Rock-a-Bye Baby – Yeah Right!

It’s almost 9:00 pm.  The home of my daughter and her family is mostly quiet.  I can hear the dryer running in the laundry room with the regular clank of buttons or zippers against the revolving drum.  I can hear the intermittent noise of the refrigerator, the occasional whisper of the furnace, the occasional sighs of the sleeping furry behemoth of a dog that lies at my feet, and there is an undercurrent of voices filtering down the stairs as Ryan and Charissa are striving … yes, that’s the word I think … to get the girls on the approach path for bed.  Grammy is sitting across from me, covered in a blanket on the couch.  She has been napping for about 20 minutes.  I think the last words I heard from her were “I’ve been doing laundry all day.”  Well, that’s not exactly true.  She had time for dancing, and baby holding, and providing assistance in meal preparation and all the other little things she enjoys doing whenever we visit LuMarFin land.

As I was typing this, Charissa escorted Margo and Lucy down the stairs for their “good nights”.  Seeing Linda asleep, she ruefully remarked to the girls, “You girls need to take lessons from Grammy on how to go to sleep.”  It’s a struggle more often than not to get the girls to bed and settled.  To be fair, these days it is mostly Margo and she is breaking molars through her gums and is dealing with an infection in both of her ears.

I enjoy the opportunity to hold the girls tightly and tell them I love them and I’ll see them in the morning.  I quietly pray that they will sleep well and allow a tired Mom and Dad to get some much needed sleep … as much as one can get with a 6 week old infant.

Linda and I will be headed back home at mid-day tomorrow.  We arrived yesterday with the intent of continuing on to St. Louis tomorrow to fellowship with the folks at Heritage Bible Church in Hazelwood and on Sunday I was to preach in their worship service.  For me, however, this time in LuMarFin land has been one of “vegetation” as I dealt with the impact of a serious sinus infection.  I haven’t really felt much like talking (failing voice and sore throat), moving (aching joints) or doing much but napping and engaging in feeble attempts to do some work on the computer.  Linda, in spite of an awful looking infection in her eyes has been a steadfast and willing trooper.  She is an amazing woman.

Linda is now awake and browsing her phone which I think sometimes may be in danger of becoming attached to her hand.  The house is still quiet downstairs … but I can hear the wail of a discontented Margo upstairs.  I can sense the battle going on in the minds of Charissa and Ryan between exasperation and patience … between desperation and hope … a battle that is muted in a blanket of intense and irrevocable love.

Margo is no longer crying … she’s been removed from her bed … and I can hear her in normal tones asking “Where’s daddy … and maybe even where’s grampy”.  The reality is that in a few moments she will likely be laid in her bed again and will likely resist again… but perhaps not.

As I listen to the regular clanking of the dryer, the sigh of the behemoth and watch Linda’s nimble fingers navigate the screen of her i-phone I wish there were a way for me to go up and raise my hands over the little bedroom and say “Peace be still”, and have it be so.  That might seem a little weird but if it worked it would be weirdly wonderful!  I’ll not do that.  Instead I’ll close this entry and then between sniffles I’ll pray for peace … and barring peace … an abundance of love and patience … and physical endurance when sleep is most desperately needed.

Ryan, Charissa … Lucy, Margo and Finlay … Grampy loves you and so does Grammy!  Never forget, however, that God loves you and your family (I don’t know about the behemoth) more and He can do things that I cannot!

G