New Kids on the Block

Though Josh and I have been married for almost ten years, I just recently met a new part of my new family this past Christmas.  Josh had not seen them in almost a decade.  After reuniting at Aunt Nel Nel's, Josh's cousins, Chase came down for a weekend and his sisters Nikki and Kiah came for almost a week.  And now Chase and his girlfriend Leah have taken up residence right here in Dallas, Texas!  Jingle Bam!  As the whole family prepares to descend upon the great state of Texas, I want to say welcome and tell you how grateful I am for you. My husband and I have been praying for years for restoration and reconciliation for his family.  Those are big, abstract, meaningful words that get thrown around casually in Christian circles and I hate that .  What I really mean is that we want to make up, pass around apologies and forgiveness, hug like we mean it and kiss on the mouth, text pictures of Eli and Stella, find each other just the perfect gift on our birthdays, fly around the country to get together at Christmas and say, "I love you."  We have wept over the loss of relationships and the dreams of memories we will never know. I believe God’s miracle has been made evident to us in these past few months as our family grew right before our eyes.  We missed nearly a decade of their lives but I can assure you, you are not getting rid of us now.  We are gonna rock your babies and cook you meatloaf and text you too late at night when something made us think of you.  We are gonna plan weddings and gripe about crappy ex-boyfriends.  We are going to the depths and the heights.  Together.

I am a fortunate soul born to a close-knit, highly imperfect, ride together, die together kind of family.  And you are mine now.

This is not how we had written the story in our minds; this was not the restoration we had imagined but as always God writes a symphony and we are the lucky benefactors of His perfect melody and intricate harmonies.

As it has been said, the rest is still unwritten and I will continue to pray for our family to be pieced back together.  But I am so incredibly grateful today for a generation who feels God's love like the wind at their backs propelling them towards a new vision, a new family.  He tells us, “Behold I make all things new.”

Thank you for opening your hearts and your lives to us.  How blessed be the ties that bind.  I love you.