July 12, 2021 – “Surprises Having Children!”

          What surprised me the most in having children is how it changed my perspective on life. Each child is different and see them grow up is a blessing.

For you formed my inward parts;  you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14;  is what I read after I had all five of my children.  When I read this, I understood the precious gifts, God placed in our hands.

They needed constant care, understanding, love, and food.  It gave the verse in John 13:34, new meaning.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. A mother’s love is patterned after God’s Love.

Our first son, Dan, lost his twin brother at birth. I often thought of Donnie our second child and thought about him in Heaven in God’s care.  I watched Dan learn to walk with intelligence.  He desired to play with the one tricycle Paul was playing with.  I thought I would teach him a bit of psychology and instructed him to choose another toy and act like it is more fun than the tricycle, and Paul would want that one.  He went outside excited.  Soon he came back in the house and asked, “What did you say to hit him with?”

         I thought of another way he could help.  I asked him to help translate what Paul said so I could understand him.  He listened to his brother and repeated exactly the same sounds Paul was making.

A visit to Grandpa and Grandma Siemens’ home, changed Tim’s focus.  Grandpa Siemens went out in the evening to check things.  When we returned to New Harmony, IN, he continually tried to dress himself saying, “I want to go out-tide!”

When we moved to an acreage, Tim took his sister for walks outside, early in the morning. In the ‘Fort Dodge Road’ house, east of Dodge City became a time when they loved to have pets.  There were kittens, chickens, and then Booger the Shetland Pony.

Paul loved western stories and seemed to feel at home on Booger. They jazzed up his diet with lemon drops and popcorn.  That was a surprise for Booger!

One of the things Paul made were 8 milli-meter videos when he was young. Photography was his thing.  As it became easier to work online, he began writing stories and began a website – TotallyPaul.com.  He made videos for awhile called KMBZ.

At the Fort Dodge Road, Dan began learning Morse Code…and we drove to Topeka KS to get his Ham Radio license when he was just thirteen years of age. He had a corner upstairs where he learned to operate and reach all over the world.

The first thing I learned about Anna is her organization and her sense of adventure.  At the age of three, she pushed her toys to the wall in order of size.  Then when she was six years old, she climbed to the highest diving board in the Dodge City Swimming Pool and jumped off.  Tim looked and went back down the ladder.  Too high for him.  Anna jumped off.  When Tim asked her later why she jumped, she said, “I didn’t know how far down it was.”

Later, in preparing to teach school, I took some kind of psychology, and test day came. I guessed at the answer about children learning, from remembering how my children learned.  The teacher said I was incorrect.  She told me, I had unusual children.

         When I see this group of children, I find myself so thankful for their impact on my life.  Each one has a gift for writing. Dan wrote often, Paul has a website, and when Tim was about Junior High age, I asked him what he was writing, and he told me, Psalms. I told him they were already written, and later I wondered why couldn’t he?

Anna has several books published on Amazon.com under Anna K. Payne. And she re-published her Grandmother Daisy’s book not long ago, The Lines are Fallen.  Their Grandpa and Grandma Siemens had a large impact on their lives.

    “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Words of Jesus in Matthew 14:19. Thankful for the joy of children who belong to Jesus! Blessings and Love to all my little ones.  Mom.