News-reel

"Mom, did you see the link to the video I put on your e-mail?" my son, Jamie, asked when my phone rang last night.  I hadn't, but when I checked it wasn't there.  He attempted to send it again without success, so finally he took remote control of my computer and put the link on facebook.  He really wanted me to see this!  He said it was of 6-year-old Anne-Marie's reading comprehension skills.

I was enjoying the antics of my granddaughters as they bounced on the bed saying something, but my volume wouldn't come on, so I didn't hear a word of what they said.  I called Jamie back, and he adjusted my volume.  It seemed their mother, Tammy, was holding a white board off camera with a sentence printed on it for Anne-Marie to read.  The kindergartner peered at the words doubtfully, sounding out the letters, finally saying, "That doesn't make sense!"

By bits and pieces, I understood it was a message about Maddie, the three-year-old, being the big sister.  Anne-Marie didn't get it, and neither did I for a minute.  "How did you get to be the big sister?" Mommy asked Anne-Marie, to which she responded, "I was born first."  "How would Maddie get to be the big sister?"  She was clueless, but by this time I was yelling the news to Howard.

"I would have to have a baby, or adopt, right?" her mother coached her, "so what would I do?" 

"Adopt?" Anne-Marie answered. 

"No!  I'm going to have a baby!" Tammy said.  Their firstborn's eyes grew wide with incredulity, then she exploded into screaming, laughing and jumping on the bed. 

"Maddie, did you hear me?  We're going to get a little baby!"  Tammy told "the baby."    Maddie shook her head, and exclaimed, "No!"  burying her face against her mother.  She was held tight and comforted while they all laughed. 

What a dramatic announcement!  Leave it to Jamie for a witty way to let me know their news.  When Maddie was expected, I found out by a picture he sent of Anne-Marie wearing a t-shirt with the words, Big Sister, across the front.  Whose big sister?, I remember thinking, before I let out a cry of realization!

Monday is Jamie's birthday.  I sent him a card yesterday, but nothing I could send could compare with his birthday news!  I congratulated him and said I hoped it would be a boy.  "You deserve a boy," I said.  He assured me he knew raising a boy would be different, because he'd been around his friend's sons a lot.   "No!  You haven't raised a "Jamie!" I teased.  "You have to know what I went through!" 

Well, whether it's a little Jamie or another wonderful daughter, I am blessed to still be getting not only great-grandchildren, but grandchildren!  "The blessings of the Lord, it  maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it," Proverbs 10:22.