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ripple effects (Grandfather’s secrets & Grammie Camp)

by Shawni
I cannot believe I sent off my two last at-home children for school bright and early this morning, Lu all confident with her schedule memorized having walked the school a few times in preparation, and Claire driving with friends and a giant smile on her face after claiming this is the saddest she’s ever been to start a new school year.  Phew!  It has been an interesting lead-up to this day…Max and Abby here before they leave again tomorrow, Grace FaceTiming from China to help Claire get hyped up last night (missing her so much!), someone hit Max and Abby’s car Elle is borrowing up in Utah in a parking lot yesterday, logistics of my mother’s heart sending Lucy to Junior High and her trying to emotionally sort it all out.  Oh boy.  The beginning of a school year is tricky any way you look at it, but this is an interesting year for us for sure.
I’m not sure I’m ready to really delve into all that right now.  For now, let’s talk about Grandfather’s Secrets and Grammie Camp at Bear Lake.  Because there’s some part of me that is just so grateful that these girls (ALL my kids for that matter!) get to go off into the big yonder with these “secrets” my Dad has come up with tucked safely into their hearts, knowing all the good blood that runs through their veins from all the ancestor stories they learned for Grammie Camp.
We had the best time at Bear Lake and out of all that motion and chaos and beauty and family togetherness, my very top favorite memories were listening to all the grandkids trying to memorize all the Grandfather’s Secrets together in little huddles and memorize artwork and famous composers for Grammie Camps (prizes were up for grabs so you know they were going for it…and there’s nothing like a little peer pressure 🙂
My Dad had kids find “flat rocks” before the reunion and he took time to write all the “secrets” on those beauties:
There is something so beautiful about his handwriting to me.  Is it the handwriting itself or the fact that he took so much time to write all those so artistically with so much love for those grandkids?
He took time to print out a copy for each grandchild as well…
…and even assigned “tutor notes” for the big kids to help the younger ones to learn them all.
My mom took groups one by one up to the Lighthouse for their own Grammie Camps.

…and did all sorts of different activities with them.

Here they are with their journals…

…I don’t know many details of what happened up there, only that those cousin groups were working their hearts out to learn the names of their great, great grandparents and how to tell a Rousseau painting from a Monet.

My brother Tal helped out this year:

…as well as Anita:

…and they created bread creations:

My brother Josh always helps out as well.

(This group got to do a little astronomy with him the night before…and I know I have some cool moon pictures from that but I can’t find them right now.)
My dad had little meetings with the grandkids to have them “pass off” the “secrets” as well as a real life story to go with them from their own lives and it made my heart swell to watch these two parents of mine so actively involved with their grandkids.  MY kids.
The reason I titled this as “ripple effects” is because I love to imagine the ripple effects of all this teaching and loving.

I’ve seen it so much already with Lucy.  Pretty much every week during family devotional or taking notes in church or just driving around she will refer to those secrets.

Sometimes she’ll write out her testimony of things she believes and those “secrets” as well as Helaman 5:12 (that my mom has had the kids memorize for years) are always forefront and looped into everything she writes.

I love to imagine all those golden threads infiltrated into each of those grandkids attaching them to those grandparents and great grandparents of theirs, as well as to their own grandkids some day.  Yes, there is “molton gold” that will “gleam from the ashes” and I can almost see the beauty of all those ripple effects (written about back HERE).

Thank you, mom and dad, for weaving all that golden-ness into our lives.

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11 comments

Jessica Nelson August 2, 2019 - 2:56 am

I love this!!! Would it be ok for me to request a copy of these “grandfather secrets”? Or is there a book or blog post that I can read? I can read some on the rocks and photos you posted, but I’m drooling to get my hands on them all!!

Reply
NOTOrious August 2, 2019 - 3:45 am

Me too!

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Melissa and Aaron August 2, 2019 - 11:29 am

Me, too!

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Uriona Family August 2, 2019 - 6:56 pm

I would love it as well. Your family is so chuck full of great and wonderful ideas.

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Kristi Gagon August 6, 2019 - 4:11 pm

I would love a copy of them as well. Such great information for growing kids.

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Shawni August 15, 2019 - 12:08 am

Sorry I forgot to come back to this. These "secrets" are written up in one of my dad's books called "Being a Proactive Grandfather" which you can find over here: https://amzn.to/2yWOv4i but maybe I can get him to do a guest post on here some time 🙂 They really are so great, I personally think of them all the time myself, I love that if I remember them that much, I love to think about those ideas and concepts running through my kids heads (and hearts) as they maneuver through life.

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Julie August 2, 2019 - 6:05 am

Are the 2 girls in the dungarees & yellow shirts twins? They certainly look alike.

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Shawni August 15, 2019 - 12:08 am

No they're not twins, different families, but happened to have twinning outfits which is pretty exciting:)

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Julie August 15, 2019 - 6:07 am

Thank you for answering my question.

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Ali August 9, 2019 - 12:45 pm

yes please! Are they in one of your parent's books?

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Shawni August 15, 2019 - 12:09 am

See above.
xoxo

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