Teddy Bear, Tea or Hot Chocolate?

Oh the blessing of being an aunt ☺️

I come to you today a little sleepy, I must admit. But with many memories made over the past five days.

Recently I received an email from the Billy Graham Library, letting me know that they would be having their Teddy Bear Tea this past weekend. It just so happened that my niece and nephew would be staying with us for their “summer camp,” as they do for about a week each summer. As I read on, I realized it would be my niece’s last year to go. And a big plus, was now my nephew could go and my parents and me! Before it was just one adult per child.

Let me give you a little history of our tea experience: this tea used to be held in December, and Lilly and I have gone twice before, but Jack was too little, so he stayed outside with Swing and Duck and watched all the shuttle buses, a.k.a. “busies” 😊 (This was perfectly fine with him. He very much loves anything that goes!)

So the first year we went, we also attended the Dinner at the Library, I highly recommend! We went to story time and visited the nativity animals and of course shopped at Ruth’s attic. The second year we got some tips on getting in line for the horse and carriage rides ☺️ so we didn’t attend dinner, but we did get to ride in a horse and carriage 💕 and they were over the moon!

Then, I am sure the Library had good reason, but they changed the time of year the Teddy Bear Tea was held. A few years it was Valentines Day, and then it’s been other times, all when they have been busy. But Lilly always wanted to take Jack back to the tea and I did too. So I bought the tickets before asking anyone, yep, that’s how excited I was!!!

The awesome thing about this year was that the adults actually got to sit down with the kids! Before we had to stand to the side or at the back, but this year we were able to sit down and enjoy the food and program too! The program was amazing! Thank you Randall Goodgame, Slugs & Bugs! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! And of course, if you have had the food from any Graham facility, it is delicious!!

https://slugsandbugs.com

And the most beautiful and deepest heart lift of all, my Lucy’s presence there. Although we couldn’t visit her brick that is at the Library (its under construction), the knowledge of knowing it is there, in the place where my parents, my niece and nephew and I were, where I had hoped to bring her physically with all of us one day, was a wonderfully overwhelming love of my Heavenly Father.

Generation to Generation. Think on this for a second.

The Graham Family is not perfect, they are not God, nor do they claim to be perfect or God. The bottom line is truth. I have grown up knowing Billy Graham and his ministry. And there is one solid, never changing truth, the preaching of the Gospel, period. No fluff. (His call was to go out and preach. He wasn’t a pulpit preacher. His message was the same for a reason. The Gospel is the foundation. You cannot have faith without a true understanding of this!)

The mom and two children that sat at our table, her grandparents went to college with Billy and Ruth Bell Graham. They stayed friends. Her dad works for the BGEA ministry. Grandparents. Parents. Daughter. Children. Four generations.

I observed the attendees. Parents and child or children. One parent and child or children. Grandparents and children. I’m sure there were aunts and uncles mixed in. But if a photographer wouldn’t have asked to take our picture as soon as we walked up the sidewalk, I don’t think I would have made this observation. And that was this: we were obviously three generations. And that stuck out.

First, let me say this, it is not about us. It’s not about holding anyone or any family higher than the other. Second, this is about our children and our children’s children. And I honestly have no “pointers” because it really depends on your family. So I am just going to give you some questions that have come to my mind over the past few days:

Do we value the lessons and lives of those who have “lived it,” enough to slow down, and actually write down what is being offered? Those older, younger, same age than us. Those who have “lived it” medically, environmentally, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, politically, etc.

Do we value all human beings? If we do, then don’t we all deserve to have a voice, whether we agree or disagree? And shouldn’t that voice be heard without violence or shouting? And if they don’t have a physical voice, shouldn’t we be all the more faster to speak up?

Whatever happened to FAMILY being a village? Not just blood line, but multi-generational, family, friends, all cultures, all ethnicities, diverse life stories?

What are we learning from staying in our own economic, cultural, political, “educated,” etc comfort bubbles? And what is this teaching our children?

Are we scared or are we unwilling or are we unprepared?

All of these have solutions. Although it takes faith, it takes being willing, it takes heart, it takes one step at a time, it also takes time.

Life Book of the Week: “Prodigals and Those Who Love Them” by Ruth Bell Graham