Time

It’s fleeting, isn’t it?

Day 2 or 3 of life

Couple weeks old

Felicity is now nearly 8 weeks old, and oh, does she give smiles! We have been thoroughly enjoying her lovely grins every time she’s been willing to share them. She grows, and grows, and grows.

One month

Nearly 2 months

So do her brother and sister. I find myself perusing pictures of the older two now, looking back on when they were tiny like she is.

Newborn Spencer

Newborn Cassia

It feels so long ago, though only 4 and 2 years. So many experiences with each of them; such different personalities.

We have been enjoying a short reprieve from some outdoor house-work. We are in the midst of building a shed with Andy’s dad for our yard. They worked for seven days, took a break that started Thursday, then will finish it up next week starting Tuesday. They’ve made some amazing progress and I’m thrilled that we can soon be storing so much of our gear in there.

Andy’s scale models (yes, he does scale models before doing much of anything else…)

Nearly up to the point where they left off for the break.

All the working, though, has meant that out of Andy’s 3 weeks of holidays, we as a family only get about 5 together to relax. So these past days we’ve been quite absorbed in just that; lots of popcorn, movies (Peter Pan and finally saw the famous Frozen movie, so far), hanging out outside…it’s been good, this bumming around.

Put a dad on a swing in any park and suddenly every kid in the playground hops on…

I also received news of my Grandad’s passing this week. He was a spunky man, from the first I remember him. He always had a pack of chicklets (small gums) in his shirt pocket. And we as grandchildren would ever be after him to share one with us. We always had to fight to open his fist, which clutched the gum only gently, in order to receive the prize and run off, chewing happily that we wrought the gum out of such a strong man’s hand. My family would share Sunday supper with him as we grew up, alternating between his house and ours. I could always predictably rely on him to try to steal a bite of my dessert, usually trying to fool me to watch out for the dish hanging on the wall above my head, cause surely it was about to fall on me. Many fond memories of him remain with me, and I’m thankful that I had a chance to be with him and know him while growing up so that I have these memories that I can carry with me.

I am thankful that I am able to attend the funeral as well. I will be heading there next weekend with Felicity to gather with most of my family to celebrate his life together and to grieve together. As St. Paul tells the Thessalonian community, though, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.” Thessalonians 4: 13-14. I am thankful to share this faith with most of my family, including my Grandad. We will celebrate his life that he shared with all of us and gather each others’ memories of him. And we will live in the hope that Christ gives us, that he has been gathered into the arms of our loving Father and celebrates a joyous reunion with his wife and daughter, who have predeceased him.

We pray for him and for us who are left here without him. And I look forward to gathering with my family next week to remember him.

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