My wife and I had wanted to make the trip to see our oldest son in Wisconsin for quite some time. We had lacked opportunity. We finally decided that any opportunity we would have would be of our own making so we made the opportunity and went this past weekend. We learned two very important things not to do in going to see our son, John.
The first is, don't go through Chicago on a Friday evening right after rush hour. Rush hour in Chicago is improper nomenclature. It is rush evening. It begins somewhere around 3:30 and continues until about 8:00. It consists of various "teasers" where you can absolutely fly with the flow of traffic followed by "let downs" as you suddenly must completely stop to keep from hitting the thousands of cars which are sitting still in front of you. "The Skyway" is a term meaning you will go no farther than the merging/exiting traffic in front of you will allow.
The other important thing we learned not to do is leave Central Kentucky and travel seven hours away when your youngest son and his wife are expecting twins within five weeks. Following church services in Wisconsin yesterday afternoon we received the news from our son, Sean, that his wife was in labor in Lexington. If you ever see the question, "What goes eighty miles an hour for six and a half hours on Halloween?", the answer is, "The Kelleys, returning from Wisconsin to see their first grandchildren."
I know, I was deliberately breaking the law, I was risking my life and that of my wife and oldest son. I know the spiritual ramifications of those choices as well as the physical ones. But when Joseph was told to leave Bethlehem for Egypt to save Jesus' life I doubt if he would have been worried about speed limits had he been driving a Ferrari rather than managing a donkey. We arrived at 10:00 just in time to see our daughter-in-law, Jennifer, after she had given birth to two four and a half pound babies.
Our first granchildren were born at 9:36 and 9:38. Grace Lynn came first followed very quickly by Sean Patrick. Grace and Patrick, as they will be known, will be in the hospital for approximately two weeks. We understand the great gift we have been given and give God the glory for it. "Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes arrogant. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely, I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." Psalms 131:1, 2 Please join my family and me in this time of gratitude and wonder as we give thanks for our new grandchildren.