Here is a SHOUT-OUT to all of the grandparents that receive our e-communications. As you know we have joined your ranks and your level of life this year with the births of two granddaughters (and the third one well on the way, due in October). Here is also a SHOUT-OUT to all grandparents who deal with great distances (like us with different continents) between them and their grandchildren and who deal with differences of time zones which may make times together and opportunities to talk and communicate fewer than what you may wish was the case.
We just returned from spending some very precious time with our newest granddaughter, Eliana Luz, with Gary being present at her birth, and Mary Lou arriving later. Our daughter, Lissa and son-in-law Corey, and their baby, Olive, joined us, as well as our daughter, Leah, who will give birth in October. So, in essence, we got to spend time with “all three” of our granddaughters as well as the w
onderful opportunity to be with Mary Lou’s siblings for a family reunion.
Many people have asked us if the arrival of grandchildren will affect our commitment to being missionaries in Colombia, “How long will you stay in Colombia after the grandchildren begin to arrive?” they ask. At this point we don’t believe that it will affect our commitment to being in Colombia. Part of our call to Missions from the Colombia Covenant Church and Ministries was that we share our lives with them as a ministry couple, as parents, and now as grandparents. We can’t really fulfill the request to share our lives as grandparents if we aren’t here, living it out. Plus, with the technology today we can “see, talk, communicate, etc.” with our grandchildren and their parents quite easily and regularly (we mainly use facetime, skype, facebook and text messaging). It is hard to imagine being missionary parents and/or grandparents without the communication technology of today’s world. From our experience so far, not being able to “see, talk, communicate, etc.” with our children, sons-in-law and daughter-in-law, and grandchildren may have had an affect on our missionary time.
But, now we are fully into being grandparents and experiencing the wonder, depth, joys, challenges, etc., all those things that are hard to fully express (as we were told would be the case by all of you “experienced grandparents” out there) when someone asks us, “how do you like being grandparents?” We give it our best try; we show the latest pictures or videos, and we smile, smile, smile. Just like you. And, just like you, we wouldn’t trade places with anyone.
