My house is quiet tonight. Penelope is sleeping beside my reading chair. Patty Day Camp ended today and my precious granddaughter and my darling niece are home with their families. If you know me, you know my grandchildren call me Patty. My oldest grandson named me from our many games of playing Patty Cakes. I am so tired tonight but such a beautiful tiredness from a wonderful week with the girls. I hope my granddaughter and my niece will remember me with laughter and happiness like we shared this week. Nothing is more fun than seeing the world through the eyes of a child as they experience life with all its wonders. The things they say…the things that make them laugh…the things they love to eat…the Scrabble words they try to pass off. Went to the kitchen for a moment and the little heathens changed my hand of Go Fishing cards. I didn’t even notice and finally they both just exploded with laughter. I should have known they were up to something by their smiles and giggles. Each day was so much fun with the girls and we giggled and laughed the days away. So many wondrous memories were packed up this week and stored in my heart. I’ll always carry them with me. I hope the girls will, too!

“It’s funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you’d do. It’s terrific.” — Mike Krzyzewsk

We played a thousand games of Go Fishing. I accused my granddaughter of having x-ray vision she won so many games. My niece, new to the game of Scrabble, quickly learned how to place one letter to connect with two other words for a high score. Honestly, she played as seriously as Chief used to. We played Unicorns versus Llamas Monopoly and the game got so heated we had to stop and make some slushies. We drank too many shaved ice slushies, each with a squirt of all six flavored syrups. Ate too many snacks. One thing we didn’t do is enjoy grandmother cooking. My oven caught on fire the first day of camp when the heating coil burned out. We crock-potted and ate too many fries and too many chicken fingers. And praise the Lord, because for the first time in five years of drive thru ordering at Jacks, they got the orders right and put the correct sauce in the children’s bags.

We made a fairy garden in my old rusted wheelbarrow, placing a little red bird house by my tiny blue chair. The girls had the most fun placing all the little fairy things we purchased in the wheelbarrow. We went to the movies, colored window decals, made microwave S’mores, and ate lots of “ice cream on a stick.” Dearest friend visited on Thursday, bringing surprises for the girls, and we all joined oldest sister-in-law for lunch at Pizza Hut.

I slept in the grandchildren’s bedroom with the girls and we laughed from our twin beds, talking in the dark before going to sleep. As we said goodnight, my granddaughter would tell me to, “Guard the sacred water, Patty.” A family joke from Chief talking in his sleep one night. I had a nightmare one night about a front porch full of cobras and woke up screaming. Thought I’d scared my granddaughter to death but she didn’t even wiggle. Told me the next day she was still and quiet thinking a burglar had carted me off and she was next! We got the giggles about our cobra adventure.

Love this quote my friend sent me. “There are no perfect parents and there are no perfect children, but there are plenty of perfect moments along the way,” Dave Willis. Chief and I always looked on our children as cherished gifts from heaven. We can learn so much from children and they can enlighten the world. I think one of the greatest lessons children can teach us is unconditional love. They love us even when we fail and fall short of their expectations. Children also could give the world a lesson in getting a long with each other by teaching us we don’t have to agree on everything to love and respect each other.

Life is full of so many perfect moments and they are so fleeting specially when our children are young. Don’t wish for them to grow up quickly. Let them relax and be children, enjoing the world before they have to get out in the world on their own. Listen to them when they talk and give them hope for tomorrow. Hug them often and tell them you love them and are proud of them. Teach them to put their faith in a loving God. Teach them to pray at bedtime and say a blessing at meals. Let them dream big, embrace their mistakes, encourage their laughter, and most importantly let them have fun.

As I watched the girls this week, I was so grateful to have these beautiful children in my life. Would not change a thing about them, they are perfect just as they are! And I love them the mostest! They are happy and secure because they know they are genuinely loved and cherished by their families. I was reminded of Victor Hugo’s quote, “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.”

We are all God’s children. He loves us and he provides us. No worry is too insignificant or too heavy for God to take off our shoulders through prayer. Second 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 he understands. He loves us despite our imperfections. God gives us mercy, grace, and love. He accepts us as we are.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” — John 3:1