A New Decade

It didn't take very long for a certain young man to turn twenty. We celebrated his birthday with his grandparents and his family on Sunday except for his oldest sister who we miss. That's strawberry cheesecake for dessert, yummo!  You gotta celebrate with some sugar on your birthday! Thanks, Mom, for making it!

But as this is a blog dedicated to creativity, let me quickly express my wishes for his next decade of life. I am working to create a new diet for all of our family, one that helps him to heal, one that works with other family member's dietary needs, and one that works for my own food idiosyncracies. Its not easy figuring it out, as we keep adding new things to the list, and I'm thinking woops - everyone can eat that but . . . , but that's what I'm working on now - creating meal plans that will work, and the last two days have been good.

My wish is that he and every member of my family will be happy and healthy, and I'm not sure how to create that for them, but healthy meals is one thing I can contribute. As his car's been in the shop too, I've been taking him wherever he wants to go. He wanted to see how things had been affected by the fire, so we grabbed Mom and Dad to join us and we were all sobered driving through the neighborhoods and the mountain roads, seeing where destruction had left its scars. As sad and humbling as it was, I knew that eventually, nature and man would create again. Structures would be rebuilt, grass would grow again, the pines, that let their seeds drop, will sprout and climb as high as before, or even higher. And so will we, if we just will. That is always the biggest choice in life - what WILL we do?

There is always new opportunities to create a better life, new things to try, new people to meet and new opportunities to serve. And, despite the pain and heartaches on certain days, that make things looks so blique, other days bring a bright glorious sunshine and a new hope that out of the ashes, with the Lord's help and direction, we can try again. Some people will move out of those fire-stricken areas, but some will stay. Everyone's path takes its own unique direction.  Its been a summer of hard things for our family. I don't know the reasons and whys for it all, or exactly all the paths that lie ahead, but I do know that with the Lord's help we can do good things. I know I will continue to try.