Celebrating with Grandchildren!

One of the great delights of getting older in a family is the development of the new generation. Val and I sit back and enjoy seeing our six grandchildren growing and developing. Perhaps the biggest thrill is to see the birth of a new child into our extended family. We watched from the sidelines as Eliana Mercy Jane Boan arrived to be a little sister for Isaac and a delightful 8 pound baby daughter for Sarah-Jane and Justin.

Eliana made her arrival around 10 am on Monday 31st March and very soon after was being admired by two doting grandparents. She is a beautiful baby and while they are all beautiful, Eliana is more lovely than most! (There is a little bias in this statement!)

As I sat and held this little 2 hour old child, I looked at her long girl fingers and the features of her small face and saw a person, "...fearfully and wonderfully made..." with the minute organs of her body ticking away as they would throughout her entire life. I saw her hands grip the blanket that held her and remembered the intricate engineering that would be needed to replicate this action. But Eliana was more than just a physical miracle. I pondered what contribution this dear little person would make to the world in which she lives. I wondered how she would grow to know her heavenly Father. I wondered what joy and what sorrow would be her experience.

As I sat there holding this dear little babe, I asked Father to bless her to know Him, and with all her latent potential, that she might do what He desired of her and know his love and wholeness.

NOW this post is headed 'grandchildren' and the other exciting thing that happened in the same week was our oldest grandchild, Josiah, who having just turned 17 and passed his 'Learner Driver' test came by in his red Toyota Corolla motorcar. Another beginning. His father, Nathanael, sitting alongside and feeling the same nervousness that I had known years before when I had sat beside him in a similar situation. Josiah reversed out of our driveway and stopped to greet a friend then let out the clutch and drove away.

I wondered about the future for Josiah too. What would this new step in his life open for him? As he drive out of my sight, I asked Father to continue to guide this wonderful young man to know him in such a way that he might choose to be the person that God wanted him to be.