Mother of Invention Part 1

Sometimes, a Grammie and Granddaddy have to be creative.

Since the old man and I don’t play basketball, we don’t have a hoop. When we had two of our grandsons with us a few days ago, we were trying to come up with alternatives for playing basketball. Ronald got innovative and designed a hoop from a basket that once housed a plant. He then got a ladder and nailed it to the eave on the front porch. It probably doesn’t impress the neighbors, but it worked …

Until Grady, age 13, started doing layups off the steps and his cousin, Dylan, age 4, tried to do the same.

After Grammie nearly died of a heart attack, she came up with an ingenious basket of her own for the little man.

I’ve always said there’s nothing like a cardboard box to make a kid happy, so I always have a few around just in case I need one.

Cleverly, (if I may say so myself) I brought the ladder back from the garage and stationed it near Grady’s basketball hoop. I cut a whole in the bottom and rounded it out. With my standard, sure-fire way to fix literally anything, I brought out the duct tape and strapped the lid across the skinny rung on the side of the ladder.

After a few shots, it was determined that a backboard was necessary. Again the duct tape came to the rescue and in no time, I had a storage lid backdrop for the hoop.

But Dylan still wanted to jump from the porch.

I brought out the Nerf guns and distracted him from playing basketball.

As you can see from Grady’s picture, another adjustment to the plan involved moving Ronald’s cucumber plants which will adorn our front porch all season. The neighbor’s never complain about him growing vegetables on the front porch, no matter how unsightly. He is everyone’s favorite neighbor as he willingly shares his crop.

So much of life is about perspective. To others, our hoops may be questionable, red-neck, aesthetically-disturbing adornments to the front porch. Ronald and I thought we were most clever! I hope our grandsons someday recall our desire to make their stay with us wonderfully memorable.

I’ll start today’s Bible study with a verse that is totally out of place in this context and probably not acceptable to the more righteous. Misapplication has never stopped me before, so it seemed to work. 1 Timothy 5:8 probably doesn’t apply to way-out ideas for your grandsons, but it works for me. ‘If anyone doesn’t provide for his relatives, he is like an infidel.’ KB version

But let me guarantee you, this is a fact worth praising God for! Psalm 127:3-5 says, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man (and woman) whose quiver is full of them.  KB version

And Psalm 103:17 is wonderful Truth. This is from The Message version. “God’s love is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear Him, making everything right for them and their children as they follow His Covenant ways and remember to do whatever He said.”

Blessings

KB