If Parenting is comparable to the task of laboring long hours, in blistering heat, during the summertime; then GRANDparenting is like harvesting and enjoying the fruit of your labor in the crisp, cool season of autumn!   Children are the reward of our youth but GRANDchildren are the GRAND PRIZE from the hand of the Lord!

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 GRANDchildren are such an unexpected, surprising treasure!!  I didn’t think much about growing up to be a grandma, or “Nana”, as my GRANDchildren call me.  I was much too busy, teaching, training, nurturing, and providing basics to our ever-changing family to dream about enjoying blessings from the fruit of the labor of parenting! It seemed like that day was way far away!  But I have to say, it’s the bestest thing I’ve done yet!!! 🙂   To this date- we have been blessed with 3 GRANDchildren!   But today, August 11th,  the “whoopdelah” goes to:

 Cohen Magnus

          (Cohen means “priest-one who draws near to God)                                                                                                   

                       (Magnus means one full of strength)

The last 3 years have traveled at the speed of light! They’ve been full of marvelous, joy-filled memories while we watch this little man-child grow up.  I don’t know what I love most about him:  listening to him sing, “You Make Beautiful Things”, praying ever so sincerely, or linking his hand in mine as we walk.  Maybe it’s when we have to stop and look at every rock, bug, or tree as if it’s something amazing and marvelous.  Perhaps it’s how young I feel while jumping on the trampoline with him, playing Wii sword fight games or watching him run and run and run….did I say he can run, hit a ball, run, catch a ball, and run?  If I was voting though, my favorite time of the day is laying down to snuggle, telling him stories about dragons and blue kitty-cats, stroking his sun-kissed hair, relishing his sweet innocence as his effervescent energy finally diminishes and he begins to “drift away” for a mid-day nap.  His blue eyes stare sleepily into mine.

In a groggy whisper I hear, “Nana, I love you more.  I love you more than——eyeballs.”

“I love you most, little man.” I whisper as I kiss the top of his head and lay perfectly still, basking in my blessings!

 Surprising Treasure:  Don’t be afraid…. For I will pour water on the thirsty ground  and send streams coursing through the parched earth.   I will pour my Spirit into your descendants and my blessing on your children.  They shall sprout like grass on the prairie,  like willows alongside creeks.  Isaiah 44:3 The Message

But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
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Psalm 103:17 NLT