July 26 – “Cousins Jam Band”

We got to play Best Grandparents of the Decade yesterday.  Kel and Christina went to a homeschooling conference in The Woodlands.  We already had Cailyn for the day, so she joined us and we went up to LaMarque to spend the day with five of our eight grandkids.  And as luck would have it, the other three gave us a FaceTime call while we were there, so all eight were there together for a brief time of, well, chaos.  The whole time we were on the phone the kids yelled and laughed and showed off action figures and Lego armies.  When we finally ended the call, I for one was exhausted.  Can’t wait to have them all together in person.

Here are a few of the comments and interchanges from the day:

Josiah and Chris were playing a rousing game of Chutes and Ladders.  Great counting to a hundred game, by the way.  As Josiah made his way around the board he landed on a very special square.

Josiah: “Eighty-eight.  Hey, eighty-eight is my favorite number.”
Me: “Why is eighty-eight your favorite number?”  (How many other four-year-olds have a favorite number, much less that one?)
Josiah: (Matter-of-factly, like everyone should know): “Because it is a really real number and it’s way bigger than one.”
Of course.

The conversation inevitably works its way around to everything Star Wars when we are at Kel’s house.  This time it went like this:

Josiah: “Nana, Do I look like Luke Skywalker?”
Nana: “I think you do.”
Josiah (obviously not convinced): “I’ll ask DadDad.  He’ll know.”

After noticing my stitches and checking out my bruising, the kids were sharing scar stories with each other.  Micah proudly displayed the black eye he has had several times over.  Not to be outdone, Cailyn countered with a full-on story of her own:

Cailyn: “I was spinning in the kitchen and there was white tile floor.  I was spinning like this (At this she spun and fell to the ground.  As she stood, she pointed to her chin) I split it open and the doctors glued it back together.”

We had some musical interludes.  Cailyn played the guitar for a while and blessed us with her original compositions.  After her favorite one she declared, “That was called The Wild West.”  Not sure where that name came from.  Later on, contemporary band leader Micah, who plays bongos, decided to put together an ensemble.  Cailyn shifted to the piano, Josiah played the little guitar (And held it neck up on one knee.  Quite the showman), and Micah of course positioned himself over the bongo drums.  And after establishing exactly who was to be the leader (actually that was never really established.  As the oldest of the group, Micah seemed to have the most pull, but Cailyn is a first born, so she was a hard sell from the beginning.  Josiah was the consummate artist.  He didn’t listen to either of them), they all started in at once.  And what a sound it was.  Hottest thing I have heard since … since … that fire I went to the other night (sirens and radios and commands flying and … well, you get the picture).  After their first set Cailyn chimed in with a little band humor: “Do you want to hear the wildest song I ever wrote?  The Wild West went all the way to the snakes and ate the snakes.”  Chuckles all around and another set quickly began.  Now they weren’t without their groupies.  Oh, no.  And as always, it is the younger set who most admire these cutting edge sounds.  Noa, who hasn’t been walking all that long, was totally lost in the ecstasy of the music and of the moment.  She made her way on stage with the band and stole the show with her dance gyrations.  Wow.  Cousins Jam Band.  We made a music video.  For booking options call 1-800-C-O-U-S-I-N-S.

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, thank you for that most beautiful music that comes from the mouths of the children.  Amen.