-C'mon, let's hear it for Jeni!
HER LIFE AND LEGACY HAS STRETCHED LONGER THAN ANYBODY EVER THOUGHT
POSSIBLE. IN TODAY'S SUPER SOUL ORIGINAL SHORT, MY VISIT WITH ONE OF THE
MOST INSPIRING MOTHERS I'VE EVER MET.... JENI STEPANEK AS SHE CELEBRATES
THE MIRACLE OF ANOTHER BIRTHDAY. JENI IS THE MOTHER OF ONE OF MY
GREATEST SPIRITUAL TEACHERS, MATTIE STEPANEK... MATTIE WAS ONE OF THE
MOST AUTHENTIC, LOVING SOULS I HAVE EVER KNOWN. WINFREY: So you've been
writing poetry since you were how old? MATTIE STEPANEK: About three. MATTIE
STEPANEK: I have a song deep in my heart. I write to express my thoughts, my
feelings. I want people to think. JENI INSTINCTIVELY KNEW HOW TO FOSTER AND
ENCOURAGE THIS PRECIOUS GIFT TO THE WORLD. MATTIE STEPANEK: I really think
I'm here for a purpose, even if it takes me one year or 1,000 years, I have to do what
I was meant to do. MATTIE PASSED AWAY ON JUNE 22ND, 2004. HIS SPIRIT WILL
ALWAYS ABIDE IN ME. FOR MANY YEARS, JENI HAS BATTLED THE SAME RARE FORM
OF NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASE THAT CLAIMED ALL FOUR OF HER CHILDREN: KATIE,
STEVIE, JAMIE, AND MATTIE. TODAY, MATTIE'S MEMORY LIVES ON THROUGH HIS
WRITING AND JENI'S COMMITMENT TO FULFILL HIS PEACEFUL PURPOSE THROUGH
THE MATTIE J.T. STEPANEK AND "WE ARE FAMILY" FOUNDATIONS... THIS PAST YEAR,
JENI RECEIVED A HARROWING CANCER DIAGNOSIS...SHE HAS ENDURED ENDLESS
AND EXCRUCIATING HEALTH COMPLICATIONS WITH COURAGE AND GRACE. TO
HONOR HER REMARKABLE LIFE, JENI'S FRIENDS AND FAMILY GATHERED FOR HER
BIRTHDAY AND SURROUNDED HER WITH LOVE. OW: OK so here's the deal.
Jeni Stepanek is turning 57 and she's having her 83rd birthday as a bucket list just in
case she doesn't make it. She's the most amazing, strong, powerful, willful woman
I've ever known, read or heard about. And I'm going to surprise her here. OW: Tell
me this-where does the will to not just live, but to be fully present now, and the will
to live with such hopefulness, where does that come from? JS: Part of it comes
from God. God gave me a purpose on Earth and I live celebrating that purpose. I am
a strong person spiritually. I have gotten through somehow, barely sometimes, losing
all four of my children and yet, that purpose that's given to me by God, I still
recognize it and I pray every morning, the first thing, when I wake up, no matter how
sick I am, no matter how ill, much pain I'm in, the first phrase out of my mouth is
thank you, I wake up every morning just with wow, thank you, I'm alive and I set out
to live with purpose that day. And on the days where you still say how am I going to
do this today? Have you seen this party? These are people from my childhood, from
every job I've had, children that I taught when I was a school teacher 30 years ago,
here with their children. Sometimes when I can't come up with a good enough
reason to take that next breath, I let somebody else give me a reason. (Man at party:
Jeni is a person that touched my soul. Woman at party: No matter where you are in
the world, she's there for you. Man at party: We love you, Jeni) OW: I've never
seen a woman with such strength and my definition of strength, which is also the
physical definition, is strength times strength times strength equals power. Strength
over time equals power so I've actually never seen a woman more powerful than
you. OW: Do you find strength from Mattie's life and also his death? JS: I have
never ever witnessed worse suffering than what Mattie went through. And Mattie
went through it not always physically able to smile, but spiritually able to smile. To
pray, to think of other people. Before he died, he challenged me, choose to inhale.
Do not lay down in the ashes of my life, do not simply breath to exist, choose to
inhale. And I draw strength from that. I choose to inhale. I don't just survive, I
thrive. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENI...THANK YOU FOR BRINGING YOUR LOVE AND LIGHT
INTO THE WORLD. Jeni: Because this began as a bucket list, which is something
you do when you're faced with some overwhelming odds of surviving. I wanna leave
you with this thought. One day we will all die. But on all the other days, we will not
and so today let's toast and celebrate to all those other days with gratitude. We are
family. We are an amazing mosaic. Party on. Thank you. (applause)
SEE YOU NEXT SUNDAY...