This week during our video call, W spent time seeing to the comfort of his stuffed animals. Here, gives a loving gaze, face to face. This was the “love lesson” of the week:
Take time to truly see and adore your loved one.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him. -Mark 10:21
We visited Paige’s family and enjoyed the best of times. We had to come home, but the echo of a little voice in Alabama ricochets in my mind in unexpected moments, and whenever I see a really good truck.
Paige’s family is here!
Kids are so good at finding the race tracks in a house.
I have kept this handprint on a mirror in our family room since early October. What a delightful reminder of our little grandson.
While raising children, a mark like this was common and I would wipe it away. Now, it’s something treasured. Being a grandmother is a tender business.
Richard and I get pretty excited when new footage of this kid drops in our shared album. Here are a few stills from Halloween. My neighborhood is full of grandmothers who have plenty of their own grandchildren to admire, so I turn to you, my blog friends, to show off our grandson.
Thank goodness for video calls. Amen.
Paige’s little boy loves to be outdoors. During their visit, we spent evenings in the backyard catching bugs, studying the I-spy quilt, and holding his hand as he walked around. When the crew arrived to take down our old fence, he and Richard spent some time watching the process. Later, when telling us all about it, he imitated the sounds of the fence crashing down. Who needs a lot of words when you can imitate the sounds of tools and workers so well?
Those tiny moments together this week amount to more than most events of my life.
I guess I needed a 1980’s week without posting on the Internet. I have been doing invisible home maintenance things and I’m blessed to have the time and energy to do them.
Paige sent these photos. 😄
I couldn’t visit my mom this year, but tried to write an extra good letter, which I realize now was probably inadequate with her living so far away from family. I like the concept of Mother’s Day. In practice, I understand that it can be hard to do it right.
There are some tongue in cheek remarks from me around Mother’s Day. For instance, sometime around March when the ads begin, I will ask Richard if he’s started planning gifts for the holiest day of the year, Mother’s Day. Gifts are not my love language, but I like to be with my family and I like their kind gestures. As the saying goes, my family “understood the assignment,” and made my weekend very special.
This year, I got to spend time with our 3 oldest kids. There was our trip to Alabama to see Paige and her family, then on Saturday, Daniel, Tim, and Richard washed our windows and we went to a movie together. I was able to connect with Mark and Paige on the phone on Sunday. Tim skipped his ward meeting to sit beside me in church, ensuring that I didn’t sit alone. My gifts were mostly sweets, which are perfect for me. Richard cooked dinner and we dined around a new rose bouquet.
I love our family. I love Richard. I love being a mom.
We made a trip to Alabama to visit Paige and her family. We had some outings, but the highlight was playing with W—.
