On Becoming a Grandma: Letter to Beck

This is how you looked when I first met you!

This how Mommy and I looked when I first meet you!

You are so precious, so little, so fresh....

Beck William Westerman

1/25/12

6lbs 6 oz. 19.5 inches

Dear Beck,

You made your entrance into the world on a cold, crisp January day in Wyoming, where you have many roots, even though you were born in South Dakota. Your Grammie Lynn has never been a very big fan of January except that your Aunt Hannah was born then but now you have arrived on the scene and the stock for January has definitely gone way up!

The morning that you were born, I watched the sun come up over the ranch, which you are now partial heir to, as I left to drive to town knowing that your Mommy (and even Daddy in his own way) were laboring hard to bring you into the world. I couldn’t help but keep crying with the sheer joy of the prospect of your entrance into our lives. You caught me off guard. I wasn’t prepared to be so emotional.

The initial pictures of you contributed to my tearful state. You looked so much like your Daddy when he was first born complete with a bunch of dark hair, a wrinkle at the bridge of your nose along with a bit of a bump. I was transported back 28 years ago to the day I gave birth to Jeremy Brian Westerman. Such wonderful memories of almost another life. Who would have thought that the journey would have turned out like this? God has been faithful through it all and I have a wonderful son in your Daddy. I have the same hopes for you as a man one day.

Your Daddy called me about a half hour after you had been born and talked to me on the phone. I will probably never forget that I had just finished getting my hair cut and was just paying and walking out the door when the call came. All my friends, even strangers at the beauty parlor, were thrilled to hear about your birth. They shared my joy, their encouragement and stories of their own grandchildren. It was a grand time as we had a sort of impromptu celebration complete with Chick Filet much to the approval of Aunt Hannah and Abby! I even was sort of part of the first time you nursed in that call with your Dad. You latched right on and your Momma was delighted. Your Daddy was so very excited…. I could tell that he was higher than a kite!!! He couldn’t stop talking and bragging about both you and your Mom. He was totally overcome by it all. I called Grandpa Dan and told him you had arrived and he said “how about that?”

Beck, you are loved even now. Your Mommy said that she’s “obsessed”, Uncle Mick has not been able to sleep for weeks just thinking about how excited he was to meet you. Uncle Charlie said on the phone tonight “He’s one of those rare things in life that lives up to and even exceeds the hype.” Even Grandpa Dan has made a plan to leave his cattle in the dead of winter to come and meet you in Sioux Falls. Aunt Hannah and Aunt Abby are vying for a trip to meet you soon to decide who is to be your favorite Aunt on this side of the family. Trying to get to you in Sioux Falls was eventful with the worst storm of the season hitting Denver the very day I was to leave to come. God performed a miracle and even after 100’s of flights had been cancelled somehow my flight went. I like to think that I had a “divine appointment” to keep in order to meet you!

For all of this family your presence means so much. You are the first grand baby on both the Vandepol and Kirkbride sides of the families. You have made brand-new, first time Aunts and Uncles of 6 people. On this side of the family you made my parents, Maggie and Daddo, Great- Grandparents for the first time. You now carry on the name of Westerman into the next generation. Your Daddy’s birth father, Rev. Charles Westerman died in 1991 so having the legacy live on is very heartwarming. As a result that makes you all the more more significant to your Westerman side of family. The Westerman name would die out unless your Dad or Uncle Mick or Uncle Charlie had a boy. You are here!!!

To top it all off, our great God went ahead and scheduled you to be born on your Great Aunt Kathy Westerman Cox’s 56 birthday! She and her brother Chuck were very close. Wow…. Kiddo! You and God hit it out of the park! A grand slam! I can’t help but wonder if Grandpa Chuck and God talked that one over?!?! He always told me he’d be watching from the peanut gallery in heaven.

I am not sure about this Grandma thing since I have never been one till now. Everyone tells me that it is out of this world. Seems to me it is one of God’s gifts in the older portion of one’s life…. It is something to look forward to, to invest in so that a legacy will live on long after we are gone. I am so glad that I have you, Beck William, to teach me and walk with me in this next phase. I am sure we will be fine friends.

I want you to know that I have prayed for you everyday since I heard that you were coming to live on this earth. I pledge to you that I will pray for you every day of you life just like I do for all of my own children and their families. I know that your only chance of a full and abundant life is one lived in the shadow of the Almighty. Above all else in this world and in this life, I want you to know and love Jesus because He is the very best friend that you will ever have. He will love you even more than I do and even more than your parents do. You see God just lends children to their parents for a time really. He loves you out of pure grace and knows everything about you because you were “fearfully and wonderfully made and knit together in your Mother’s womb” by Him in His great love.

My verse and prayer for your life is this:

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner bring, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.”

Ephesians 3:16

As of this writing I haven’t met you yet but I can’t help but wonder how can one 6lb 6ounce baby make normal, practical people giddy with joy and delight? I am crazy about you already… I know that holding you for the first time will be one of the greatest thrills of my life.

Love,

Grammie Lynn