The Wood's Secret Garden

Just four days after Michael's car was stolen, we got a phone call. This morning I had to write another poem to tell "the rest of the story".

On Christmas Eve, they stole his car—
And as crazy as this might sound;
I was praising God for the loss;
Never thinking it would be found.

God has taught me many things
Through the loss of this earthly treasure.
How Michael dealt with this loss,
Was a blessing beyond measure.

He was sad—that is true;
But, he handled it with grace.
He never once doubted God
No anger—Not a trace.

I got to see, through this, first hand,
What Michael views as “treasure”.
The man I married, has it right,
And this brought me great pleasure!

How he acted; what he said;
Touched me to the core.
His faith was never shaken
Which makes me love him even more.

For I hold things with open hands
For things will come and go.
The only thing that I hold dear
Is the One I’ve come to know.

God has taught us many things
Through this unfortunate circumstance—
As long as we have our Savior
We can al…

As many of you know, this was our first Christmas together as a married couple, and it is a Christmas we won't soon forget. Not for the reasons one might think. I sat down early this morning (Sunday) before getting ready for church and wrote a poem to express my thoughts. After reading to Michael, what I had penned, he took pen to paper and wrote the last seven stanzas. We will let the poem speak for itself:

“What did you get for Christmas?”
Some fudge, some socks, a cigar?
Or did you get something really neat
Like a vintage acoustic guitar?

When I return to work this week
That is a question they may ask.
They’ll want to know just what I got
And on what pleasures I did bask.

I’ll have to answer honestly
It’s not about wrapped things.
It’s not about what we get
But what our Savior brings.

Our hearts are filled with joy this year
And nothing can change that fact
No matter what the world might do
To tempt, to entice, to detract.

From all we hold so great and true
In our minds, our souls and our heart.
…

As much as we enjoy the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, we did not set out to create Christmas cards fashioned after the VHS movie jacket. Many providential things took place that inspired this design. Michael had the idea to make a collage of photos that would give a glimmer of our life here in California. We worked on that card together picking four pictures: 1) our new family member “monkey” the cat from the Secret Garden who adopted us in October; 2) The winter snow scene on the highway from Reno to Sacramento; 3) Sacramento in the Fall; and, 4) the Wandering Jew from Michael’s grandma’s porch in North Carolina that is now growing here in California in our little apartment.

We needed one last photo—a current picture of the two of us together. So, we decided to do an impromptu photo session. We were already in our night clothes. Michael threw on a sport coat and I a red sweater; set up the tripod; and took a couple dozen photos. While viewing the photos, to decide which photo to use f…

Okay, the matter has been settled (in case there was any doubts) – We are definitely NOT cat people and this has been confirmed over the last several weeks of taking this cat into our home (he adopted us). He tricked us into thinking that he was different then most cats; but, he is not. After just two weeks, he started showing his true colors. He is moody, self-focused, self-centered, and unpredictable! He has made it clear that we do not own him, he owns us.

After reading up on how to understand cats and how to properly “meet a cats needs” – we realized that he needed something other than our heads, hands, face, feet and slippers to attack, so we got him his own monkey. They were introduced last night.

In addition, we went to see The Chronicles of Narnia in 3-D this week and when I got home I made a little “Movie Poster with Monkey as the star instead of Aslan. Aslan, the “Great Lion” and Monkey “The Demon Boy” have absolutely nothing in common. That is crystal clear!