Grandma on duty

Monday evening, after about 24 hours of travelling, I arrived in Vancouver and finally got to hold my gorgeous grandson in my arms. Alejandro is quite beautiful and easily the most handsome baby boy in the whole universe. (I have to acquiesce a bit to those friends who have had baby girls within the same week as Alejandro was born. Congratulations to Kim & Albert and to Laurie & Tim, who had twin girls!)
Being a grandmother is quite wonderful and I am so happy to be able to be here to help my daughter as she recovers from her C-section. Marah and Dan have recently moved into a cozy little ground floor apartment that is just perfect for a young family. I hope to be able to help a little bit in getting some things organized and some curtains up, but mostly I just want to make these first two weeks at home as easy as possible for Marah.
It’s nice to be in Canada, where there are lines on the roads, labels are in English and fast food places abound. Because I have never lived in Vancouver, though, it is still a place I visit, so there isn’t the same sense of ‘re-entry’ as there might be if I were spending this time in Toronto. The sad thing about Vancouver is they have no Second Cup, only Starbucks but the wonderful thing is that we can see mountains from the living room window of the apartment! There are also lots of Chinese and oriental food places, but the prices are astronomical in Moldovan terms. The reality of being in a country where there is no uncertainty in terms of language, no unfamiliarity with the culture and no stress in regards to what might or might not happen at the border or with police officers, is quite refreshing. Other than trying to coax a baby to sleep at night,
the most stressful thing this week was that my luggage didn’t arrive when I did. But even that was actually expected, given my flight schedule, and the nice people at Air Canada delivered my suitcase to the door the next day. How great is that! I am so thankful to the friends that made it possible to come on this trip, by donating air miles for the journey. You know who you are and may God bless you richly for your abounding kindness and generosity to me and my family!
My son Josh and son-in-law Daniel met me with flowers at the airport. Josh is pretty excited about being an uncle and Daniel is calmly delighting in the role of Daddy to this sweet child. Yesterday we had a visit with my sister-in-law Jan, who took us to the doctor’s office for baby’s one-week appointment. He is healthy and doing well, according to the doctor – but we knew that. Jan and my niece Jen are hosting a baby shower for Marah this Saturday, so that will be a fun event and chance to see again some of the friends who have been so supportive of Marah here in Vancouver. God is good – and how blessed I am to be a grandmother and a mother!