Grandpa Can Teach Anyone Anything

No kidding. Dan's Dad is the master of pretty much all trades, the closest thing you can find after Leonardo da Vinci to a real Renaissance Man. He's a master poker and pinochle player (and instructor), an author, a painter, an expert in logic of all kinds; he knows how to orient a sundial to true north, is an inveterate GOLFER, and can teach not only the finer points of the actual game, but how to determine mathematically how the dimples in a golf ball affect aerodynamics -- and he's a regular Fred Astaire on the dance floor. Here he is teaching Anna and Cathy a couple Christmases ago -- and at every wedding reception he and Sharon show how it's done. They make the rest of us look like total klutzes. And we all love it.

The multi-generational dynamics of a family are a God thing. The free interaction among grandparents and parents and children and cousins and aunts and uncles.... God meant us to live within a network of symbiotic relationships where care and education are shared; one generation gives care until it needs care, then the coin flips. The experience and wisdom is passed down from the top and adds, ideally, to each succeeding generation, making each new group of children more and more blessed by the family collection of -- good things, hopefully. Good skills. Clear thinking. Healthy attitudes. Gratitude. Grace. The common sense to pick up grace and use it well...

We never take for granted the close relationship we've always had with Dan's parents and mine. Especially knowing that it's a rare thing, we treasure it and give the credit to God's goodness -- and  our parents for laying the groundwork. It's such a blessing, it cannot be quantified. There's no math
equation for it -- except this: love, like the old Family Circus comic strip famously explained, is multiplied by each member of a big family, not subtracted.  Numbering 28 family members straight down from Grandpa Davis, alone, we are humongously blessed this way, and we thank God that the love truly does grow exponentially among us!

We are in the planning stages right now of renovating our upper floor to accommodate Dominic and Monica and their two girls, Margaret and Clara, to move in with us around Easter time. We hope to carry on the family tradition of love and learning and caring that was passed down to us from our parents. And, get this! Dan and I will be hearing the pitter patter of little feet and the piping little voices of little girls again in the house all the time, on an ongoing basis and probably... earrrly in the morning... (grandmagrimace) But it's all good.(Haha!) We're actually thrilled. We've missed the daily comedy show! So, stay tuned on that.... 

* Today, though, and the most important thing: we beg your prayers for Dan's Dad, who had a serious heart attack last night and is in the Cardiac ICU today. Please please join us in praying for his health in body and soul. That God, in His goodness, only takes Grandpa Davis's heart next to His when it's the exact right moment for all involved. We selfishly want him to live forever -- but God knows the best departure gate for each of us; the trick is to learn to accept this fact gracefully -- for ourselves and for everyone we love. Please keep us all in your prayers?

TIA!