One More Family Post...

My family has been on my mind a lot lately. I would consider ours to be pretty close. It seemed like we did everything together while we were growing up. I remember being on a date once and somehow it ended with him playing basketball with my two brothers. Ours was the neighborhood home where everyone came to play, in some cases even live.

Now we're all grown up, busy living life, which means something different for each of us. We're still close, but don't do everything together like before. Some live close, other far away, and I really can't remember the last time we were all together.

This is the last family picture we had taken. None of us were even 30 yet, Dad still had hair, more kids were unmarried than married and we only had one family member in the military.

Since that time we've added 6 more members to our family. The babies pictured are now almost 6 and the cute one in pig tails is 9. Both Jamie's and Joe's families are living where they are because of the military and they have each added two additional children. Andrea is married, has a baby and she and her husband will be heading off to medical school next fall. Josh and Angela have moved out of the home we all grew up in and their girls are both growing up so quickly and involved in so many great things.

While we haven't figured out quite how to get us all in the same place at the same time, I feel often the strength that comes from being part of a family bound together. I'm so thankful for that.