This is a picture of a toy truck my father made our oldest son many years ago. Our oldest son gave us the gift of the privilege of having his youngest daughter stay with us for one week. She has chosen to spend a great deal of her time playing with this very truck.She fills it with the Fisher Price People our sons and daughter played with almost every day of their childhood ( and into their junior high years, but don't tell anyone) and moves the little people around and all over our home.
Little 'T' has set up the Little People house, barn and so many other toys I saved all over the living room, and she has furnished the little house with all the things a family needs. She has ongoing dialogs with the people and contents herself very nicely for hours playing with them and transporting them in the back of this truck my father made. My father was always busy making, creating, and inventing things from scrap wood and metal but he also had a real interest in the people important to him and this wooden truck contains a special and loving notice of our son, his grandson's unique tastes and interests. How much more can a person show love than to really notice what their loved ones love?
Note the hand painted sign on the side of the truck "CALL DAVID'S C-1812". ( See, I ate one too) Our oldest son, Little 'T's daddy, was notorious for eating bizarre things. I do believe he would do quite well on on those Travel Shows that have vast numbers of devout viewers tune in to see just what strange things will be eaten this week. When our son was 3 years old I discovered him sitting in the grass and shaking his head...he then pulled out of his mouth a fluttering moth...and that was tame compared to other bugs and foods he would later eat..so you can clearly see my father knew his grandson!
We took full advantage of having Little 'T' here and had 2 tea parties. The first tea party we invited my husband's parents to. 'T' decided for tea we should have tuna fish...to spread on crackers, potato chips, cherry chip cupcakes, brownies, juice and tea. Very easy! Her great-grandparents would have come for mud pies just because she was here, so tuna sandwiches were a very nice lunch with tea.
'T' and her great-grandpa, my husband's father, teased each other a lot. Most of the great-grandchildren are shy, Little 'T' is not , and she really is a hoot, so he had a great time with one of his younger great-granddaughters.
Here Little 'T' and her Great-Grandpa have an interesting discussion. She boldly asks him about his eye, which is a bit droopy after nerve damage, his spots, his lack of thick hair. She points out her Poppa, my husband, is bald because his hair has slipped. Please note, to my dear Father-in-laws' benefit, he has more hair on his head than do both of his sons.
Little 'T' told both of her Great-Grandparents she wanted them to stay at our house with her. She tickled my Father-in-law and cuddled him. She won our hearts. We are so blessed with this answer to prayer...she is the youngest of our son's 4 daughters...one of the little girls we ( and many of you ) have prayed for -for almost 2 years . Here are pictures to show you ANSWERED PRAYER! I cannot begin to tell you how my heart sings with gratitude, and my dear Father and Mother -in-law's hearts do too.
My next post will tell a bit of the rest of the visit, but I want to end with this quote from Luci Swindoll~ "
To experience happiness we must train ourselves to live in this moment, to savor it for what it is, not running ahead in anticipation of some future date nor lagging behind in the paralysis of the past.....
Those special savored moments of fun, reflection, happiness, and pleasure give us a tiny taste of what eternity with Christ will one day be like."
This river, like most, is deep, wide and deceptive.It is a beautiful river and on this hot day I am sure it appears a reasonably safe place to swim. Appears!
The grandchildren were becoming weary of my watchfulness. They did keep their life jackets on though. Just past our son ( the adult in the picture) the river drops off and there is a strong undertow. The river is very cold too, and almost every day this past month the news has held stories of the sad demise of people, young men and boys mostly, who did not take seriously the danger of a river .
Our son began making a little walled-in area , and we took advantage of this to play in the river. Oh it was so nice!
He carried large rocks and worked, the children watched. Sometimes they helped a little.
He surveys his work, then adds more to his river wall. The pretty blue-green area of the river is very deep,there were young men jumping into it off the big downed trees on shore.
She is just enjoying the warm sun, the water running over her feet, and being with her dad.
Our two oldest Granddaughters.
This little granddaughter is such a happy girl, and time with her family is a joy to her.
Most of us were ready to head back up the long path to the camp site for the night, but our son just kept building this river wall, and his oldest daughter wanted to stay with her Dad.
The next day we went down to the river and there was a young family watching their little ones play inside the river wall our son made. It would be nice to think we might see this little wall next year on our camp-out, but the river will wash these rocks away, along with so many of the giant portions of fallen trees.
