Meeting Caleb!

It was a relaxing, baby-holding, baby-kissing, baby-snuggling, coffee-sipping, good eating kind of visit!

Less than a minute after we arrived at Kati and Andrew's house, I held Caleb in my arms. 

Be still my heart. 

I look a little travel weary, but the miles melted away when I met this precious boy! 

I told you in ~this post~ how disappointed I was not be able to travel to be with Kati during Caleb's first days of life. I had wanted to see him "while he was still red." 

So yes, it was HARD to wait . . . but he was so WORTH the wait!
(There is a spiritual lesson here!)

This is the first time Aunt Bekah held her new nephew.

(But not the last.) 

Kati and Andrew's dog Pepper stuck very close by each "stranger" who held Caleb. 

By the end of the week, she trusted us to hold him.

The first time that Ron held his new grandbaby. 

Caleb reached his ONE MONTH mark while we were visiting, calling for a little celebration! 

♡ Family life ♡

There is gray hair and baby drool on my shoulder . . . but I love this picture!

Hanging out.
Pepper, Papa, Aunt Bekah, and Caleb.
Never mind that one of the sofa cushion covers was in the wash from a baby mishap.
Life is good here. 

This is not the first time that we have had to wait to meet a grandchild. Ryan and Sarah lived far away from us when Nora was born . . . and even further when Peter was born. We met each of those babies for the first time when they were about seven weeks old. 

But before we ever met them, we loved them. 

I did not have to learn to love Nora when I met her. I already loved her dearly, because she was mine. 

When I met Peter a couple of years later, I loved him immediately because he was family, my very own grandchild. 

Before I met Caleb last week, I loved him intensely because he is the child of my child and he belongs to us.

I loved Nora, Peter, and Caleb, whom I had never seen, with a deep, rich love.

And one day, when we who are the Lord's get to Heaven and we meet for the first time, I don't think that we will have to learn to love one another. We will love one another with a deep love . . . because we are family, because we are His.