A Picnic

Several days ago I went to visit a very special family that is serving Father here in China. It is always a special time for me to sit through their time of instruction as we sit around the table where meals are served and discuss their lessons under the instruction of their mother. Being with them gives me insight on a method of home schooling. What they are learning is providing wisdom and a preparation for living that very few receive today in their educational experience.

It also gives me a chance to spend some time with the younger ones. During music theory I would take them to the park to play and listen to them talk about their imagination. This is a family of nine girls and one boy. The boy is at an age where taking a nap is becoming a "thing for babies". Since I was there we would have a man/boy thing. We would get the blocks and cars out and build things. It was a time of building and talking about what he was building. It wasn’t built and smashed down. There was creativity and reasons given for what he was building and doing. We had a great time together.

To get back to the title of this entry, at noon we decided to go to the park for a picnic. We gathered up everything we needed and went for a short walk to the center of the apartment complex and spread a blanket out on some grass and sat down and had a good time eating and talking.

Isn’t that a cool setting? Imagine being a child and growing up in a family like that.

The boy just pulled the stem off the tomato he was reaching for in the first picture and threw it on the grass and then popped the tomato into his mouth and went for another. The open spot between the girl in pink and red is where I will squeeze in and enjoy a time of fellowship.

When the older girl, sitting at the bottom of the picture, turns 18 this summer, she will have to have a different visa in order to stay here with her family next year. Without that visa she would have to return alone to live in the states.

How much richer my life is because of them. What a joy to be known as Grandpa Steve by them. It is truly a special relationship.