A wonderful Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving - I know I did. We went to Wichita to spend it with my husband's family. Some of them live in the KC area, some live in the Wichita area, everyone was there at my mother-in-law's house...except one poor brother-in-law who just had hip replacement surgery and stayed home.

I love my husband's family, but I have to admit I didn't always appreciate them. I grew up on the mission field where the closest thing we had to family was another missionary family, and they lived a long ways away. So when we moved to Wichita a year after we were married (the whole family lived there then), what with everybody going to the same small church, getting together for birthdays and holidays, it seemed a bit too...much. Sometimes. Even though I really liked them and had a great time with them. They were wonderful people, but I just wasn't used to it. And I was young and stupid. Then people started moving away - first a brother and his wife, then a sister and her husband, then a niece...and I realized how much I missed them and had taken the whole family togetherness thing for granted. Then we moved away and there were no more birthday celebrations with family, only holiday celebrations, so we didn't see each other for months at a time. And I came to realize just how stupid I had been.

I'm thankful my eyes were opened (or maybe I just grew up), and I'm incredibly thankful for this family. They are not my husband's family, they are my family, and I'm proud to be a part of it. We may not always agree on everything, we all have our quirks (me more than anyone!), but we love each other. Because that's what family does.