Tag Archives: Dana Hanson

Grandpa Diary #44

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crawling

Dear Kaylee,

Come on now. Grandpa goes out of town for one day and you go ahead and start crawling. What’s with that?

Nana gets to see you crawl and I get a picture and a video. O, well. You are really moving now. In my head, I was hearing the song, “Going Mobile,” by The Who, as you are moving about, but boy, that really dates me.

Then I just saw you on Facetime and you were crawling backward. Instead of the “Moonwalk,” you were doing the “Mooncrawl.” I would start humming “Bille Jean,” but that would date me again, so I will just say it is hilarious watching you and keep working on that core strength!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #43

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stuck

Dear Kaylee,

Well, you sure are exploring now. When we put you on the ground on a blanket, you start moving in the “roll and scooch” method. Nana said you rolled over to the Entertainment Center and then couldn’t roll anymore, but you kept trying rather than roll back. You’ll get the hang of it.

My favorite picture of this, though, is what I call, “The roll, scootch, Oh Oh!” You see in the picture that you scooched under your jumpy thingy and were trapped. Love the look on your face.

“Hey, Nana, what the heck? How did I end up here?”

Nana just started laughing at you and you laughed back. Here’s the thing. You will “roll and scooch” a lot in your life. We call this “exploring” and “stretching,” like I talked about before. But, the most important thing to remember is this…

Your mommy and daddy and the rest of us are there with you as you explore and stretch. Your heavenly daddy is with us, as He is with you, too. God adores you more than the rest of us a trillion times over. You will understand that. In the meantime, we all will be there and make sure that if you feel, “trapped,” freedom is as close as our love for you.

Carry on scoocher…

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #42

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Dear Kaylee,

“Stretching” is an important part of our lives. We are designed to stretch because is is good for our bodies. Stretching becomes more important as we get older. It is the one key of good health that I don’t think most of us realize the importance. stretch every day and I try to take pilates twice a week to keep my stretching even more focused. I like how my pilates instructor always gives me an extra stretch when I seem to be at the end of certain movements. This just means that I can stretch more than I think.

I have always loved to watch you stretch. From the first day I saw you, you have been stretching. There are categories of stretch for you.

Category One: Stretch for stretching.
Category Two: Stretch because you want something.
Category Three: Stretch because you want someone.

Three is just starting and it is so much fun to see you start reaching out for those you know best. It is a one arm stretch. Grandpa got his one arm stretch this morning along with that first morning smile when you come over. It is a great combination!

When you get older you will learn about other stretching. Stretching your mind and stretching your spiritual life will be just as key as physical stretching. The biggest difference is this.

As you get older, your flexibility will decrease, but you still need to keep on stretching more than ever. Hence Grandpa finds himself using those strange looking Pilates machines. However, as you get older, your mental and spiritual stretching can actually increase. In fact, that is how we are designed. You can get more flexible as you age, expanding your mind and expanding your openness to God.

So, right now, you and Grandpa are in the same situation in our lives. Learning to stretch even more.

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #39

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close up Christmas Kaylee

Dear Kaylee,

Well, your first Christmas is over. I am writing this as I look at a framed picture of you sitting on Santa’s lap. You two got along fine. Yes, Christmas was a whole lot of pictures of Kaylee in many different Christmas outfits. You were involved in much hustle and bustle, but you didn’t seem to mind. Several dinners in restaurants even, and you made it just fine.

My favorite memory of your first Christmas is about the real Christmas. When we celebrate Jesus being born. This is a big deal. What does it mean?

It means we can finally understand God for the first time because he comes to us on our terms. If we are going to be in a relationship with God, he has to address us in our terms, in a way we will understand. And so God does.

God comes as Jesus and, Kaylee, everybody gets it. Who doesn’t love a baby? Who doesn’t want to be around a baby? O, people may think they don’t want to be around a baby, and then one actually shows up and smiles, and all bets are off.

So, what is my favorite first Christmas memory of you?

You are at the altar when Grandpa is telling all the children the Christmas story. Your mommy sits with you off to the side. My baby girl with her baby girl listening to the good news of Jesus.

What could be better?

Now we get it.

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #38

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Dear Kaylee,

Well, it is time for you to start eating some food. You have your first tooth!

I guess there isn’t much you are going to chew with that one tooth, but now your mom and dad are going to start giving you cereal. This is just one of those milestones that are so much fun. When I had the chance to feel your tooth in your mouth, it reminded me of going fishing.

Except this time I caught a Kaylee fish and I am not going to throw here back!

 

Love,

Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #37

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Dear Kaylee,

Grandpa is interested in brain research and he is reading a great book, Joy Starts Here. The brain research author, James Wilder, says God wires our brains for joy. The part of the book that I liked most was about how important it is to have a high-joy atmosphere connected to feeding in a babies’ life. Here is a quote.

“Infants respond with joy to being fed, held, and stroked. Pleasant smells, being kept at just the right temperature, smiles and warm voice tone bring joy. Babies respond with joy to being fed good things. This joy at being fed is designed to bond the baby and the feeder together.”

That’s you, Kaylee. You bring so much joy to everyone who sees you. And the best time is when you eat, isn’t it? Your mommy feeds you with her milk and hugs you close. Your daddy feeds you with a bottle with mommy’s milk and hugs you close. During the week, Nana and Grandpa get to feed you and hug you close. You are just one little bonding machine!

I love when you look up at me when I am feeding you. There is pure trust in your eyes. For all of us who feed you, God is creating an imprint that will last the rest of our lives.

Here’s Grandpa’s promise. I will always feed you and will always be filled with joy at my Kaylee. I know this not because of me, but because God is the one who gives me this kind of love, and with God, you never have to worry about being loved. He’s got that one figured out. And he’s so smart he connects joy from the very beginning with feeding. Something you have to do several times a day. How amazing is that?

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #36

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Dear Kaylee,

Happy five months! You are sure getting to be a big girl. As we talked about earlier this week, it was your mommy and daddys’ wedding anniversary on Tuesday. The second anniversary is a “cotton” anniversary, so your mommy gave your daddy some clothes and your daddy cooked your mommy a wonderful dinner with dessert, all made from scratch, because your daddy is a great cook! He even studied at cooking school.

What about the cotton? Your daddy had cotton scented candles…

Kaylee, I’ll tell you a story about your mommy relating to your daddy. When they started going out, your mommy was pretty interested in your daddy. Then, later, I knew she was really interested because we had a daddy/ daughter talk.

We were in Maui in August, and we went for a walk along the beach at night. It was a beautiful night (always is in Maui as you will find out) and we sat on a rock wall next to the beach. Your mommy was telling me all about your daddy, and I knew, “O, O,” this could be the “one.”

Well, sure enough, your daddy was the “one.” Still is, except this time, now your mommy has the one, your daddy; your daddy has the one, your mommy; and together they have the one…

You, Kaylee

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #35

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Dear Kaylee,

Well, today is a special day for your mommy and daddy. It is their second wedding anniversary! Only two short years ago today they were married at our church. It was a beautiful wedding filled with so much joy.

Kaylee, guess what? At your mommy and daddy’s wedding, Grandpa got to pretend he was like Superman…

Here is what happened.

As you know, Grandpa is a pastor, but at weddings it is the custom for the father of the bride to walk her down the aisle. So, what do I do?

Well, I walked your mommy down the aisle wearing my tuxedo, and then gave your mommy to your daddy as the sign of our blessing. Then, I quickly went behind the altar and took my coat off and put on my robe and came back to your mommy and daddy as the pastor, ready to continue the service.

Madonna? Beyonce? Gaga? They got nothing on Grandpa!

Kaylee, chances are, someday you are going to get married. You will meet a special man like your mommy did and then your daddy will walk you down the aisle. I pray to God that I will be there waiting as the pastor, and this time, I can just keep my robe on and not have to do a “costume change.”

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #34

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Great-Great Grandma Hanson

Great-Great Grandma Hanson

Dear Kaylee,

I told you I went back to visit my mommy two weeks ago. While I was there, I got the chance to look at old pictures that my mommy and daddy collected over the years and I saw a picture of my Grandma Hanson. She was such a wonderful part of my life. She loved me lots just like your grandmas. The most love she ever showed is that she really had an influence on my faith in Jesus. She would read to me from the Bible, tell me Bible stories, and she would pray with me, all from when I was just a little baby like you. Some of my earliest memories of my grandma I connect with Jesus.

Grandma Hanson was quiet and calm and she would never let anything get her upset. Here is one story about this.

You are going to discover that your Grandpa (me) will forget where I put stuff. Always have since I was a little boy. Well, one day, when I was probably about 14 years old or so, Grandma Hanson was nice enough to drive me to the golf course. I used the car keys to open up the trunk of her car, got my golf clubs out, but I had put the keys in the trunk and forgot to grab them when I shut the trunk. In those days there was no switch to open the trunk in the car. So, we were stuck.

At least your great-great grandma was stuck. She said I needed to get going and play golf and she would call my Grandpa Hanson and ask him to come out with spare keys to open the trunk. So that’s what I did. Well, my Grandpa wasn’t the calmest guy in the world, and as I am writing about this now, I realize he must have yelled at Grandma Hanson and probably wasn’t very nice about it.

“For crying out loud, Kap…!!” (Her nickname was, “Kap”)

All I know is that when I was done golfing, Grandma Hanson came back to pick me up and never said a word about the keys.

Kaylee, your mommy has a lot of patience, too. She has 12.5% of Grandma Hanson in her DNA, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. This means you get 6.25% of your great-great grandma, too. Boy, are you lucky! You would have loved your great-great Grandma Hanson. She would have kissed you, hugged you, made you cookies, and never once get angry with you.

I don’t know how she did it, but I think it might have something to do with how much she loved Jesus…

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #33

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Dear Kaylee,

I sure am glad they invented Facetime and Google +. You can make a video call and see someone, as well as talk to them. This was especially good when I was visiting my mommy and daddy, so they got the chance to see you “live.” They enjoyed that so much! Got the chance to see you smile and make faces.

My favorite thing is like what happened last night. I called your mommy on Google+ and she said you had been fussy. Yep, you were doing a bit of whining in your crib, but when your mommy put the phone in front of you and I said, “Kaaaayleeee! Kaaaayleeeee!” you stopped whining and broke out in a big smile.

Grandpa’s voice did the trick!

It is funny how my voice calms you down when, of course, I am a pretty loud person. So, for you, loud means, “Grandpa!”

I can whisper to you, too, so I guess that will sound like a normal person and Nana will like that better…

Love,
Loud Grandpa