February 10 Connecting

Saturday:  One of the constant dilemmas I struggle with is HOW to "connect" (in a meaningful way) with a few of my grandchildren. For some reason, I think it's easier to connect with them when they are tiny and I can pretend to be Paco or Oscar ... or read funny books to them, etc. Kaity and I always had a lot of fun when she was a little girl. She loved to play puppets! She loved to paint and do art together! I won't tell you that she ever loved being read to--that's not her thing (sadly). We don't love the same kind of movies--but perhaps that is yet to come--Kaity likes scary movies (ones that make me scream). I like "soft" movies with a good story. For example: I love "The Secret Garden" because the entire story is great from start to finish! I think Kaity would love it too, if she would just give it a chance! She would (yes!) LOVE Mary and Dickin, and the cousin too! Perhaps one of these days she will acquiesce and watch it with me, and other stories like it. 

For the last year or two, Kaity has had a phone. She does a lot of stuff on it. She makes photo compilations that are very cool. She plays a lot of games. She watches a ton of videos. She has group "chats" with her friends from school. Her phone is instant entertainment. It's difficult to compete with that--so I decided that I would not try to! I have friends who say that I should insist Kaity leave her phone at home when she comes over here. Why?! Kaity is 11.5 years old. I am fortunate she agrees to come over at ALL, much less ask her to come without her phone. I'm not offended by it! It's her world. I find that if I just putsy around with house-stuff in the same room she is--while she is on her phone, I can edit photos on my computer, I can prepare our meal, I can check the news (reading it, not listening to it), and Kaity and I can have conversations in-between. She often will show me something funny she has just watched, and we will laugh together. I love laughing with Kaity. AND she still comes 2x per week, which is a treasure to me.

Today, I picked Kaity up from Diana at 3:30. Since my computer "crashed" last year, and I switched to a mini-MAC, I no longer have a camera ON my computer; hence, we could no longer play with PhotoBooth--which was very fun to play with! SO ... to remedy that situation, we went over to Best Buy and got a cheap webcam ($25) and Kaity helped me hook it up to my monitor, and voila! We could finally access PhotoBooth and play with it--which we did, for quite awhile.

Here is a picture we snapped of the two of us ...

And THIS is "Sunny" with a man-bun!!

We also got into my archives and found the two hilarious videos of Christopher, Emma, and Matthew. We were able to "send" them to Kaity's phone and she says she will watch them whenever she needs to laugh. I watched both videos a few minutes ago and cracked up all over again. Both videos were taken in April 2017 and all three kiddos were SO young and SO funny! Kaity was very pleased that we could dig these videos up and re-live the moment.

Also today, we finally FINISHED the puzzle I've been working on for WEEKS! Kaity helped put the border together the first day I had gotten it out, but THEN ... she pooped out on me. I don't blame her. This was the most difficult puzzle I have ever assembled. Almost maddening! I nearly threw it out the window I was so frustrated with it. BUT ... perseverance won the day. LOOK!

There were quite a few times over the last few weeks where I would be trying to put a particular piece IN the puzzle and concluded that it must be lost! I would try EVERY single piece and nothing would fit! But this is a very deceiving puzzle! Very weird shaped pieces ... and the colors blend ... and it nearly drove me crazy.

Kaity was very pleased to work on it today! We just KNEW we could finish it. Kaity was pretty determined to finish it up without MY help--so when I would pick up a piece, she'd slap my hand and grab it away. !!! That was just fine with me.

It's wonderful to see it put together! I love that this young girl is praying. How good that God wants to hear our voices, desires to connect with us! I do not do it enough (pray).

After we ate our dinner, we determined that we would NOT go to Altitude tonight. We have been there many Saturday nights and it's a total zoo--which wouldn't be so bad, if at least some of Kaity's friends were there--but I think everyone has concluded that too many parties take place on Saturday nights, and there are barely any "free" trampolines to jump on.

What would we do instead? Well ... I HAD prayed earlier in the day and asked the Lord to give me some ideas. I went into the spare bedroom and looked in drawers and closets and ... I saw the game of "LIFE", which I don't actually enjoy very much--but I got it out anyway, and Kaity and I played two games! The first one we messed up because I misread the rules; but we almost played it correctly the 2nd time.

    

I was just thankful we had so much fun without even going to Altitude! Thank you, Lord!