A Big Day!

Wednesday was a big day for us! Our granddaughter turned 1 year old on the 12th. And then yesterday was even bigger as we gathered with Vera and her folks and members of their church, friends from the community and family for the BIG party.

And Vera performed to our high level of expectations. She nailed her own cake and really wanted to put her entire face into the top of it but that didn't happen. At one point I look over and Vera waved at me as only a granddaughter can wave to their grandpa and I went over and she held out her chocolate frosted fingers to have me take a lick. Yum!

Today in Sunday school we talked about our perceptions of God and that many of them come from our relationships with our own fathers. For some people they have a difficult time accepting God's love because they never got any love from their fathers. For others, that concept was easy to understand. I shared that by the time I was born both of my grandfathers had died. So I went through my younger years always looking for a grandfather. I decided if I were to ever be blessed with grandchildren, I was going to be sure they knew who I was.

Then Carrie and Marc had Vera and have I enjoyed the the role of being a grandfather. It has been fun telling her stories, singing her songs like the "Frog Song" "Alice where are you Going" and "Let's go Bowling at the Bowling Green" plus a whole bunch of Christian songs like "Rolled Away" Of course V.V. has all of the actions down too. She is miles ahead of her peers when she starts singing. And she loves music.

I plan to be in her life the rest of my life which is for many years to come. She has such positive regard for me, it just blesses my heart. I love it when I see her across the room and she holds out her hand and points with one finger. She doesn't do that other people besides her grandparents and folks. I want to be there for her in the good and challenging time and to remind her of the tremendous Christian heritage she comes from on both sides of the Patterson and Anderson families.

Thanks Vera for helping me move into another new chapter in my life. I LOVE IT!

Grandpa Markus