After a visit from grandchildren, it takes a day to change my home over from a toddler environment to that of a single adult. Taking the junior chair, bathtub toys and rattles back to the basement, my thoughts are always with the children as they head home.

Recently while going through this process I thought back to my own days of young motherhood when I would visit Mom, kids in tow, at her orderly home set up for two adults. When she first found out she was going to be a grandma, she emptied a large cabinet and went garage-sale-ing for toys to fill it. “I want our grandkids to have fun when they come,” she said.

Her wish came true. Our children and everyone else’s had a blast at Grandma Johnson’s. After leaving multiple little ones in her care, I’d always hurry back, worrying she might be exhausted. But no matter the length of time or number of children, she’d always say, “Back already?”

Time flew, because she was having fun.

After the children had pulled every toy out of her cabinet, each of us young moms would stay to pick them up, but Mom would take them from our hands and say, “Oh, let me do that after you leave. I have such a good time thinking back on the morning.”

“But it’s such a mess!” we’d say.

“A happy mess,” she’d counter, “and I love it.”

I remember one morning when Mom took care of several of our kids and made chocolate chip cookies with them. Two year old Klaus had deposited a smudgy hand print on her white door at toddler height, and before we left I reached for a soapy rag to wipe it clean. Mom stopped me, saying, “Don’t touch that. It’s darling.”

The next time I visited, she’d drawn a square frame around the messy print and written “By Klaus,” along with the date. Another “happy mess.” I’ll be glad if I can be half the grandma Mom was.

I’ve found plenty of my own precious art-prints after grandchild visits, like the ones 4-month-old Micah left while sitting in his Bumbo on the kitchen counter. He loved watching us prepare meals and was perched next to the glass cake dome. After he and his family had left, when the sun hit that glass, half of the dome was covered with tiny prints this little guy had left with his dimpled, drool-soaked fingers, and I experienced the same rush of grandma-love Mom must have felt seeing Klaus’ chocolate hand.

Though I confess to washing Micah’s artwork off my cake dome that day, it wasn’t before I “framed” his creation in my memory. Maybe when he visits next, we’ll bake some cookies together.

“Children’s children are a crown to the aged.” (Proverbs 17:6)

Praising and Praying with Mary

1. Please pray for my visit with the doctor tomorrow, a specialist who will work on feeding tube issues.
   
2. I’m thankful for a trip to Arkansas for dog-Sydney’s last day and the days following.