We had a wonderful and very blessed Christmas week with Mark and Katy and family plus John. Elizabeth and Chris also came to visit which was so special. Since I was not involved in doing much but enjoy grandchildren and watch them in their activities, I had lots of time to reflect on the special blessings of family - our family.
I remembered when Milt and I were just the two of us on our first Christmas, and then what fun it was to have Cheryl as a baby of six months the next Christmas in our marriage. The baby stage of our children is one to be cherished - it lasts such a short time and is filled with such love and wonder on the part of both parents and children. By the third Christmas of our marriage, we had another baby and our toddler. This added to our family joy and Christmas fun. Christmas in Burkina was different from the States, but always enjoyable with large crowds of people in our mission yard for the annual Christmas conference. We all participated in that also.
And so it has gone through the Christmases of our marriage - first, as each of our children joined us and then as one by one those children grew and married and produced children of their own - who are also part of us. And now at this stage of our lives those children's children are producing more babies - our GREAT grandchildren!
Each stage is special - babyhood, childhood, young adulthood, courtship and marriage, new marriages which in turn produce children....and then the process continues. What a delight it was when Sarah came to visit in Toccoa bringing her precious Levi, our first great gransbaby. What a beautiful child! And how precious it was to hold him and hug him and watch his smile and hear his infectious giggle.
As I sat in that comfortable Pierce home in Connecticut, surrounded by our wonderful family, I reflected on each stage of family and how full of life each stage is: babyhood, toddler years, growing children, teenagers, college students, the choosing of lifetime mates, marriage, more children - a lifelong cycle which constantly is repeating itself in the world. And what a special privilege to be a part of this cycle within a Christian family like ours. We are indeed blessed.
Duriung our Christmas celebrations in Connecticut, we were a part of the many phases of family life - our grown sons, beautiful Katy, our daughter-in-law, growing children with their bursts of energy and fun, a visit from Elizabeth, our college graduate, with her friend, Chris, and phone calls from several parts of Africa from grown children! As I reflected on all of this abundance of family, I felt so blessed by God, who from the beginning established us in families.
It was a fun week together and now we are returned to our comfortable Georgia home, just Dad and me, with local friends and work to do here. But the blessing and fragrance of the presence of family lingers on from that wonderful visit in Connecticut. Thank you, Mark and Katy!!
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