Thank you to all of you who have sent continued prayers and energy healing for my father! Several people have recently asked for an update, so I’ll share what I can here. For those of you who want to add him to your own lists, his name is Steve Derbenwick.
My dad was really struggling before I wrote last week’s post requesting prayers and Reiki, but my parents both said they could sense all the prayers coming their way once he got re-upped on my mom’s prayer list and with all my amazing blog readers’ energies, prayers and intentions. Truly, thank you! We’re deeply blessed to have such a worldwide group of powerful healers, shamans, Reiki Practioners and Master Teachers, prayer warriors, love beings, and adepts sending energy to our family.
I did some shamanic Dreamwork with my dad on Friday, the 19th, and felt the situation shift even more, which my dad confirmed the following morning. He was still very weak but felt much more “here.” He also let me know that he had printed out my prayer request/tribute to him so that he could read it every day. He felt it would “strengthen him,” and he appreciated everyone’s loving comments. Just knowing that so many people he’s never even met care about him has really touched his heart.
According to my sister and mother, who actually see my dad on a regular basis, he’s still very, very weak. My brother and I have needed to become more involved in his care from a distance, as well, but I am grateful that my siblings and I work well together, honoring our own different gifts and strengths in order to help manage things as best as we can. Yesterday, my dad had a platelet infusion and a bone marrow scan, though he will not receive his results for another week.
The test and procedure yesterday left him exhausted, but we’re all hoping he will rally enough to give his previously scheduled prayer testimonial at several church services tonight and tomorrow. My dad credits prayer with bringing many, many miracles into his life since his cancer diagnosis, and he wants to share his stories to help inspire others to participate in a prayer week at my mom’s church. My post last week describes some of my dad’s transition from total skeptic to open-hearted mystic, but it doesn’t capture the depth of feeling he has for being able to give back to those who’ve helped him. My mom and sister have arranged a wheelchair for him and reduced the number of times he’s scheduled to share his story.
Even so, getting him there and having his voice strong enough to carry through the microphone, and his energy steady enough to do his talks remains a huge challenge. Any energy you feel called to send to support this process would be greatly appreciated. I’ve read my dad’s speech, and even though I’ve heard his stories before, it always starts the tears of Grace flowing.My dad feels this is one of the most important tasks he has right now, so I hope for his sake and for his listeners that he can share his story. If you knew my dad, you would know what an incredibly healing and generous heart-opening his desire to share such private stories with hundreds of people really is!
David and I made arrangements in case we need to change our travel arrangements to arrive sooner than our scheduled date in March, but so far, the original timing still seems Divinely orchestrated. We’ve even got synchronous house-sitters lined up. Thank you again to everyone sending positive energy to our visit. We’ve got special events on either end of the visit, too, all of which seem significant to the larger journey of everyone involved.
I know many people are ill, struggling or transitioning right now. Sessions are filled with people dealing with various intensities and life changing events. Clients, friends and blog readers keep privately asking me how I’m doing, so I’ll share a little here. Overall, I’m doing well, though, of course, a range of emotions flow through me in any given moment. Gratitude remains my dominant feeling, since we have already had an extra 4.5 years with my dad beyond his original prognosis. We’ve all used that time well!
I’ve also had the opportunity to observe many families dealing with crises, which makes me acutely aware of how lucky I am to have capable, caring and involved siblings who share similar ideas about what needs to be done when. This process has strengthened our three-way communication, and having watched our dad shoulder so much responsibility with his own mother, we’re all mindful of distributing responsibilities as evenly as we can, given our varying proximities and skills. Thank you for including my whole family in your prayers, energy and intentions, because as any caregiver knows, the supportive roles need support, too!
Fortunately, David’s family’s ongoing crises that we moved to Goshen to manage have begun to ease, which means he has more energy and needs less support from me right now. Perhaps in anticipation of the increased focus on my own family, or maybe just due to the grey winter in Goshen, I’ve felt a deep need to cocoon myself in beauty. I feel fine for sessions and am actually enjoying them. But in my personal life, I need to go with the flow right now, so please excuse slower and much shorter responses to chatty emails.
Even before my dad’s health took this sudden downturn, I had withdrawn more into my permaculture design course, a lovely Druid course, and setting things up to support me writing books again, both fiction and non-fiction. This all feels good and perfectly timed, but with the increased family stress and responsibilities, it’s not a luxury. I need this inner time to rejuvenate myself, and I stay on path in order to walk through this time period with ease and grace.
I spent yesterday afternoon studying permaculture and drinking in the beauty of my new writing office. The windows overlook my snow covered gardens, but the snow didn’t stop dozens of birds from darting around the lovingly planted trees and shrubs. A robin visited me as I sat on my rocker, reading and smiling. Between the bright wall colors, gorgeous tapestry from sweet faery twin, Tania Marie, views of my growing food forest, and a magical mandala rug, yesterday transported me into the all encompassing beauty my soul craves. It’s chilly in that writing office, though, so I realized I finally have a perfect spot for one of those electric fireplaces or old fashioned electric wood stove heaters I’ve long wanted. I think the extra coziness of a fire element between rocking chair and computer desk will take that room over the Moon. 🙂
I’ll leave you with some of yesterday’s views from my rocking chair, as well as heartfelt gratitude for all the care and prayers of such wonderful, kind, and powerful blog readers. Thank you, thank you! Much love and continued blessings! ~ Laura

