F is for Family

I’ve heard it said that you can’t choose your family, and they have to love you. I’ve worked in a Junior High before, and believe me, the latter is not true! I’m thankful that in my case, they do!

I am blessed with a lot of “family groups” in my past and present. We may or may not see much of each other, but we are still family, and share a special bond.

My birth family loved me. Regardless of the problems my parents had, I was loved by them. (Okay, Daddy was questionable, but Dub stepped up to the plate in later years, and couldn’t have loved us more!)

When they split up, we lived with my Mom at my Grandparents (including an unmarried aunt, and an unmarried uncle). They loved us.

Mom and Teresa (my sister) and I lived on our own for a while, and we loved each other. Okay, we fought a lot, but believe me, any trouble from outside us had all 3 of us to recon with!

I married Daryl, and we were a new family. We loved each other, and treasure each other even more now, 35 years later, than we did at the beginning.

I was a part of the new in-law family, and they loved me.

We had 4 children, and were a large family (Daniel often called us more of a circus than a family!).

We’ve added 3 daughters in law, 1 son-in-law, 6 grandchildren, and my Mom, and we fill a photo now! We all love each other.

My sister added BJ, Tom, and Mandy and Michelle and Myranda. More family!

We’re part of a loving church family.

We’re part of a neighborhood family, who have raised a neighborhood of kids together.

We have friends we’ve shared life with over long years, and they’re family.

My kids’ in-laws have become more of the extension of our family, and we love them.

I’m also blessed that my office is like a family. Some of us are a little odd, but we have that family feel to us. We care about each other.

Some family members have gone Home…Grant, Mark, Myranda, Dub, James and Velma, Mama Greene, Homer, Cecil, James…and numerous aunts and uncles. So, we have part of our hearts in our next home!

So, I have to say that family is a warm, happy word for me. Not without it’s stresses and challenges…the trip here has had some thunderstorms along the way. But one thing is true: A family founded on Jesus Christ, the Rock, has a firm foundation, and can weather the storms.