God knew how to encourage us as we grow into the later years of life: He gave us grandchildren! Proverbs 17:6 – “Children’s children are a crown to the aged”. 

Bill and I have 8 grandchildren – 7 girls and 1 boy – ages 3-15. How to keep them close and help them to grow spiritually has always been on our hearts since our first grand daughter was born in Sweden in 1995. Through many mistakes, trials and the grace of God, we had been able to raise our three grown children (Dave, Steve, and Leigh Anne Vett) who are all disciples, and felt pretty good about the parenting skills we had learned from many in the Kingdom. But grandchildren! This was a whole new challenge, amplified by the fact that there was a lot of distance (miles) between us and our grandchildren. We are still learning every day, but these are a few things we have been able to put into practice.