the fairest blossom

Thank you so much for praying for my sweet father in law. When we got to the hospital yesterday he looked much better than i had expected....his color was great and he talked up a blue streak! Today they are running several tests to determine exactly what is going on. There is talk that they may have caught the renal situation early, but we are far from out of the woods. he is still very sick and fragile....i do continue to covet your prayers for him.

I woke up early this morning & just laid in bed thanking the Lord for His blessings. for friends and family that i treasure dearly. for gestures that touch my soul and warm my heart~especially those that present during tender times.

i want to share a glimpse of a couple of those gestures that touch my soul.

my sweet katie has been a mentor to me for years. she has cried with me, prayed with me, brought me scrumptious dinners, and taught me what it looks like to love my girls unconditionally. she surprised me last spring by taking two images i had shot of caroline at the tulip house and made them into amazing oil paintings!!

my dear friend fran has been another mentor to me....coming along side me especially during my time as a young widow. she called one day a couple years ago and told me she needed to swing by....she walks in with an enormous framed oil of caroline~ she had spent the better part of a year working on. i don't think i've ever been as speechless as i was that moment. incidentally this photo was taken at a different tulip shot, but what is so special to me is the dress she's wearing. my mother in law and i took a quickie smocking course years ago. we each made a bishop for caroline....the dress she's wearing is the one made by her....priceless gift , both of them.

my friend kristin is uber talented artistically! the image below was taken days after we found out that gregg would need to start chemo. my lifelong photographer took these images for us which proved to be our final family pictures with him. he & savannah had such a precious relationship....
one sunday night at church kristin hands me the gift she's been working on for months....a breathtaking pastel of gregg and savannah.
i've never seen a more lifelike perfect image
a labor of love that will be an heirloom for savannah and her generations to come.

(the images i've shared don't begin to do justice for these paintings

the later two are each 30x36 and are spectacular

just a little tip....i emailed copies of katies paintings -the top two oils --to kinkos

they printed them on canvas & honestly its hard to tell those two aren't the real thing)

priceless gifts for which i could never begin to repay these precious friends

i see generosity like this as a form of God's love for us being displayed through human hands

a gift i never wish to take for granted

thank you my dear friends katie, fran & kristin

my love for you is endless

& my words of gratitude not enough

Gratitude is the fairest blossom

which springs from the soul.

~Henry Ward Beecher