Let the little children come to me,
and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God
belongs to such as these.
Mark 10:14


A book profiled in the latest Christian Chronicle (September 2005) caught my attention this morning. The book, Long Distance Grandma: Staying Connected Across the Miles, by Janet Teitsort is available from Howard Publishing. I wish I had known of resources like these when my two older grandchildren were young. I can still profit from this book since my youngest, soon-to-be 3 year-old grandchild lives in The Netherlands - quite a distance from her American Oma. (She's coming to the states for the first time for Christmas this year. I'm a happy grandma!)

Some other recommendations for ideas to strengthen child/father and child/mother relationships from a distance are two activity books put out by the National Institute for Building Long Distance Relationships. Publishers are A & E Family Publishers and the ISBN numbers are 0967359953 and 0967359961 respectively. The ideas in these latter two books could also be adapted to long-distance grandparenting.

Missionary moms and dads may want to look at these books, also, since many of you have sent your children back to the states to college. Teitsort has ideas on how to stay connected to your kids in college. Some of your children married and had children here and you stayed on the field. You have become long distance grandparents and now you understand what your parents gave up when they didn't discourage you from heeding God's call. Or you may be like me. For one of my children, "home" seemed to be more there than here.

Whatever the case, bridging the distance is important, no matter the age of the child, which reminds me, I need to call my daughter.

Love's prayers,

Dottie