“Don’t panic! Stay calm. It will be all right.” The soothing, feminine voice reassured the patient. Car accident? Tornado victim? No, it was just our four-year-old granddaughter comforting her two-year old sister who was having peroxide and a band-aid applied after falling and skinning her knee.
To say Anne-Marie is dramatic would be an understatement. We loved being with them this week and sharing a slice of their everyday lives. When I would answer Anne-Marie after vaguely hearing her say something, she would respond, “I wasn’t talking to you. I’m just playing,” then go back to her conversations and imaginative scenarios with her toys. Maddie is her comic imitator and admirer as she watches and copies her big sister.
Maddie is following the same late-talking pattern Anne-Marie exhibited, but frankly, I think she has skipped from talking to reading. As we drove up to What-a-Burger, the signature Texas restaurant, she pointed and squealed, “Burger!” Browsing a kid's book rack on one of our shopping ventures, she whirled to her mommy and yelled, “Swiper!” as she noticed the name and character on a Dora the Explorer cover.
On a trip to the mall, our daughter-in-law, Tammy, wanted to pick up swim suits for the girls so they could play in the fountains on the plaza. I’d been with them before when they stepped on the intermittent spurting fountains, hurrying to guess which one would erupt next. While Tammy scanned the tiny bathing suits on the rack, the kids eyed the sandals displayed within their reach in the children’s clothing store.
“Mommy, do you like these?” Anne-Marie questioned as she slipped on one fancy pair after another. I looked down to see Maddie wedging her pudgy foot into a shiny gold pair, too. A few minutes later, she was pulling a t-shirt from a stack and holding it up for size against her chest. Typically female, they are born shoppers.
All our grandchildren are growing up! Two will be seniors in high school this fall, two in eleventh grade, two entering high school and another promoted to middle school, making two in middle school. That only leaves one in elementary and the two pre-schoolers! The other seven are young adults now.
How blessed we felt as we returned home after visiting all our “away” children’s families on our two recent trips! We attended church with them, Howard even speaking at the English service of the Chinese church where our son, Benjamin, is youth pastor. Jamie (as the family knows him), warmed our hearts as he stressed to the youth the importance of bringing up their future families in a Christian home, as he was brought up and is bringing up his family.
This was brought home to us when we stayed overnight at son Trevor's family's house, on the way back. Our grandson, Kyle, 14. was excited to tell us of the youth ministry trips he will participate in this summer, playing his guitar on worship teams, as well as teaching VBS on outreaches with his former Children’s pastor. God is so good!
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