It is said that cousins are your first friends. That may be true in many families, but, in ours the cousins live away from one another and the chance to be together is rare.

It is a joy to me when I get to see them together. Little Man is two years older than our Little Miss. At one time, the age difference was noticeable. Little Man could read and go about being a little boy, while Little Miss was a toddler and kept clinging to her cousin. This proved annoying at times for our grandson, but he was patient with his younger cousin.

There is a difference in the two of them and yet they have so many similarities that you don’t notice the difference.

The last time they were together there was no warm up time to reestablish boundaries or behavior. They saw each other and instantly bonded. The conversations were non stop. The squeals and laughter echoed in the house. The running kept ending with wrestling on the floor. They played their hearts out.

My heart was blessed by seeing this. These two precious gifts of mine filled my heart with such love and peace. Little Man will turn ten at the end of the month. He made me a grandmother. He stole my heart the first look at him. He has grown from being a chubby cheeked toddler to a young man. He knows no end to learning. He loves to learn, to read, to play piano. He researches each new topic and excels in knowledge of it. He continues to amaze me. Yes, I know all grandmothers think this and each of us think ours are unique and the brightest and smartest.

Our precious Little Miss will turn eight on her next birthday. She is also unique and bright and smart. She also has taught me much and the next few days will be concentrated on her.

These children are precious gifts from our Heavenly Father. He knew what our children needed and He knew how they would be as parents. Our Lord also knew Dale’s and my heart. He knew the joy we would feel in these grands. He knew what we would learn from these two.

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 (NLT)

When the Lord knits us together He takes the best of the parents the grandparents, and so on. There are traits knit deeply in us that reflect those who came before us. The same is true for our grandchildren. They reflect so much of their families. They have Papa’s smile, Mama’s laughter, Nana’s love of details, Oma’s tenacity, Daddy’s love of singing, Mommy’s, well, she is just a mini-me of my daughter. I see the cousins resemblance, you can tell they are family. Our Lord does that for each of us. We are all unique and all a blend of the best traits.

On top of all of this daily our Lord sings a song over us. When I can catch a quiet time with these cousins, I can hear the echo of that song resounding in my heart.