Reason #307

Thirty days hath September, April, June and November…
 

How is it that we are half way through November? Seriously, there is one and half months left in 2012. A week away from Thanksgiving. I am amazed at how quickly 2012 is wrapping up. It seems like just the other day I was in Hungary on a trip. That was 8 months ago. I will venture to say that this year has been one of the most detailed years of my life, and I have a feeling that 2012 will be a year that is forever seared in my mind.
 

I’ve been walking down memory lane for the past few weeks, and am going to continue to do so today. Four years ago today, my brother and sister-in-law got married. A big day for them, for everyone! I don’t feel like it has been four years since then, as I remember it well. I’m starting to see a trend here, and I’m thinking that big things come around for my family every four years. So yea, four years ago was a big year for my family. Maybe, just maybe, four is our lucky number. Who knows?! I mean, after all, the Olympics roll around every four years and that’s a good thing, right? Well, Kenlee and Lacye said ‘I do’ and we gained a new girl in the family.
 

I didn’t grow up with sisters, and although I’m close to my cousins, I didn’t ever have to compete with another girl. You just never know how things will turn out when adding to the mix. Girls can be tricky, too. Sly little creatures we are. I’ll be the first to admit it. There’s just something about us, something grained deep down inside of us that causes us to act a little differently when we feel threatened. Another girl appears to be taking something you have, has something you want, and that ugly envious monster roars its head. But we pretend, thinking that we’re tricking one another, acting prim, proper, and pleasant on the surface all the while boiling on the inside. Girls know how girls think and often times we’re only fooling ourselves with this little charade, as it is quite obvious to everyone else. So I just wasn’t sure how things were going to go. I didn’t know what to expect at first. In my opinion, it is unrealistic to join a family and all of the sudden have the same depth of relationship with them as they have with other another. After all, they’ve spent their whole lives together so they’ve had time to build that. I am also against forcing relationships to look a certain way, as I believe bonds should naturally develop. And the truth is, no matter what you think or how you feel about certain relationships, sometimes you just have to let things happen the way they’re going to happen.
 

I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again. Sometimes, your biggest trial, your biggest disappointment, your worst nightmare, gives life to your greatest joy. So last year, as things were quickly falling to pieces, our whole family was put through the fire. They willingly chose to walk that road with me, too. No one made them, and they could have easily ignored me or avoided me. But they didn’t, and so as we allowed God to use that trial to teach us and change us, He used it to draw us closer together. My tight-knit family was knit even tighter as they weathered through the storm with me. And my sister-in-law stood right there with the rest of us. She sent me encouraging cards, checked on me, kept up with my life and how things were going, and prayed for me. And, as if that wasn’t already enough, her family did the same. And so I had this whole extra family, people who were added to the mix, supporting me and cheering me on. Sweet, sweet people who have mixed so incredibly well with my family. People who have brought a new dynamic and added a lot of love. And really, what more could you ask for?

 

 

So, for many, many reasons, I thank God that He did what He did in the exact way that He did it. I can’t complain in the least because He brought such beauty from ashes, and one of the most beautiful things He did was bond our family on a deeper level than we ever could have imagined. And what a blessing to have an incredible extended family, too! To be tied to sweet people who love you dearly, as if they’ve known you your whole life. People who accept you the way you are, and love you regardless of what happens to you. I’m grateful that God gave us another girl and added in her sweet family as a bonus! We’re a lucky group, that’s for sure. A loud bunch, a little silly, we talk way too much and we know a little too much about each other, but I’d venture to say that it would be a real challenge to find a family that’s more loving, more accepting, more encouraging and more uplifting than the one I was born into. And so I praise the good Lord for adding to that and extending it in really sweet ways!
 

#307 – Because He has blessed me with sweet family additions!
 

 

"But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands." - Exodus 20:6