When It Rains It...

How come life's big events always come in clusters?

Yesterday, our oldest turned 15. His birthday was duly celebrated last night with his grandparents, presents, brownies and ice cream and again today with friends, Legos, a movie (The Fantastic Four--it was fun for our crowd, but don't run out and rent it)--and more brownies and ice cream.

Tomorrow night, we attend a mandatory meeting for the incoming class of 2010! It sure sounded a long way off when he was born in 1991.

Our youngest began walking yesterday. Showing off for grandma and grandpa, he took not just a step or two, but about a dozen drunkenly lurching ones, grinning widely with exhilaration, surrounded by exclaiming siblings. His first birthday is three weeks away.

On Friday, my maternal grandmother, a godly Christian woman, joined her Lord in heaven. Wednesday we'll leave for Ohio, where I grew up, for a memorial service and burial on Thursday and Friday. Most of her 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 21 greats are coming, from California, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Florida and Illinois. Most of the greats have never met their second cousins and cousins-once-removed, and since my grandfather is already gone, this may be the last time the whole clan has reason to be in the Midwest. So, we are rearranging our schedules and looking forward to the reunion.

And, after nearly 6 months of unemployment, my husband nearly, probably, mostly has a job--everything but the official offer. We're pretty certain it's coming, because the last time they talked to him, they actually offered him his choice of two positions--the one he had interviewed for, and one at the same level that had just become available. The new one is the one he's most interested in, so the paperwork's not in place for them to extend the actual offer yet, and he might have one more courtesy interview with someone that didn't meet him before. Hopefully, he'll start by February 1. We're so thankful that it looks like this is going to happen. (More to come, but it's a good fit for him.)

A birthday, a death, a reunion, and new beginnings.

Lord, teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

They pass so quickly.