North's Graduation Day!

Hi everyone! He/We MADE IT!!!
From May 3rd to June 23rd North made the journey five days per week (with MUCH help from many loved ones) to UCI for intense cancer treatment. Yesterday he "Graduated" with full honors!
We want to send out a big acknowledgement to all the health care workers at UCI who took such excellent care of North these past several weeks of treatment. These doctors and nurses exude genuine caring and compassion as they care for people with cancer day after day, year after year. North made quite an impression and several new friends! (In the infusion/chemo room - from left to right - Hillary, Elvie, Chantale, Gail, Maria and the North MAN!)

And, in the radiation department, Dr. Phan makes bubbles as North receives a graduation certificate for being an outstanding patient.



And my camera ran out of batteries before I could get a picture of the dynamic Sharon, the master of the machine. But here is an earlier photo of her as North began radiation.






So we are relieved to be on the other side of this part of the journey we were thrust into back in February when we got the diagnosis. Surgery and treatment were hard, no doubt about it. And we still have quite a long way to go. But we are hopeful and so very touched and healed by all the love we continue to feel, give and receive. Stay with us. We have big plans to not only heal North physically, but to share that healing (which is nothing more than the revealing of the Truth with a capital T!) with many others.
This is a journey of the body, heart and soul and as long as all who have been touched by it continue to open and venture deeper into the Truth of themselves and the sweetness of life, then it is all worth it. Because, I believe, even when it hurts real bad and seems to make no sense, Life is GOOD. And we are all blessed to be here.
Namaste' and HUGE HUGS!
Stef

A Pictoral Update!

The sun is setting on this most difficult leg of the healing journey! Through dark days of pain and silence and those laced with love and laughter, and all the days that have been an equisite blend of both, we have made it here - to the final day of radiation and chemo treatment.
Much has happenned these past few weeks. A few important milestones...


the second arrival of North's Mom, Mary, who actually left yesterday (thank you for youe endless help and loving care of BOTH of us)

and ZACH'S GRADUATION! CONGRATULATIONS HANDSOME!

North's final chemo was Wednesday. After today we embark on the renewal and rejuvination time we've been SO looking forward to! We've been told it will still take a number of months for North to regain his strength and return to wellness sufficient to go into more surgery of reconstruction. But that is down the road; as is the next PET (full body) scan to confirm the success of these past 2 plus months. That will occur in a month, after much of the current inflammation has diminished.

Please keep holding the highest Truth in mind with us of knowing all the cancer cells have packed up their little bags and left for good. (This was my favorite visualization when I went through cervical cancer several years ago - along with a small out-patient procedure and lots of prayer, it worked!)

Thanks for coming along with us, loving and supporting us. More to come as the journey continues. Please stay in touch! We will be up for more visits soon too.

Loads of love,

Stef and North

Tears and Laughter

Please click on Stef's Journal to the right to read my first entry. It is long over-due and long in content, but worth it I hope!
Love and blessings,
Stef

Thank YOU For YOUR Love

Dear Friends,

We are so grateful for everyone that has supported us. There is nothing but Joy in heart for all the Love we have received. For example, we recently had a small group of friends gather at our home to help us decide how we would navigate the next few months financially. The result will be a new web page, a donation plan and some wonderful events that will be unfolding in the near future. Another reason for our gratitude is Brother Bruce McKinnon has been here for almost two weeks making our home cozier, taking us fishing, cleaning our carpets, running errands, being the designated driver for North’s daily treatments and constant source of laughter via his artistic and entertaining acting talents. He has been an endless source of care.

Keeping the same note of gratitude, Saturday we had an experience that was divine reason for thanks giving- literally! God showed up! Please take a few minutes and read a miraculous story of grace and openess. Our humble thank-you note to God (all who read this) follows.


“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” — Genesis 1:26




A STORY OF GRACE AND OPENESS
Late Saturday afternoon a knock comes at our door. Barnie, our doorwoofer (also known the Wizard of Smiles, Marker of Marks, and the Mophead Heartmeister), erupts into his instinctive response. Stef can’t move fast enough, Barnie is already down the steps barking away at the repeated knocks. When she opens the door, there stands a beautiful young girl, with a delightful smile. Barnie, beams with tail wags.

“Hi, are you Stef?” the visitor asks.

“Yes” Stef responds as she is handed a white envelope addressed to North and Stef.
The girl steps away almost immediately, with a look of whimsy and satisfaction. “Don’t we get to know who you are and who this is from?”

“You’ll know.” She says and briskly turns away. She passes Craig, our landlord on the way out the front gate. Craig later tells us, “I thought to myself how “Angelic” she looked and I never use that phrase.”

Stef brings the note into the living room, where I am reclining in my chair still recuperating from finally putting order into bills, paperwork and other necessities that Stef and I have wrestled with for most of the day. Paying bills and sorting out the “mystery stacks” on my desk have never been one of our favorite couple experiences. During the past month, the Chemo and Radiation Journey had made the payment practice even more of a drudgery, so I had fallen behind. Fortunately with Stef’s support and organization skills we had gotten everything caught up, totally missing out on a beautiful Saturday in June.

Stef opens the envelope and inside is a thank you card with a letter and cash. The card is simply signed “Me”. Being caught in the mystery we start trying to determine who could have sent it. Then we realize it did not matter, as God moves through all of us- we are simply conduits and the letter in fact was from God. North reads the letter out loud as Stef starts counting the cash in the card. The cash in itself was amazing— we had just spread our bank account holdings to must-pay-now commitments. Stef’s jaw drops- its $1,000!

The letter is a Thank-You note from God. Its signed “God” at the bottom. There is an added wish that we spend the $1,000 on what our feeling guide us to and that we practice the Law of Attraction. We had just written checks for about $1,200 that morning. This heavenly surprise along with additional gifts from friends and family is equal to the same amount- $1,200!

Since we have no address or person to express our gratitude, we are writing this open blog to YOU- our community of old and new friends. It is really YOU that has helped to manifest this wonderful gift in our lives. YOU have helped us to be steady and strong during this period of difficulty. The Spirit of God is so alive in each of YOU as YOU show up in our lives. Clearly, one of YOU was so inspired by God that YOU chose to act on that feeling. We believe that God moves through each of us in mysterious ways. Sometimes we are an open vessel, consciously serving his/her will and other times we act totally unaware of how we have made a difference in someone’s life. So, to whoever has chosen to be that open vessel (for us during this journey), here is our Thank-YOU note:


Dear God,

Thank you SO much for your Angelic Messenger, the thank-you card, letter and $1,000 cash. Wow! To know that you appreciate us, and all that we are doing to uplift the world, is a truly wonderful feeling. We are glad our sharing and being open about our journey is serving to help others. It helps to make all the pain fear and confusion dissolve into the greater mystery and perfection of things.

We really appreciate the many ways your love and support has shown up throughout our lives, especially these past few months. But in all these years of being here neither of us has ever received a direct, typewritten letter from you before! This is SO GREAT!

Thank you for revealing your ability to handle the necessities and details so completely. Thank you for making your presence so obvious to us. We recognize you through undeniable and clever synchronicities, obvious signs, and all the earth angels in the form of our beloved friends, family and prayer helpers. We are just so grateful to you for all the gifts of love and learning, giving and receiving, grief and hope, and Divine Restoration.

And now this new wonderful way you have touched and inspired has given us a whopper of a good story to elicit the same response in others! SO smart you are!

We love you so. Thanks again.

Stef and North

PS Brother Bruce M. says “hi!”