All you need is LOVE

 

All you need is Love...

I really mean it! 

Everything else is just icing on the cake. 

SO...This past weekend I was making art like crazy. 

Catching up on orders, Making new pieces and all the while...

LOVING what I was doing!

(Well, except for the part where I had to get some earplugs from my neighbor

because I thought I might be going deaf because of all of the hammering I was doing.)

Sometimes we get caught up in "LIFE" 

and we forget that doing the things that bring you happiness, 

the things that can make only you happy and that only you can do,

It is so important. 

I found a new piece of wood at my parent's house recently.

I picked it up to think about what I might do on it and suddenly

it spoke to me! 

I saw a heart...

Right there, in the wood was the shape of a heart! 

Do you see it?

 One more time...

I saw a heart! 

(I moved the tail a bit but it's still a heart)

 

I painted the heart yellow...

 

 

And added in "love" with some grey.

I added in one of my hand cut paper birds

and stamped in a chip art heart of course...

because, that's how you know I really made this!

I took some new pictures on a sunnier day!

I am "In LOVE" with my new piece!

 

That is all a girl needs sometimes.

Just wood that speaks to her,

Acrylic paint in her favorite colors,

A GIANT heart, 

A little Love,

and a sweet bird with a heart. 

Here's my deeper meaning to this piece. 

 My Irises bloomed. 

HUH?!!

Let me explain...

I grow Irises. 

I LOVE my Irises. 

They are Purple Bearded Irises that are pass-alongs from my Mom's garden.

They are over 30 years old probably a lot more than that but that's how long

my parent's have lived in our family home. 

Each year, I wait....

for the gorgeous show that is coming...

I watch them, I talk to them (I really do),

I groom them, I water them (sometimes),

and I wait...

Then they come! 

 

In all their splendor!

Every April, they come...

and I LOVE them.

For 6 to 8 weeks they make me so happy!

Only this year, 

when they bloomed I remembered that last year,

Last year, I was pregnant when the Irises Bloomed.

Last year, I was so, so happy while my Irises Bloomed...

And just when the Irises stopped blooming, 

I lost the precious life that grew inside of me. 

For 7 1/2 weeks.

It's such a short time really,

but isn't it the same...

you look forward to something so much,

you wait for it,

and for a short time it Blooms!

and then it is gone...

Only this year, 

It was a moment of healing for me. 

Seeing those Irises bloom,

Reminded me of the precious gifts God gives us in every season.

He gives us the Beauty of new life in the Spring.

He gives us the Ease and Warmth of Summer.

He gives us the Harvest and Celebration of the Fall.

And he gives us the gift of Healing in the cold, cold Winter.

Healing...

So much hurt but so much healing...

God gave me a beautiful gift this year. 

He gave me the words to write a poem that has helped me to heal a little more. 

This poem is just right. It says it just so. 

No more.

 No less.

Irises Blooming

The Irises are blooming again

& it makes me think of you.

The sweet baby life,

that grew inside of me

for only seven & half weeks.

For those precious weeks, you were mine.

Mine to dream about,

Mine to think about,

Mine to care for.

But it did not happen like I thought it would.

My sweet baby,

that I will always remember when the Irises bloom.

You were my greatest Hope.

And for only a brief moment,

for as long as the Irises bloomed

You were mine to Love.

-JG 4/2012

I really believe that the greatest gift ever given was the gift of LOVE.

It's all we have to do.

Just LOVE...

Love the good.

Love the bad.

Love the everyday beauty.

Love the healing. 

Just LOVE...

Making art is pure LOVE to me. 

It's in my soul. 

It's God's Beautiful Gift to me while I heal.

I am still healing,

Sometimes I feel indulgent for taking so long

but then I remind myself that God has plan for me. 

And it takes as long as it takes. 

We are almost through the "Home Study" portion of our Adoption Journey.

The next phase is being able to be shown as Prospective Parents to Expectant Parents. 

It's so exciting...

and yet it's still a journey. 

I know it will ALL be worth it in the end

but that too takes time to see the "end".

 

 I wish for you that you see the beauty in the healing of life

 and enjoy those brief moments when 

it is "just so" 

& 

filled with LOVE.

 This post was created from LOVE,

 Healing, Appreciation for every season 

and with my own two hands.  

XOXO,

JillyG