The word "family" has many different definitions according to my Dictionary/Thesaurus app on my iPhone... such as: a social unit living together; primary social group; people descended from a common ancestor; and my favorite... an association of people who share common beliefs or activities. I think that people today emphasize that family has to be a bloodline too much. I think the real word for people of a common bloodline is kin. Family is different. Family is about love, acceptance, fun, and just enjoying each other's presence. I mean, think about it.... if you looked back to Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Moses and Zipporah (etc.)... in the end, in some extremely ridiculously distant way, we are all "kin"... we are all family. We all came from God and we are all His creations, equally. I think that people stress too much over who is in their direct bloodline when they should be eager to accept new family members. There is nothing in the Bible or Dictionary that says "family is only the people that you are directly related to." That doesn't happen. We are all one, and even if we don't share the same background, the same ancestors, the same DNA, that doesn't mean that we aren't family.
In the summer of 2010, my cousin Daniel married a beautiful woman named Kallyn Kaiser... and I genuinely think of Kallyn as just as much of a cousin as I do Daniel, even if she wasn't there for the first 18 years of my life. In fact, I even think of her sisters and parents and brother and niece as my family. I love them all, and I have absolutely no "blood relation" to them. They are just as much a part of my family as anyone, and I am extremely grateful that they are a part of my life.
I was able to go deer hunting over Thanksgiving break, and it really made me think about this. Deer, for the most part, all stay with each other from birth until death, in a pack. They all mate with each other and live with each other and travel with each other. They fight for power, they fight for mates, they fight for food... but in the end, they are family. They don't abandon each other. When one gets scared of something, they snort (loudly) to alert all of the other deer around them that something is up. Humans don't do that... we are much more selfish. When was the last time you called your second cousin once removed just to say hello and see how they are doing? I don't even know who my second cousins once removed are, but I have no doubt that I have some. And for that matter, when was the last time you called one of your old friends to see how they are doing?? I suppose with Facebook that task has become a little bit easier. But you see, deer are family for life, whether they are really "related" or not. For humans, we disown each other, we ignore each other, we don't accept each other for what we are, we gossip about each other, we don't help each other...
And I'm not saying that that is ALL that we do or that that goes to ALL family... because I have a truly incredible family, and I am SO blessed, and I have a lot of people in my life that DO call me to check up, or DO text me, or DO Facebook me, or DO ask my parents about me, or DO come visit every once in a while, and I am some really truly amazing family members that have influenced my life in tremendous ways, and I don't know what I would do without them... I just think, in general, there is so much hatred within families, and that's just not right.
People always say that you can hate your friends if you want because they aren't your family... but that's so wrong. Since I've been away from home, my friends HAVE become my family. Kramer and I take care of each other when we get sick, we buy each other things (like HotBox Cookies and such), we help each other with homework, we encourage each other, we pray for each other, we spend time together, we love each other... isn't that what families do?
I just think that, when we are all in Heaven together (well, hopefully all of us) that it won't matter if we were blood related, or if we were in the same city, or if we were were any of that... we will love each other and we will all be in the presence of our creator as equals. Family isn't about making sure that you keep your bloodline all yours... (this IS NOT Harry Potter... there are not "pure bloods" or "mud bloods" or "muggles" that you should worry about... not that I would even if I were in that world :) ) it's about making and keeping relationships with the people that you love and enjoy spending time with, the people that have come and gone in your life, the people that have stuck by you in thick and thin, the people that care for you, the people that make you happy, the people that make you laugh, the people that you see every day...
The people that God has placed in your life for a reason.
Look at my godparents, Matt and Jackie Koch. Matt (Nino to me) was my mom's first husband and had my older brothers, and he remarried to Jackie (Nina to me). Not only does Nina treat Chris and Alex as her own sons, but she and Nino both treat me as their daughter. They are tremendous blessings upon me, and I am ever grateful. I genuinely have NO idea what I would do without them. And my step mom, too! Denise (Neenee to me)... she came into my life when Dad was so busy, and the boys and mom didn't live with me anymore. I was lonely. She stepped in as a mother figure in my life (Nina, too) and helped raise me as her own daughter. I am so blessed to have such loving parents in my life. I can't even imagine who I would be without them. They didn't have to do any of that... shoot, Nino and Nina didn't even have to talk to me if they didn't want to... but for them, it couldn't be more opposite. And Neenee, too! She could've been that evil, wicked step mother, but instead she has raised me as her own daughter and loved me through thick and thin. We are family, blood related or not. And I love them.
I feel as if I couldn't be more blessed, honestly. And I'm sure that there are people that would gladly disagree with that, knowing some things in my life... but God owes us NOTHING. And the blessings He bestows on us are gifts, not a requirement. We need to be thankful for every blessing He gives us: people, opportunities, circumstances, etc. We even need to be thankful for the hard things in our lives, because, even if they hurt, they will be blessings from God in the end.
My family ROCKS... I am just expressing thoughts that have crossed my mind as I have pondered and questioned the ways of humans the past couple of weeks.
I hope you all enjoyed this, and I hope you can get something out of it... because going back and reading my OWN thoughts again, I got even more out of it. I am so blessed and thankful to have the incredible family that I have, and I honestly could not ever dream or wish for anything better. I love you guys.
LJ
There are a MILLION other pictures that I could put up filled with my family, but I just thought I'd put a few (the grad party pics were good because they had multiple people in them!). I love all of you, and if you weren't in a picture it wasn't because I don't love you, I just picked a few to put on here.
