This is how a family is suppose to be

You know how I said Josh wanted to ask his brother to come to our church. He called them up and they are coming! Isn’t that too cool?

Today started out much better. Of course I haven’t gone near one of our cars or anything. All four of our cars in our driveway have been in the shop this week. And no, thank goodness Josh and I don’t own all of them. We own 2, paid for 2, thank goodness only 2. My brothers car ended up getting ripped up underneath from those rocks, so he is getting a lot of work done on it. We’ve been working out our schedules so everyone can have a car, it’s actually been working out really well.

Two weeks before I got married, my Aunt Marion and my cousin, Sony, flew in from Georgia to help with the wedding. My sister came down from northern Michigan with her kids. Do you know how nice it is to have 5 women in the house before you get married? We made a deal to try to make things go smoothly, we prayed whenever there was a need. Such as my in-laws were making a big stink those weeks, and the one time I went over there, I came back such a nervous wreck, I ended up avoiding them for the rest of the week. My sister and cousin took me shopping for the wedding night necessities. And we got to the end of it all and my cousin remarked, “Now this is how a family is suppose to be!”

We all were different women, coming together for one purpose. Whenever I enter someone else’s home, I notice how they act as a family. And I feel lucky to have mine. For some strange reason, we really get along, and work out our differences. It’s not so strange; we communicate, and aren’t trying to get each other mad or push buttons. That’s not to say that my brother doesn’t do that on occasion. Hey, we aren’t perfect.

We moved into my mom’s house for 2 reasons, first Josh had a lousy job, commission only, and we weren’t making it. And second, we want to buy the house. So we’ve been living here for over a year with my mom and my brother, which has been working out for all 7 of us. Like now, we all have cars so that everyone can work and go when we need to, while Jeff’s car is in the shop. We split the bills, so we all see a little more money.

It’s interesting to talk to people these days, about living with more than our immediate family. Surprisingly enough, there are a ton of people who take in a parent, or have an older kid who lives with them. Shared housing certainly isn’t the norm in America. But if it can be worked out, it’s great. I always know I can fall back on my mom to watch the kids in emergencies. In fact, she watched Dar this morning. She got up way too early for her own good, and ended up passing out on my mom’s bed. If I just need someone to talk to who has a level head, my brother is here. If we have a heavy project that needs to be done on the house, we commission the guys to do it. It’s such a relief.

And that, is how a family is suppose to be.