Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News

Walter Albritton

May 7, 2006

They are moving our great granddaughter to Kentucky

Annabelle is leaving town and Grandma and I are grieving to see her go. Her parents are moving to Kentucky. Since she is only three years old, Annabelle had no choice in the matter.

Great grandchildren are quite precious to us. I agree with the wise one who first said, “If I had known how wonderful grandchildren can be, I would have had them first!” We feel the same way about our great grandchildren.

We have been blessed to have Annabelle and her parents attending the same church with us. I have grown accustomed, after her stay in Sunday School, to have her run down the hall to jump into my arms just before the worship service begins. That scene became a ritual and one I treasured every Sunday. I will miss her contagious smile and joyous embrace.

Grandma and I are happy for her parents, of course. Her dad, Matthew, got a promotion and a salary raise. We can celebrate that with Matthew and Jodi even though at her age a promotion for Dad has no meaning for little Annabelle.

Annabelle’s Mom is expecting another child this July – this time a son. We saw the sonogram pictures this week and were astonished as usual. Modern technology is amazing. They have known for weeks that the baby is a boy. Grandma had five sons and we had no clue about each child’s sex until the moment of birth.

Knowing ahead of time is nice, I suppose, but I prefer the old method of surprise. Even with the birth of our fifth son, the doctor’s words were still exciting and not monotonous: “Mr. Albritton, you have a fine new son!”

Those remain five of the most wonderful moments of my life.

For awhile our pictures of Annabelle will have to do. We will not see her very often. We plan now to see her when her brother comes along in July and again at Christmastime. Christmas for sure because it is such a great time for families to get together.

We do have some great pictures of Annabelle. She is absolutely photogenic. Grandma thinks of her as almost angelic though I can recall a few times when she did not sound like an angel. But even when she is misbehaving she is still a beautiful child.

Some of our most recent pictures of Annabelle were taken when she was fishing at Uncle Mark’s place in Georgia. She loved that and some of the pictures of her catching a fish are priceless. Her parents already plan to find a pond in Kentucky where Annabelle can teach her brother how to catch fish.

Annabelle’s Mom has promised to bring Annabelle and her brother back one day so Grandpa can baptize them. That will be a special honor but not any greater than the honor Jodi gave me of baptizing her. While living in Montgomery Jodi accepted Christ as her Savior and gave me the privilege of baptizing her.

Her baptism was very special to me. When she and Matthew were married, I had the honor of uniting her with her husband in a lovely ceremony in Arizona. When she became a Christian, I had the honor of uniting her with her Savior, Jesus Christ, in holy baptism.

By now you understand why Grandma and I are sad to see Annabelle and her parents move to Kentucky. But we know it seems best for them, and we have learned how important it is to enjoy every hour you can spend with those you love – whenever and wherever you can.

And we are not too old to dream. Matthew may get rich and invite Grandma and me to drive up and go to the Kentucky Derby one Saturday in May. That we would love to do – especially if Annabelle goes with us. + + +