First found on Life Lessons Around The Dinner Table.

Week #3: Family

Y’all, my immediate family may be tiny, but I love all of them! I’m incredibly grateful for their support, literally from birth.

Some of you may not know that I was born at 25 weeks, or 3 1/2 months premature. My parents were at the hospital basically every day, visiting me in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and others who couldn’t visit, they prayed for us. After spending 15 weeks in the hospital, I was able to come home on my original due date!

This was taken by Al at my graduation from Longwood in May 2011. I love my Mom and Dad!

Fast-forward to our wedding day in November 2015!

Aside from my parents, my grandparents are / were amazing. This is why I’ve been to Florida over 100 times. As a kid, we visited them at least four times a year. We usually split a week between Seminole (on the Gulf Coast) and Miami. My dad’s dad is still alive, doing great at 91! My mom’s brother still lives in Miami. I was very fortunate to have all four of my grandparents until I was 20 years old – A massive blessing.

My dad has two sisters, and they live in the Midwest – Wisconsin and Illinois. One is married, and one is single. Each of the three siblings had only children, so it was just Ryan, Missy, and me. Ryan and I share the love of the Green Bay Packers! He’s currently in the Coast Guard, stationed in Missouri. Missy and I aren’t that close, but we’re still cousins.

Our wedding day – The whole family! Three-quarters of this group make up Al’s family, but I love it!

And then, there’s my amazing, significantly bigger family on Al’s side. I married into a HUGE family! When both Mom and Dad V. have three siblings apiece, it’s crazy big!

We had a get-together in early December, and there were 25 people there – And that was just part of Dad V.’s side!

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I also have multiple people in my life that I consider to be like family – Sorority sisters, church family, PEO sisters, and a handful more.

All in all, I can easily list / think of 100+ people that I consider to be part of my family. It’s an incredible feeling.

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I’m also very happy that I have such a good relationship with my family, in general. We have our disagreements and challenges, but we’re not estranged or anything like that. My family has been incredibly stable for many, many years, and I thank God for that.

Both sets of parents are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversaries in 2017! It’s so exciting!

Also, Nick and Savy are getting married in October! Woohoo!

Down the road, Al and I are excited to grow our own family, as well. For now, though, I’m watching several friends experience pregnancy and giving life to their children, many for the first time.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂