Thanks for praying ...

I don't have any pictures to show you of our last few days together (because I didn't take one single one!), but I did want to update you on how all of us made it through that last 24-36 hours. Special thanks to my sister (Ruthanne), my mom, Sabrina, my dear friends, Pam and Karen ~ and others who prayed for all of us as the Hands and us were coming to the end of the three weeks with the grandchildren. God was so good to us in every way!

We received the children from Grandpa and Grandma Hand at about 3:00 yesterday afternoon. There were tearful good-byes and my heart ached for them. We stayed on the front porch waving good-bye until we couldn't see their car anymore ~ and then we went inside to play. We did a bunch of artwork at the dining room table using stencils and crayons and pretty markers. We ordered pizza and breadsticks delivered from Jets, and the kids ate a bunch of fruit and veggies and dip too.

It was pretty sticky and hot inside the house; so after dinner, we were outisde in the backyard. We actually played baseball with bubbles. I know. Weird. We only have one bat, one of those huge plastic bats for real little kids ~ and we have two bubble wands that make huge bubbles. So two of the children were making huge bubbles, while the other ran around with the bat hitting the bubbles and bursting them! We kept switching out who was the batter and who were the bubblers. We played with Thomas K outside for a little while too. He decidedly does NOT like to be around rough-and-tumble kiddos. He avoids us as much as possible ... so it was great fun to see if we could find all of his outside hiding places and chase him out!

And then we went downstairs to the playroom, put on a DVD (Milo and Otis), got out quiet toys and just watched this delightful little story of a cat and dog and their adventures. It's a peaceful little tale with beautiful scenery, lots of barnyard baby animals, and it's just so cute.

By about 9:00, it was time to start the bedtime routine. In El Paso, it gets dark by about 7:30 because when the sun goes down behind the Franklin Mountains, their house is in the shadow of the mountain! Michigan doesn't get dark in the summer until much later! We washed up, had a yummy snack, brushed teeth and then went upstairs for our story time. We had done the story of Daniel the prior time they were over; so I asked Emma and Chris if they could tell it back to me. They could! They went back and forth telling all of the details. So last night, we read about Jonah trying to run away from God. I asked the kids if it was possible to hide where God couldn't find them ... like how about under the bed? or perhaps in their closet? or maybe on the moon? No way! Impossible! God can see us no matter where we are! He can even see through the ceiling of our house! And as I read the story of Jonah, you should have seen the sparkle in Chris and Emma's eyes! They loved hearing about the big storm that God sent because Jonah refused to go to Ninevah and tell his enemies about God's love. And when Jonah was thrown into the sea and sank down, down, down ... what would happen? Would he drown? No. God was kind enough to send a big fish to swallow Jonah up and keep him safe (even though it was cold and stinky and dark inside the fish for 3 whole days!). And then we talked about how the fish spit Jonah up on dry ground and Jonah obeyed God this time and went to his enemies in Ninevah to tell them about God's love. Chris thought it was odd that God would care about mean and bad people. He thought it would be better if God would just hate them. So we talked about God loving everyone and wanting all of us to come into His arms of love.

I was tucking everyone in and started the music playing, having forgotten to pray. Emma reminded me that we hadn't prayed, so I stopped the CD and asked who would like to pray. Christopher said he would like to. Here is his precious prayer. He folded his hands, closed his eyes real tight, scrunched up his little face and said, "God? Thanks for not being mean and for always loving us." Isn't that sweet? He has the most precious little voice and face.

And I forgot to tell you that the whole time we were doing the Jonah story, Matthew was busy counting all of the "owies" on my legs (I was wearing shorts). I didn't actually have any sores, these were just moles (the kind old ladies get) but Matthew leaned over and kissed each and every one with his face all sad and whispering, "Poor grandma." I gave up trying to explain to him that I didn't hurt and then just relaxed and enjoyed his tender heart.

Getting the kids to sleep was a bit of a trick last night, but I think we did okay. Matthew was real wound up and it took extra long to settle him down but he finally did. Christopher had fallen asleep a half hour prior (after just a brief back rub) and then Emma and I cuddled and sang songs softly to each other until she too was sleeping.

This morning, we left for Chicago a little before 7:00 a.m. We had a very uneventful trip, stopped twice along the way and had bathroom breaks and snacks and arrived at the airport in plenty of time to make their flight. The children are good little travelers. There was such a crowd in line at the airport and so much to keep track of that there really wasn't time to dwell on the fact that we were leaving each other ... so the good-byes were sad but not terrible. We waited and kept waving and blowing kisses until we couldn't see them any longer. Grandpa Jones and I arrived back in Grand Rapids at about 5:45 this evening. Di and the kids should be home in El Paso in the next little while.

So, yes I am sad tonight. But I have a huge peace knowing we have made good memories that will last for a lifetime. I so appreciate all of you dear folk who have prayed for us throughout these weeks.

"Let us praise the LORD for His great love and for all his wonderful deeds to us. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." PSALM 107:8-9