A Grandparent’s Delight

Whew! School Break is over – at least for us as Grandparents. We survived five days straight of the action and interaction with six kids. I think it could best be described as a string of day trips to theme parks in Florida – only we never left the country or province. With help of our daughter Dana and son-in-law Bruce we accomplished an amazing time together.

How can I share all the stories with you? I think maybe some verbal snap shots described in some detail might help you.

To do this I am recruiting the help of one of my close friends, Grandma Brenda Van Lier. Brenda also spent some time with her granddaughter who was available for her grand parents to love a little extra.

Brenda wrote…
We spent a magical day yesterday with our granddaughter Alexis--a busy 4&1/2 years old. She came out to spend the day at Grandma & Grandpa's house in the country.

In preparing for this visit, I filled a craft drawer with fun things to do--the crayons & paper, a puzzle, a foam purse to be sewed together, the alphabet magnetic letters remaining from our children's day. After our walk "in the forest"--a must do at Grandpa's house, we settled in to our fun. She enjoyed her first sewing experience with the big plastic needle & happily announced to her Mommy later, that when she was a Mommy she could go shopping now!

The activity that excited her most was a cardboard with capsules attached--another $1.00 purchase. The instructions told us that if we placed these gel-capsules in warm/hot water, lo & behold foam animals would appear. I never knew there could be so much excitement & fun from a $1.00 purchase!!

While Grandma supervised the pot of hot water, Alexis dropped in the capsules one by one. And soon--there before our eyes, a little foam sheep or horse or chicken appeared. Her glee was contagious. After all the animals had appeared we squeezed the water out of them & soon were playing "farm". She very excitedly put them into a plastic container for the trip home & burst into her house to show her Mommy & Daddy this miracle--such excitement that they were caught up in it too.

I couldn't help but think that our Heavenly Father watches over each of us--as we unfurl/develop into the being we were meant to be---with the same excitement & glee that little Alexis experienced. Such Joy--It's Contagious! I Know He wants such Good Things for each of us.
My wish for each of you is that you would experience this Joy as you "Become" what you are meant to be.

Thanks Brenda… what a special snap shot of time with Alexis. A treasure to remember.

Around our table last evening we had 9 of us sitting closely beside each other. In the kitchen we had another 4 sitting around that table.

It is closer now than before in that bodies are bigger and elbows tend to move rapidly bumping each other as food is shoveled in.

In times past we could get all 12 and even 13 around the table – tightly. Not any more.

Thomas…
At the larger dinning room table I had Thomas, to my left, munching his food at his pace. Most at the table were finished their plate of food – some even finished seconds. Thomas was moving at his pace – slow and savoring.

Thomas’ dad told him to eat up his meat on his plate which was situated at the 10 to 12 o’clock mark. To the left of his meat was the rice dish that he loved. That portion of food had started at the six o’clock position and continued around his plate to the 10 o’clock spot. Before the rice dish was his favorite Caesar Salad – that originally started between 12 and 1 o’clock.

Does the clock position on the plate help you to “see” the snap shot unfolding in front of you? My blind friend Jason uses this method all the time when he eats his meals.

Thomas is 11 years old and to my knowledge he has no blind friends.

His answer to his dad’s chiding to hurry up and eat his meat he replied, I will, “I am eating the Rice now as I go clockwise around the plate!” While others were hap hazard moving back and forth from one portion of the plate full mixing up their food intake – Thomas in his organized way plodded through the job at hand – one morsel of food at a time… 1, 2, 3,… 7, 8, 9,… Just past 12 he would be done. Completely logical and absolutely satisfying.

My guess is Thomas will be an engineer someday… or a computer technician. At the present time Computer Games are easy as he works his way methodically through the mazes created for him by designers in far away places.

At one point on his food intake from his plate – maybe about 9 o’clock he leaned over to me and asked quietly, “Do you think that Great Grandma Lincoln will die this year?” I looked at his clear blue eyes and the earnest look on his face seeing the seriousness of his question. I replied, “We won’t talk about that here okay?” He nodded slowly and said. “Cool…” and shoveled another fork load in.

Finally…
This post is just under 1000 words already and I haven’t “shown” you the snap shots of the beautiful Emma at 10, sparkling eyes and beautiful face that will some day melt many men’s desires… mixed with tenderness supreme… yet she can go into a melt down mode in one single stroke of displeasure… and “nuke the nearest male thing to a piece of burnt toast”…

And her brother Clifford that has competitive streak that is bar none at 14 years of age… very sharp… knows the game well and will tolerate my ineptness when I try my hardest but always get “killed” in the game… and then tells his cousins that “grandpa sucks at this game…” (at this point he intends to buy a fifth wheel trailer with a powerful truck to pull it… then sleep each night in a Wall Mart parking lot… because girls will not like to live like that… and girls are not even on his radar yet…)

And Thomas’ older brother Jonathan, who is now 12, that is so responsible and careful with the others – gathering accurate information for parents that don’t always see… His tenderness is amazing… His fairness is balanced… and does he love good joke!...

And then Michael the one just younger than Thomas – the one that will breeze through school and on the way charm the dickens out of everyone and anyone that comes into his life… this guy is an imp at home and an angel at school… watch out world!...

And finally there is Christopher at 7 ½ years old… full of life and loving every joke and riddle and all of his big brothers… He adores his “Clifford” and tries to walk close to him where ever they go. Chris snickers when he hears a “bad word” – never forgetting anything. With his freckles spread across his face… and a big grin… this guy has the world already… in full control!

Brenda said it well…
“I couldn't help but think that our Heavenly Father watches over each of us--as we unfurl/develop into the being we were meant to be---with the same excitement & glee that little Alexis experienced.
(Add to that Clifford, Emma, Jonathan, Thomas, Michael, and Christopher…)
Such Joy--It's Contagious! I Know He wants such Good Things for each of us.
My wish for each of you is that you would experience this Joy as you "Become" what you are meant to be.”

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/