Easter egg hunts, grandchildren, and Italy (all this and more)

People were bringing children to Jesus so that he would bless them. But the disciples scolded them. When Jesus saw this, he grew angry and said to them, “Allow the children to come to me. Don’t forbid them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people like these children. I assure you that whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it.” Then he hugged the children and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

Now that I’m finally settled back at home, I can write the closing post from my 12-day Connecticut granddaddy odyssey.

Friday night I prepped the kids by giving them baths and getting them snug in their PJ’s; Beks was already fast asleep when their mom and dad’s car rolled into the driveway. After all that time, I was the status quo, so David’s face lit up with both delight and surprise when he recognized the familiar footfall on the stoop.

But I think it was Naomi who was the most excited. It was the first time she’d spent even a night away from Beks, and seeing the children again plugged a growing void in her heart. Italy was wonderful, but coming home was even better.

For me, one of the highlights turned out to be something I didn’t even witness first hand. It was the fact that our two children, Andrew and Naomi, voluntarily spent a week-plus together – along with their spouses – and that they had a wonderful time being a family.

Craig, Naomi, Alicia, Andrew (in Venice)

I’ll just include the one photograph from Italy, but keeping up with their adventures via Facebook provided me with such a charge of joy that I’d often find myself grinning from ear-to-ear, just knowing they were all together.

Saturday morning we all headed over to the little Congregational Church for the Easter Egg Hunt. Cuteness reigned! We teamed up with Naomi’s friend Jen and her little girl, Kayla. Being free to roam around with my Nikon produced an entirely different set of images than the hastily snapped iPhone shots when I had them by myself!

So the odyssey ended and I came home. But I came home with a new relationship with my grandchildren that couldn’t have been achieved any way other than “in the trenches,” 24/7, nurtured in the complete immersion of love.