A lesson from a tiny darling.

The picture tonight is one of Elena when we were there visiting in late October. We had so much fun playing with her 'shapes,' as she called them. It was a learning experience for me, too. Remember in the Bible where it says to "become as little children?" If you look closely at these shapes, you'll see that they are all stacked in a particular way and the one on top is laying 'flat.' "Flat" is not the way they are supposed to be in Elena's mind. If you put one like that she gets a very serious look on her face and firmly, but with love, says, "No." Then she proceeds to set it right. I've noticed that when most adults see something they don't like they wrinkle up their faces and turn down the corners of their mouth. If they say anything about it, it usually is accompanied by a growl or a snarl, but more often they just get a sour look and stash it away in their 'score keeper's notes' to hold against that person when the leverage will come in handy. Not Elena. She's sees something amiss and she straightens it out right then so that everyone can go on being happy. Besides the joy that the memories of this fun trip bring, I thank God for a lesson from our tiny granddaughter.

We got to see Trish and all her kids except Nate, today. Nate was staying late for play practice and Rob was at work when we were there. It was great to see Gabe; we've missed him a lot in the last few visits. He looked terrific, and I didn't get a picture of him. I got a few pictures of Raynie, and Mason got one of me with his bird and Raynie, but those pictures are on Tricia's camera because I left mine in the car. She'll email them to me. Maybe she'll take a current picture of Gabe for me, too. I'd like to put him on the blog. Anyway, it was so good to see them!

Tomorrow is a big travel day, so if I don't get to post a blog, don't worry. Just know that we are not in Internet range. Also, there is the time change thing, coming up. Remember that we will be 4 hours behind Central time, so the blog will be posted at what seems like bizarre hours for a while. Thanks for keeping up with us.