Feeling like a king?

Proverbs 17:6 says "Children's children are a crown to the aged, …"

We spent the weekend “grandparenting” two of our grandchildren, Hunter & Camdyn, I don’t know if the writer of Proverbs meant that grandchildren would make us feel like king’s and queen’s and I certainly am not yet prepared to classify us as “aged”—however, “children’s children” are a blessing and we felt like royalty having them with us. However, we also re-discovered how much energy it takes to keep up with a 6& 8 year old.

We took them camping in the ”BBB” at Point Des Chenes. This park which is at the “head” of the St. Mary’s River as it enters from Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior takes its name from the fact that the beach has about 20 feet of small rocks before it turns into sand. It is quite shallow and you can go out a long way wading. There is one section of beach that has mostly sand all the way to the shore which is great place for the kids to play.

We went out Friday afternoon and came back in for Sunday services. Tammye picked the kids up after lunch and we went back out for the night and came home yesterday. We found out last night that Tammye had a flat tire in Michigan and had to stay overnight at Marinette WI since she needed to get a new tire and she didn’t want to drive all the way on the “doughnut”. God was gracious to them because the section of M-35 from Escanaba to Menonimee has some fairly long stretches that are sparsely populated. However, there are a lot of summer residents along the lake, In any case, the tire went right at the end of a driveway and they were able to find a man at home who kindly helped change the tire so they could make it to a motel for the night. Thank God for this angel of mercy.

Back to the weekend. After getting setup Friday afternoon, we went to the beach. After supper there is a wagon ride and then ”Hank” blows his bugle to call the kids to an evening soccer game which Hunter played in (both nights).

Hank is Henry “Dutchy” Van Deutzen. He is retired from the Engineering department at Algoma Steel and I knew him from those days. He spends his summers at the campground and “coaches” soccer games for the kids twice a day combining his love for soccer with a desire to provide the kids with some recreation.. He also has set up several protected areas of milkweed along the beach since this is a spot where the monarch butterflies come on their migration. The world is full of “amazing” people with interests and a devotion to service that we often don’t even realize when we only see them in one context.

Linda’s niece (her sister Carol’s oldest daughter) Lee Ann is a “seasonal” camper and has a trailer at the park all summer. After the wagon ride, she came by for a visit with her 2 kids Amanda and Noah.

Amanda is 10 and Noah is 8—he is just 3 months older than Hunter. The kids had a great time getting to know their cousins and playing together. We had a fire and roasted marshmallows (both nights) .

Saturday late morning the kids went to the beach with Noah & Amanda and had a great time together. We were grateful for the other kids since it is difficult to keep them occupied.

After (a late) lunch, they had a “Kid’s fear factor activity.

Hunter dove right into this while Camdyn decided she would just observe. They had things like picking marbles out of ice-filled water with your toes, passing egg yolks, standing in minnow filled water to sing a song, retreiving pennies from wormed filled mud and the finale –which was Hunter’s favorite was eating “gummy-bear” worms covered with whipped cream with no hands.

Proverb’s 13:22 says "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, ..."

If the writer of the Proverb’s was referring to money I don’t think I will qualify - although I guess it doesn’t say how large an inheritance a ”good man” leaves his grandchildren. However, the more important inheritance we would like to give them is a love for God and his people.

Linda had the pleasure of having them in her Sunday class this week. Actually, she was complimented by her “regular’ kids because when Hunter and Camdyn told them Linda was their grandmother – the kids she has been teaching said “No way-she’s not old enough to be a grandmother”.

To-day we head out on the “second leg” of our summer vacation. It seems a little strange to talk about vacation when you are retired but we have been busy – in any case we will be visiting my sister Ruby& her family who have a cottage near Iron Bridge(80 miles east on Highway17). Then we will be going to Kingston ON to visit Melissa. On the way home we hope to visit Linda’s youngest sister Stephanie. We have been playing telephone tag with her and haven’t firmed that up yet. ( Linda is the oldest of 10 and Stephanie is the youngest --and she is younger than her nephew Chris our oldest son. Lee Ann is about six months older than Chris so they both have an aunt who is younger than they are.)

I probably won't have INTERNET except at the KOA in Kingston --so entries may be sporadic over the next week or so.

God Bless
Charlie & Linda