Joy and rejoicing

"Children," says the Good Book, "are an heritage of the Lord. . . . Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them" (Psalms 127:3, 5).

Over the space of twelve years Claudia and I had eight children, two sons and six daughters. Then they grew up and eventually all married wonderful spouses. And now we are working on grandchildren. At this writing, our eighteenth grandchild is on the way, twelve grandsons and six granddaughters. That amounts to a whole lot of joy and rejoicing in our posterity.

Our first three children came within 24 months: Michael Adam was born on September 2, 1973; Rebecca on August 26, 1974; and Rachael on August 7, 1975. That makes Michael and Becca Irish twins; they are the same age for one week each year. Becca and Rachael are a second set of Irish twins; they are the same age for nearly three weeks each year.

The remaining five were more evenly spread out, approximately every other year: Talmage was born on June 2, 1977; Anna on February 9, 1979; Camilla on June 15, 1981; Eliza on April 5, 1983; and finally Mary on October 1, 1984.

The grandchildren started coming one each calendar year, until five of them were born in a seven-month period in 2006 and 2007:

1995: Tanner Hoff was born and died on December 12.

1996: Meghan Auria Cleverly was born on October 28.

1997: Miriam Hoff was born on June 8.

1998: Caleb Dean Cleverly was born on May 26.

1999: James Talmage Cleverly was born on October 27. He died on December 14.

2000: Jacob Clark Cleverly was born on April 9.

2001: Benjamin Seth Cleverly was born on February 10.

2002: Andrew Karl Cleverly was born on November 4.

2003: Claudia Susan Hodson was born on January 13.

2004: Esther Marie Hodson was born on July 26.

2005: Nobody came this year.

2006: Hyrum Hoff was born July 1, Samuel Christopher Taylor was born July 11, and Peter Arthur Challis was born October 4.

2007: Ethan Graham Cleverly and Marta Joan Cleverly were born on January 10, and Margaret Christina Hodson was born on October 4.

2008: Aaron Marvin Challis was born on December 8.

2009: A baby boy Halverson is expected sometime in September.