I'm so proud of myself

I have officially done two blogs with pictures attached, and am very proud of myself for doing them. The first one my son helped me with, but the second one I did on my own. I had to keep telling myself that I can do this. It took me several tries to finally remember the steps that Lenn showed me, but I persevered. Since I officially will be a senior citizen in June (yes, turning that dreaded 65) I feel that I can boast that even us "seniors" can learn computer things. Of course, my nervous system will never be the same. There is no telling what I will try to master next.

Since I'm so confident now, I think I'll show you a picture I took in Dallas of Lenn and the boys.

Memories of Motherhood

Once your children are grown and leave home you tend to forget how much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears are involved with having babies and toddlers at home. The memories are there, but maybe you box them up and put them in the closet of your mind. My daughter graduated from high school in 1987 and went to college and then my son graduated in 1992 and went to college and it has been very quiet here ever since. There have been many days I wished that they were home and the house was messy and it was noisy here.

All of this to say I've renewed my respect for mothers with small children, after seeing how much work Sarah does in taking care of three energy filled boys, ages 4,3,1. I've just spent two weeks with Lenn and Sarah and the boys, in Dallas. It brings back memories of the nights that you don't get much sleep, being a peace keeper between the children, thinking at times there is more food on the floor than was eaten, constant washing of clothes,etc. So often after my own children were in bed I'd think "why was I so upset with them today?", they look like little angels now. Of course, the next day I remembered why I got upset with "the little angels".

Even though there is a hugh amount of effort that goes into raising children, they are so worth it. I have such fun memories of the past two weeks. Saturday we went up to Lake Murray in Oklahoma to be with my brother. He has a boat and he wanted us to come and go out on it. Andrew was sitting in the back of the boat urging his Uncle Bob to go faster so the waves would be bigger. He was fearful of getting in the deep water, but finally got on a small floating thing(don't know what it is called) and conquered his fear so he could go with his Daddy to the shore to throw rocks in the water.

Matthew had a harder time on the boat, but once we stopped and Mom and Dad were swimming he would walk to the back with his stick fishing pole and pretend to fish. The stick was another of his "treasures" that he loves to find. He snuggled with his Daddy on the way back to shore. He also loves to try anything he sees his big brother doing. They have such fun together.

Then you see Robbie coming right behind his two older brothers. He is eager to climb on anything, get into the little swimming pool they have, wrestle with them, etc. Since turning one, he is sitting forward in the car seat, eagerly looking out and seeing everything, smiling at his Mom and Dad as they look back at him. He also loves to swim and here he is in the water with his Dad.

It is hard being so far from Lenn and Sarah and the boys. I am thankful to the Lord for the times I get to be with them. They will be coming up to Ontario this summer for a week and I can hardly wait.

My Three Grandsons in Dallas

I'm having a great time in Dallas with Lenn, Sarah and their three boys (Andrew, Matthew, Robbie). As I watch each of them I see how different God has made them. They have such different personalities.

Andrew is 4 1/2 and looks just like his Daddy, and has the energy his Daddy had at his age. He loves to jump and run and climb. His co-ordination is unbelieveable for his age. I'm not nervous when he climbs on things(at least I try not to be). He seems to know how to do it without hurting himself. I love it when he is serious and is telling you something that is important. My heart just melts when I look at his sweet face and see the innocense of childhood just oozing out of him. He loves for someone to read books to him, loves to laugh. Coming home from eating lunch out today he kept asking his Daddy about motorcycles. One answer led to another question. He continues to love learning about things.

He especially loves quilts and blankets. When he was up at my house at Christmas, he was sleeping in one of the bedrooms with Matthew. I have an end table that has a quilted skirt on it and then a scarf on top of the skirt (the table is round) and then there is the round glass over these two items and a lamp sitting on the glass. After the first night, I was sitting downstairs waiting for everyone to get up and here comes Andrew, carrying the quilted skirt and scarf and he was saying he was very careful when he took them off the end table and explained how he did it. I just stared at him with my mouth open, not quite grasping the fact that he thought it was another quilt that he felt he needed. It also didn't dawn on me that there had been a piece of glass on top of the "quilt" and a glass lamp and to be worried that he could have hurt himself with them until Lenn had gone up to see what had taken place. It all made me laugh. I love making memories with him.

Then there is Matthew who is 3. Sarah and Lenn have told me how much he loves finding "treasures", but I didn't understand fully about this until this visit. It is amazing how he finds money when we are walking with him. I don't think there has been a day since I've been here that he hasn't found at least a penny or nickel when we have been out. He finds other things as well, and always comes home with another treasure. I'm sure he'll go deepsea diving for sunken treasure when he grows up.

I love it when he is talking about something serious. He talks with a deep voice and is ever so serious. You need to watch him also when he is drinking anything liquid. He will drink it until it is empty, usually walking around while drinking. It doesn't matter what it is. He has done this from the time he started drinking from a sippy cup. He follows his "big" brother around and tries everything Andrew tries. He also loves play dough, chalk painting, anything to do with art. Besides hunting for treasures when he is grown, he'll also sell his famous paintings all over the world.

The third grandson is Robbie. He will be 1 this month on the 18th. When I think of him I think of his magical smile that lights up the room. He always is ready to smile and laugh. It is funny to see him at the supper table with his brothers. He wants to enter into what is going on. He talks or yells right along with them, jabbering as if we should understand what he is saying. He also does things to make you laugh on purpose. He has started to walk and every day he is going further. Of course, when he crawls he can really motor. It is fun to see how fast he can get to what he is after. Yesterday his Aunt YaYa was over with her dog Pooky(not sure how to spell that). Robbie is all over him, loving him, and Pooky just lays there and lets him do it.

Children are a blessing from the Lord, especially grandchildren. I thank the Lord that Sarah and Lenn are raising their children to love the Lord. I thank the Lord for His blessings in my life.