Today was a beautiful day, blue sky, bright sunshine. Father Sky sketched blue and white and grey and purple clouds, layering them upon each other. The colors of the clouds were stacked like a paint chip card. It rained in the sunshine late afternoon and my granddaughter ran to the window and said, “It’s raining, Patty, and the sun is out. We’re going to see a rainbow.” We sat on the porch and watched the clouds form patterns and join hands. No rainbow but the clouds’ and their colors were magnificent.

Patty Day Camp is still in session and we added a cousin to the roster today. My niece’s daughter is a darling child and a clone of her mother at this age. She and my granddaughter are the same age and have had the most fun today and so have I. We’ve literally laughed all day.

We made little waffles this morning and had them with bacon and fruit. We ate on the front porch, me perched in the swing, the girls seated at a parfait table. My granddaughter dropped her second little waffle and it landed in her shoe…that got the day started with giggles. I was watching with my eyes wide open and then I dropped my plate upside down on the porch floor. My granddaughter said she’d never forget the look on my face when my plate slide out of my lap just as the waffle hit her shoe.

Decided to call the neighborhood yard dog over to enjoy a waffle treat and Bootsy came over in her Saturday Night Fever prance and just sniffed around our messes. Would not eat the waffle or the fruit. Threw the waffle in the yard and she ate it. We carried our plates in the house and when we came back Bootsy had turned over the girls’ milk cups and was happily licking the porch floor. We laughed again over the spilt milk but I had to sweep up my blueberries and strawberries and give the porch a hose pipe washing. I gave Bootsy a squirt for turning over the milk cups.

Mid-morning we went swimming at baby brother’s house then came home at lunch and made homemade pizzas. The girls ate their dessert, a McDonald’s Oreo flurry, while the pizzas were cooking and then ate all their pizza. I tried to get them to eat the flurry after lunch but I thought anything that happens at Patty’s stays at Patty’s, so why not. Yes, I did buy myself a Grandma Flurry because the kids insisted but I only ate half in the late afternoon, threw the rest away. Don’t think the McDonald’s here puts two squirts of caramel in the flurry. But they did have spoons today and did not offer us a fork. We were full and happy and watched a tv show before we colored and had a little iPad time.

As I watched the girls, I was thankful to have these beautiful children in my life. They are happy and secure because they know they are genuinely loved and cherished. I was reminded of Victor Hugo’s quote, “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.”

I asked my granddaughter, when we were getting ready for bed tonight, how she knew she was loved and cherished by her family. Her first words were, “I know that my family loves me because they care for me and help me with things that I need help with… My brothers, my parents, my grandparents, and my aunts and uncles, always help me and I love that about my family.” I was thinking how easily those words can be applied to God.

We are all God’s children. He loves us and he helps us. No worry is too insignificant or too heavy for God to take off our shoulders. 2 Corinthians 6:1 reads. “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” By creation, we are all God’s children and we are loved for ourselves. We make mistakes, have moments when our faith is questioned, but God sees us as his children and understands. He loves us despite our imperfections. He gives us mercy, grace, and love. He accepts us as we are.

“Love a little more each day.” — Madison