Crafts from California

My niece, Natasha, who lives in California with the rest of my brother's family makes beautiful artwork out of old barn wood.  Her house is filled with these masterpieces and I would always admire them when I would visit.

When I go to California, one of my favorite times are in the early morning when Natasha and I would go for a walk.  Each day we walk and talk for an hour or so....about our lives, our hopes, our dreams, our faith, our frustrations and our joys.  During one of these walks, Natasha asked me for one word that helped to give me strength during my care giving journey with Grandma.  I told her it was Faith.  She told me she was going to make me a barn wood sign with Faith on it for my home.  I was very excited and pleased.

A couple of months later when we were talking about Ting's wedding and the awesome gift Amy was offering them with the rental of her house, I asked Natasha if she would make a sign for me to give them for one of their housewarming gifts.  She replied that she would be happy to do that for us.  I requested that she make this sign with the word VERITAS.  Tony has a tattoo that reads Veritas on his left hand along his forefinger.

When he and Ting first started dating, before we knew and loved him, I noticed that tattoo and being the kind of Mom I am I immediately googled Veritas to see exactly what kind of guy Ting was going out with.

In Roman mythology, Veritas, meaning truth, was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn and the mother of Virtue. It was believed that she hid in the bottom of a holy well because she was so elusive. Her image is shown as a young virgin dressed in white.^[1]

Veritas is also the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness, which was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess. In Greek mythology, Veritas was known as Aletheia.

I was very pleased with the definition and chided myself for not having faith in Tingting's choices. I thought this would make a perfect housewarming gift because I knew it would have a lot of meaning for him and it would help me remember to judge not!!

These arrived by mail while we were gone on our cruise.  Didn't she do a wonderful job??  And this is not all her talents, she is an awesome cook and candy maker as well.  Not to mention an excellent niece who I am proud to call a friend.