"Grandparenting offers us a chance to help groom a generation for greatness."
~ Dr. Tim and Darcy Kimmel, Extreme Grandparenting
When the Hunter clan went to Lion Country Safari a few weeks ago, it seems that Gavin was only interested in the birds.
According to Emily {who rode in the car with Nick, Kristin and Gavin while Casey, Jessi and Mason rode with us} they would point out the animals to Gavin and he would say, "Whoa.......look at the bird!" Lions, giraffes, chimpanzees, rhinoceros, buffalo, the response from Gavin was always the same, "...look at the bird!"
At the top of the giraffe feeding station, Nick held Gavin up to within 6 inches of the giraffe's face to feed him a cracker, but while Mason and Nick fed the giraffe, Gavin pointed at something in the distance. "He was probably pointing at a bird," Emily said.
After his nap today, Gavin and I sat on the backyard swing, and when the cardinals and goldfinches flew into the trees above us, I pointed to them and said, "Look at the birds, Gavin"....
...the gazillion times I've said that raced before me, and I realized that Gavin's obsession with the birds at Lion Country Safari just might be my fault.
What a clear picture of the influence grandmothers can have on the little ones God has entrusted to our nurture and care.
What a clear picture of the influence grandmothers can have on the little ones God has entrusted to our nurture and care.
Psalm 92 has been a well-spring of encouragement for me in this growing-older-grandmothering season.
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (emphasis mine)
What joy {and responsibility} there is for me to be an influence - for my words to bear fruit by declaring God's goodness, power and might to this next generation of little ones who call me "mimi".
"Look at what God has done for us, Mason."
"God is so good, Gavin."
"God loves you both so much."
"O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come." Psalm 71:17-18 (emphasis mine)
