Judah Turns 30

It was Judah’s 30th birthday. So on the way to church that morning, OLeif and Collette thought about picking up a small box of donuts in his honor. Collette knew that Judah would hesitate to eat them.
“All that trans fat!” he’d exclaim.
In the end, they passed on the idea. Instead, so it was reported, the entire 10:30 service sang him a happy birthday under the direction of Scott Pie. Collette could be pretty certain that Judah turned bright red.
Before 8:00, however, just as the service was about to begin, a great line of deep gray and dark blue storm clouds approached rapidly from the northeast. Ben-Hur came out to join OLeif, Francis, and Linnea at the front of the church to watch the action.
“Why can’t all summer be like this?” he asked.
Over at the house, Joe grilled burgers for lunch before Dad, Mom, Francis, and Linnea took off for Iowa. Mom and the kids would prowl around Cedar Falls while Dad worked. They would then join the Lord-Welches family to watch Sean participate in a production for which he had auditioned earlier that summer with other kids from across the state. After the performance, they would follow the Lord-Welches to their cabin up north for a weekend on the lake.
Before they left, Collette burned Linnea two CDs from her iTunes for the road, and Francis brought Bill Cosby.
Carrie had also returned from endless lectures on Austrian economics at Mises, exhausted, and ready to relax for two days before flying out Tuesday evening to London with Lucia.
“It was interesting,” she said about her week. “So many lectures. And we were out so late every night, I need to recuperate before I leave again.”