Several months ago son Ben (father of seven) asked me if I would consider babysitting his children in January so he and wife Jes could take a trip to Hawaii. I told him I would and that I'd bring Dad along with me. There is something about distance that makes challenges doable. My commitment was months away so agreeing felt easy. As the time got closer I began to worry a little bit that we might not be up for the challenge. They planned to leaved their youngest, Victoria, with us as well. She is 7 months old and still nursing. And not sleeping through the night. Could we manage that and care for the remaining 6 properly? A bit of worry began to creep into my thoughts.
Here are the older 6 of Ben and Jessica's children, in an earlier photo.
Ben bought us round trip air tickets to Palo Alto and back so we packed up, said a few prayers, and left for California on January 15th. Ben and Jes left for their trip in high spirits on the 16th and we were on our own. For the next 6 days! Layne made out a calendar of events and I organized our routine, giving the kids some "grandma and grandpa rules" while we were there. They were great at keeping them. I'm reminded once again how accommodating children can be. With just a few reminders they managed to do as we asked. Worries were for nothing.
Bath time for Victoria, Abigail and Jonathan.
My birthday roses from Layne.
Abigail's 5th birthday, on Sunday.
Grandson Scott, with their pet bird. He leaves on a mission sometime this coming summer.
Not that there weren't challenges. The baby, Victoria, didn't care much for our efforts at replacing her nursing routine. She wouldn't drink from a bottle and didn't sleep all through the night. For the first two days and nights that is. Then she adjusted. She finally took the bottle and, once I decided not to respond to her requests for nightly rendezvous, she slept through the night. It took two nights of 2-4 hours of sleep for me to figure out that, with a little encouragement, she could make it. After that, my nights were full of sleep and my energy held. What a wonder to behold how adaptable children are. Victoria soon realized that I was as good as she was going to get, so she happily adjusted to me. We had a good bond.
Victoria, happily settling for Grandma, the "feeder."
Our days were filled with jobs to do to care for all the kids. I never left the house while Layne did all the outside activities like shopping and running the kids around to their various activities. It was a good partnership. On Sunday we all went to Brentwood to visit the other kids. Otherwise we were home. In all the hassle of doing, I longed for a chance to have a sweet bonding time with each of the children. I prayed for it. And the blessing came. I spent a wonderful evening with the girls as they went to bed one night. We talked heart to heart and a tender spirit emerged between us. Several mornings the boys awoke early and they cuddled with me as we talked and admired the moonlight shining in the backyard. And so the most important part of our time with them was accomplished. They know that we love them.
In the meantime, here are Ben and Jes, on Sunday, in Hawaii.
Ben and Jes, having fun.
Our lovely, relaxed kids.
Ben and Jes returned on the 21st (Jessica's 40th birthday), full of enthusiasm and happy memories. On Wednesday we flew home. In spite of all the work it took to care for those children, I'm so happy that we did. There is no blessing that outshines family.
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