Sarah, my granddaughter,will be fourteen on Thursday and a fine young lady she has become too! She is a good Volleyball player and an excellent student and she has lots of friends. But I remember when it was Grandpa, Sarah and me. You see, because of family problems, Mama had to work. And I am awfully thankful that she trusted Grandpa and me to care for her.

I think often about saving scraps from the table for the chickens. Sarah wasn’t big on eating the crusts of the bread so we put them in a big bag. Grandpa and Sarah would leave every morning to “feed the chickies. (at the blessing of the owner, I might add). I never took their picture but I have one stored in my heart.  Grandpa is lifting Sarah high so she could reach over the fence and call “Here chickie, come chickie” and they would come. two of them were geese, many times bigger than Sarah.

Another thing I remember very well is playing the game of princess. She, of course, was the princess and she dressed in my small lace tablecloth and carried my knitting needle. I was the wicked queen who put our princess to sleep. The only way to wake her up was to bring her a rose and kiss her. Since we were only two people, I suddenly became the handsome prince who just happened to have a plastic rose. I knelt down beside the sleeping beauty and kissed her. And did she ever wake up! My! what antics she had, but she finally was awake and the game was over for another day.

We had a 30 foot motorhome back then, and Sarah loved to pretend to drive it. After she drove it awhile, she would hear a knock on the door. It was grandpa and grandma coming for lunch. She’d sit us down at the table and feed us wonderful pretend food. She loved to pretend the motorhome was really her home.

There are many things I remember about having Sarah, but later, little baby Megan came to stay in the daytimes too. We went to the park playground then and that was fun. But using grandpa’s lawn wagon was the most fun. I would put a blanket inside and the two girls would get in. We pretended we were on a camping trip and I’d pull them all around the park, stopping at various picnic tables, mostly because I needed a break!

But, this week Sarah will be 14! She might not even remember these things we did. I hope she does because after she is a grown woman, she can do those things with her little girl. Anyhow, on Thursday I’ll sing “Happy Birthday” and I’ll add “May God richly bless you” too.

Is there any word like HOME that brings nostalgic thoughts to your mind? Surely none other but this tiny four letter word has inspired us more. I thought about that word this morning as I listened to a teenager talking to a policeman who was trying to convince her to go home. She was adamant, “I can’t go home. I’ll be killed! My dad is drunk and mad as heck at me.”

So, there are families out there who don’t feel inspired when that word, home, enters their minds. However, ever since I was a little girl I have loved that word. Let me tell you about when my little sister was born. Daddy had gone sometime during the night to get Greta, the girl who took care of us when Mama and Daddy had to go someplace. This night they were going to the hospital. I couldn’t figure that out. Neither Mama or Daddy was sick. Daddy had made many hospital calls to the hospital because he was a pastor. I asked Greta about it and she just told me that Mama was going to have a baby. I still couldn’t figure out why they were going to the hospital.

Daddy came home late that afternoon and told my brother and I that we had a new sister. We were happy of course but still didn’t understand. And we really didn’t understand when Daddy stated he would make soup for supper.

“Why? Isn’t Mama coming home? You don’t know how to make soup!” I said.

He did though. And it was the best soup I have ever had. I thought Daddy could do everything!

Mama came home a few days later with a brand new sister. Oh but it was good to have her home, and with a little baby too! It was really home.

This story is in my book, He Leadeth Me: A Grandmother’s Story, and you can find it at Amazon. I really felt we were a family that day and it was good to be at home. But that teenager probably has no good feeling about home and there are many with homes like hers. I pray that your family has a home your children will want to return to after leaving home to follow their dreams. Or, after a hard days work, It’s good to have a good home to come to, Isn’t it?

Remember to thank God if you have a place on earth, a physical spot you call home, a history that tells your story and relationships that make you who you are.