Blog Archive

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

One Month Living in the Canadian Wilderness

The purpose of this post is to show just how amazing my Healer and my Creator truly is! On September 1, John and I entered into Quetico Provençal Park in Ontario, Canada with a canoe, 3 fishing poles, dehydrated and vacuum sealed food for one month, a tent and all the bare necessities to stay alive and camp for an entire month in the pure Canadian wilderness! 

This was literally something we have dreamed about for years! Although we have gone into the wilderness for two weeks at a time previously, we decided that if I had the physical ability and we had the time, we wanted to go in for the entire month of September… So we have been planning and preparing for many months to make this happen. 



Finally, the day came and we drove to Crane Lake, Minnesota, and we were picked up by Zup’s Outfitters on Lac Lacroix, who then brought us by boat to the edge of the wilderness where our journey began. 


It is impossible to describe the serenity and the simplicity and the sheer beauty of living in the elements of a wilderness setting for one entire month. The best way to explain what we experienced is to show it in videos and pictures so this will be probably my longest post for those who are interested in seeing what we really did on a day-to-day basis. 

On the morning of September 28th I woke up in a tent next to a massive waterfall in the middle of the wilderness and on September 29th I finally showered with filtered city water vs lake water after a month and had the luxury of sleeping in a soft bed at home. It almost seems like a dream now, but it’s one I’m so grateful to have experienced!

September 30th I had an infusion at The James and the miracles that God continues to do in my life just keep happening every day, but this is a sneak peek of my life in the wilderness in September, 2024. 


Twin Falls where our tent sat perched about 100 feet away from the massive roar of these incredible Falls on our last day. 



Woke up early at Twin Falls at 6 am on our last day and the mist and moon made this surreal sunrise a phenomenal sight to see and during the day and night the roar was soothing to hear!

Paddling every day, sometimes for 6-8 hours if we moved camp or for several hours of fishing, has really built up my strength and endurance. I’m stronger and feel more fit than I’ve ever been in my life!




Waders were needed only for traipsing through the water and rivers where the base of waterfalls made fishing off the charts amazing! Catching and releasing 17”-19.5” small mouth bass was not unheard of and OHHHHH so much fun! 


Jean Creek had at least 5 beaver dams we had to get our canoe over. We would literally paddle up to it and climb over it and lift the boat with all our gear. These beavers are engineering geniuses!!


Every sunrise and sunset was picture worthy and when the wind didn’t blow it was the most beautiful silence ever heard!


The last 2 weeks of the month we had a dear friend join us and he joined me in doing Wilderness Yoga a few times. Getting in and out of a canoe and climbing over boulders and portages can be extremely physically challenging so staying limber is crucial. 


God literally performed so many miracles right in front of my eyes from seeing Him literally calm white capped waves as we crossed lakes to experiencing rainbows at sunrise!! 


Right before this photo was taken the sky opened up with millions of hail balls from marble size to 1.5”-2” diameter and we literally had JUST made it to camp after paddling all day and had set up our tent minutes before these life threatening balls of ice came pummeling down!! Being out in the elements is not for the faint of heart or unprepared. Yet God’s power and majesty and my complete dependence on Him was palpable and comforting. 


Hail!




Again, there were glorious sunsets where all I could do was praise God in response to its beauty! We saw orange moons, the moon rising as the sun was setting, the full Milky Way, shooting stars, heard loons calling and the squawk of several bald eagles and several elegant pair of trumpeter swans taking off in flight! 


Trace and John conferring where we were and where we needed to go to follow our planned route. It’s Wilderness so there are no signs or roads, just trees, islands, points, rocks, lakes and rivers so one better know how to read a map and compass. 


Fishing for these hogs was pure joy!! I think I’m a top water, small mouth bass fishing junkie! 


Yes, I kissed the fish. In fact, several!







When the winds were calm, which was often, the silhouette of the land and shoreline was a mirror image! These reflections were truly so amazing to see that we would just sit in awe of God’s creation. 



Inside of the tent. Most nights were in the 50s but the last night was 46. A bit chilly many nights but my zero degree Big Agnes sleeping bag kept me perfectly warm! Surprisingly although the days were hot we had practically no bugs! But one of the first portages was buggy enough that I donned my bug net, yet the rest of the trip I could count the mosquitoes we encountered on two hands. That’s a real treat to not be bugged by the bugs here especially since we heard that it was one of THE worst summers for them!


So many waterfalls! This one was one I returned to since last time and it made me weep tears of joy to be there again!


Although I prefer catching small mouth bass on top water, landing a fighting Pike can be loads of fun too…If only they weren’t so slimy! But it’s great fun having one hit my lure then landing it! My biggest pike was 33”!


Typical evening of camp fire and fish for dinner. And to my WFPB friends, I chose to eat the fresh fish here but rest assured now that I’m home I’m back to fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains only!!


Curtain Falls


One sacred place for me. Rebecca Falls!

The entire trip was two 50 mile loops totaling 15 lakes, 4 rivers, 6 waterfalls, dozens of rapids, 4 moose, 0 bear, a couple hundred fish and unlimited praises to God! We carried all our gear over the portage trails and paddled from lake to lake. We double or triple portaged each tail because of the gear we had to carry. John always brought over the canoe and his two packs and I had two waterproof packs weighing 35 and 25 lbs each plus the loose gear like poles and paddles, fuel and my Asea/olive oil/John’s wine. 

Again our first and last nights in Quetico were next to water falls!! 

 I share so you can experience and see how good our Creator is at showing off a tiny piece of His coloring book. The fact that I had the privilege of being physically capable to do this is a miracle in itself and I’m so blessed to have a husband who makes me feel safe and protected because of his skills and knowledge. I’m grateful we had a friend like Trace who could join us to share in this and I’m profoundly grateful to Yahweh for gifting me healing and time to spend my September in Quetico Provençal Park!

Friday, August 30, 2024

Living The Dream

Three weeks have come and gone once again and I have so much to be grateful for!!! I’m still feeling perfectly whole, so physically strong and truly holding on to a great state of mind! I literally am a walking miracle because of God’s goodness. And, yes, God is still just as good even if I weren’t doing this well! But I am and for that I’m profoundly grateful!


These past weeks we’ve been in high gear to get ready for another Canadian Wilderness trip. It’s been 5 years since our last trip there because of C-vid and cancer so we are more than eager to get back to our favorite place!  I’ve finally finished dehydrating and vacuum sealing dozens of meals, snacks and beverage packets! We gathered all our gear for a canoe camping trip of a life time in Quetico Provençal Park. I’ve been prepping for months to have this go smoothly. We’ve had lots of date nights talking details of it all, including the pleasure of shopping for more lures!! Now we are embarking on the long road of getting there and once we enter the Park, the world might fall apart but we won’t know it because we will have zero communication with the rest of the world unless we run into other canoeists with any news. 

Although we will be tent camping and going from lake to lake via our new Northwind Northstar 16’ canoe in September, we also are planning on spending time van camping & mountain biking in October in the UP Michigan to see fall colors, so we have to bring food and gear for both months! So much planning!!!



One of my 2 portage packs weighs 32 lbs and I’ll hike on trails forged by native Canadians, French fur traders and wild life hundreds of years ago!


Thankfully I got to see my daughter and her growing family in the last couple weeks and I got to have time with my son as well! This little one steals my heart every time I’m with her. Being a grandma is one of the greatest joys I’ve ever known!! 



I also had the gift of time with one of my nieces who was in a horrific car crash and by the grace of God, she walked away without a scratch!


For fun lately I’ve done a bit of mountain biking, canoeing and spent precious moments with some of my friends. All these opportunities to be in the presence of such loved ones is something I see as a gift from God! 





Finally, for all my family and friends who are concerned about my safety on this trip please know that I’m in my happy place with the love of my life doing what I love most…so I’m living, really LIVING and I’m not going anywhere until it’s my time! So until then, go live your life too! Love Jesus & love others! 

Enjoy this song in the meantime…Hold On To Me


Until next time…fear not, love well, be gracious to yourself, and believe. 

Friday, August 9, 2024

Yes Lord! Yes Lord! Yes, Yes Lord!

I’ll keep this short and very sweet…🥹



Just got this word from my oncologist!!! Praising Jesus my Healer all day, every day!! I had a PET scan 2 days ago and today at my infusion appointment the doctor went over my results. I asked Dr. Johnson what percent of people diagnosed with metastatic stage 4 HER2+ breast cancer go beyond the 3-5 years prognosis that I was told was my best prognosis back in 2022 and he said it is only 1%! But considering most people have to change infusion medications after just one year because the cancer outgrows the medications and because mine has been so successful, AND there's literally zero evidence of any active cancer from my recent PET scan, he said I'm one of the 1% that will likely survive a lot longer than 3-5 years!!! So praise God my test showed No Evidence of Disease again!! Tears of joy 🥹 streaming down my face as I’m humbled by this great news. I do not take it for granted and I’ll continue with my whole food, plant based eating life style, zero alcohol, taking my daily ASEA and high dose melatonin supplements, exercising, keeping a positive outlook and mostly a faith that gives me all the hope I need!

Also my echocardiogram was awesome this time! 60% ejection fraction and -21% longitudinal strain which is perfect!! So no heart damage from the drugs that I get every 3 weeks!!!



Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Pictures Worth A Thousand Words

This is truly more about my story in pictures than words! Plus I’m writing in reverse meaning from most recent going backwards in time. Today, August 7th, I drove to Columbus, OH for 3 appointments. First was the dreaded, all-telling PET scan! Back in 2022 I had my first one that showed metastatic breast cancer in my breast, lungs, bones, liver and lymph nodes! The second one was just 6 months ago when my oncologist called with the wonderfully shocking news that there was NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! To explain why I still get infusion treatments every 3 weeks (and will for the rest of my life), it’s simply because my diagnosis is stage 4! So whether or not cancer is seen on my scans, I will get treated for breast cancer. Doctors say it’s because they don’t know if there are rogue cancer cells lurking around that could misbehave that just don’t show up on PET scans. 

This blog is a bit more lengthy… 


Above, Michael the traveling nurse injecting my radioactive juice for a new PET scan. 


Dinner at Northstar Café with friends from where I used to work as a dental hygienist before medically retiring. Although I’m now permanently retired, I’m glad they still make time to see me and maintain friendships. 


Another special surprise this week was Chloe, also from where I used to work . She called and was able to come by and we got to hang out for a couple hours before I had to kick her out because I was literally falling asleep as we talked. The day before, my BFF had a gallbladder attack so I was up at 4:45 am to head to her house and be with her kiddos. 

Here Liz is after having that gallbladder out! God is so good and she had a successful surgery. 


Her daughter Zoey, the budding floral designer!


Since my friend Liz sells flowers during the summers and she wasn’t able to make her usual bouquets on the day of her surgery, her daughter Zoey and I had so much fun arranging these gorgeous flowers and surprised her mom and dad with setting out 3 bouquets for sale!! 


This week is like many others where I’m regularly dehydrating and vacuum sealing meals for our upcoming Quetico Wilderness trip. This week I finalized all lunches for John and me equaling 54 bags filled with fruits and nuts for me along with meat sticks and M&M trail mix for John! 



LillyMae is my BFF’s daughter and she recently returned from a month in Colorado so we got to have her stay with us a few nights. She loves bike riding too so we rode along the Little Miami River trail and stopped to enjoy the solitude while pausing and listening to Gratitude and spent a few moments worshiping our Creator before the mosquitoes forced us to get back on our bikes and move!


Update on the WonderVan…this past week John started permanently screwing in the custom cabinets! Thankfully my Chinese son, Alex was there to help him lift it in!


The rest of these photos are of the activities that Charlotte and I enjoyed for her 2 weeks of staying with me. Here we hiked Clifton Gorge in Ohio. 


A taste of disc golf, thanks to my friend Jodie who generously gave her some golf discs!


A friend’s friend, Pam, met up with us to get her granddaughter together with Charlotte for a play date and I discovered she is a silver jewelry maker. She graciously offered to teach Charlotte how to make several unique pieces for her mom, aunties and grandmas. 


Hiking and finding a black walnut shell and thinking she came upon a pig’s nose!!


We did lots of cooking and Charlotte made her very own peanut sauce that’s so scrumptious!! It was perfect for dipping her homemade spring rolls in!


Hikes to waterfalls and watercolor painting!!


Yes, I put her to work and taught her how to mow the lawn! 


My dear friend Doni gave her the gift of a very special garden tea party plus she gave us a tour of her garden filled with hidden gnomes and secret fairy gardens!


My friend Liz who owns Under The Pines Flower Farm showed Charlotte how to put together bouquets from the flowers she got to snip!


This little dude was my saving grace for 2 weeks as he befriended Charlotte and exposed her to country life vs city life! That meant lots and lots of time getting dirty in the creek and turning over rocks looking for salamanders, frogs and crawfish! It also meant helping his mom, Liz with picking flowers. 


We had a picnic at our creek too!


These exercise rings were the favorite activity in John’s shop where she would swing and play for a long time as I worked on helping John with the van build. 


Wizard anyone?


This was her first bonfire and toasted marshmallows!


While Alex came and stayed for the first couple days, we had the unexpected visit from my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter for a day!!! This grandma’s heart was full!

That has been the past few weeks and now I’m waiting the PET scan results which I’ll share hopefully in a few days once I find them out. I’m trusting and believing and holding on to this hymn.. It Is Well With My Soul!