Update June 7 2014.
My son Joshua seems to be cancer free at this time, finally and did not need the heart surgery 4 drs said he needed, seems to have repaired itself. So things are looking up.
I have written a intro for the book, and the reasons why its taken so long for this process to occur, but as we keep working through the struggles of life we can one day reach out destinations, dreams, etc as long as we never quit, it may take us longer than others but we still can finish the race.
Pure Heart Guide
Introduction
I find in life many people have similar idea’s or dream’s
that are never acted upon due to self doubt, fear, life getting in the way, many
reasons, then people you share your idea
with may tell you it is not possible for
you to achieve that dream or goal, you do not have the education, the skills,
the money, the ? They knowingly or unknowingly steal your dream.
Life is full of challenges and in our daily living we tend to
focus so much upon our survival and our family and other responsibilities its normal
to subdue our personal creativities.
However when we do allow a moment for peace and quiet we can
listen to the distant suggestions placed upon our minds and then work to
achieve that which may seem to be out of reach.
When we should choose a thought or idea and plant it in our
heart and soul as we would a seed in a garden. Then we must take the time to nourish
it and care for it so it has the opportunity to grow and become what it is
meant to be.
That is how this book series has come to be. There was a lingering thought back in the
spring of 2006 about this story line. It
would come and go teasing my mind and my dreams; I could see the story ideas
come alive before my eyes from time to time. So finally I began writing it
down.
But first let me share some background to put this all into
some perspective.
I will share why I started to write this book, for my
children. But what was the reasoning? To do so I will share a small glimpse in
the life of my family. Note that whenever you choose to follow your dreams,
life tends to place all types of distractions before you to keep you from those
dreams, your job is to do your best to achieve them in spite of the
distractions, so keep going, and never quit.
I have a lovely wife and 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls; I
was born in the Pacific North Western lands of America, Washington State and
Oregon State. I now live in a high mountain desert valley of central Utah.
It was back in 2006 February the 27th, I was then
as I am now a drywall finisher by trade, currently 20 + years of
experience and decorative Italian
plasters as well when able to do them. With finances tight my then 13 year old
daughter came to me and said her eye sight was bothering her, I told her we
would get her to our eye doctor next pay period as we had to fix our vehicle
again so were out of funds. (They prefer pay at time of service) She said ok
and she could wait.
We were at this time living in an old 5th wheel camper
and a 320 square foot cabin I had built on our property, We discovered a huge
mold issue and had to move from our home and rented a home for a time, but were
in danger of losing our property so moved out to camp on it to save it. The
home was eventually torn down. But this is where we find ourselves, I watched
my daughter Kalecia and had a thought and acted upon it.
I had her sit before me and I did some peripheral vision
testing to see if my thought was correct. Sadly it was I noted that she could
not see my finger very well with her left eye. So I made an appointment for her
with the eye doctor, he agreed to see her on a pay as we could plan, during one test to see the visual ability of each eye I
noted the print out was about 98% black. I knew this was not good, he set up an
appointment with the specialists he knew in Provo Utah (about 2hrs north of us)
As I have to work, my wife drove her up there immediately, that appointment led
to another quick one across the valley and several miracles occurred near 5pm
traffic in this college town took place to allow them to drive there before
they closed. It was a 10 minute drive
100% green lights all the way there. Normally would have been about 30 minutes
during this time of day.
They made it, and from there she ended up needing to see some
big time specialists in Salt Lake City, The short of it is, they found he had a
brain tumor behind her eye, on the optical nerve and wrapped around her artery
as well.
It was brain cancer, in March she started chemotherapy then
the radiation, neither had much effect over the summer, eventually she was
scheduled for brain surgery, and the Dr. was able to get 90% of the tumor, 50%
more than he thought he would be able to get. Another miracle she had her 14th
birthday in the hospital recovery room.
Now years later and after dealing with seizures and other
issues as a result of the treatments, medicines and surgery, she is now 21 and
doing better learning to live without one eye and other issues resulting from
the treatments, but she is happy, and determined to succeed with her life. Going
to school staying at Grandparents home in Southern Utah, even is able to drive
finally.
That same year my oldest son had a 50 mile hike planned with
his Church Scout group in the mountains just south of us, I was asked to assist
and was able to take the week off work to do so. The day before the hike
started I injured my eye at work and a foot earlier in the week, both perfect
to have just prior to a 50 mile hike in the Tushar Mountains of Central
Utah. So we began the hike with my eye
patched, and a limping foot, but it went well, it is beautiful country in the
Beaver Mountains. During the hike I again was brought to the ideas of the book,
and the locations in the book came on the last 2 days of the hike where we
found the Twin Lakes area. Perfect.
I decided that since this story was in my head a lot now it
would be fun for my children to read it. So in our little cabin I started the
writing process after work, between helping kids with home work, and other
drama’s life throws at you and your family.
The process begins, having an open mind and loving to
research various things in books or on line (The Internet to me is a universal
huge library of knowledge) so I began to blend many of the stories, myths,
legends, I had read or heard of during my life time. Researching for the book
was fun. However once the story started
it tended to flow during those times I had to write. The 1st few
chapters were slow as I having no learning in the writing of books or stories;
I knew you have to start somewhere to build the foundation of characters in the
beginning. However once this was done, I would stay up late at night sometimes
sleep writing to get it down. Later during my editing I could tell when I was
tired, but then I would give my daughters 3 or 4 of the chapters and see if
they liked them. I thought I had a fun book when my daughter Emma would bring
back the printed chapters frustrated that I had ended it the way I had and
demanded me to write the next ones as she did not want to wait weeks for it.
Again life takes its turns, and drama happens again
postponing much writing time for a year, as I began this story in the summer of
2006 and finally ended it in the winter of 2013. It is not that it takes that
long to write the story, but that it is finding the time to actually write it
unhindered by the dramas of life. You see when I have the time to write and my
mind is open and creative it only takes a few days to write 2 to 4 chapters, it
flows almost like taking dictation as the story plays out in my mind.
But again life happens, my 2nd son Joshua age 16
was very sickly one day at the end of March of 2013, I asked my wife as I
stepped out the door to go to work to take him to the Dr’s as he was not able
to walk across the room without difficulty breathing, as pneumonia was going
around I thought he may have it.
That Friday my wife Karoline took him in to the local clinic,
the Dr. knowing he was very sick told her to take him to the Gunnison Hospital
and he would see them that night, and look at his x rays and scans. That
evening the Dr was scared after looking over his scans, and sent my wife and
Joshua to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City Utah in an ambulance a
3 hr drive, he said Joshua’s lung was 90% filled with pneumonia and he could
not do much for him in our area due to lack of resources.
This saved his life, Saturday after their tests came back we
were told he did not have pneumonia, but he was in stag 4 Burkitts lymphoma /
leukemia. So there we started our race
for his life as this is a very active and fast cancer. After a very hard road and
lots of suffering, Joshua survived the chemo treatments, many do not. As I
write this now being the end of March of 2014 he is again up in Salt Lake City,
helping my wife and some friends move things and set up the New Ronald
McDonalds House that has been finished next to the old one, where they have
lived most of last year. (Here is a plug for the Charity for Ronald Mc Donald
Houses worldwide, if you have one in your state, city, country support it
locally by service or funds they are a wonderful group and needed to help many
who are suffering medical issues)
This week we shall see if his cancer is in fact in remission,
we hope so. He has made many friends this last year, 2 of his closest he has
since buried both were 8, a boy and girl, who lost their fights, it has been
difficult for him. So we hope this week’s testing goes in his favor. If the
Burkitts returns there are no 2nd chance, no more chemo or cures, it
was a one shot only for this cancer. So
if he is cancer free, then we shall plan for his open heart surgery to fix an
ASD a defect from birth we did not know about until they found the cancer,
there is a hole in the upper atriums of his heart. This comes from his mother’s
side as it was also discovered during Kalecia’s pregnancy that she had an ASD
from birth, and 2 months after Kalecia’s premature birth my wife underwent her
open heart surgery Update now, he is still cancer free, and another miracle has
happened, even though over a year ago we had 4 Drs. tell us of the heart ASD
and the dangers of it and need to repair. When Joshua was being prepped for
surgery that morning, they rechecked the scans, and low and behold the heart
ASD was gone! Amazing how the creator works. Think what you will either A) 4 Drs.
were wrong. B) He was healed. Today he
is active and doing better. We still worry about the cancer returning others on
their 3 to 6 month visits had it return and these children most of them are as
we say have earned their wings.
My daughter Emma also was married in January of 2014 and now
has told me I will be a grandpa end of January 2015. Interesting how time goes
by.
Life is what it is; everyone has different trials and
experiences. It has been said that we shall never be given anything we cannot
overcome, with Gods assistance. This thought has helped us during the last 23
years to keep going. I share this to
say, you can overcome whatever is placed before you, keep walking one step at a
time, leaning upon others as needed to survive life’s challenges. Even though
life is full of distractions you can slowly achieve your dreams.
(Note just for background, I tell people if I wrote a book
about the last 23 years of our marriage and the life experiences and trials we
have been given as a family they would think it pure fiction)
I finished the story part of book 1, in July of 2013 while at
the hospital sleeping in his room for 4 days to give my wife a break so she and
the kids could attend a large family reunion in Salt Lake City. Then it was the
editing time, I have had my mother be the #1 person with her great skills has
assisted me in this process.
I have read many books in many different styles over my life;
I have tried to stay true to being unique and myself in the writing of this
story. Some of the topic matter has been covered before in various areas but I
wanted to combine many things and attempt to make sense of them with a fresh
approach in this story line.
The 1st book is just the beginning, of the “Pure
Heart Guide” series; there will be 5 books to tell the tale. Those who have taken the time to preview the
story do like it, and some have given me good feedback and some suggestions for
it.
Now the search goes on for a publisher, I am going to choose
to electronically publish it as I am able to keep the writes to my
material. We shall see what happens, if
you are reading this then we were successful at doing so. I am working on a
basic cover art for Book 1 as well.
Life is a journey full of trials and miracles, light and
darkness and lots of gray areas that we need to all journey through, I hope in
the telling of this story it can help others to deal with the issues of life,
and walk towards the path of light and truth, and in helping others as best one
can.
Nothing ventured nothing gained, it is said everyone has at
least one story in them, but it is up to us to share it. I am sharing one of mine here. I hope you
enjoy it, I do like the writing when time permits, after this one is published
I shall work on book 2 a lot is written in my mind already so will go quicker I
think. Someday I shall finish the whole
5 book series at least for my children and friends to enjoy; I hope others on
Earth may enjoy it as well.
Anything is possible if you never quit, you may not be as
good as others, however the prize goes to those who have the courage and tenacity
to never ever quit. The parable of the race between the rabbit and the tortoise,
remember the tortoise wins because it never quit when all odds were against it,
and it won in the end.
You see the real story is not that which I have written; it
is a joint experience between what the words are on paper and what you have
created them to be in your mind. Together the writer and the reader create the
true life of a story; I hope it is a good one for you.
Stephen Huls
Monroe, Utah
June 2014
