Visiting Great Grandpa

This is a pic of Julia when she was a few months old with my Grandpa...we visited him once a week in those days :).

On Wednesday I finally went to the nursing home to visit my dad's dad with both kids. The last time I visited was when Mark was only 3 or 4 months old. Fear kept me from going back because I couldn't picture how I would be able to handle two babies there without losing my mind.

I also didn't want to bring both kids because there are so many germs and sickness in the nursing home and the last thing I want to do is get my kids sick. But a friend of mine, one of my small group friends from the Live Like You were Dying series, said, "Kristi, just go!" She lost her mother 11 years ago from cancer, and she had just had a baby at the time when her mom was doing very poorly at the hospital and had days left to live. She strapped her baby in the baby bjorn and brought him right to the hospital to go see her mom. She didn't let fear get in the way. Her mom was too important. Needless to say, after that story I scheduled it on my kitchen calendar that we would visit grandpa.

I took the kids to the mall first to return an item and have some lunch. We had a great time together us three. Then we headed to the nursing home right in East Brunswick. God was so gracious, Mark slept the entire visit, and Julia was beyond well behaved (my grandpa did comment that she was indeed a talker!) she sat still when I asked her too (I had to feed grandpa lunch, he can't see anymore) and she even told Grandpa, out of the blue, "Grandpa's daddy, I love you." Oh. my. word. A tear or two definitely came out. She is just so precious.

She was intrigued at the care I gave to grandpa and I could tell she didn't understand why I would feed him, cover him and so on, but I did try to explain on the way out and in the car, plus he keeps his eyes closed, so she kept asking if he was sleeping or tired. It was kind of cute.

Anyway, it felt so good to see my grandpa. I love you grandpa. I'm making a commitment to take the kids once a month.