbands (like in the picture below) for anyone that would like to join us in raising PanCan awareness. If you're interested, we'd love to send you one (or two or three or as many as you'd like). Just shoot me an email at gordongartrell[at]gmail.com with a mailing adress, and then check your mailboxes a few days later. Supplies are limited though...so don't wait :)!

Anyways, we wanted to thank you all again for all of your concerns and prayers!

God is good...amen?.

Ayyy-men.

Mariella's Infant Dedication 11.23.08

Thanks, Grandparents, for coming!!

Here is a link to more photos: http://feeenix.smugmug.com/gallery/6637527_JgpPa#423383693_qD55d

Courtesy of Phoenix Mak.

Thanks, Phoenix!!!

Out-of-towners visit :)

just wanted to share some pictures of some friends who came in from out of town to visit our mom last week.  first, pastor pai from louisiana came down to visit.  before having lunch at kim son with pastor albany and yvenn, they went to simon's dad's office to pray with our mom.

later that weekend, april lang and ben lam came down from dallas and visited our mom at home.  here's a pic of april with mom and dad:

also, my mom's old college roommate ruth (who is mrs. liao's sister) came to visit all the way from vancouver!  here's a pic of the three of them together: 

we are so touched by the support and prayers from all of you!  thanks so much for being such an incredible blessing!

Mom shares testimony

for many years, my mom's church has sponsored an annual thanksgiving dinner that many members of the taiwanese community in clear lake participate in.  this year, our mom had the opportunity to share her testimony during the dinner, specifically how God has been faithful to her in the midst of this trial.  here's mom speaking to the people attending that night (11/22):

also, here's a pic that my mom took that night with a lot of the women in the taiwanese community who have been such an incredible support to her:

gearing up for thanksgiving + quick update

thanksgiving is just around the corner, and our family is really looking forward to it.  matthew should be coming back on monday from california, so our mom is real excited :)

anyhow, a quick update on our last visit to md anderson on tuesday.  we found out that her CA19-9 level is around 65,000 U/mL (previous measurement was around 33,000 U/mL).  this is evidence that the disease may be continuing to spread quite rapidly.  because of this, the doctors have decided to move up the CT scan to two weeks from now, so that we can know the state of the disease.  we were all a little discouraged at the news at first, but we are continuing to trust God.  she just had her third round of chemo after the doctor's appointment, and has a little bit of nausea today, but not too bad.  praise God!!  thanks again for all your prayers, and for all those who are fasting alongside us...i know i probably say this each time, but words cannot express how much they mean to our mother and our families.

anyhow, i know my parents and simon&faye's family are looking forward to mariella's dedication at whcc this weekend.  hopefully our mom will get to see some of y'all there on sunday :)

God is good

Prayer request

our mom will be seeing dr. varadhachary again tomorrow (11/18), and will be receiving the third round of her folfox6 chemo. lately, our mom has been more tired and fatigued, as this regimen seems to be taking more of a toll on her. as she receives her next treatment, please be praying for special strength to overcome the side effects, and for continued healing.

thank you so much for your prayers!  God is good.

"We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you."

-Psalm 33:20-22

Calhouns visit Houston

on sunday 11/9, the calhouns (or mr. and mrs. c as many of us at efc affectionately call them) came to visit from san antonio.  robert calhoun was the english pastor at efc for many years, and the calhoun family has been such an incredible blessing to our family ever since.  for those who don't know the story, they actually ended up at our church by "accident".  they were headed to another church, but got lost.  they ended up driving to into efc, and the rest was history!  it turns out they had actually served in taiwan as missionaries for many years, and efc was in need of an english pastor at the time.  it was definitely a divine appointment!

robert & linda with mariella :)

anyhow, we all met up at simon and faye's place, and it was a great time to catch up with everyone.  sharon and ricky (and james!!) were able to come visit as well.  at the end of our time together, robert shared some psalms with our mother (i think psalm 31,32,33, and 16), and spent time praying for her.  simon also prayed for robert and linda, who will be heading to scotland in the near future, as robert will be pastoring a few churches there.  it was definitely an encouraging and blessed time.

we will miss the calhouns, and hope to visit them in scotland!

EFC Women's Fellowship

so the Women's Fellowship at EFC (my mom's home church) were joking the other day about how they wanted to take more pics so they could be posted on the blog...so i'd thought i'd make them happy :)  here they are a week and a half ago on thursday 11/6

this group of women has been so faithful in praying on behalf of our mom, and such a source of encouragement and joy for her.  my mom is blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing community!

November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

thought i'd share this with y'all.  here's randy pausch's heart-wrenching testimony before congress to call for more pancreatic cancer funding.  this was given a few months before he passed away.

11/1 weekend upate (a little behind!)

first of all, i wanted to thank all of you who were praying for our mom through her second round of palliative chemo. she's been having some nausea and tiredness, but other than that, she has been tolerating it reasonably well. praise God!!

sorry we are running so behind on these updates. lots been going on...it's hard to keep up with my mom :) last-last weekend (10/31-11/2) a lot of my mom's family came to vist her in houston. they spent a lot of time talking, sometimes late into the night. even though they've always been close, i know this trial has really brought them closer together. they travelled from all over the place to visit houston. my mom's oldest sister came all the way from taiwan to visit, my mom's oldest brother and his wife came from california, and our cousin elsa came from NYC. i know my mom wished that they could've stayed longer, but she was so thankful to have spent that time with them. here's a pic from that weekend:

from left to right in the front row: dad, mom, dwah-yi (mom's oldest sister), 

sehan a-yi(mom's youngest sister). from left to right in the back row: elsa (our cousin), mariella, simon, faye, ah-geem (mom's sister in law), ah gu (mom's oldest brother).

also, miho and bryan visited from san francisco, along with his mother gloria, and their dog mei mei visited that weekend. thanks so much for the wonderful gifts as well! 

there's a lot more that's happened this past week, that you'll have to read about later :) please continue to pray for strength, faith, and encouragement for our mother, continued healing from the cancer in her body, and that God's glory would continue to be shown through this trial. 

until next time!

Hear Our Prayers

This song came to my mind as I thought and prayed tonight for our friends who are struggling with cancer in their own lives, families, and loved ones...

Hear Our Prayers ~ by Glorious Unseen

Hear our cries Lord,
Hear our prayers.
Take our burdens,
Calm our fears.

God will you make us
A people that love You.
Please take our offerings
That we set before You.

God hear our prayers
That we're lifting up to You.
God see our tears
That we're struggling to see through.

God, hear our prayers to You.
In our weakness,You remain.
When we're broken,You sustain.

God hear our prayers.
We lift them to You.
God hear our prayers,
Lord make our hearts true.
Will You make our hearts true?

Hear our prayers Lord.
God will you make us
A people that love You.
Please take our offerings
That we set before You.
God hear our prayers
That we're lifting up to You.
God see our tears
That we're struggling to see through.

God hear our prayers
As we lift them to heaven.
We're praying the angels
Receive and embrace them.

The cries of the broken.
We're reaching our hands out,
Oh Lord will You hold them?

God hear our prayers
That we're lifting up to You.
God see our tears
That we're struggling to see through.

Prayer requests

my mom had a great weekend!  so many people came to visit: her oldest sister from taiwan, her older brother from cali, my cousin from NYC...along with bryan, his mom, and miho.  we'll have to give a more detailed post later (along with pics!), but i just wanted to ask y'all for special prayer tomorrow (11/4), as our mom will receive her second dose of chemo.

praise God that she was able to tolerate the first chemo fairly well!  she had some nausea, but by God's grace it didn't keep her down.  please pray for the following

• pray that God would protect her from the side effects of the chemo.  the side effects are usually cumulative, and could get worse with each treatment.  pray that God would allow her to not feel the side effects

• pray for continued strength and encouragement for our mother 

• pray that God would continue to heal her completely from the cancer!  we understand that there is no medical cure, but we do not want to let up in asking God for a miracle that only He can give.

thanks again so much for all of you who have been praying for our mother, and for those who have been fasting alongside us.  it means so much, and we truly believe that God is hearing your prayers and sustaining our mother.  may God continue to get all the glory!  God is good!

Gary + Monica :)

gary and monica came down to clear lake last thursday (10/30) to pray for with our mother.  it was such a blessing to have them here!  God has really blessed them with a sensitivity to the Spirit, and He has used them to be such an encouragement to our family during this time.  it was the first time for my mother to meet them, even though they have been so involved in praying for her the past few months.   during dinner (which our mom cooked up!) we also got to hear some amazing stories of how the Holy Spirit has been working in such a powerful way in their lives....some really crazy stuff!  they'll be leaving the country this week to the mission field, and we can't wait to see them again when they get back.  we'll be praying for them!

Pancreatic cancer research underfunded

came across this article that does a pretty good job of summarizing one of the big problems in how cancer research is funded: Deadliest cancers lag in research funding

check out this chart:

in my opinion, this distribution of funding is unacceptable.  like this blogger here (Cancer Funding: Does It Add Up?) points out, perhaps it would make more sense to appropriate funds based on a mortality rate, rather than a new incidence rate.

it hasn't been until recently that people have become more aware of pancreatic cancer, through the efforts of people like randy pausch.  hopefully awareness of this deadly disease will continue to grow...