Yes Sarah, there is a St. Nic!

(disclaimer, I am NOT “dissing” Jesus or God. Just giving my understanding of Santa vs. St. Nicholas.)

The lines are blurred at Christmas… Christmas is all Jesus. There is no doubt there.

But there IS actually a St.Nicholas Day. When my daughter began questioning “Santa”…. The below is what I told her and WHY.

Below is a piece I wrote which appeared in a book a friend of mine wrote.

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Many people believe spirits can orchestrate or manipulate situations to have an outcome for us that can make us take notice or open our eyes to an opportunity we may have otherwise missed or ignored. It’s all around us. You only need to recognize it.

Is Saint Nicholas real? What about Santa Clause? Over many years these two have been blurred together. Santa Clause is an idea. Dare I say, propaganda. St. Nicholas however, was an actual person who truly performed charitable deeds and was granted sainthood. He is still in existence as spirit just as we one day will. I use the word spirit as living entity. Not merely an ideal in one’s heart.

My daughter is a kindhearted, intelligent child. When she obtained a certain age she began questioning Santa Clause. I didn’t want to be untruthful, misinform, nor did I want to damage the enchantment of this supernatural entity. There is actually a truthful balance to this mystical being. He undeniably lived on this Earth; Yet continues to be present as a spirit entity. Spirits (with the help or approval of God) can orchestrate events or a simple moment which can lead us to where we should be or assist in what we need to accomplish. I explained to her St. Nicholas was indeed authentic, and gave a brief synopsis of his selfless achievement.

A seemingly simple, yet fantastic example of spirit orchestration was one of the impossible items my daughter had on her Christmas list. A Criss Angel doll. It didn’t exist. In wanting to preserve the enchantment, I set out on a quest that lead me to Magical Dolls almost effortlessly. Hmmmmm. Magical. I found it takes months to special order one of these amazingly realistic dolls. However upon contacting the Artist “something” inspired this wonderful, personable, caring woman to not only take on the job with only 2 weeks left on the clock, but to enhance the awe for a child by sending a handwritten note from “Elf Brigitte” on the most beautifully hand sketched angelic type fairy stationary. Something lead me to Magical Dolls. Something inspired Brigitte to go out of her way, take my daughter’s impossible wish and turn it into charming reality. Something. Something I give credit to not only her kind heart, but to spirit for leading me to her. Yes Sarah, there is a St. Nicholas. He lives in the hearts of everyone who helps others. He inspires them.

My daughter continues to question me each year. Her lists are always very short, but they began innocently containing at least one item she would dream up that didn’t exist. And thus began the series of “tests”. “It doesn’t exist, but SANTA can make it. Can’t he?” That item of course would be at the top of the list.

This past Christmas List, had something on it. Something ever so simple. Simple, yet completely out of human hands… Snow. She longed for oodles of snow at home. Enough to snowmobile on. She had taken and passed her safety class which would allow her to drive one, even though we had not had enough snow in years passed, nor enough money to take a trip. There was no choice but to place that request in the hands of God and his celestial helpers. She wanted snow so badly even if it wasn’t enough to snowmobile on, she at least was hoping for a White Christmas instead of the muddy ones we’d been getting.

Miraculously, just before Christmas, we - were - dumped - on - with - snow! More then enough! Not only did she get her White Christmas, the snow stayed in tact and she was able to snowmobile… a few times! This was something money truly couldn’t buy.

A hope and a wish in one’s heart. A seemingly impossible mission, became exonerate reality. An unachievable event, materialized.

Faith, hope and dreams. Enchanted mysticism restored. Doubt erased. In her heart and in MINE.

He can help to orchestrate events… and he lives in the kind hearts of others willing to lend a hand to another.. and sometimes make the impossible, possible.

Yes Sarah, there really IS a St. Nicholas!

A CURE for CANCER?!!!!!

Oh my God. I just saw something that gave me chills down my spine and I went weak in the knees. I had tears of joy quietly squeezing out. This is the most promising thing I've ever seen!! I have a sense, this one just might work!!!! And go figure, the idea was sparked by a 16 year old!....

You can see the video here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/husband-searches-cancer-cure-wifes-death/story?id=9212102&page=1

or you can read the below from ABC:

Did a Devoted Husband Find a Cancer Breakthrough?
After His Wife Died From Breast Cancer, Husband Turned to Cancer Research
By CLAIRE SHIPMAN
Dec. 1, 2009
Throughout his years of groundbreaking research, endocrinologist Dr. David Vesely never gave curing cancer a lot of thought.
But then it became personal.

"We started to work on cancer when my wife died of breast cancer seven years ago," Vesely said.

His wife, Clo, died in 2002, leaving Vesely and their five children behind. Vesely said he directed his sorrow into his work at the James A. Haley Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and seven years later he may have a breakthrough.

An Idea From the Heart

Vesely said it was originally his son's idea to conduct research. Brian, who was 16 when his mother died, was looking for a way to channel his grief a month after his mother's death.
In the late 1980s, Vesely, focusing on heart disease, discovered three hormones made by the heart that prevented normal heart cells from getting bigger and multiplying. He wondered if they could also control cancer cell growth.

Vesely and Brian set up an experiment and left cancer cells and heart hormones alone in a Petri dish. The cancer cells were blown apart by the body's own hormones.

"Well, the cells blew apart. So we thought, 'maybe we did something wrong,'" Vesely said. "Because you never know ... but the second time, we knew it was real."

Vesely began studying the effect on mice that had been injected with human cancer cells, by pumping the hormones under their skin.

"Usually after a month, they eliminate up to 80 percent of human pancreatic cancers growing in the mice," Vesely said.

Since then Vesely said he has eliminated other deadly forms of human cancers in mice, including 67 percent of breast cancers and 86 percent of small cell lung cancers, all with almost no side effects.

Although Vesely, 66, said he wouldn't go as far as to call it a cure for cancer, he is hopeful.

"But if it does cure one cancer in human, it will cure almost all of them, or eliminate them," Vesely said.
Human Clinical Trials to Begin

Kalos Therapeutics is raising money for the first human clinical trials for Vesely's findings. But as Vesely waits, he said he is feeling the urgency from hundreds of e-mails from people dying of cancer asking when his treatment will be ready.

"It's mostly funding. They need money to move ahead," Vesely said.

"If we can make some dent in cancer ... it will be spectacular," Vesely added.
Vesely's Finding Met With Hope and Caution

Vesely published his work, and although the medical world is intrigued, it is also cautious.

"I think that there's potentially promise here, but I think the real question is whether these very potent hormones will be tolerable at the doses required," said Dr. Mark Ratain from the University of Chicago.

Vesely said he is also cautious about raising expectations "because you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself."