Monday, August 8, 2011

it takes a village. i like my village.


A couple of weeks ago we went on family vacation to the coast to go camping. Using the word "family" is a little grey with this group. Let's see if I can explain...

Joel, my husband has a brother named Eli who is married to Amy.

Amy has a sister Angela who is married to Vincent.

She also has a fraternal twin sister Andrea who is married to Chris.

Some of the cousins.

People get really confused about who is actually related and who isn't. Who are sisters and who aren't, who are brothers and who aren't. I often get confused with Andrea. People often think Angela is Amy's twin. We have all had babies at the same time too (seven between all of us, and counting) which makes things even more interesting. Did I mention that one of these lovely ladies used to date my husband? It's a tangled web. The truth is, we are not all related, technically. I think what trips people up is that all of our kids call the adults aunts and uncles and call each other cousins. I like our little hodgepodge family.

Ethan and Uncle Vincent exploring the rocky beach and escaping a wave.

People say that it takes a village to raise a child and it is so true. The cool thing is that you can build your own village! Joel and I are blessed to have family and friends that we want around our kids. The village stretches out beyond this mix matched little group. My point is that when you can find like minded people who love your children, you have struck gold. Seek them out. There is so much peace in knowing that Ethan is being poured into and built up in who he is even when I'm not around. Often I've walked in on friends teaching him about life or correcting him in love because they want to see his character grow. Parenting is hard. Sharing the load is an incredible gift.

Uncle eli playing ball with Ethan

In His grace, God has blessed us with an incredible village to raise our children in. Yet, we never know what the future may hold. I'm going to savor it for now.

3 comments:

  1. Love this! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this little post! We are a part of a couple of villages as Aunt Jill and Uncle Jonas. It is so true. We love our nieces and nephews SO incredibly much. We love building up their little spirits.

    ReplyDelete
  3. so true. Thanks for the sweet reminder of "striking gold". I will try to be more mindful and thankful for that "gold" in my life. So happy for the "gold" you have found in your life, too.

    ReplyDelete