Life's Messes

Sunday I hurried to my son's house in Raleigh after church to watch the two little boys, Benny and Niland, while their parents got some work done.  They were leaving Monday evening to drive to New Jersey to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Bernette's parents.  When I got there, they were finishing lunch, and Benny was in his highchair, food all over his face.  When I commented on his messy face, Niland stated, "Don't worry, Nana.  Daddy or Mommy will clean him up!"

Ah, to have a daddy or mommy clean up the messes that we make in life!  It's taken for granted when we're young, but as we grow and become adults ourselves, the role of our parents changes, and most often we are left alone to clean up our messes.  Wrong choices, bad friends, awful or lazy habits, spending money we don't have, drugs or alcohol dependency -- the list goes on and on.  Most of the time, we're able to fix or make right what we've done wrong, but the consequences of our choices often linger and frequently affect our friends and family.  But when it comes to sin, there's nothing we can do to rid ourselves of it; we can only claim the blood of Jesus as our covering, read His Word, and do our best to follow it.  He's the only one who can clean up our adult messes and make good come from what we've destroyed. 

After Benny was cleaned up, I picked him up in my arms, and he leaned into my shoulder in a baby hug.  I asked Niland, when Benny was out of my arms and running through the house, if I could have a hug.  His reply:  "No, Nana, only when you leave!"

I played with the boys in the large room over the garage, where they have an inflatable bouncy and lots of toys.  Book reading was brief -- Benny likes to turn the pages before I can read them.  From the second story window, we watched Daddy blow the leaves that had fallen from the many oak trees in the yard, forming a large pile at the edge of the driveway in the street.  When he moved to the back yard, we pulled out the double stroller and went for a walk to the country club a short distance away, where we saw a wedding party taking photographs.  The day was exceptionally warm and sunny.  Niland ran all the way there, and I had to walk quickly to keep up with him.  On the way back, we threw leaves at each other and over Benny, who was sitting in the stroller, and when we got back to the house, I introduced the boys to playing in leaves!  Benny sat in the big pile at the end of the driveway and waved his hands through the leaves, and Niland and I threw them in the air and swatted at them as they drifted down.  When Daddy completed blowing the leaves in the back yard, he joined us.  The rest of my time was spent playing in the leaves and pushing Benny on the baby swing which hung from a large oak branch, causing the swing to make a very long arch back and forth across the yard.  I kept running back and forth with Ben as he swung, and he laughed and laughed as he slowly spun around.  What joy to hear the laughter of a child!  I was so blessed.

I got my hug from Niland when I left and another from Benny, who also gave me a high 5.  Yes, he's only 16 months old and knows how to high-5!  Bernette had packed for their New Jersey trip, the leaves were blown off the yard -- for now, anyway (there are so many more yet to fall!), and I had a wonderful time with my grandkids.  I slid into my car and started the engine with a sigh.  When I look back on my life and the many messes I've made, I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father for cleaning those up and blessing me with so much at this point in my life.  Life is good, and it's because God is good!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  And remember to thank the One who gives life! 

Time for Play

In this workaholic world, my husband and I have decided to take one evening a week to relax, connect, talk, and/or play a game of some sort.  We did this for the first time last night, and it was relaxing, refreshing, and rewarding.  As adults, I think we oftentimes forget that we need times of refreshing and play also.  Play is not just for children. 

We'd decided to do this with our grandkids a few months ago, and now we make time to see at least one of the 6 grandkids every weekend, often more, or we take the kids for several hours to give the parents some free time.  Owning his own business, Bob occasionally drops by his daughters' houses in Raleigh and sees Wilson and/or Cooper, which often is the highlight of his day and which reinforces his grandfather status with the boys.  We had Cami and Niland last Friday night for a sleepover, and Niland was so excited that while watching Wall-E, he couldn't stop talking!  I think the longest time he was quiet was about 3 minutes!  Cami finally said to him, "Niland, can you stop talking?  All you do is talk!"  Thankfully, she'd seen the movie several times also, so it was not new to her.  I took Niland to the kitchen to help me make popcorn the old-fashioned way, and when I turned on our gas stove, he kept asking, "How you get the fire in there, Nana?"  Try explaining that to a 3-year-old!  I tried, but I don't know how successful I was!  He loved watching the popcorn pop through the glass lid -- no microwave stuff at my house! 

On Halloween, we stopped by our kids' houses in Raleigh on the way home from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and saw the little guys dressed in their outfits.  Benny, who is 16 months old now, is a little guy and couldn't wear the outfit that his big brother wore 2 years ago when he was exactly the same age.  Their birthdays are July 19 and 20, two years and one day apart!  So Bernette purchased a hamburger outfit for Benny, and he was just too cute in it!  Niland is into Spiderman really big right now, so that was his outfit for Halloween.  Wilson loves firetrucks, so he was a fireman, and Cooper loves his Thomas trains and sported a conductor outfit for the event.  All of the boys had a great time with their first memorable trick-or-treating event!  The pictures above are from that day. 

Kids know how to play.  You don't have to teach them; they just KNOW!  How do we forget to do what comes naturally as children?  I love to sit on our swingset and swing beside the little boys in their toddler swings; I love to run up and down the slope with them, play ball or frisbee (can't throw it worth a hill of beans, though, and neither can they!), blow bubbles in their faces, or even sit in the kiddie pool with them during the hot summer.  I've learned that life is meant to be lived, and we have only one chance to make the most of what God gives us, so I want to keep playing until I can't play any more. 

Sometime soon, take a game out of the closet, dust it off, pull the chairs around the table, and have a family night of fun -- the dishes can wait; the dust will still be there tomorrow; the laundry can get done later -- by taking just an hour from your busy day.  It will be time well spent!

Sad State of Affairs

Have you noticed how depressing it is to read or watch the news everyday?  Headlines abound about men killing their girlfriends/wives, even when pregnant; men robbing and raping; soldiers killing other soldiers; men stealing kids and doing deplorable things to them; family members killing other family members; people taking advantage of the elderly in so many ways; gang members killing innocent people -- the list goes on and on!  What has become of our world?  It is indeed a sad state of affairs. 

When I was a very little girl, my siblings and I could play outside without fear of being grabbed by some stranger.  We left our doors unlocked.  Neighbor knew neighbor.  Parents and children played outside in their neighborhoods, and we'd wave to people as they passed by either on foot or in their cars.  Life was simpler, slower, and safer than it is today.  Whether we know it or not, we have become a nation that has slidden down a slope into an environment that's unhealthy for us and even moreso for our children. 

Last evening, I found "The Waltons" on the Inspiration station on my Dish Network.  I watched it!  It was relaxing, entertaining, and wholesome -- and I remembered that my children had grown up watching that show.  All those years ago, I never had to worry about the conversations, the content of the program, or the possibility of violence.  Indeed, the stories were family-oriented and could be enjoyed by everyone -- young and old alike.  But now, we allow our kids -- and us -- to see violence against others, to hear cuss words at every turn, to hear putdowns and criticism, to view science fiction stories that contain grotesque animations, movies depicting murders and brutalities to other human beings -- and we wonder why our society is the way it is!  Viewing such things creates a photo of that brutality or grotesque thing into the person's mind who viewed it, causing that image to be brought to memory by various triggering points.  What we do and how we act are directly related to what we see and hear, yet we continue to devour like ravenous dogs everything that the movie industry throws our way and often encourage our children to see things that they can't handle and shouldn't view. 

Young children are impressionable.  When they see things on the big screen or on television, how can they differentiate between what's real and what's computer-generated?  Fear is real, and once instilled into children, it can leave then uncertain, confused, and often terrified of things that are non-existent, but because they saw them in a movie, they are real to THEM.  As parents, we need to shield our children from images that can literally affect their lives. 

Let's protect our children from the ravages of Hollywood and the violence that spills from it.  Let's take charge of keeping things of violence and horror out of our living rooms and out of our own minds as well.  We'll be better, kinder, more compassionate people for it.