Sisters, Daughters, Cousins

It's wonderful to have a chance to be with extended family, especially when you haven't been able to do that for a while. Yesterday my sister and her husband and four of their six children (the other two married now with children of their own) came to be with us for the day. They're travelling and seeing family and friends -- a marathon of travel! -- while they await news of a new job.

It was so much fun to be with all them. My four nieces and nephews who were here range in age from 3 to 24 (my sister's family really stretches out!) and the house was full of laughter and lots of other fun noises, especially when their three year old and our four year old both got ahold of recorders and began tootling all over the house.

It was the first time my Sweet Girl had really had a chance to play with her only younger cousin. She has oodles of cousins -- 18 of them to be precise -- but with the exception of this one little cousin, all the rest are older, most of them much older. That's what comes of having a Mommy who was both the youngest in her family, and a late bloomer to boot!

I admit to a strange sensation watching these two precious little girls playing together. My daughter. My sister's daughter. It doesn't seem that long ago that my sister and I were playing, when I was about the age of my daughter now, and my sister was -- well, looking remarkably like her ten year old daughter, the one who was curled up in our living room rocker reading Encyclopedia Brown.

On most days, I've come to some sense of peace that our Sweet Girl will likely be our only child...if the Lord seems to be calling us to what he's calling us to, and if other circumstances don't change. Most of the time, I'm just fine with that. It's only once in a while, when I see these sisters together, these cousins together, when I think of all my sisters and my brother have meant and still mean to me -- that I get a little wistful.

Still, I'm not really feeling that pensive today. Mostly just very grateful!