Family

A lot of really difficult things have happened in my life in the last two years. I would say it has been the hardest time in my life to date. Most of those things have happened within the confines of my family. I have spent a lot of time trying to understand it all, trying to get my head around everything, trying to sort out feelings and deal with pain and loss and the what to do in the aftermath question. Though all of the tragedy had ended some relationships and drastically changed others, some relationships have begun to breathe for the first time in a long time. We have a small extended family and we have never been close to any of them really. In the picture above is my uncle, aunt and cousins. My mom's brother's family and they have lived 45 minutes away from me my whole life. We saw them on holidays and special occasions, but rarely any other time. I think family things were just always stressful and nobody really wanted to be around our family very much. In the last two years my family has spent more time with them than in the 20 years prior. It has been a blessing. It has been one really positive thing that has come out of a slue of really hard things. Above is a picture at my cousin Becca's pageant. She is a senior and she got second runner-up. She was really excited. I don't know why I am writing this....I guess because I realize more and more that the Lord is always doing something and though some things are really hard, they do not come without the reminder that God is faithful.