Once upon a time there was a family. A very large family.

There were three sisters, and one sister that they didn’t even know was their sister until they were older. (She was once called a “sister-in-law” but she felt just like a sister so they changed her official status)

The four sisters were all married,
One was married to a man who could fix anything ~ from dangling car mirrors to flying car top carriers.
One was married to a very funny man, who was also very brave and courageous.
One was married to a future farmer of America (for they had just bought 68 acres and there was now talk of cows, goats and such) who was also known for his culinary skills.
And one was married to a hunter, fisher, gatherer who had many temperature issues, which sometimes caused thermostat wars with one of the sisters.

The Beautiful Sisters

One of the sisters was beautiful. She had a heart for constantly looking out for the interest of others, even when she herself was shortchanged. She welcomed orphaned animals into her home and loved them with a compassion and empathy that was renowned throughout the land. She loved deeply and laughed loudly.

The other sister was beautiful, she had a deep faith that carried and guided her ways. She was very funny, as well as intelligent (though neither she nor the oldest sister could count by 9’s). She lived far, far away from the other sisters. She was dynamic, talented and could even do cartwheels.

The other sister was beautiful. She was the one who found her sister’s when she was an adult. She was known for her grace and poise, peace and calm. She was intentional as she mothered, intentional as she walked through her marriage, intentional as she developed her friendships and intentional as she sought her God.

The oldest sister was beautiful. Sometimes she was also a mother to the sisters. She loved her sisters deeply, she prayed for them often, she felt blessed constantly by the love of the very large family.

The sisters had many children, eleven in all.

The very large family sometimes took vacations together, twice to be precise.

They had been to the hot beaches of South Carolina and to the cold lakes of Minnesota. Once the sisters even met in the windy city of Chicago, but one of the sisters on that trip was an impostor (though a perfect and lovely impostor) as the real sister was home with her family – tending to important and tender matters.

There were two sixteen year old boys named Zach & Zack. They loved football and singing for the family talent show. The had great adventures in the ocean and on the lake, even reminding their parents of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn as they paddled on the very windy waters one day. They were great examples to the younger boys in the big, big family. Both of them were very funny and spent their days knowing their own reality show would one day indeed be a reality.

There were two other boys, one had just become a teenager and one was almost a teenager. The one that was working towards being a teenager was very independent; he liked his i pod, the TV and  sleeping! He was interested in games and even learned how to play cribbage with his cousin and his “aunt” on the trip to the lake. He looked up to his oldest cousin, and liked when they got time together. The new teen had never been to the ocean and loved that trip very much. He missed out on the trip to the lake but had the gift of many days in a row with his very first sisters and brother, proving that families are made up simply of people who have an abiding love for you.

There were three teen girls who were not above being silly and fun and they never gave the impression that they were too cool  for anyone. (Although they did moan and complain about getting up to see the sun rise one morning.) They gathered the young ones, did puzzles, gave puppet shows, took walks on the beach, loved to have water adventures and more. One was confused and wore her Christmas sweater in summer, one was rather quiet and was almost done being a teen as she was soon to turn twenty, and the other one was very kind-hearted and could often be found painting her nails and the nails of others…using very bright colors.

There were two little boys, ages seven and eight who had pool noodle fights and hunted for sharks, crabs, and “free firewood”. They played together and they played separately. One of them loved to spend his time padding around the water, in kayaks and paddle boards, and the other loved to play in the sand, catch minnows and he even lost his tooth one trip. (That little boy was lucky to be alive because one of the sisters kept trying to kill him with peanut butter, (which was a very strong allergen)  but that’s another story entirely.)

There were also two more girls, one going into 5th grade and one going into 6th grade. The older girl loved adventure, loved the water and didn’t think twice about heading out to help rescue the moms one day as they were stranded in the middle of the lake. The younger girl had many, many, many stories to tell, she too would join any adventure.  She loved to fish and wished her mom would give her fiber pills and comb her hair gently. (That poor, poor girl.)

Most of the sisters did not live near to each other, (though two of the lucky ones did) but they used text messages, phone calls, emails and even Skype to live in each others lives, keep tabs on the husbands endeavors and keep track of all those children’s activities, challenges and accomplishments.

Then magically, or faithfully as some liked to believe, they came together for these big family summer vacations where bonding was renewed, fun was had and laughing was non-stop. (The husbands sometimes referred to this as “cackling” which the sisters found quite amusing.)

When the vacations came to and end, and the cars were packed, it was always very hard for the sisters to say good-bye (sometimes they even cried). This was because they never were sure when they might come together again. But as they hugged each other one last time, there was one thing they knew for certain, they were deeply and profoundly connected.

                                                           To be continued……………………..