God Bless the Children

By now I have finished 3 of my 5 Christmas albums between Georgia and Michigan! The "important" ones, with all of the kids, are done. And while working on them, I couldn't help but be all philosophical about them!

How can we NOT be mindful of our children! They are our future. They are the ones we need to teach...to be all they're meant to be and NOT like the rest of the world.

Here's the batch from my side of the family in Michigan (NOT the ones of Nicholas here in Georgia, yet!! That's another album on its own, of course!!)...the wee ones from my niece and nephews (in no particular order):

Greta and Audrey

Lydia and Audrey

Aden


Aden and Lydia


Audrey


Asher


Audrey, Lydia and Eli


Lydia

Asher

Aden

Lydia and Audrey

Aden

Greta

Lydia

Lydia

Asher

Eli

Eli

Aden

From Donica's side of the family there are these two cherubs from a cousin:

Joey

Joey

Abby

Abby

How, pray tell, can we not teach them well? You tell me!

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Donica left for Europe this past Sunday and is in the snowcapped Switzerland mountains, as we speak, on a team-building trip. I fly to Amsterdam tomorrow, arriving on Friday morning. Donica will join me on Saturday for the rest of the month.

HAPPY NEW YEAR again!

Becoming

Okay. There's a story here, folks, so let's start at the beginning.

A couple times a year, Donica and I drive down south of Atlanta to visit with her extended family on the lake of one of her cousins. One such time was last Sunday.

Another cousin, Bruce, loves to fish, as does his daughter, Abby, who actually caught a nice little fella with her kiddie pole.

In the meantime, little brother, Joey (2 1/2), is fiddlin' with his own kiddie pole on the pontoon boat while some of us oldies are taking a nice little cruise around the lake.

He even starts practicing.

Once back on shore, the next thing you know, Joey is joining Daddy and Sister.

Setting up his own pole...

...as he's seen done many times. No mind that there's no fishing line attached...

...while Abby continues her quest off the dock, an accomplished fisherlady by now! But Joey is ready for a break.

And after a hard day's work, there's watermelon for all.

I love to see how this works, don't you? The kids mimicking the older generations. Learning how things work. Watching and observing. Trying things out.

Becoming!

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Tomorrow Donica and I fly to Michigan for Don and Ruth's 3rd annual Farm Day on Saturday and will return to Atlanta on Sunday. Lots of MY extended family will be there, like last year. This is very different from when we're all at the cottage. It'll be our second time. After last year, we decided we wanted to go back every year we can!

Happy weekend to us all.