Jewels from Heavenly Father

I can't believe how fast time is going by. Mindi's kids just got home from school and next week is spring break. Can spring already be here? Spencer just left after signing some footballs for a friend of ours. As he drove off I started feeling so sad. He is leaving tomorrow to drive back to Denver to report for workouts with the Broncos. I was wondering why do I get so sad when he isn't "home?" Then I realized that his home really is in Denver. I remember when he left on his mission to Chile how "in the toilet" I was for a long, long, time. That was the longest two years of my life. Today Mindi and I ran to the grocery store. As we turned to go up the cookie isle I heard a stern mean voice say, "are you touching stuff or are you hands in you pockets?" I turned to see a younger girl with a grandpa looking ugly guy with two little kids. He was a jerk! As I turned to give him the "stink eye", he didn't see me, I saw him hit the little boy, probably about three, with his knuckle on the top of his head. I wanted to call CPS but instead I just hurried down the isle so I wouldn't scream out a naughty word. When you lose a child your outlook on life changes. I look at some of the things my grandchildren do, that before I would probably spank them, but it just isn't worth it. How I wish Kamber was here flooding the bathroom, climbing up into the sink, dumping cereal all over the floor. (I made that one up because my Mom told me I climbed on the cabinets and dumped a huge box of cheerios on the floor when I was 18 months old.) She said she just sat in the middle of the floor and cried. I know she didn't spank me, and I really never remember her ever being mean to me, and I was a BRAT! These little children are so precious, why would you treat them like that? Life is hard, and it is getting shorter and shorter for some of us. I know I need to be more patient and loving with those little kids around me. The other day when we went to lunch for Mindi's birthday, Brookie got out of the car and came running up to me and said, "Hi Gamma!" It melted my sometimes "hard heart." These little children are gifts from our Heavenly Father and we need to treat them like the jewels that they are.