God’s gifts — Page 26

December 10, 2011 By Diana

I’ve missed a few weeks of this very fun exercise, but I’ll give it a shot today – while it’s still Friday! Our assignment is to write for five minutes flat – no editing – on the topic for the week. And we all sign up over at Lisa-Jo’s place to share our very different responses to the same prompt. Check it out – I think you’ll like it a lot!

Today’s prompt is:

COLOR

GO:

I’ve spent most of this week elbow deep in color – Christmas color. Reds, greens, golds, silvers – all the rich, jewel-like tones that have come to symbolize this season of the year. I’m not done yet, either. The lights are on the tree, but the ornaments? That takes some doing and we’ll have to carve out a few hours tomorrow afternoon to get those beauties dangling.

I am a clear-color-lover. Don’t give me a dusky or muted palette – it will drive me to drink! I like lots of color around. Take a good look at the world in which we live most of the time. Is it not rife with glorious, eye-bending color collages? Yes, I think it is. And so, I revel in it.

But I’ll tell you this: as much as I enjoy adding all the razzle dazzle of this holiday season to my home, I am also very glad indeed to take it all down again in January. Why? Because I have come to love the colors we live with year-round – they speak to my heart of home and happiness and I miss them when they’re gone.

When we re-modeled our home about 4 years ago, I ordered new Fiestaware. I had never bought a set of dishes like this before and I was delighted to pick out: Sunflower, Turquoise, Chartreuse and Blue. They made me happy. So happy that I planned the entire renovation around my new dishes. And I’ve never been sorry. To me, these are the colors of creation – at least the parts of creation that resonate most strongly with my spirit. They speak of life and hope, of springtime and growth. And I LOVE being surrounded by varying shades of these 4 plus light-toned woods and white trim everywhere.

And people who visit seem to respond exactly the way we do – they tell me they feel happy and welcome when they get here. And that’s what it’s all about, right?

STOP

Time Marches On…

June 3, 2007 By Diana

Yesterday, my ‘baby’ turned 35. I truly don’t know how this is possible. At some moments, it does seem like yesterday that we discovered a third baby was on the way. This was not a planned pregnancy – it was a total surprise. We had two charming daughters – just under 4 and just under 2 years of age, so we decided to wait until grandparenthood to enjoy the company of boys. Dick was becoming increasingly unhappy at the bank where he then worked and we had recently purchased our first home in Altadena CA. Another baby was the last thing on our minds at that point.

But guess what? God has wonderful ways of surprising us, keeping us on our toes and reminding us that – whether we like to admit it or not – we are not in charge here. After 2 girls, we assumed this would be another just like the first two. When the doctor lifted him up, facing away from me (he was, from the very beginning, not one to arrive at anything in the expected or usual way), I could tell from his backside that this kid definitely did not match the other two! As our two and a half year old crowed into the telephone when we called her at Dick’s folks’ home that night: “Mommy had a brudder!” Yes, indeed, Mommy had a brother.

Eric brought so many good things to our family – a great smile, a sunny disposition, an ability to dismantle his port-a-crib at about 9 months of age, and a wonderful language all his own. Our visit to a speech therapist at the age of 4 provided the first clue that God had given this little boy an extra helping of thinking power. He grew up to study philosophy and medicine, married a woman even smarter than he is and now has a beautiful 19 month old baby girl. Although the sunny disposition has given way to a somewhat more measured and mature mellowness, Eric continues to bring wonderful gifts to our family circle. I am so very glad he was born and that God surprised us with such a grand gift.