Can Life Get Any Sweeter?

It doesn't get any better.  We finally made it up to Green Bay for a week-end. We arrived on Friday with Papa's Pizza in hand; double decker for Don, cheese for Jack, Pepperoni for Ella, and cheese and sausage for Grandpa. The children each greeted us with gusto, especially Ella with her abundance of hugs and kisses. They presented us with a joint birthday gift which they had obviously been anxiously anticipating. They seemed to get as much joy out of presenting gifts to us than any I have seen them receive. It was a new coffee pot and they had to set it up for us, teach us how to use it,  and make coffee from it for us all week-end.

Saturday we saw Jack play in two hockey games and we had a bit of a Wii tournament and then it was family movie night.



Jack's also not crazy about posing for pictures

 Jack is at the age of like. It is embarrassing to him to use or hear the word love. Little does he understand that like is actually more of a compliment than love. Love between family members is absolute and unconditional. That is why it is so beautiful. It is safe. It says one can be oneself and always know that they are loved.  It comes with the blood bond. Even when families treat each other horribly somehow the love persists.

Like has to be earned. We don't necessarily like everyone we love. Christ chastened us to love our neighbor. He never said you have to like them. So when I hear the words "I like you" coming from a 9 year old boy, that is as good as it gets.

So there I was on movie night reclining in Jack's bean bag chair with a grandson who considers himself to old for cuddling, trying his best to get comfy on the edge of it and a granddaughter who would rather be with her mommy than anyone else in the world, making her nest with her pillow and blanket on the other side. This is their version of cuddling; the former considering himself too old to sit on your lap getting as close as he can, and the latter trying to do the same while pleading with her mommy to join her. I felt like they were liking me an awful lot that evening.

We stayed over Sunday just to spend a little more time with the crew. Amy and I took a bike ride with the children  through some of the wooded trails with an extended stop at a park and we had a Packer's Party in the evening.

The week-end was filled with simple activities and just spending time with the people we like.