Tag Archives: Grandpa Diary

Grandpa Diary #18

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Dear Kaylee,

Well, your Nana’s mommy is visiting. Your mommy calls her, “Nana,” and that’s how your Nanna got that name. Your mommy’s Nana loves you so much. Just like the rest of us. Uncle Greg is home for a couple of weeks before he starts school again. He wants to hold you and poke you and imitate you with your, “Eh, Eh,” sounds.

You will need to get use to Uncle Greg and Uncle David. They like to make a lot of sounds around the house. They like to caw like crows. They are very foolish sometimes and your Nana says it drives her crazy. I don’t know where your uncles learned to make such sounds…

So, Kaylee, now I have two more people in the house. That should make me happy, and it does, but it also means I am having to share my holding and hugging with everyone else. That’s all right, though, I suppose. There is enough loving to go around.

Here is what is fun. I get to see four generations of strong and beautiful women together.

Nana (sr. :) )
Nana (jr. :) )
Mommy
Kaylee

I love all of these women in my life. They are a part of who I am. I’m glad you are catching up, Kaylee. You are changing my life, too. Even physically. You are expanding my heart and you are making my face hurt-

So many smiles…

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #17

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Dear Kaylee,

Guess what? I get to see you a lot now! Your mommy is back at work and Nanna is taking care of you during the day. That means I get to see you, too! We spend about an hour together before I leave for work. Also, one day a week, I am going to take care of you, too. I get to watch you grow, grow, grow. At least after finishing three bottles on Friday- it looks like it!

Your mommy is glad to be back teaching her students, but she is sad because she isn’t with you all the time. It’s alright, though, because Nanna knows all about mommy stuff. After all, she is your mommy’s mommy. She is a math teacher like your mommy, too, so I guess you could say they are similar in many ways.

Your mommy teaches mainly 8th and 9th graders how to do math. These kids don’t usually like math because it is hard for them. Your mommy is a really good teacher and she gets along with the students, even if she is a little tough on them. They even asked her to give the graduation speech last year! They think she is fun to talk with, and they like to talk to her about things other than math. I know they are especially excited to talk about you! You visited your mommy at school on her first day back. So, now they know that Kaylee is a real, live baby!

Some day you will start going to school, too. In the meantime, you are in the school of life and you are learning what it means to be our little Kaylee. That’s my favorite subject!

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #16

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Dear Kaylee,

I just got back from a weekend spending time with young men who are in prison. This was a wonderful time to share God’s love. I made sure everyone had a chance to see a picture of how precious you are! I told them how much your mommy and your daddy and the rest of us love you. I used you as an example of what a gift it is for God to give me such a beautiful granddaughter!

A lot happened over the weekend. What a joy it was to see these men transformed right before our very eyes into people of hope! They couldn’t resist God’s love that kept pouring out from us, and his love was pouring out from them towards us and towards each other.

It was a sad weekend, too. It would be hard for you to understand how mommies and daddies might hurt their children. But, it happens. It would be impossible for you to understand how mommies and daddies might not want their children in their lives. But, it happens.

If you can imagine the worst things for a child to experience, that’s what what most of these young men experienced growing up. For some, no daddies in their life. For some, daddies who hit mommies and hit their children. For some, no mommies or daddies to take care of them. For some, they had to take care of themselves when they were 10 or 11…

No birthday parties.
Never hearing, “I love you.”
What must that be like??

You won’t know what that will be like, Kaylee. This will be something you will never experience. You are our own precious Kaylee, and we will protect, provide for, and love you with all of our hearts.

And that’s what is so amazing about God’s love! Growing up in that kind of love, makes it possible for you to share this love and watch it pour out to others.

Who knows, maybe some day you will join me, reaching out to young men or young women in prison, letting them know that God is their Heavenly “Daddy”- who will never let them go. Maybe someday, you will be God’s messenger who declares,

“There is freedom in Jesus!”

Love,

Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #14

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Dear Kaylee,

I saw you twice this weekend! We’re getting more and more acquainted to this granddaughter/grandpa routine. I’m loving it. How about you?

Also, something else special is happening. It is always a treat to get to see your mommy, too, of course, but what is fun for me is I get to see your daddy a lot, too!

You see, Kaylee, I know your mommy as well as anyone, except your Nana (that’s what you’ll call your Grandma Hanson), and your daddy. You are going to be one who knows your mommy as much as anyone, too! Yet, when it comes to your daddy, I don’t know him as well. So, the more I see him, the more I get to know him.

Your daddy is a hard worker. He is getting lots of things done with the new house. He also is figuring out what this daddy stuff is all about. He loves being around you, but just like me and the rest of the daddys who have their first child, he is trying to measure what it means to be a daddy, too.

Your daddy does well at measuring. I have watched him with the tape measure several times, hooking up a washer, dryer, and stove, but that’s measuring in inches. When it comes to being a daddy, the unit of measurement is love.

Kaylee, guess what? They don’t have a tape measure long enough for your daddy to measure how much he loves you! He is figuring that one out quickly…

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #13

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Dear Kaylee,

 

You are over a month old now! I got to celebrate that special day in the usual way. Going to see you and then holding you for a long, long time. Had to change your diaper twice though, so what’s up with that? I guess I need to time my visits better. I don’t mind though, as I am seeing how quickly I can change you. Need to get a stopwatch…

 

Kaylee, I notice when I set you up on my knee now, you look over at your mommy. She is becoming your Sun and you are a planet orbiting around her. It’s just how it should be. God designs us so that our moms and dads become anchors in our lives from the beginning.
The first and most important lesson you need to learn is that you are totally safe and secure in God’s loving arms. Now, since you can’t see God you will think that doesn’t make sense. That’s one of the reasons Jesus came to earth. When he was living in our world, he didn’t see God, either. But, he lived like God was right there and he spoke with God like he was right there. Well, where do you think he learned that?

 

From watching his mommy and daddy. Jesus learned about God through spending time with his mommy and daddy. The Bible says this about Jesus as a boy.
“Then he returned to Nazareth with his mommy and daddy and learned from them deeply (Luke 2:51).”

 

This is why it says “Don’t be afraid” in the Bible so many times. Living in God’s Kingdom we are totally and completely safe no matter what. We figure this out from the very beginning in the loving arms of our mommy and daddy…

 

…or even the loving hands of our hyperspeed diaper-changing machine Grandpa!

 

Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #12

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Dear Kaylee,I visited you last night, with your Uncle David. We only stopped by for 10 minutes as we “happened to be in the neighborhood” (though you are 27 miles away). Uncle David started laughing and said,

“Gees, dad. ‘Kaylee this and Kaylee that.’”
Then we got into a discussion with your mommy about why I get such a kick being around you, and did Uncle David feel the same way? Obviously, you are my granddaughter, so it isn’t a tough to figure out for my part, but what about Uncle David?
You are his first niece or nephew. Being an uncle has been exciting for him and your Uncle Greg. But, then your mommy said something very insightful.
“Dad, you are so excited because you have already had kids and you know how much you love them. David is excited, too, but once he has kids of his own, then he will be thrilled, but probably less excited with other nieces/ nephews that come along.”
This makes so much sense. Although I  love my nieces and nephews very much, and love the children of my extended family, there is just something about being a grandpa that goes way deeper than that.
My baby girl has a baby girl.
The chance to experience what other grandparents have taught me over the years.
A focus for your grandma and me that really brings out pure joy and makes us appreciate more what we have together.
I know we are parents, and adore your mommy and your uncles, but that isn’t always a joyous occasion :) We are growing to love and appreciate your daddy, too. We share friends together and ministry together and all the rest, but, with you there is just smiles that almost hurt because they are stretching our faces so much! I think about it this way.
When daddy’s and mommy’s have babies, it doesn’t automatically strengthen their marriage. Having children is amazing, but it is also super tough and God’s grace goes a long way!
Yet, when mommy’s and daddy’s kids grow up and they start having children, it does seem to really build up grandmas and grandpas in their own marriage, if they let it. It brings a surprising amount of joy.
Kaylee, you are a fountain of joy pouring over your grandma and me right now.
Not a shock. God is really good with fountains…
Love,
Grandpa

Grandpa Diary #11

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Dear Kaylee,

Three weeks ago, today, the day you were born, is a good experiment for your mommy and daddy to understand God’s love. It goes something like this.

When you came out of your mommy’s womb, those first few moments for your mommy and daddy were filled with:

terror- is everything going to be alright?

ecstatic joy- most exciting feeling ever

confusion- now what are we supposed to do with this tiny creature?

wonder- how can anything be so perfect as this?

But, most of all, what filled your daddy and mommy down to the bottom of their hearts into the depths of their souls is this-

love…

Kaylee, you didn’t do anything, but appear. You took your first breaths, wiggled for the first time, and made your first sounds, but that’s it. Guess what?

Your mommy will never love you any more than on that day. Same for your daddy.

Your mommy will never love you any less than that day. Daddy, too.

And you didn’t do a thing…

Why is this?

You can thank God.

The love your mommy and daddy had for you when they saw you for the first time is based on what God put into them when He made them. It is a love that doesn’t depend on anything you do or don’t do. It is a love that can’t be earned. It is a love that is based on the simple fact that you are Kaylee. Your mommy and daddy love you exactly who you are and nothing will ever make them love you more or less than on that day, July 12, 2013.

This is helpful for you to remember when you get to spend more and more time getting to know God. He is your loving Father in heaven who loves you exactly as you are because you are Kaylee. Nothing you do or don’t do is ever going to change His love. You don’t need to earn His love so you don’t have to try. You are his precious daughter and he adores you always. Never more or less that at this specific moment. God the Father loves like that.

And God is so smart that he wires mommys and daddys to love the same way. They just have to keep remembering what it was like that first day they saw you face to face.

There she is…Our precious Kaylee!

Love,

Grandpa