My senior mom and I went to visit grandkids a while back and had such a delightful time. The trip was a bit tiring – especially for my mom – but the hugs more than made up for it! We took lots of fun and educational craft projects, books, and goodies that were a big hit, led to tons of photos and fun family memories and, of course, I'll be writing about some or all of them in the weeks to come.

My senior mom took one item in particular for herself, that was a huge help AND turned out to be a big help with the grandkids. She packed her reacher grabber easily in her suitcase and it made it to our destination and back home again with no problems. Of course, if our luggage had gotten lost, it's reasonably priced and fairly easy to replace, which I appreciated.

She used the reacher grabber in her hotel to pick up items that fell on the floor as she just can't get down to get them any more. When the grandkids came to pick her up in her room, they were enthralled with the handy dandy little tool. She kept them quite entertained for some time – first, by showing them how it worked, and second, by letting them have fun test driving it themselves. I think they liked the light on the end as much as they enjoyed squeezing the handle! Fun for them and easier for great-grandma to spot things in dark corners!

Don't you love it when something for a senior parent is fun for the grandkids or vice versa? One of the sweet joys of the Sandwich Generation, that's for sure!

Kaye

The Baby Boomer Generation is often in the news now. From brain exercises, to boomer fitness, to boomers and business, to boomer crafts, we're also all over the internet.

I enjoyed visiting a variety of blogs recently, primarily written by fellow members of the baby boomers generation. I read some new boomer and senior gardening ideas, got some fun inspirations for upcoming activities for grandparents and their grandchildren, and loved seeing a bicycle built for FOUR!

I also popped in to read an interesting baby boomer news article with the intriguing title, "Baby Boomers are Getting Sputnik'd by Tech and Social Media," by Sheila Scarborough. Her premise is that many in the Baby Boomer Generation seem to be getting left behind with all the newest tech advances like tiny phones, Facebook and Twitter. 

As I pointed out in her comments, "I'm still a very tech-savvy member of the Baby Boomer Generation but each year it does get a bit harder as more new things come out. And the print keeps getting SMALLER but my eyes don’t get better. I’m still having a lot of fun with it, but it’s definitely a continuing challenge."  

After all, for many of us who are juggling caring for elderly parents and helping with grandkids, keeping up with new tech advances takes more time than some of us can spare. You all know I love Twitter, but Facebook has been harder for me to get a handle on just because it takes more time than I have. And tiny things are getting a bit trickier to read.

All in all, I'm still ahead of many of my peers, and in many areas, I'm even still ahead of my kids, though they have out-distanced me in other areas. That's probably pretty normal for any age.  Not only that, I know plenty of seniors who are actively blogging, tweeting and on Facebook. Some are more active than others, but still and all, they do have an active presence. How about all of you in baby boomer generation, juggling right along with me? Do you think you are keeping up with tech as much, less, or more than 10 or 20 years ago?  How about your senior parents?  We'd love to hear.

Kaye

Fun science activities for grandparents and their grandchildren at our house lately have included BUGS! Especially lovely Kentucky butterflies flying amidst the trees and flowers! I'd say it was mostly a grandkid thing, as they're the only  ones brave enough to touch them. But that's not true. This is really a Sandwich Generation kind of project as even their great-grandma loves these butterflies!

What kind of science and nature activities for grandparents and their grandchildren do you and your grandkids enjoy? We'd love to hear about them. And don't forget to use your own easy to use digital camera to get plenty of fun photos of your sweet Sandwich Generation family memories. 

Kaye

We have had such a fun spring and summer with the Sunflower House activities for grandparents and their grandchildren. Shortly after we started, I was so delighted to discover a couple of very interesting books about similar projects, including Sunflower Houses by Sharon Lovejoy. 

With that in mind, you can probably guess how delighted I was when I was contacted about another fun book written by Ms. Lovejoy, Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars: Grandma's Bag of Tricks. They very kindly offered to send me a copy of the book to see if I wanted to review it for you.  With a title like that, how could I say no? And, after reading through this book, I am so glad I said YES. I have to tell you, it was such a fun book to read and it will be even more fun working through the various delightful activities for grandparents and their grandchildren with my grandkids!

Sharon Lovejoy, herself a grandma of four, also had two wonderful grandmothers of her own. What a wonderful legacy they set for her! As she put it,

"How could I have been so lucky? A grandmother only a few steps from me and always ready to explore, read, have faerie tea parties, garden, cook, and talke with me about the mysteries of life. We approached every day together as an adventure, filled with the simple joys and discoveries that are fresh and new to a child and that can also make a grandmother feel fresh and new again!"  

My sentiments exactly! And now she's following in their wonderful footsteps while creating new family memories and adding to the legacy for her own grandkids. And writing about it in this book full of fun, whimsical, and educational activities for grandparents and their grandchildren! From gardening and craft ideas to intriguing fairy house (or as she puts it – faery house) and faerie fun ideas that can also be incorporated into other fun ideas and activities, you're sure to find plenty of terrific ideas to share with your own grandchildren as you build sweet family memories with them.

I loved her suggestion to prepare ahead by collecting creative goodies when out for walks, such as leaves, twigs, intriguing stones, and other "treasures" the grandkids can use for a craft project when they come to visit. I never seem to have enough time to do the collecting and the projects, so we had tabled them. But her idea is especially perfect for those of us caring for elderly parents as well as helping with the grandchildren. I can collect the goodies while taking walks with my senior mom. Then I'll have plenty of treasures all ready for when the grandkids come over. That makes for a calmer play environment and more time for creation – which is especially helpful for those grandparents preparing fun activities for autistic grand-children.

Not only that, it would make for fun and physical senior citizen activities for the elderly parents and relatives in our Sandwich Generation families to help us find intriguing nature items while they are taking a walk. My senior mom already enjoys finding occasional interesting tidbits as she strolls along. She's going to be in seventh heaven looking for items that will last well and help the great-grandkids make interesting and educational craft projects. Plus  she can use some of the nature goodies she finds to decorate the stationary and projects she occasionally sends her long distance grandkids. And if she has a hard time reaching over to get something, we'll take along our reacher grabber to help her enjoy this project while staying safe.

I'm having so much fun telling you about Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars, I'm going to continue it to next week. Be sure to come back for more fun ideas for both the up close granny nannies and pappies, as well as the long distance grandparents, not to mention finding out what, pray tell, a Toad Cottage might be.

P.S. If you can't wait, and want to order your own copy of Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars, just click here. You'll LOVE it. 

Kaye

Do you babysit for your grandkids? Occasionally OR a lot? Either way, did you know that many hospitals may require a NOTARIZED and/or witnessed document authorizing you to seek medical treatment for your grandchildren before they are supposed to treat the child.

As a Baby Boomer granny nanny, I just discovered this important news for the state of Kentucky, but I imagine it's not the only state!

"Kentucky law does not consider a stepparent, grandparent, aunt/uncle, babysitter a legal substitute for the parent or guardian. This means that a person caring for a child cannot legally give permission for medical treatment without written consent from a parent/guardian…This consent must be either notarized or witnessed."

Hopefully, we will never need emergency help, but, of course, “be prepared” is as appropriate for Sandwich Generation caregivers and granny nannies or pappies as it is for the Boy Scouts. 

I often carry an emergency release for my grandkids, along with my senior mom's emergency info, but we’ve never needed it notarized before. Thus, we’re in the process of updating ours. I would strongly recommend that you call your local hospital, as well as your grandchild’s, and find out what their specific requirements are BEFORE you ever need their services. As I said, hopefully you’ll never need it, but if you do, you’ll be GLAD you did.

Alzheimer's Disease is well-known to the general public, and yet still so much of a mystery to the doctors and researchers working tirelessly for a cure to it. It has impacted beloved senior relatives and friends of mine, as have other types of dementia that are similar, but different.  One online friend, Dr. David Thomas, MD, has a particularly frustrating disease, called Lewy Body Dementia Disease.

According to the Alzheimer Society, "'Related dementias' resemble Alzheimer's disease in that they also involve a progressive degeneration of brain cells that is currently irreversible. They include the dementia associated with Vascular Dementia (the second most common dementia after Alzheimer's disease), Frontotemporal Dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Lewy body Dementia Disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington disease. Sometimes a person may have symptoms such as sudden onset of memory loss, behaviour changes, or difficulties with speech and movement. These symptoms may suggest a dementia other than Alzheimer's disease. Lewy Body Dementia Disease is one of these dementias. In any event a person should always seek a thorough medical assessment if any of these symptoms are present.

Regardless of the type of dementia, individuals are encouraged to obtain information and support from the Alzheimer Society.

In spite of his disease, David has maintained a very useful and interesting website, writing many of the articles himself until recently. I am holding him in prayer often, as he has started to relate the way this degenerative disease is getting much worse.

I was very interested to note that his site was updated this week, with some very useful news for our beloved seniors who may be dealing with this. It's also quite useful, of course, for those who are caring for the elderly parents who have received this diagnosis.

"Nearly 80% of people with Lewy body dementias (LBD) received a diagnosis for a different cognitive, movement or psychiatric disorder before ultimately learning they had LBD, according to the Lewy Body Dementia Association’s Caregiver Burden in Lewy Body Dementias, released today…

…Half of people seeking a diagnosis saw 3 or more doctors for 10 visits over the course of a year before they were diagnosed with LBD, and diagnosis required more than two years from the onset of symptoms for 31% of cases."

Although prognosis varies among individuals, LBD is often a more rapidly progressive disease than Alzheimer’s disease, and early diagnosis provides families an opportunity to plan for expected decline in cognition, function and behavior" To read more, head on over to the Knitting Doc site  .

In case you are wondering about the name of his site, David is a physician who specialized in psychiatry and was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia Disease (LBD) in October, 2007. His website's name reflects that he also is an expert at knitting – the Manly art. With dear family and friends and, yes, men who love to knit, that definitely caught my eye many months ago. I was so glad to discover that he is also a brother in Christ! 

His site does cover some knitting, but primarily news and information about Lewy Body Dementia Disease and, since there are several posts written that explain what he's feeling as he deals with it, it's particularly useful to caregivers for their senior parents.

If you or a beloved senior are looking for information about the various types of dementia that exist, or specifically Lewy Body Dementia Disease, I would highly recommend this site as a useful resource. And while you're visiting, do be sure to be praying for David, his sweet wife, and their family.

I did find two resource books that might interest any of you who are looking into Lewy Body Dementia Disease or are in the throes of it already. The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Dementia with Lewy Bodies has been out since 2002 and the cover states it has been updated to include the internet. A Caregiver's Guide to Lewy Body Dementia, on the other hand, just came out in October, 2010. If you'd like to take a look at them, just click on either book's picture.

Also, if you discover other good resources to help with the Sandwich Generation issues of caring for elderly parents dealing with dementia symptoms, I'd love it if you'd let us know in the comments…

P.S. I found one more useful resource – this one is for men who knit. Just click here to find out more about it. Knitting is definitely a great stress reliever, a good way to exercise your hands, and even an excellent and healthy brain activity! 

Kaye

Word-Filled Wednesday at SandwichINK has some uplifting Bible verses for the Sandwich Generation from

Psalm 148

(The Message Bible)

Praise Him, high heaven, praise Him, heavenly rain clouds; 

Praise, oh let them praise the name of God – He spoke the word, and there they were! 

He set them in place from all time to eternity; He gave his orders, and that's it! 

Psalm 148:4-6

After weeks of summer heat, we've been blessed with a taste of Autumn from two lovely rain storms this week. This was the glorious sky during the second storm. My senior mom and I made sure her gardening projects were snug on the patio, then enjoyed the coolness of the rain.

For more encouraging and inspirational Bible verses for the Sandwich Generation, be sure to visit Internet Cafe Devotions for Word-Filled Wednesday. Also, check out SandwichINK Real Estate Info for words of encouragement for the Sandwich Generation Real Estate needs and issues. And…

When I was a young mom with three young children under the age of six, my husband had to work a night shift for several months. Not a 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, mind you. It was 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.! For a young (very young) 20-something, who wasn't used to being home alone, this was a VERY difficult trial! In spite of the fact that I had been walking with the Lord for well over five years, I was a big fat (well, skinny really My baby boomer body wishes I still had that issue. ) CHICKEN! And not the cute country kitchen roosters and chickens kind of chicken. I was just plain scared! 

Of course, I couldn't let on to that for my children, but GOD KNEW. And He taught me some valuable lessons during that period. One was to make sure I was faithful in daily Bible study. During that period, instead of doing them earlier in the day, I started doing them at night so that God's Word would be the last thing I thought about when I went to bed. One of the most encouraging and comforting of my Bible verses came during those Bible studies. I can't tell you what a blessing it was to read, 

 In peace I will both lie down and sleep,

For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety. 

Ps. 4:8

After I discovered that verse, I underlined it, and wrote it on everything I could think of, and hung it on my kitchen and bathroom walls, and read it to myself the very last thing, every night before I went to sleep. And God blessed it! Overall I slept great during that lonely stretch of nights! But, I was SO glad when my husband went back to the day shift!

 In peace I will both lie down and sleep,

For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety. 

Ps. 4:8

And once again, He would enable me to sleep peacefully, as He had prepared me to do over all the previous years. He is so good. I am much braver now (at least, until there's a funny noise or my metabolism acts up – the joys of the baby boomer generation!    ).  And I am continually blessed by Him and through His precious Scriptures.

It took me a bit longer than usual to find just the right praise and worship music for this verse. I wanted something rather soothing for those who might be having difficulty sleeping due to being alone, or being scared of medical issues, or for any other reason. I finally discovered a delightful album full of lullabies – perfect for our grandchildren but also wonderful for us! It's by a fellow baby boomer who started singing praise and worship music about the same time I was going through this situation. I loved her music then and I love it now and I pray it will be a blessing to you as well.

Twila Paris' album, Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies & Peaceful Worship, is full of lovely songs such as God is All Around Us, Bedtime Prayer, Blessing, and more. I decided to go with TWO of her praise and worship songs as I couldn't decide between them. Enjoy this Smile eCard – just click on the arrow to play it.

See You Tomorrow is such a good way to end AND start a day – basically surrendering ourselves to the Lord!

Perfect Peace refers to us being His little lambs – and, as I said before, that's just as true for us as it is for our children and grandchildren. You fully realize that when you're lying in a hospital bed after an operation (side guards are just like a cradle), or in a dark bed all alone after the death of a loved one!

Definitely two good songs for the Sandwich Generation for our comforting Bible verses series focusing on Psalm 4:8. (To find out more about them, just click on their titles.)  And for more encouraging Bible verses and sweet praise and worship hymn songs, do visit Spiritual Sunday.  Also…

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and 13 are power packed and full of God's love for us, and our Sandwich Generation families, along with details of how He wants us to love others, in and through Him.

It's been so much fun illustrating each section for our Bible Memory Verses activities for grandparents and their grandchildren. Today is the final piece and picking the right picture was a bit tougher than the rest. After talking it over with a friend, we picked this group of adorable puppies. They serve to remind us that faith, hope and love are ALL important and wonderful. But God tells us the GREATEST is love. And we walk in faith and trust Him and His Word.

These three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

I love the way The Message Bible puts it:

Trust steadily in God,

hope unswervingly,

love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love. 

God surely did and does love us extravagantly, doesn't He! What an awesome gift! 

For more uplifting Bible verses and photos to encourage the hearts of all of us in the Baby Boomer Generation, caring for elderly parents and helping with our grandchildren, you'll find a delightful Word-Filled Wednesday at Internet Cafe Devotions.

The Biblical definition of Love, as found in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and 13, is a great Bible Memory verses project for grandparents and their grandchildren and my grandkids and I have been enjoying working on it this summer. Here is 1 Corinthians 13:7a (NIV) for a lovely Word-Filled Wednesday:

Love…It always protects, always trusts…

1 Corinthians 13: 7

Isn't that a delightful shot (taken by a very talented friend of mine! ). It is such a terrific visual of a love that is always protecting and trusting – just as God loves us and just as God wants us to love those He's put in our care.

For the Sandwich Generation, caring for elderly parents and granny nannies and pappies to grandchildren, that's where we start. And for our grandchildren, we can use these fun Bible memory verses activities to help them learn they start with moms, dads, brothers, sisters, GRANDPARENTS (I'm not biased, MUCH ), friends, neighbors, and even the kids they don't get along with.

It's not necessarily an easy lesson for them, and it takes a lot of learning and re-learning. I'm in my 50s and still working on that. But by active Bible memorization, teaching them Bible verses equally wonderful for adults and children, coupled with lots of simple Scripture prayers, we can help them hide God's Word in their hearts, bit by bit by bit, and trust God for the results.

For more inspirational and encouraging Bible verses for the Sandwich Generation, be sure to visit Internet Cafe Devotions for Word-Filled Wednesday.

P.S. I discovered another sweet new meme all centered on Love for us to enjoy. What delightful timing. Also…