My wife and I joined a new club two weeks ago... we now belong to one of the fastest growing segments of our population - Grandparents raising Grandchildren. In California there are nearly 300,000 grandparents raising grandchildren, more than any other state. Read A Profile Of California Grandparents Raising Grandchildren for some interesting stats and check out Grandparents Raising Grandchildren for links to some great resources.
We don't know how long we will be raising our beautiful granddaughter. We just want to love her and provide the best care possible while her mommy & daddy get their act together. If they don't pull it together right away we could be faced with a permeant placement and adopt her in as few as six months.
This was not what we had planned for our empty nest years, but you know how plans go. We had enjoyed the roomy nest for about three years and raising a second brood wasn't even on our list of things to do. Jamaica, now that was on our list. Travel cross country, sure we could just pick up and go at a moments notice. Save for retirement, well it was somewhere on the list.
I never saw this coming! Sometimes I wish that I had a crystal ball, perhaps we could have taken an early retirement and headed out for the open road. Now the hobby-computer room may have to be redecorated with pink frills and fuzzy animals and vacations may have to be scaled down to trips to the local zoo.
But what if we had runaway from home? I would have missed out on all those toothless grins that my beautiful granddaughter gives me at 4 a.m. - nothing in the world could equal those moments when she looks me in the eyes and gives me a great big smile!
I think that we have a new travel companion. There is a new little face to help fill up our vacation photo albums, a precious little princess to help us explore new wonders, someone to share the Father's Creation with while making smores over a campfire in the redwoods. Get the tent and pack the pampers Grandma - we're going camping!
Peace, Love, and Light through Jesus the Christ!
Kevin (Cloud)
The ramblings, rants, raves, and reveries of a Hippie Christian. Comments about life and the journey of faith at the intersection of the spiritual and material worlds. Welcome Home!
2 comments:
I pray patience and great love for you and your wife as you pour yourselves into this little life. I am a case manager at a treatment center where mothers recovering from their addictions (and working on their mental health) can stay with their children and learn how to be a sober parent. Its not an easy road and there's a lot of mixed up messages in their heads, so I will be praying also for your daughter that she will find the strength to surrender herself and allow God to clear up all the mess that drugs have created in her life. Bless you for your willingness to parent again ~ and for your excitment in the process!
Hi Kevin, Thanks for the post at Grandma's House. I am a Spiritual Counselor, Grief Counselor and Ordained Minister who believes that Christ is my soft place to fall and the best teacher I have ever had. I follow the Gnostic view of Christ as teacher and don't have faith in God because he is a given in my life. I love the hippie Christian Concept you follow it is great!. I have only my granddauther with me now as the two boys returned to Mom once she was able. I know that the reward for me in this life is the lesson for others about Love and stand up character. Many Blessing Pastor Sandie
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