Another Surgery for Stephen. :(

Hello from BEAUUUUTIFUL California! I'm here for my little brother's wedding and I've got to tell you, I am just LOOOVING it here! We are in a place called Clements and it is just gorgeous. I'll tell you all about it later and include pictures of our adventures, but right now I've got something else on my mind.

Stephen will be going in for another brain surgery on November 2nd. The surgeon didn't get as much of the brain tumor as originally thought, so they need to go in and try again. They have discovered that the type of cancer he has is very aggressive (ATRT), so there is no time to wait. Unfortunately, when they operate again, they are going to have to operate around the part of the brain that controls speech, sight and motor skills...really important things. He will be flying out to St. Jude in Memphis, where he will be in very good hands. After the surgery, he will have about 10 days to recover, and after that he will start 6 weeks of radiation therapy. *sniff sniff* Please continue to keep him in your prayers!

I have been working like crazy on your necklaces! I will start getting them sent out within the next week or so! :)

Thank you for all of your love, support and prayers! I really do have the best blog BFF's in the WORLD!

Stephen: post surgery update with pictures! :)

Hi Friends and family! For those of you who are following along with Stephen's journey, I thought you might enjoy these pictures! These are all from the past few days, and they are just so heartwarming! You can really see what a sweet little boy he is!

After they took the tubes out of him, he had one simple request. Ice cream. He is a boy after my own heart. :) He downed the entire thing. I can only imagine how good it must have tasted after being on a clear liquid diet for so long...

Taking a stroll with Mom. You can see how his little face is swollen from the surgery (which is normal).

He is a big Star Wars fan and some VERY special visitors came to see him! CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW AWESOME THIS WOULD BE!?! WOW. Darth Vader couldn't make it...because, as we all know, he was killed in the last movie.

Killing time colorfully...Star Wars style. ;) Oh my gosh, I love this kid! :)

Yup, more ice cream!

His Aunt gave a little background on Stephen for me, I thought it was very fitting to include in this post!

"Sweet Stephen has been through a lot in his 6 years. He was abandoned and left on the doorstep of a Chinese orphanage as a baby. He is missing his right arm, due to an amniotic band in utero. If he'd have stayed in China, he would not have had access to an education, as he has a physical disability. My sister and BIL adopted him and he's been a part of our family for 4.5 wonderful years now. He had to have pretty intensive speech intervention also. He's a special, brave little boy who brings so much happiness to our family. The thought of losing him tore my heart out. Please continue prayers for him and his parents. They've got a long way to go, but we have absolutely witnessed a miracle!"

He is a VERY special little boy. Thank you for all of your continued prayers!

Did You Order a Necklace? Read This. :)

I've been getting a lot of emails with people wondering how/when to pay for their custom orders with the Hope for Stephen special. I've been doing a lot of thinking and talking to people and I think the easiest and best way to do this is to put up personalized invoices on my All Things Natsprat page. This personalized invoice will include your name, what you ordered, the price of the listing and a "buy now" Paypal button. This way, you can make sure you are getting what you want and you can change the order if you need to. SOOOOO, I will be working on these over the next few days and if you have left your email address with your comment I will email you a link to your order. If this is what you want to finalize, then you can just click on the "buy now" button and purchase it. This way, it will be more organized and there is no chance that I will be confused with any orders.

Another thing to clear up, if you ordered a mini necklace, the only kind of beads I can use with the mini necklace are the mini turquoise "egg" beads...it's a mini necklace because it's smaller because of the beads. (Did that make any sense at all???hahah) And, the mini necklace is also cheaper because it doesn't have the heart or bird charm. However, if you would LIKE it to have a bird charm, let me know and I will add it for $1 extra. ;)

Okay....I think that covers the bases. If you have any questions, let me know! Thanks so much!

Hope for Stephen Update {PLEASE READ!!!}

*Deeeeep breath*

Hello, my WONDERFUL friends! I know I keep saying how blown away I am at the love and support you have all shown for little Stephen! This necklace promotion has spread like wildfire and right now I am at over 80 necklaces! This is WONDERFUL!!!! However...I am starting to get a little overwhelmed by it all. I wasn't really expecting it to grow so big, and while I am eternally grateful for your kindness, I can't handle all of these orders on my own. It's absolutely humiliating....but I think I need to stop taking orders for now and work on what I have so far. It's costed a lot in out of pocket costs for supplies and right now my reserves for supplies are gone...and that's only after ONE day! So, for all who ordered necklaces yesterday and today, I will still do your orders. But, after today I will have to put a pause on all orders until I can catch up and get my bearings and give my sore fingers a little break! ;) Thank you SO much for your understanding....and I am so sorry! I feel like I'm letting people down....but I just don't know what else to do.

In the meantime, if you would still like to donate to the Hope for Stephen fund, you can click on the link on my right sidebar! I know all donations would be greatly appreciated!

They just found out that the 90% estimate of the brain tumor removal was inaccurate, and he still has about 20-25% of the tumor still in there. I guess the brain had shifted during surgery to fill the hole and it got harder to navigate. They didn't want to go any deeper and risk cutting into the important parts of the brain that control speech, sight and motor functions. So....the hard journey isn't over yet.

I'll be sure to keep you updated, and please continue to keep them in your prayers! Thank you!!!

Want To Help Stephen? Want To Get Something In Return???

*UPDATE: DUE TO THE OVERWHELMING (-LY AWESOME) AMOUNT OF NECKLACE ORDERS I HAVE RECEIVED, I NEED TO PAUSE ON TAKING ORDERS FOR A LITTLE WHILE...I NEED TO GET CAUGHT UP ON WHAT I HAVE SO FAR! I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN I'M UP TAKING MORE ORDERS!!! THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!*


Hello my friends! You may have noticed a little addition to my sidebar. :) Many of you have been following along with the news about my cousin's 6 year old son, Stephen, this week. For those of you who are just reading this for the first time, you can click HERE to read the full posts about Stephen and his brain cancer story.

While the doctors were able to get 99% of the tumor, they are not out of the woods yet. He will still have to go through chemotherapy and more testing. I have been feeling so helpless, feeling like there was nothing I could do other than pray. And last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, an impression came to me. There IS more I can do to help! And, this is it.

We all know how fast hospital bills add up! And, with 2 MRI's, brain surgery, chemotherapy, tests, doctor bills, (SUPER AWFUL EXPENSIVE) hospital stay costs, and all of the other expenses they will have to end up paying....I just don't even want to think about having to add it all up. *shudder*

Like the button? The gray ribbon is the ribbon for brain cancer awareness. I put his name in yellow because that is the color of childhood cancer awareness. So sweet...*sniff sniff*

If you would like to donate and get something out of it, I am doing a special thing with my nest necklaces. If you order one from now until October 25th, I will donate ALL proceeds to their account. That way, you can donate AND get something in return!

Now, the meaning of this necklace is very special. Each egg represents each of your precious children, here on earth or in Heaven. (you can have as many eggs as you want on your necklace! I've made a few with 7 eggs even!) The bird represents the parent/parents, there to guard and care for the nest. The heart represents all of your love for them. This is just so fitting...especially for this occasion.

All mini necklaces are made with the mini turquoise, which is half the size of the original turquoise. So, if you want the original turquoise stones you have to order a full size necklace. It also doesn't come with the heart or the bird. But, if you would like a little bird on it, it is $1 extra. Just be sure to let me know. ;)




This is the full size necklace. All I have left in stones are the original turquoise...(that's what's pictured in the nest) The full size necklace DOES come with the heart charm and the bird charm.

And...

Just look at his little happy face!!! Oh how I love this kid!!! :)




So....if you would like to order a necklace (Christmas presents with a cause, anyone?) please leave me a comment with how many eggs you want in your nest and whether you want the mini nest or the full sized nest necklace.

And if you could, please pass this on for me? Thank you SOOOO much! I love you guys!!!

*UPDATE*

Wow! I am so incredibly blown away by all of your support! There just aren't words to express my gratitude!

Due to the INCREDIBLE support, please expect it to take 2-3 weeks for me to get your necklaces made and shipped! I make them all by hand, so it takes a while! My fingers are going to be sore! HAHAHAH! (not complaining...SOOOO worth it!)

Thank you!!!

Update on Stephen: {surgery news}

Wow. My heart is SO full of gratitude right now! First, I am so, incredibly grateful for all of your prayers and comments and emails...just, WOW. Thank you so much! I seriously have the BEST group of blog BFF's in the world. We are not only craft friends, we are LIFE friends. :)

Secondly, I am so grateful for God's goodness. I have been stressing out all day, waiting for updates on Stephen's surgery...not expecting good news, but trying to have faith that things would turn out okay. I bit off all of my nails and stress ate an ENTIRE batch of no-bake cookies. Brent put up these pictures of Stephen's MRI scan. Just look at the size of that tumor! :(


Then, later this evening, they put up these pictures. This is Stephen after he came out of surgery. Bless his little heart. He is still sedated, but doing well.

This was Brent's update:

"Just talked to the surgeon. It went great! He estimates he got out 99 percent of the tumor. There was minimal bleeding and no transfusion necessary. Pre-pathology results classify it as a PNET type tumor and pathology will most likely confirm it given a few days of testing.

Stephen will be in ICU sedated and incubated overnight. They will wake him in the morning aver a new scan. Both Amber and I will be able to stay with him overnight. No telling how soon he will get out of ICU, but recovery will be at least a week and maybe two.

We can't tell you how relieved we are and thank each of you for your WONDERFUL support, prayers (across multiple denominations and faiths), fasting, priesthood blessings, karma and whatever else you sent our way!

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Of course we are not out of the woods yet, and there will yet be chemotherapy to endure, but we could not have any better news to announce today!"

I have NO doubt in my mind that it was all of the prayers reaching up to Heaven today that brought this WONDERFUL outcome. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! Now...please say one more prayer and THANK Heavenly Father for pouring out his blessings! :)

Update on Stephen

Hello, friends and family. Right now, as I type, little Stephen is in an operating room. It hurts to just think of him right now. Surgeons standing over him operating on his little head. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Brent and Amber, watching them wheel him away, not knowing if they would see him alive again, not knowing what kind of effect the surgery would have on him. I can't even hold back the tears. My heart just aches for them. How do you tell your little child that he may die? How do you tell him goodbye? How do you let go of his hand? How do you break your gaze from his face as he leaves down the hall?

After another 3 hour long MRI yesterday, they discovered that the tumor most likely originated inside of his brain. And with a little 6 year old brain and a tumor the size of a large orange it just doesn't look good. Please, PLEASE, say a special prayer for them today. We don't know what God has planned for this little boy, whether he will be called home or whether he will be a living miracle. But either way, please pray. Pray that the doctors hands will be guided as they operate, pray that his little body will be strong. Pray especially for the family, that they will feel God's loving arms around them to comfort them in this most difficult of times.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!

For Stephen's POST-SURGERY update, click HERE!