Before the older kids went to Norway, my parents were already talking about having all five of the kids come to their house for a weekend visit.
“Won’t you be tired of being around kids, after two weeks of traveling with Joshua and Rachel?†I cautioned.
“It’ll be fun,†they assured me. “We like to have time with all our grandchildren.â€
So the night they flew back in from Norway, I had the other three kids packed. “You can take ‘em all straight home with you,†I chortled.
Who wouldn’t want this little princess in their home?
Okay, we did decide to let Grandma and Grandpa have a couple of weeks to recuperate. Last night we bundled the children all into my parents’ van and sent them off, dire warnings about obeying their grandparents ringing in their ears.
Kathy came home from a meeting at church before I went to bed, and we sat in the family room, savoring the silence. “Shhhhh!†I snapped, when she accidentally dropped her computer mouse, ruining a perfectly good five-second span of silence.
Sarah knows what to do with a free moment of silence.
I am a connoisseur of silences. I remember the deep black, textured silence of ’04, during the power outage, and the bright, blue-green silence of ’01, when everyone went to Fort Clark without me. Then there was the grey, melancholy silence of ’88, before I met Kathy, before my family was even a gleam in the eye, as they say. Silences are pretty rare, when there are five kids around the house, and you learn to attend to them when you get the chance.
This has not been a week with many silences, as my children would attest. “For crying out loud,†they’re probably thinking, “don’t get Dad started on another lecture!†I’m not sure if it is due to our tomato-staking project with Daniel, or because of the grey and rainy weather, but we’ve had many opportunities for parental intervention, correction and rebuke over the past week. I’ve been home for most of the week (I was sick on Monday, and decided to telecommute a few extra days) and so I’ve been present for much more of the bickering and general discontent than I usually witness.
“Kathy, will you just cool it, with all the bickering and discontentment,†I found myself snarling several times.
And some people say Sarah is the spittin’ image of Kathy. Hmmm.
No, actually, the problem doesn’t seem to be Kathy. It turns out that my children are sinful. Who knew? After all Kathy’s careful reading of pregnancy books, healthy eating and excellent prenatal care, our children were still born with a sin nature! How exasperating! I’m guessing Kathy and I must’ve inherited it from somewhere or other … and passed it on to our dear little kids.
For now, though, the kids are away, and we can relax a little. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving us a needed break!
All she wanted was some Grandma and Grandpa time.
Hope everyone survives the weekend.
Tim
Tim & Kathy: There has been absolutely no bickering whatsoever out here at The Refuge. Of course, we’ve worked the kids so hard that they are too tired to bicker, but other than that, things are going well. You can be extremely proud of your children – as we are extremely proud of these of our grandchildren. Yes, they have sinful natures, but you wouldn’t know it from their behavior here. We’re savoring our time with them. They are a delight – each in his or her own way.
When can we sign up for the next stretch of grandparent time? Love, Dad (aka grandpa)
Those photots HAD to be staged; sweet Sarah would never throw such a fit! Isn’t it interesting how much better we like each other when we have that occasional time apart? Absence making hearts fonder and all that. I trust the children will have good time to recover from all your bickering and discontentment with their cheerful, loving grandparents. And you two carpe the diems (can you tell I’m learning Latin?)!
YAY!!!! That’s great that you guys get some quiet time for just the two of you!!!
Praying for the Edgren seniors to survive and thrive. I have every confidence that they will.
Have fun- Tim and Katherine, too. I love you both and all. Aunt kate
OK, I’ll admit it, the pictures of Sarah were staged. I don’t think any of our children have ever had what I would call a real temper tantrum … and so about five years ago we asked Rachel to fake one for us. She must’ve seen a couple of good ones somewhere, because she does a pretty good job, and (before she became a dignified pre-teen) we used to call on her to perform at social gatherings. Sarah, however, still needs some coaching — she isn’t really very believable in that role. We formed a study group, and agreed that a good tantrum requires, at a minimum, the following components:
If anyone has some other helpful tips, please share them for our mutual edification.
Those pictures of sweet Sarah are priceless – staged or not! She was the perfect illustration to your blog….
Enjoy your mini-vacation.
Sounds like a NICE break!