spring creep (#316-328 of 1000 gifts)

We are well. The weather is sunny. Spring is creeping closer. It's easy to find gifts...

Serpentine Fen - Surrey, BC - Mount Baker in the background

316. A Valentine dinner with my sweetheart at a new-to-us Greek restaurant.

317. Splitting dessert (a banana caramel cream cheese xango — basically cream cheese with banana filling in a toasted pastry tortilla with caramel drizzled on top —sinfully good!)


318. Morning walks — they get the day off to such a great start.

319. A redwing blackbird's song (the sound of spring).

320. Sighting the cormorant again on our everyday walk beside the Nicomekl.

321. Unexpected emails from old friends.

322. Red cabbage.

323. Days getting noticeably longer.

324. J. I. Packer's book Knowing God (an oldie by a goodie).

325. More big juicy oranges.


326. Curling - a whole week of the Scotties coming up!


327. Missions conference at church. Yesterday was the flag parade. Love the colour, the motion, the anticipation: "I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb..." Revelation 7:9.

328. A walk at one of our favourite spots — the Serpentine Fen.

Looking down from one of the observation towers.

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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.

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trees

A layering of trees - Butchart Garden, Victoria, B.C.

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THURSDAY CHELLENGE

Next Week: MOVEMENT (Shaking, Falling, Bouncing, Jumping, Curling, Sagging,...)

sheri's shop ( (#305 − 315 of 1000 gifts)

I arrive early for my appointment. While I wait, I flip through hair-do magazines and listen to the lady in the nearest chair as she converses with Sheri, our hairdresser. "Did I tell you about my granddaughter? She's in Thailand, working on an elephant reserve."

Sheri's questions keep the conversation about elephant girl going even as she snips, finger-measures, snips, finger-measures.

Meanwhile the lady in chair two who has been blow drying her own hair stands up, signifying she's done. "You like it?" she asks Sheri, tossing and flipping her variegated blond mane to view it in the mirror.

"It's nice, very nice!" says Sheri, leaving her station for the cashier desk.

On her way out of the shop, Sheri engulfs blond mane in a big hug. "You read your Bible," I hear her say. I can't help but think this is a carryover from an earlier conversation.

She returns to customer one and blow-dries the woman's auburn hair into a fashionable backsweep as they kibbutz back and forth. When she's done, customer one also gets a Sheri-hug before going out the door.

I've always come here before when there were few other customers around and thought of Sheri as my own little hairdresser find. (The first time I came, she told me,  "Jesus came to me in a vision. It was when I was still in the old country." She's from Iran.) Today I see that all her clients love her as much as I do.

Now she puts on music before she calls me to the sink. Last time I came a Maranatha singers-type rendition of worship music from the 70s was playing. Today she chooses something instrumental and soothing.

I show her the magazine photo of the style I've chosen. "Do you think I should?" I ask.

"Of course! Change is good. You'll regret it if you don't."

We're just the two of us in the shop now and we talk about life, church, Jesus. She even says yes to my hesitant request to help sell the lavender sachets I've brought with me — our women's group fundraiser to help the facially mutilated women of northern Uganda pay for reconstructive surgery.

Once my hair is done, she asks about my eyebrows - as always (I think she has an eyebrow fetish). I give her the go-ahead. This time she doesn't use only the thread that drapes around her neck and over her shoulders like tangled dental floss, but also grabs tweezers. After a few minutes of efficient threading and plucking by her, agony for me, she hands me the mirror. Two perfect little wings now sit where my shaggy nondescript brows used to be.

Before I leave I get my own Sheri hug. As I step from the mauve-walled room into the winter afternoon's gathering dusk, I say a little prayer of thanks for her. For I know that the warmth and light that emanate from Sheri's little shop aren't powered by electricity alone.

306. Big juicy navel oranges.

307. Blooming heather

308. Pussy willows.

309. The smell of new-worked earth. (Never mind that it might still snow, someone got the jump on spring and did a little digging in one of the plots I pass.)

310. Talking to three beautiful people on Skype.

311. How work gets done and things get stroked off my list when I focus.

312. Crunchy penut butter.

313. My Canada, where we do have our political tiffs, but nothing like what we've seen on the news from around the world in the last several weeks.

314. Snowdrops.

315. A wonderful man and best friend with whom to celebrate Valentine's day!

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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.

On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell  what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by…) you. Feel free to write any which way… compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Click on the button below to find other On, In and Around Monday posts, or enter your own.

want to read a good story?

"I used to have this image of my family that just wasn't tied to reality. I thought we had it all put together very nicely," writes Gordon Atkinson, a writer for The High Calling organization.  

"We communicated well, loved each other, and generally did things the right way. But cracks had been appearing in that image for some time. My depression a few years back. My daughter Shelby’s own bouts with depression and her struggles with school and friends. But still, no big issues. On the whole I thought we were doing pretty well.

"Then I got a call from my wife on the first Monday night in April. I was with some friends of mine who gather once a month for beer, pizza, and long conversations. 
'You need to come home right away. I think Shelby might be pregnant.'"

So begins Part 1 of "Through Pain and Grace Toward Redemption" — a riveting true story of how the Atkinson family weathered a storm, the likes of which regularly shipwreck families and marriages.

The story is in four parts, and you, fortunate reader, can read them in quick succession (and aren't forced to wait a week in between installments, like I was).

Part 1   
Part 2  
Part 3 
Part 4

texture

The bay-window in the farmhouse where I grew up

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: TREES (Saplings, Gnarly Trees, Snow Covered, Bonsai, Dead Tree, Shade Tree,...)

february green (293-304 of 1000 gifts)

After the deep freeze of Saskatchewan, I found much to appreciate this week in the ever-dripping climate of southwest B.C. There was also much to like at our church's ladies retreat (one hundred and fifty-some of us gathered at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa for pampering, mountains of food, worship, and spiritual inspiration via Cheryl Koop).

And now it's back to a week of real life. Some of the blessings of the week just past:


293. The warm, damp climate of home.

294. Facebook for family togetherness.

295. The tranquility of my home.

296. An incredibly good bowl of broccoli soup.

297. Retreating with the church ladies in a jewel of a setting.

298. A hotel room overlooking the lake.

299. Friends who save you spots.

300. Green.

301. More green.

302. Still more green.

303. Communion with "sisters."

304. The internet - making international errands easy to run.

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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.

red

Cranberry Candles

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: TEXTURE (Coarse, Smooth, Jagged, Sharp, Glossy, Shinny, Furry,...)

goodbye, goodbye (#284-292 of 1000 gifts)

The front cover of the
memorial service bulletin:
My brother, hiking in the river hills.

It's hard to believe it was only one week ago today that I came home from working in Alpha to the news. A sister-in-law had phoned. My brother had died a couple of hours earlier.

It wasn't as if we weren't prepared. After all, the doctor had told us this summer it could be only a couple of weeks then. That my bro soldiered on for six more months astounded everyone on his medical team. Only days ago in her update, Mara, my brother's wife, made it clear that the end was near. But last Tuesday night the news was still a shock.

The next hours were a flurry of planning. We decided to fly (versus drive) to Saskatchewan for the Saturday morning funeral. We booked flights, rented a car remotely, then on Friday caught a 6:15 a.m. flight from Abbotsford.

The weekend was a marathon of special family moments. We shared a Chinese food dinner at Gilbert & Anne's on Friday night along with a birthday cake for my hubby. Then we motored to Borden and Brian & Darlene's cozy house where we spent all our nights.

Anne, at the Chinese food buffet (courtesy sister Doris)

Ernie with his ice-cream cake

Saturday was amazing as we mingled with family members, cousins and the friends of our youth in the foyer of the Dalmeny MB Church and later in the basement reception hall.

The memorial service for my brother was tough — and made tougher by the three segments of photos (all to the accompaniment of the roots and bluegrass music he loved and played so well) featuring the three eras of my his life.

The pastor's talk was stirring and challenging, anchored by two words: "appointed" and "choices." It's a sobering thing to view the whole of a person's life and to realize: this is it. They've done all they will do. The last chapter has been written. Their living here is complete. (His obituary is here.)

I came back when to the sanctuary when it was deserted and photographed the memorabilia of my brother's life that my nephews had lovingly assembled, washed (at least the farm tools) and hauled to the church. Goodbye my bro — a husband, father, uncle, friend, farmer, gardener, bus driver, musician, hockey player, bird watcher, naturalist, hiker, jack-of-all-trades, of whom it was said again and again how kind, and supportive and encouraging and thoughtful he was.

On Sunday after church whoever of the family hand't left for home gathered again in the church basement. Kudos to all who contributed, especially to Gil & Anne who so capably organized, supervised and so much more!

Four sisters

Four brothers

After a photo shoot we all drove out to the farm for more visiting, pizza and pop. I was told there was even some schmalzing in the snow!

Pizza and pop at the farm

Flowers - so pretty in the farmhouse. Now my bro is a 'Bird of Paradise'

Here I slipped away again to the room where my brother spent his last months, days, and hours (when he wasn't up and about, which was pretty well every day until almost the end). His hospital bed was set up against the wall where the futon now stands.

Cake made by "Cakes by Christine" (Loyd's niece)

We got home yesterday at midnight. From my familiar writing desk here, the last few days seem like a dream. Though the week has been gift upon gift, I'll gather them into bundles that could be broken down into many...

284. Ann Voskamp on Blog Talk Radio.


285. A sense of God directing my steps and moments.


286. A sweet last day on earth for my fro with all his family present.

287. Memories of a life well lived.

288. Travel mercies — safe flights, luggage that arrived, a rental car that never failed to start despite the −30C weather.

289. The warmth and generosity of the people at the church where my brothers attend.

290. Time with family rich in memories, catching up, laughter and tears.

291. E-readers; it's so convenient to transport books on a trip.

292. The internet, Facebook, email. With ease we can let everyone know - we're back home, all is well.

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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.

Ann's book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are is out and selling like hotcakes. Get your copy! 

cold

 Nicomekl Creek on a frosty morning

Thursday Challenge

Next week: RED (Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers, Clothing, Hair, Makeup, Wine, Toys,...)