The Color of Rain: How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, and Love in the Midst of Tragedy - Softcover

Spehn, Michael; Spehn, Gina Kell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310318890 ISBN 13: 9780310318897

Verlag: Zondervan, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

When unexpected grief brings two families together, how do they start their journey to healing? Join Michael and Gina Spehn--bestselling authors and founders of the New Day Foundation--as they tell their story of resilience, remembrance, and reliance on their shared faith.

Matt Kell and Cathy Spehn had known each other since grade school. As adults, they each got married, lived in their hometown, and attended the same church. Their kids even attended school together.

Matt died at home on Christmas Day after a three-year battle with cancer, leaving behind his wife, Gina, and two young boys. After attending Matt's inspirational funeral and reaching out to Gina with offers of support, Cathy was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. She died only 17 days later, leaving behind her husband, Michael, and three young children. In her final hours, Cathy instructed Michael to call Gina Kell.

The Color of Rain illuminates the stepping stones of loss and healing that ultimately led to a joyful new life for Michael, Gina, and their five children. Their path to becoming a modern-day Brady Bunch was paved with grief, laughter, and the willingness to be restored to a new and even better life despite the inevitable resistance they faced.

As you learn more about Michael and Gina's story, you'll learn:

• The importance of keeping God at the center of your marriage
• How they navigated becoming a blended family
• The life-changing power of faith, even on your darkest days

As their dual first-person narrative reveals what it is like to walk through loss and love simultaneously, you'll have an intimate look at how Michael and Gina lived, lost, and ultimately persevered through extraordinary circumstances.

Praise for The Color of Rain:

"The Color of Rain is a testament to God's restoration and grace. Even in our suffering, there is beauty. It rarely makes sense, but it's always true: 'He makes all things beautiful, in His time.'"

--Katie Davis, New York Times bestselling author of Kisses from Katie

"Michael and Gina Spehn's The Color of Rain is not only an instant bestseller but also an instant classic, certain to be pressed into the hands of hundreds of thousands of grieving men and women by their closest friends, for it is a book that is painfully honest about the depths of sorrow but also full of the joy of the hard path back from near despair. It is another reminder that God is there, however dark the day, and that he will comfort those who call on him."

--Hugh Hewitt, bestselling author and radio host

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Michael and Gina Spehn, joined together by the loss of their spouses, co-founded The New Day Foundation for Families, which provides financial, emotional, and spiritual resources for families with children who have lost a parent to cancer. They are privileged to share their story and faith as speakers and as hosts of a weekly talk radio show, Your Family Matters, in Detroit, MI. Michael and Gina, along with their five children, make their home in southeastern Michigan.

Gina Kell Spehn is a wife, mom of five, author, radio show host, and philanthropist. She is the Director of the New Day Foundation for Families, a non-profit dedicated to the families of children who lose a parent to cancer. Gina seeks to glorify God through her life and family and enjoys cooking with friends, reading and watching her kids play sports.

 

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The Color of Rain

How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, and Love in the Midst of TragedyBy Michael Spehn Gina Spehn

Zondervan

Copyright © 2011 Michael Spehn and Gina Spehn
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-31889-7

Contents

prologue........................................111. the fall.....................................152. mullett lake.................................203. skyline......................................234. mushroom cloud...............................275. win-win......................................316. just get it done.............................377. lost valley..................................428. i'm home.....................................489. freight trains...............................5310. life is good................................5611. connections.................................6012. bibles and basketballs......................6513. 'tis the season.............................7314. coach.......................................8215. so this is christmas........................8516. applause of heaven..........................10217. not a pinched nerve.........................10518. gratitude...................................11019. sixteen days................................11520. five balloons...............................13021. february 27.................................13322. the dream...................................15223. telling the kids............................15424. not again...................................16025. she wasn't there............................16526. the only one i know.........................17027. five pews...................................17528. calling gina kell...........................18129. dinner with strangers.......................18730. you can't do this alone.....................19331. working mom.................................20032. turquoise lake..............................20433. because she knows...........................21134. take the walk...............................21835. date night..................................22236. happy patio.................................22737. foundations.................................23138. the double rainbow..........................23539. on both knees...............................24340. replacement parts...........................25041. holy water..................................25342. here comes the sun..........................25643. the new day.................................272epilogue........................................277discussion guide................................279acknowledgments.................................293

Chapter One

the fall

gina

The morning of my thirty-second birthday, I was already looking forward to dinner with my parents. Dad and I shared the same birthday and Mom was making our favorite, linguini with traditional meat sauce and meatballs, to celebrate. With a name like Antoinette Valenti, you know her sauce is ridiculously good. I've yet to meet a person, regardless of how many vowels they have in their name, who can make a more tender meatball than my mother.

Bright sunlight bathed the kitchen in warmth. Two-year-old Drew had just finished eating oatmeal, and Sam was sitting in his high chair launching toys in between bites of Gerber baby cereal when the phone rang. My best friend, Colleen Schomaker, was calling with a solo performance of "Happy Birthday." She sang at hyperspeed, so as not to actually sing, and then reminded me that I am still older than her. We said good-bye with a plan to meet for lunch.

As I hung up, the television caught my eye. Smoke was billowing from one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. I leaned my elbows on the counter to watch on my tiny black-and-white kitchen television and called Colleen back.

"Are you watching this?"

"Yeah, I know. Unbelievable."

We mulled it over for a few minutes and hung up again. By now, I had turned on the television in the family room. Sam was still in his high chair, happily being entertained by Drew as I watched a passenger jet explode into the second tower. My body recoiled with every replay of the plane entering the building. I sat on the coffee table in stunned silence and began to feel nauseated. My soul ached at the sight of incomprehensible suffering. With the rest of the world, I was riveted to my television on this otherwise gorgeous September day, helplessly watching America wounded and bleeding.

It took my husband, Matt, several hours to return home from his downtown office at the local NBC television station in Detroit. When I heard the garage door go up, I ran to meet him. We held each other tightly, still in a state of disbelief. My parents had already arrived. Time was standing still as we came together to watch the horror unfold. Around five o'clock I walked outside to clear my head. The late afternoon sun was blinding. I felt like I had been in a tunnel all day. My body ached from tension. It was surreal, and it wasn't even happening in our state. It was, however, happening in our safe country, in a city we had visited many times, and in a place where people we knew and loved were living. It was happening to people just like us. It was happening to us.

Dinner was quieter than usual, although the kids helped keep things light. The world may have paused, but Drew still had spaghetti sauce on his face, and Sam was still throwing things from his high chair. There wasn't much conversation aside from expressions of deep sadness, gratitude, and a strong sense of unity with our fellow Americans.

I took an hour tucking the kids into bed that night, snuggling, reading, and saying prayers. What kind of world had I brought them into? I walked downstairs and collapsed into Matt's arms. The television was muted and we sat quietly watching the images on the screen.

"I have a present for you," Matt said.

"For what?" I asked and then remembered it was my birthday. "I don't feel much like celebrating. How about if I open it tomorrow?"

"Okay, but you have to read this tonight." He handed me a letter.

9/11/01

Gina:

Especially today, with the enormity of current events, I want to convey to you again, how much you mean to me and how proud I am to be your husband. The hard work that you are engaged in right now is exhausting, invisible and largely thankless in the short term.

But honey, please know that buried at the core of this tedium is the most noble and important work in the world - God's work; the fruits of which you and I will be lucky enough to enjoy as we grow old together. Watching these little guys grow into men is a privilege that I am proud to share with you, and the perfect fulfillment of our marriage bonds.

You are a great mom.

You are a great wife.

You are my best friend.

You are very pretty.

Happy Birthday.

-Matt

Matt's generosity restored my hope. He made me feel safe and loved and purposeful. In his own adorable way, he even made me feel beautiful, which every mother of young children knows is no small task. At a time in our lives when careers and kids were creating loose threads in our marriage, and on the worst day in our nation's recent history, Matt gave me a renewed perspective about our life together and our future. His letter was like a stitch in the mending process. It was the best birthday present I'd ever been given.

A few months after 9/11, we celebrated our tenth anniversary in California. We planned the trip several months prior to our actual October anniversary, mostly to accommodate schedules. We rented a convertible Porsche Boxster in San Francisco...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Zondervan
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0310318890
• ISBN 13: 9780310318897
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland