April Texas Trip

Chronicling Grandma's family fun from April 4 to April 14.



Brandy's 15th birthday


Playing in the park





Dinner at Saltgrass



Eating a chocolate Easter bunny on a stick


Park, ice cream, and ducks at Eagle Mountain Lake








Roughhousing with the dogs


See the sock on the hand? ha!








I returned last night, 4/14, from my journey. On the flight from Atlanta to Toronto, I sat beside a very congenial Christian man with whom I shared stories. While I read Saving Graces by Elizabeth Edwards (interesting read; she writes very well), he read the Bible. He pointed out a verse to me which he thought might be applicable for Karin: Isaiah 57:1-2 – “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” I have had those very thoughts – that Karin would want to be spared the conflagration that could be coming in the Middle East and who knows what is going to become of our own nation! But I did not remember that there was a scripture which said those words!

Now let’s return to TX. I arrived on 4/4. Kien was leery of me at first even though, it appeared, that he has recognized my voice on the phone when we have talked. It wasn’t long, and I was receiving hugs and kisses. He has grown!!!! I could see the difference in his size and girth. His little legs are not toothpicks. Cathi and I measured him, and he had grown 3/8 of an inch in the past month. Cathi is the perfect mother for him. She is able to be strong and coerce him into eating! At 22 months, he is big on tantrums – such cute tantrums! Cathi gently takes his little hands in hers and says, “Are you finished?” He responds tearfully, “Yes.” And it is over! Amazing!

For my first couple of days there, I needed my winter coat! Brrrrr It even went below freezing my second night. It eventually warmed up to 70 to 80 for two or three days, then turned chilly again. Besides the long sleeved sweater I wore there, I only took short sleeves! At least, I had a cardigan. We talked about planting flowers in the front, but that never happened. I did wash windows inside and out and Greg reminded me near the end of my stay that he would like me to paint a wall section the dogs had marred next to the backdoor. So my last couple of days was spent doing touch up in several places.

Brandy and Jeremy are growing up. They are wonderful big siblings to Kien, especially Brandy. Brandy is heavy into adolescence which is driving her mother crazy. Ha! But she is a good girl. Only a freshman, she plays 1st chair French horn in the Second Band. Jeremy, 6th grade, has started playing clarinet. I was quite surprised at his capability.

After living with Kien for six months, I did not realize that he is an “easy” baby! But he had siblings during that time who tried to make his life difficult. At their house, he can be placed in the “safe” family room, and he will play there all morning, entertaining himself while Cathi and I do other things. One day, we were both in the kitchen (on the other side of the high counter from the family room), and suddenly he appeared there with us. Cathi sternly told him to go back to the family room, then we watched to see how he had done it. He went to a chair beside the long baby gate separating the two rooms to climb over, but we stopped him. He had stood on his little BMW which Grampy had given Kevin (and Kevin never really liked), and climbed over the gate to the chair. Oh, my…. What an acrobat!

I count that as a “remarkable” feat. He did two other remarkable things that day. I was giving him grapes for a snack. I set down two grapes at a time on his highchair tray. Once when I set them down, he said, “Two.” Huh?! Brandy and Cathi have been teaching him to count to three and hold up corresponding fingers, which I assumed was just rote memory. But Cathi says that she also has been teaching him to count objects. I think he is catching on! The third accomplishment was something she had been hoping would happen -- putting two words together himself. When going down for his nap, he said, “See Grandma.” Another day, I gave him an empty water bottle as a tantrum was coming on in the car. He said, “Open please.” Another favorite trick of his is pulling off his shoes and socks and his pants. Then he likes putting a sock on one hand. Cathi read that that undressing an “amusing game” for a normal 22 month old toddler.

This kid is a boy after Daddy’s heart. He loves bravery, skill, wheels, AND Daddy!!! Greg got out his motorcycle (“cycle” as Kien says). He now has a street bike, not a crotch rocket for doing stunts. To my chagrin, he put Kien in front of him on the bike and coasted down the driveway. Then Mommy jumped on the back, and I removed a screaming Kien while they took off around the block. He cried and cried even after they were out of sight. He was delighted when they came back, and, to Grandma’s horror, Daddy held him in front of him and slowly (very slowly) rode in a circle around the cul-de-sac a couple of times while I tried to snap pictures. Kien was in heaven!!!!

Last Thursday, I picked up Aunt Donna 30 minutes north of Greg’s house, and brought her back. We spend the afternoon chatting and watching kids’ antics. We went out to dinner, and then I drove her back to her home. We spent a lovely day, though it did have a bit of drama in it a couple of times. First, while driving back to Saginaw, I pointed out to her that you can see the grain elevators in Saginaw from miles and miles away, but that day, there was a very hazy fog on the horizon obliterating them. It was a very windy days with gusts over 40 mph. We assumed that it was dry dirt begun blown around. Even when we turned into Greg’s subdivision, we noted that the end of the main street was foggy from “dirt in the air.” Then Greg called to ask if we had heard the news: there were uncontrolled grass fires west of Fort Worth. His MAACO shop is on the southwest side of Fort Worth. He said that he could smell the smoke, and it was so thick that you could barely see across the street! Fortunately, the fires never made it to heavy civilization. The second drama was mine alone. After dropping Aunt Donna off at 9:45, I discovered that I had a flat tire. That is a funny story in itself and can be read at http://nmhwjournal.blogspot.com/

Grant arrived on Good Friday and stayed until Monday. I had prepped Kien for Grampy’s arrival, so there was no hesitation in going to him. We had a very pleasant Easter weekend together with good food, inspiring Easter service (but lousy music for us old fogies!), celebrating Brandy’s 15th birthday, and family time. But I learned that Cathi doesn’t believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa, or the Tooth Fairy!!! It is no big deal with Brandy and Jeremy since they have been too old to believe ever since I met them, but it IS a big deal for Kien and the new baby!!! Oh, my…. What is a Grandma to do??? How do I convince her of the innocence and spiritual benefit of believing in the unseen?

Speaking of the new baby, he is kicking up a storm making Cathi fairly uncomfortable. She had a couple of bad days while I was there. The nausea has never gone away. I was happy to be there to ease her motherly responsibilities on those days!