Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, Oh My!

Do you have a brother? Do you have a sister?

The questions were simple enough. My three-year-old Chinese student had already answered the questions herself (although she was a little confused and said she had one sister in her family because she is a sister). To practice asking the questions, she asked me, half a world away, as I stared at her lovable face through my computer. And then I had her ask her mom, who was sitting beside her.  "Mom, do you have a brother? Do you have a sister?" Nope -- she's an only child. I interjected and asked if her husband had any siblings. He doesn't, either.

And what that means is that my sweet, smiley student doesn't have any aunts or uncles or cousins.  That's hard for me to imagine. I am blessed to have... 

• 11 aunts and uncles [Grace, Ron, Dan, Loni, Lois, Paul, Lisa, Doug, Jennifer, Dennis, Jenny] 
• 19 first cousins [David, Mark, Nathan, Sarah, Annie, Liliet, Jacquie, Alex, Daniel, Lauren, Rachel, Phil, Alex, Ben, Peter, Michelle, Beth, Steph, Chris (and let's go ahead and count Josh, Emily, Caleb, and Hannah although they are technically "first cousins once removed")]. 

Our connections, during my childhood and in the present day, vary. I spent every Sunday night of my growing-up years with my mom's side of the family at Grandma's house. These memories are filled with jell-o and Little Debbie snacks and a Schwinn exercise bike. On the other hand, I would see my dad's side of the family on the yearly road trips to Chicago or the less-frequent trips to New York. Possibly my favorite memory from these visits was the ever-popular White Elephant gift exchange (What treasures had Grace and Lois collected for us this time?). I'm grateful that both sets of grandparents were able to have more than one child and chose to give ME (years later), the gift of aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It's something I assumed everyone had.

The most I see of any of my relatives these days is via Facebook. The cousins have grown up and are all as busy with their lives as I am with mine.  So, what remains? My four grandparents are all gone, but they've left a spiritual heritage.  They were faithful to each other and faithful to God. They laid a foundation for me to one day live out my own faith in Jesus.  And now I'm doing my part so that my grandchildren have the gift of aunts (well, maybe through marriage!), uncles, and cousins. More than that, though, I pray that they, too, will walk in step with their grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents as they choose to follow Jesus themselves.      

So, aunt, uncle, cousin of mine...whatever connection we've had, whether close or distant, whether we've even had a conversation as adults, each one of you has played a part in shaping my sense of family, and therefore, me. To all of you... THANKS!

Dad and his two sisters and two brothers

Mom and her brothers and their wives

P.S. I also hit it out of the park to add 16 aunts and uncles and 20 first cousins to my family when I married Lucas.  I love you all, too!