Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for us. We greatly appreciated it!

Another day, another Great Grand. This is 2-year old Bella, playing with Sophie
in her pop-up tent.

Good morning and welcome. It is Friday, April 9, 2021, and, we are up and doing a lot of what we have going on here these days. The wife just left to take Jimmy for a mental health appointment, then she proceeds to see a specialist regarding her thyroid report. Jimmy needs to be back here by 11:30 a.m. for the home health care visit, and, the beat goes on and on and on. Life continues underneath the provision of our Great God. The other evening I went to fetch some food that had been ordered via the internet. It was at Olive Garden. Something had not worked right with the ap, therefore, when I got there, they did not have the food. I went inside and talked with the take-out facilitator person. He said he had no idea what may have happened to the online order, which sounded reasonable since it didn't show up. I placed the order and he told me there would be a minimum wait of 20 minutes. I wasn't trying to be difficult, but, I inquired as to why it would be that long. He said there were other people in front of me. I told him we come there often for dine-in meals and we pay the same amount for the food purchased but typically it doesn't take a minimum of 20 minutes from the time an order is placed through the wait staff. He seemed a little flustered but said he would see what he could do. I promise I was not being ugly, I just wanted to understand how people paying the same price for the same food would have to wait longer. He brought the food in about 10 minutes and asked if he had done well. I told him he had, thanked him, and went on my way. It never hurts to ask. Right?

Flashback from my first month of blogging: 

 

Did someone say, GRANDCHILDREN?

Grandchildren! You knew sooner or later it had to come up, right? We are so blessed to have ten of them and they are spread out from college age down to toddlers. What a joy they are and what a privilege to see them through an older set of eyes. I often tell people that when my three boys were growing up I was much too busy making a living instead of concentrating on helping them to build a life. Somehow they got through all that and today they have given me the opportunity to pour myself into their children’s lives. No, I can’t go back and change the past but I can do today the best I know how to influence them, and make a difference in their children’s lives.

You have heard of the stay-at-home dad but what about the stay-at-home granddad or Poppy as I am called? My time between work assignments coincided with the birth of our little Alex, (he’s our number nine). Since Poppy didn’t have a regular job I became the 8–10 hours per day caregiver for this little guy from the time he was about a month old until he was one year. Wow! What an experience! The photo is of me teaching him how to drive. Who else is going to do it? In the summer I also took care of his 9-year-old brother and 7-year-old twin sisters. Some days I had their cousin also so the total crew was 4 supercharged kids and one infant. Challenging? You bet! Exhausting? Certainly! But looking back I believe it to have been a blessing from God that provided for them the care they needed and also allowed me to experience great joy.

Yeah, it’s true that I now probably act like “Poppy knows best” on all subjects regarding childcare and childrearing. I catch the looks of the parents as I give them my informed opinion on these important subjects. My wife, (the grandmother known as MiMi), is always reminding me that in the end, it is their decision on how and what to do. This doesn’t typically bother me because all of my advice comes from down in the trenches, learned on the front line. If nothing else it makes for lively and entertaining conversations, to say the least.

This photo is of our number ten just after he was born. He is a remarkable child and he’s now 16 months old and his dad calls him, “a one-man wrecking crew”. I call him and all the rest jewels in a crown God has allowed us to have in this life. Some people live far away from their grandchildren and only see them occasionally. We typically see all of ours at least once or twice a month and sometimes even more. There are days when things are going bad and trouble seems to be brewing all around and you think perhaps it would be better if you didn’t live so close or know so much. But, when it is all said and done we wouldn’t trade anything for the blessing God has given to us in being able to be smack dab in the middle of the life and times of our kids, their wives, and all our grandchildren! The Bible makes it clear, they are a blessing from Him and we thank Him for them all. More later………………