A SLICE OF JOURNAL PIE: Granddaughters Are Precious!

This is the week that we have our two granddaughters with us in Michigan for a time of bonding, playing, loving, laughing...just enjoying being together. We picked them up last weekend, and Daddy will be taking them back home this coming weekend. Meanwhile my time is dedicated to them. They are still sleeping this morning, giving me a chance to share what I've been thinking.

I'm thinking how GOOD my heavenly Father is. He has entrusted these two very precious lives into my care, not only for this week, but for all time. They are covered by my prayers every day...even throughout the day I will stop and think about them and ask God to watch over them. While they are here I will do my best to make them aware of how much God loves them, as well as how much I cherish them. These girls are so easy to love, so easy to care for. They are very sweet...polite, well-mannered, obedient, excitable, innocent, playful, beyond intelligent, gifted in so many ways. But for me the most important thing is that they have Jesus in their heart, as they become accountable.

I want to be able to spend eternity with them, for I am truly enamored with their creativity and beauty and personalities.

My Princess is old enough now to play games with me...clue, back gammon, and chess with her Grandpa. She assists me in preparing the meals, and we enjoy watching "7th Heaven" together. She is also very good at being an older sister and playing with her sibling, including her in various activities...such as yesterday they were putting on a show together, with a keyboard...a musical show. One can sing beautifully (in her genes from the maternal side of her family, although Daddy has a pretty good voice also), and the other one is called "Rocker Chick" because she is in constant movement when the music starts. Princess and I have "our" song..."You Are My Sunshine". I've sung it to her across the years, and she found a birthday card to send me that had the song in it. I found a singing frog that sings the song, and that was one of her Christmas gifts. (We are having a Granny Bag Christmas...gifts each day they are here...they get to choose from the bundle of packages under the tree). She came into our lives when our Pekingese puppy was a year old, so Tuxedo and Princess have sort of grown up together, and she will give Tuxedo special attention.

My Angel loves to play with things that teach her. She likes using "Leap Frog" to learn her words, and "Big Bird" to play various learning games. We spent time drawing pictures with her new markers yesterday, and playing meal time with her new play dishes and plastic eggs. She gathered up the Christmas Teddy Bears (my collection from across the years) and set them around her table for a tea party. She has declared that Kefli, our Shih Tzu, is her very favorite dog...her best friend. I love to hear her giggle while Kefli is climbing all over her trying to lick her.

Tonight, even though it will be snowing and perhaps in the high teens, we have a Horse and Carriage Ride reservation at Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. We will just bundle up and go out to enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. I love to watch the faces of these precious granddaughters...they have so many expressions, and it's fun to watch them light up when something excites them. Yesterday Angel opened her gift and had a box of Cheerios. To observe her reaction, you would have thought that was the greatest gift she could ever receive! Princess had to tell her to look at what was inside the box...Grandma is pretty good at disguising gifts. The little stuffed puppy inside that plays "Jesus Loves Me" didn't excite her near as much as taking the paper off a box of Cheerios! Tonight it will be fun to watch their faces as they see all the Christmas lights in the Sculpture Park as we take our ride, and all the decorated Christmas trees inside, and the model trains going around their various tracks. It will be a special outing.