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Resources - Children's Pages
May 2000
Kids’ Page
A Family Get-Together
by Mrs. Anne Groenenboom
The children wriggled with excitement as they waited for the plane to
take off. It seemed ages since the last time they’d been on a plane and
they were looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa again. Mum and
Dad were both looking forward to a holiday at last and the only one who
wasn’t excited was their baby brother, Joel, because he was too little
to know what was happening.
Once the plane took off, it seemed no time at all before they were back
on the ground again. Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for them when they
arrived and so was Uncle Bill. Mum and Dad had planned to spend some
time with Grandma and Grandpa and a couple of weeks with Dad’s sister,
Auntie Jill and her husband, Uncle Bob, on their dairy farm. It was a
long time since the family been to the farm, because they’d moved
interstate. It was even before Carla was born so they were really
looking forward to it.
After their luggage was collected, they all crowded into Uncle Bill’s
minibus and headed for Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house. The children were
amazed at how much the grown-ups were talking. Nobody seemed to be
taking much notice of them but there was plenty to look at along the
way. Then Joel started crying and he made so much noise that everybody
stopped talking. When they finally arrived, Chris and Amy took Carla to
explore the house and garden, showing her the lovely old leadlight
windows and the special places to hide that they remembered so well.
Mum called the children for a drink and when they went inside the
grown-ups were still talking. Grandma gave them each another hug and
told them she had something for them. “You may each take one thing out
of this box now and then I’ll put it away for another time,” she said as
she put a big box on the floor and left them to investigate what was
inside.
The box was full of colouring books, puzzle books and stories to read,
for each of them. It took them some time to choose, but Carla finally
chose a big colouring book, Amy found a novel and Chris picked a book of
word puzzles to keep him busy. The children sat quietly on the lounge
room floor with their books, while the grown-ups still kept on talking.
Chris reflected that even though grown-ups were always telling children
to stop their noise, they never worried about all the noise they made
themselves.
As Mum and Dad tucked Chris and Amy into bed that night, Chris finally
asked the question that had been bothering him all day. “Mum, why do
grown-ups talk so much?”
Mum laughed. “I guess we have been talking a lot today, Chris, but
that’s what families do when they get together. There are so many things
to catch up on, even though it’s not so long since we’ve seen Grandma
and Grandpa.”
“Just wait until the family get-together we have planned for Sunday,”
Dad told Chris. “Your uncles and auntie and cousins will be here after
church.... and that means there’ll be so much talking that we won’t be
able hear each other!”
Chris nodded, thinking how good it would be to catch up with his cousins again. Then they’d probably do lots of talking too. “Families are pretty special, aren’t they, Dad,” he commented and Dad agreed.
“I’m glad God has given us our family,” Amy mumbled sleepily as she
snuggled down into her sleeping bag. It wasn’t long before both of them
were asleep.
Sunday dawned bright and clear and as the children sat in church, they
waited eagerly for the various members of Mum’s family to come. Grandma
and Grandpa were hovering near the door, waiting to welcome everyone as
they arrived. Uncle Bill was first, with Luke and Ben. Both the boys had
grown so much that Chris hardly recognised them. Chris could remember
when they had stayed with them a long time ago, just after Auntie Sue
died. That hadn’t been a happy time, because both the boys were feeling
very miserable and there had been lots of fighting.... and Luke had also
picked on Amy a lot. Chris could remember Mum and Dad telling him then
that God had made families to help each other during hard times as well
as to enjoy the good times together.
Next, Auntie Julie and Uncle Ken .arrived with their three children. Amy
could remember when Auntie Julie came to visit them one Christmas, with
Jonathan and Laura, because Uncle Ken was overseas. That was just before
Joshua was born. She was especially happy to see Laura again, because,
until Carla was born they had been the only two girls in the family and
their boy cousins always seemed to be picking on them.
After the church service, everyone went back to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s
house and the talking started all over again. There were lots of good
things to eat for morning tea and the cousins had a great time getting
to know each other all over again. Grandma and Grandpa were thrilled to
have their family all around them once again. Dad, Uncle Bill and Uncle
Ken cooked a barbecue lunch and before they started eating, Grandpa said
a special prayer of thanks to the Lord that the family could all be
together. He mentioned each one of them by name in his prayer and then
he read from the Bible.
After lunch, the smaller children played hide and seek while the older
boys had a game of cricket with Dad, Uncle Bill and Uncle Ken in the
back yard. Everyone was totally exhausted by afternoon tea time and the
children were quite content to sit and listen as the grown-ups talked
about things that had happened when they were children. Mum mentioned
how much she had enjoyed the family times they all had on Sundays after
church, especially doing jigsaw puzzles together, playing games and
having Bible quizzes, or when they went on family picnics. Uncle Bill
reminded them of the time Grandpa had taken them yabbie fishing and they
had come home covered in mud. They were so dirty that Grandma wouldn’t
let them come into the house until Grandpa had hosed them all down,
including himself. Amy shuddered and thought that didn’t sound like much
fun, but Mum and Auntie Julie both agreed with Uncle Bill that it had
been a great day.
Auntie Julie said what she had enjoyed most was the feeling of belonging
to a loving family and also being part of the church family. Mum and
Uncle Bill nodded in agreement. They all remembered the family
get-togethers as really memorable occasions too. Uncle Bill said how
thankful he was that Grandma and Grandpa had taught them about Jesus
when they were small.... it had helped him so much, when Auntie Sue
died, to know that the Lord was with him. Chris, who had been listening
quietly, realised that he was part of this family too.... a family that
loved the Lord and loved each other. As he was getting older, he was
just beginning to understand what a very special blessing this was.
After tea, it was time for Uncle Bill, Auntie Julie and Uncle Ken and
all the cousins to go home again. They promised Grandma and Grandpa that
they’d all come for another family get-together in two weeks time, after
Mum and Dad and the children had been on their holiday to the farm.
Soon it was time for the children to go to bed and as Dad and Mum tucked
them in, Chris and Amy both told them how much they had enjoyed
listening to Mum and Auntie Julie and Uncle Bill talking about what
happened when they were young.
“I’m glad we have a family just like yours, Mum,” Chris commented. “I’m
glad that you love us and I’m glad we can enjoy doing so many things
together.... and I’m really glad that you’ve taught us all about Jesus.”
“That’s the best way we can show our love to you all, Chris, by teaching
you the most important thing you’ll ever need to know, that you belong
to Jesus.” Dad replied.
“I’m glad we’re part of God’s great big family,” Amy said sleepily as
she snuggled down into her sleeping bag. “It’s so nice being part of a
family that loves each other and Jesus.”
SOME THINGS TO DO:
-
Get together with your family and work out some fun things you can do together. If your family always seems to be too busy to spend time with each other, ask Mum and Dad to help you choose a special time each week to be together.... perhaps at the weekend when you can have more time to be together.
-
Write letters to your grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins if you don’t see them often and get to know them better. Make a collage of family photos to help you remember them and pray for them.
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Together as a family, give thanks to God for making you all part of His family. Make a list of the special blessings you have because you belong to Jesus.
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