February 2 – “Interesting logic”

Happy Groundhog Day, I guess.  I understand that rodent up in Pennsylvania saw his shadow, so they are looking at six more weeks of winter.  I can guarantee he wouldn’t see that shadow if he lived in Galveston.  It is a foggy, foggy day here.  One would think we were an Island off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.  Spring is on the way.

Well, how about another day of grandchildren?  We had a passel of them here the other day.  Started out with Cailyn, of course.  I picked her up at school and, as has become our habit, we played on the playground for almost an hour.  I had some assistance this time, though.  She took up with a four-year-old little boy and the two of them just about wore out the twisty slide.  Not sure how her Daddy feels about her consorting with younger men.  It was a little easier to convince her to leave once her young man departed, but she still came up with a tool for slowing down the inevitable.  We walked to the car on our knees.  Yes, that was a “we” there.  I didn’t last nearly as long as she did, but the old man was scooting along like a penguin on ice there for what sure felt like a mile or two.  It was not a pretty picture.

Later that evening Kel and Christina and their brood all came over to hang out for the evening.  Actually it was Josiah who made the phone call to Nana asking if he could come over.  I guess the rest of them just tagged along.  Kind of tough for a three year old to make the drive from LaMarque all by himself these days.  Of course with those four kids plus Cailyn all running around, we had quite an evening.  While it was still daylight we went outside so they could ride bikes and scooters and crawl in and out of the bed of the truck and just run.  Kel sat on the front porch in one of the rocking chairs.  I wheeled out my old desk chair from the garage and put my feet up on the car in the driveway.  I imagine we looked like a couple of hillbillies.  And the fun continued once we got inside.  Micah, for some insane reason, asked me the loaded question that inevitably leads to a period of raucous behavior on the part of all of us children, “Are the cows hungry?”  That phrase was made famous by a certain grandfather who discovered that a gentle squeeze to the leg just above the kneecap resulted in what apparently feels like a cow attempting to nibble a succulent blade of grass.  (That, of course, is code for “It tickles”).  And for the next hour or so we played hide and seek and hungry cows and unrestrained tickle madness.  Quite the fun evening.  I was exhausted.  And to top off the evening Christina shared a bit of motherly wisdom that she has gleaned over her years of Mommy-ness.  “It takes having four to appreciate how easy having two is.”  Interesting logic. 

Psalms 33:2-3 says, “Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.  Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”

Father, these kids of ours sure have that skillful play thing down cold.  Thanks for that window into your kind of joy.  Amen.