Things are moving quickly right now. Three weeks from today, I’ll be walking our youngest daughter down the aisle of an evangelical church in Cardiff. She met a young Welshman three years ago at a Christian conference in Aberystwyth and they’ve been engaged for eighteen months. After the wedding, they will be setting up house about ten miles away and begin a new life together.

So our nest is almost empty. Raising four children has been a real challenge that began in 1980, so we’re talking about a twenty-eight year investment that we trust will continue to pay handsome dividends until the final chapter of our lives. Our slobbering, smelly, clumsy toddlers have grown into responsible adults who are finding their own way in life, fully potty-trained and able to dress and feed themselves. It has been an amazing, joyful, though sometimes terrifying experience.

I’m sure the next chapter holds just as many surprises, but right now I have a father-of-the-bride speech to write, an interesting cultural difference from the typical American wedding. I’m not sure what to say, or if I’ll even be able to say it when the time comes. If things get quiet here over the next couple of weeks, you’ll know what I’m working on.