Blubbering Vivi

One of the difficult sides of ministry life is living several hours away from family.  As you know God calls us to go to the ends of the earth to share the gospel and we obey.  Because our lives are filled with ministry responsibilities, it is sometimes difficult to travel back “home” often.

My husband and I have been fortunate to live fairly close to our family over the years.  Only once have we lived eight hours away.  For the past five years, we have been fortunate to live eight minutes from our two grandsons and now two hours away from our four-month old granddaughter.  Yes, we have been blessed. However, there is a change coming.

Every week for the past two years, our two grandsons, now four and half years old and 23 months, have spent Wednesday night with us.  On Thursday morning, I drop them off at Mother’s Day Out.  This past week was no different than any other week except that it was my last time to take them to MDO.  In a few short weeks, these precious boys along with their parents will be relocating to another state and will be five and a half hours away instead eight minutes.

As I left Mother’s Day Out that morning, tears began to fall.  By the time I reached my car, I was sobbing.  My heart was breaking into pieces because I realized we would not see our grandsons on a daily basis like we do now.  There will be no more daily adventure walks.  We will not be able to drive to the lake to watch the ducks and turtles.  Daily bubble wars in the backyard will end.  The sand in the sandbox will actually stay in the backyard and not in the house.  What is this Vivi going to do?

As for our family, we love spending time together.  We may gather in our home for an impromptu barbeque or head to the ball park to watch a game.  We try to get together at least once a month if possible.  Now our gatherings will be few and far between.  We will need to juggle everyone’s busy schedule, school dates, and church responsibilities.  Let’s just say this Mama is struggling!

However, I plan to do a few things that hopefully will keep our family connected.  Besides Skype/Facetime, I plan to make little surprise boxes for my grandsons.  They love getting “prizes” from Vivi and Preacher Man aka my husband.  I will also create more Shutterfly books for my grandbabies.  I love writing stories about our adventures and the funny things each of my grandchildren do.  Hopefully, these books will help Gideon and Jude remember the fun times we have had together and introduce Hazel Grace to her silly boy cousins.

I am sure in time I will adjust to being a long distance ViVi. When we are able to gather as a family, I plan to relish in those days.  When we get to have our grandchildren for a weekend or a week, we will return to our favorite places to watch the ducks and hunt for turtles.  I am sure we will have World War III with bubbles and have a movie marathon watching old Road Runner and Coyote reruns. 

For now, here is what I need from you.  I am calling on all Mama’s and Grandma’s to share how you stay connected to your children/grandchildren when they are long distances away.  I am quite sure there are other sisters in ministry who have struggled with or are struggling with letting their children go off to faraway places like me.