Winters’ Day In
Conversations on life, faith, stories, and creativity from author Talena Winters.
Pour a cuppa and stay awhile.
Joy Comes Softly
Every day is another step forward. Every day, grief morphs and whirls and changes into a different shape, like dancing aurora borealis. And lately, I have been surprised by joy.
Photo Friday: Hope from Chaos
"Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit." Henry Adams. Boy, do I hope that's true, because chaos abounds right now!
Photo Friday: Hope in Grief
Last Saturday, Levi turned four. It could have been an awful, hard, day of mourning. But it wasn't. It was a day of joy, and remembering, and thinking about our little man. Together.
Time Goes By
In a way, every day, every moment sine June 3, 2015 has been a "first" in this first year since I went from being merely a parent of four boys or an adoptive parent to a bereaved parent. Every day, there are things that trigger my tears. Some of them are quite small and seemingly insignificant--but even something that might seem small to others can leave my heart weighed down by stones too heavy to lift for most of the day.
If I'm Going to Save the World Today, Maybe I Should Put On Some Pants
When everything extraneous has been stripped from your life by a loss, and you are left naked and broken, sometimes just getting your pants on in the morning is a big deal. But you look for those moments that you see progress, too. Moving forward, whether in small steps, or giant leaps--in the end, that's the only thing I can really ask of myself.
Endings and Beginnings
As a reader, I always thought that the ending was the goal. And it is. But it never occurred to me that it was the well-written middle that actually got me there as inevitably as a cart on a roller coaster track.
If only life had someone writing me out of my "swampy middles."
Behind the Scenes
It's been quiet on stage here at Winters' Day In.
But so, so far from quiet backstage.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Are we in control of our destiny? Or is God? And who is to blame when things go wrong?
Lucky
Yesterday was the four-month anniversary of Levi's heaven birthday. Thanks to some wonderful friends, I got to spend the weekend at a scrapbooking retreat, and chose to use that time to add pages to Levi's memory album. And while doing so, I remembered the reasons I have to be thankful.
Choosing Belief
Even though I don't understand the reason, I still believe. Like Job, I choose to believe despite the uncertainty. And because I choose to believe, my grief is changing me for the good.
Filtered Sunshine
Moving forward is what we are designed to do. I will never forget him, but it's okay to find pleasure and joy in other things in this life. In this life, there is a great deal of joy to find.
Grieving Creatively
I already recorded too few memories of our short time with Levi on film. Now, while those memories are still as fresh as possible, I intend to scrapbook them all, and some that don't have pictures, too.
Five is the Oddest Number
One of the ways our loved ones chose to bless us in our grieving was to give us money to take a family holiday. We were already planning to take a quick weekend trip so that Jason and the boys could run in the Spartan Race in Westlock this past Saturday. Normally, we would combine that with a weekend stay at relative's, since they are only another two hours away.
But, in light of recent events, we decided to take advantage of our "time away" option and stayed at West Edmonton Mall for three nights in the Fantasyland Hotel following the race.