Grandkids Week Day 1

Welcom Sign, originally uploaded by Shirley Buxton.

I’m not sure about the misspelling, for when Chloe showed me the sign and asked where I thought would be a good place for it, she mentioned it had a misspelled word. But it’s a beautiful sign anyway, and she taped it onto the sliding glass door off the living room.

For several years now, Jerry and I have hosted an annual “Grandkids Week,” where we have all our young grandchildren up for a week…well, usually it’s for about five days…and we don’t typically take babies in the mix. One summer when they came, we took them in our motor home to a campground on Lytle Creek where we picked blackberries, I made a cobbler, they swam in the creek…that sort of thing. Usually, though, we stay in our home in Crestline, and go on little jaunts from here. Last year, because of conflicting schedules–some of them are on year-round schools–and because of our being a little tied up in Lake Havasu, we didn’t have an official “Grandkids Week.” Rest assured, from Chloe, Gentry and Nathaniel throughout the year, I’ve heard about the unspeakable deprivation. So I had resolved that somehow we would have such a celebration this summer.

Well, when the opportunity arose for us to watch Andrew’s children this week because of the conference in St. Louis, I checked with Rebecca about Nathaniel joining and…voila!…this is officially THE WEEK here at the Buxton’s.

Jerry and I arrived here on Sunday evening around 7:00, carried in all our things, and by 9:00 we were sitting in the glider on our front deck sucking in the cool mountain air. Somewhere about 9:30, the van pulled into the driveway, the doors jerked open, and up the steps bounded Chloe and Gentry, yelping, arms spread wide for hugs…and a few minutes later here were Brady and Cole, then the tired mom and dad, and barely awake Ella Claire.

We snacked and talked and finally had the beds sorted out, and the youngin’s all tucked in somewhere. I’m not sure what time Jerry said, “I’m going to bed,” but I know it was 1:00 when I snuggled in beside him. (You have to know this was a special occasion, for I am not given to late hours.) Both Jerry and I were up before 6:00…and so went the splendid, perfect day.

Jerry was outside most of the day with his brood.

The weather is perfect…warm, and calling for popsicles. Cole chose red.

The older kids thought it was really funny that we were having turkey and dressing, a meal they associate with the winter holidays at Granny and Pappy’s.

Ella Claire eagerly helped unload the dishwasher after the big meal.

I think it was around 7:00 when Andrew and Shawnna pulled away, heading for San Diego, and for St. Louis this morning.

Brady and Cole took a bath together, then shivered in the evening air, so I wrapped them in fuzzy robes and sat them down beside their Pappy. They sat mesmerized as he told them again of Jesse and his sons, and David and Goliath who was “as tall as this door.”

Brady is five and Cole is seven now, and as I looked at those little boys last night, I thought of their future, and of their challenges–of their lives that are ahead of them, of their vulnerability, their need to know of Jesus and His great love for them…and how much I love them.

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