Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year Blessings!

Well... here we are, at 61...
(taking this pic just 4 days following Katie's surgery!)
Healthy, happy, and truly blessed to be able to 
welcome 2013 with open arms and a full embrace!
Daryle & Katie

Sunday, December 30, 2012

My Workbench... Ripping Wood for a New Santos Cage Doll

la Angel de Su presencia
"The Angel of His Presence"
The idea all came together early one morning during 
the bleakest days of mid-November. 
I was reading these ancient words from the book of Isaiah, 
and they just seemed to jump off the page:
  
In all their affliction He was afflicted, 
and the angel of His presence saved them;  
in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, 
and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.”  
(Isaiah 63:9  NASB) 

In those moments, the images of a love that is so powerful, 
its very presence lifts one up– became the creative spark 
for this Santos cage doll.

I am using some knotty pine, wood rope trim, and worn tobacco stakes
from Lancaster County for the the cage. 

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Em, Chad & Stella... too!

Emily, Chad and Stella were able to come down from Vermont 
and spend December 24th thru the 29th with us too!
Life is good...

Christmas with the Grandsons!

Tell me... does it get any better than this?
The boys had Christmas Eve with Gram & Pop-Pop,
here in South Jersey... it was a two-day free-for-all!
(and we loved every minute of it...)

Friday, December 28, 2012

The Best Gift...Given the Day After Christmas!

The best gift we could have been given, 
was heard from the surgeon following Katie's surgery
the day after Christmas... 
It was pre-cancer and the lymph nodes were not involved.
No further treatment will be needed... 
just four weeks of rest and relaxation!
I (Daryle) planted winter pansies back in late November;
which are blooming just outside our family room window.
They are Katie's favorite flower, in our gardens...
XO... sweet wife!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A Christmas Poem


Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him

Nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away

When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter

A stable-place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty,

Jesus Christ.
(taken from Christina Rossetti's  "In the Bleak Midwinter")


Wishing you a Blessed Christmas gathering... 
where hearts are merry and bright!
This year, white orchids (phalaenopsiscascade
over our Italian Christ figure.
Daryle & Katie

Friday, December 21, 2012

The Winter 2013 Issue... of PRIMS!

My complimentary issue of PRIMS just arrived...
with my most recent Santos Cage Doll:
"The Keeper of Lost Dolls" included on pages 78-83.
The editing staff graciously (generously!) chose a "baker's dozen" 
photographs to include with the article.  I am thrilled!

Assistant Senior Managing Editor, Jennifer Jackson Taylor
was kind enough to print in the Letters to the Editor section 
of the magazine, a follow-up note that I had sent to her
about an earlier publication of my "Miss Moses" cage doll.

For those of you who have encouraged me  
during the past six months to keep at this labor of love... 
I cannot begin to express my appreciation and gratitude!  
Your posts have meant the world to me!  Thank you, Thank you!

So for now... I'm just floating on "cloud nine" and enjoying it so!
(wink!) Daryle

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

On Eagle's Wings... a Poem

I found a poem by Kathleen Higham, and share it, in part:
Rising Oh so high
I hear the angels sing
The softest feathers comfort me
Nestled on the eagle's wing.

A peace that I have never known
When to the heavens, I see
My Father smiling down so sweet
As He reaches out for me.
 
Wishing you, much peace...  Daryle

This Santos Doll was a recent "find" at a Tuesday Morning Storein Delaware. Oh, the bargain hunter in me... I paid far less than half the retail price of this much sought after Santos!  She is also at their website, listed as "Senorita Maria"... Happy hunting!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Shadows...

It is never the news you would choose to hear...
as Katie found out just after Thanksgiving
that she has a non-aggressive form of uterine cancer.
We remain hopeful, as her doctor has scheduled
surgery the day after Christmas.
Pray with us... for healing and wellness!
Daryle & Katie