The Circle of Life

I am blessed to be in a family with seven siblings. And even more blessed that my siblings gave me the opportunity to be an aunt....how lucky am I to have 41? Granted that seems like quite a lot...and when they were young...it seemed like we had a LOT of little ones running around but that's why it was so much fun!


I remember when I first started off as an Aunt, I wished my brothers would bring their kids over more often than they did...I mean I had a legitimate excuse to skip my homework assignments. There was good fun to be had when the kids would come over to Grandma's and Grandpa's. When everyone lived in Calgary, we had lots of opportunities to get together.


Oh the parties we'd have....Bowness Park (remember the Boxing Day skating parties, and all the steal sticks games we'd play in the summers), and Grandma's Christmas sleepover, playing ball over at the church (having booked it through the "booking agent")...but I could do the "remember when" for several paragraphs so I better stop. You kids can remember more I'm sure....


I found that no two nieces or two nephews are the same. And it was fun when they were little, to see their personalities develop (they started choosing "favorites" like snowboarding, volleyball, soccer, reading, art, music...just to name a few).


And as they have gotten older and more mature, I see their personalities becoming more defined through their educational pursuits, where they live, who they've married, how they're raising their own children. It's been fun to follow along with their lives (thank you Blogger and Facebook) especially now that they live all over the place (Alberta, Washington, New Mexico, Georgia, Illinois, California, Utah, Idaho, New York, Kentucky, Massachusetts...and then the missionaries in Nevada, Guatemala, New York, and Argentina—well, until this last week...welcome home Ross!).


But for all the differences, my nieces and nephews share a real sense of family....especially between their siblings. I see a real strength in that. It's good to know that they have the kind of relationships with their brothers, sisters, and cousins that allow them to share in each other's joys and sorrows and have fun as they go through life.


So now the circle of life continues with my nieces and nephews having their own children and becoming aunts and uncles themselves. But for today, I'm most grateful for Joanne, Heather, Jay, John, Scott, Jeffery, Alita, Tara, Jason, Ryan, Brandon, Dallin, Jordan, Chandra, Lincoln, Kjarsta, Rachel, Robert, Emily, Kathryn, Spencer, Hannah, Claire, James, Aaron, Lisa, Michael, Sara, Nathan, Brian, Russell, Erin, Audrey, Alison, Jonathan, Amanda, Carly, Ross, Zach, Justine, and Madison (not in order of age...that would have taken too long to figure out!). I am grateful that they include me in their lives by sharing what they're involved in and what fun they're having. I'm so thankful that I've been able to get so much pleasure watching them grow up into such wonderful men and women—men and women who love the Lord and are trying to do what's right.


I am so proud of all of you and what you have accomplished ...and what you WILL accomplish in your lifetimes. What a blessing you are to me!!