Family

I was just thinking about my family today and how much I love them. I am referring to both my family with Daniel and my parents and brother and sisters. But, this post is in regards to my parents and brothers and sisters.

I realize every family has their own issues. And my family is far from perfect, we've had ups and downs over the years. But I'm so grateful for my parents, my mom worked really hard when we were young to help provide, my dad worked himself ragged to provide for all of us kids. On top of all that they really made sure that we all knew that they loved us. My dad used to take us out on daddy-daughter dates at least every couple months. (it was a lot of dates with 4 daughters) And they worked hard to set good examples for us and teach us what was right.

My sisters are, hands down my best friends (besides Daniel). I could not imagine my life without them. We are all so individual in our personalities, but at the same time, we are all similar. We can talk about anything, give our opinions on anything and know we are still loved. I read a quote somewhere that really spoke to me and it says: He knew I needed them too much to just be their friend, so God let me be their sister. It's a perfect explanation of how I feel about my sisters.

My brother is amazing. I feel pretty much the same way about him, we just don't talk on the phone everyday like I do with my sisters. What I really love about my brother though, is that he chose Stephanie to be my sister in law. She is amazing! I couldn't ask for a better sister in law. We all knew that whoever Travis chose would be the best.

What I really love about my family is that we all genuinely LOVE each other. We have our moments when we get annoyed with one another, but we talk about it and move on. But for the vast majority we all really get along and really like to be together. We treat each other like we love each other and want to be together too. I love that I can say that I love the in laws as much as I love my siblings. I love Stephanie, Peter, Steve, Rich and Jason as much as I love my brother and sisters. I love that my parents genuinely love the in laws as much as they love their own children (I actually think that my parents like Daniel more than they like me sometimes;-)

What a blessing families are! It is a true testament to me that Heavenly Father loves me. Why else would he have given me such a wonderful family?!