golden

The harvest and the harvester

****

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: THANKFUL (Things I am thankful for)

rooted in life (#697-709 of 1000 gifts)

"Warm, eager, living life—to be rooted in life—to learn, to desire to know, to feel, to think, to act. That is what I want." - Katherine Mansfield

I've just come back from experiencing such a slice of life. A week ago today (Monday, the 19th) daughter gave birth to number three, a beautiful baby girl. She had planned to have a home birth but it didn't work out (probably just as well). Mom and babe were discharged from the hospital within hours, though. I was there to watch the little boys meet their sister and enjoy baby Myelle's first five days of life. What a blessing!

697. The miracle of new life—our new baby at eight hours old.

698. Little boys falling in love with their baby sister.

699. The imagination of kids. That is not a kiddy bath towel on Liam's head, but a Batman cape. He is looking down to watch how Batmanish it looks as its shadow waves out behind him as he swings. And on the other swing, little Davey is flying.

700. I took one walk beside the Thompson River while I was in Kamloops and enjoyed fall's loveliness in shape....

701. ...texture and line...

702. ... and color.

703. The rest of the time, I was run off my feet with the busy-ness of family—making meals, washing dishes, folding laundry, finding snacks, soothing a newborn... I loved every minute of it!

704. One day I took the boys out to the Little Farmers Petting Zoo (within walking distance of where they live). We hadn't brought any money to buy food for the goats but little Davey, who knows the drill, popped open the hatch of the food dispenser and found a few pellets someone else had left behind. The goats came right up to the fence and ate out of the kids' hands. Later we found some crabapples on the ground, gathered a few of those and had some more goat time.

705. We loved the exotic hens. "Take a picture, Granma!" (You don't have to ask me twice!)

706. Later in the week, son came up to meet his little niece. Take a look at this uncle love.

707. So enjoyed being with my daughter, the lovely mom, and her husband—who is a wonderful dad, shopper, baby changer, dishwasher, etc. Just wish I could have stayed longer, but duty beckons at home.

708. It was treat to have son ride back with me—as the driver no less! (I'm not a fan of long-distance driving.)


709. Hubby made it back from his Ottawa trip on Saturday too, safe, sound and full of his own adventures. We had a great debrief Saturday night.

************

If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

**********

family

 

Brand new! 

Welcome baby Myelle, my first granddaughter (at two days old, born Monday, September 19, 2011)

Thursday Challenge

Next week: GOLDEN (Fields, Sun, Flowers, Hair, Gold,...) 

waiting... (#684-696 of 1000 gifts)

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it." - Arnold H. Glasow

This week has been characterized by waiting. Daughter's due date was a week ago. And with that "gift" I carry on with my count-up to 1000 gifts:

684. The faith-stretching experience of waiting...
(P.S. The baby arrived this morning - Monday- at 8:a.m. after about 7.5 hours of labour. Praise the Lord for a beautiful baby girl - our first granddaughter!:)

685. Beautiful foretaste of things to come.

686. An evening spent listening to and reading poetry with my poet peeps. 

687. B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver. We had occasion to visit someone there last week. What a sad / happy place with the nicest nurses.

Wired to the trellis sections of the dividers on an outside patio, are these wood cutouts—little pastel rays of hopefulness and reasons to keep fighting.

688. Fall roses.

689. Green hydrangeas. (In Surrey I had my own hydrangea bush. It grew purple/blue/wine flowers. I used to dry them and display them solo or in arrangements with other everlastings. One year I lucked out when I found green hydrangeas at the home of my daughter's friend. Her mom didn't do anything with them so she gave me armloads!)

690. Hubby's opportunity to go to Ottawa with a prayer team, stay at the National House of Prayer, and visit parliament (new session starts today).

691. Caraganas.

692. Nature's designs.

693. A golden-yellow freebie (picked from a basket marked "Free - Help Yourself" just outside the gate of one of the houses on our walk).

694. The rains have returned and it feels kind of good. Maybe one does develop a certain affection for dull weather over time. Last night's rain chatter on the roof and chortle through the drain pipes was a happy sound.


695. The knowledge that I have a wise God who is lovingly in charge of directing my steps.

696. Busy critters.

************

If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

**********

book review The Watcher by Sara Davison

The Watcher, Ontario native Sara Davison’s debut novel, is not for the faint of heart. Set in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, this offering of contemporary romantic suspense is riveting in more ways than one.

The story is rife with foreboding and danger. Twenty years after the crime which wrecks all of Kathryn Ellison’s youthful plans, she is almost ready to let a new man into her life. But first she must cut ties to the past and deal with her 19-year-old daughter’s quest to find her father.

As Kathryn sorts through an old shoebox of memorabilia she remembers, and we are dropped into a soup of issues. We see that God doesn’t stop bad things from happening to His children. Truth will always come out. Consequences are inevitable. Forgiveness is key. Good things can come from evil situations. Above all, grace is tenacious.

Davison’s action scenes are dynamite. She knows how to ratchet up the tension (of which there is plenty) and how to relax us and put us off our guard. The story comes out in a puzzle-piece manner, giving the reader lots of opportunity for discovery and participation.

Davison tells the story through a celestial being (the watcher). What a great perspective this quirky narrator provides with the ability to sense human thoughts, feel emotions, move effortlessly from one location to another, recognize cohorts (like Faith, Grace, Courage, Fear etc. and in this way explore another spiritual layer), and provide welcome comic relief: “Of all things human, coffee is the thing I crave the most. I’ve never tasted it, of course, but the smell alone is enough to curl my toes in equal parts delight and envy” (Kindle Location 1212).

Canadian fiction has a fresh new voice in Sara Davison. (The Watcher won the 2010 Word Alive Publishing Contest – fiction category.)

Title: THE WATCHER
Author: Sara Davison
Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: Word Alive Press (February 22, 2011), Paperback, 352 pages (Kindle version also available)

• ISBN-10: 1770691456
• ISBN-13: 978-1770691452

(Review first published in the September/October issue of Faith Today.)

learning

A work of art

(and it's this little guy's birthday today. Happy Birthday D!)

**********

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: FAMILY (Grandparents, Parents, Children, Family Occasions, Moms with Babies, Animals,...)

more little things (#670-683 of 1000 gifts)

"I know well that happiness is in little things." - John Ruskin

Yes, indeed, Mr. Ruskin, as is gratitude.  And so I continue on with my list of little things that make me happy and grateful...

670. A week of summer! If I complain about the weather in the days ahead, remind me of the week just past.

671. Breakfast on the deck, soaking up the morning sun.

672. Our placid river in the morning.

Lots of fall beauties...

673. Spotted Jeweled Touch-me-nots blooming beside the creek.

674. Butter-and-eggs I think these are, though they are not spiky, as my wildflower book suggests, so maybe they're something else.

675. A fun Saturday morning at the Good Times Cruise-In with streets and streets of old cars.

676. A Sunday walk at Mud Bay Park.

677. Late summer asters.

678. Even loosestrife and thistle have their beauty.

679. An assignment finished and delivered early.

680. Another published book review.


681. Reading a fascinating book about heaven.

682. A bumper crop of blackberries...

683. ...with more on the way.

************

If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

**********