11/15/07

The other night our phone rang just before midnight.  I was in the middle of teaching Lori, our daughter-in-law, how to change the special Japanese paper doors called “fusuma”.  We had everything spread out in the middle of the floor to measure the roll of paper and cut it to fit the eight doors.  I just couldn’t imagine who would be calling at that particular time of night.  I finally got up off the floor and into the other room, as the phone seemed to continue ringing.  As I picked it up and said, “Hello”, I heard “Grandma!  I love my bag!”  I was not sure who I was hearing because it surprised me.  Then our almost 4 year old little Jayli said again, “GRANDMA!  This is Jayli.  I love my bag!” Ooooooooooooooooh my!  All the tiredness left my body and new life seemed to flow inside me.  This was my granddaughter from America.

It didn’t matter to Jayli that I had purchased her little things in a 100 Yen store for only 85 cents each.  I had put them in a cute little 85 cent bag.  I hadn’t even mailed them from Japan because of the postage being expensive, but our friends had taken them to the states to mail from their home.  None of those details mattered to her or our other granddaughters.  They were just thrilled that Grandma had sent something.  As each of the girls took turns thanking me and saying how they missed me and loved me, my heart filled up more and more with their love.

 Isn’t it interesting how our love tanks are affected by others?  It is not the cost or even the beauty, but it is just the love with which we do things.  I didn’t need a present from the girls in return, but all I needed was to simply hear their voices saying, “Grandma, I love you!”  As I asked the second one, Julianne, what kinds of things would she like for me to send next, she paused a minute.  She then said, “Grandma, I don’t want anything but for you to come so I can hug you.  I miss you so much.”  After such a phone call, I was ready to work all night.  My love tank had certainly been filled to the brim and felt like it was running over.