Bursting With Joy

 A few years ago I learned that my cousin Sheena and her family had moved to Illinois and lived a few hours from us.  Since we live far from other family and gathering with family has always been important to me I was excited.

Then I found out that her sister, Karman was going to be coming with her family from Missouri for Thanksgiving.  I hadn't seen Karman in more than 20 years. 

I got to see her whenever we visited my grandparents' farm which was a 9 hr drive.  Technically we are step-cousins but trampoline sleepovers, helping feed the calves, floating the canal and bike rides to Farmer's Corner for ice cream don't regard such unimportant details.  While I was closer to her older sister, she was my cousin and I had wonderful memories of growing up together.  

We were friends on social media but it seemed like an opportunity too good to be true to introduce our families who spanned similar ages.

And that's how we ended up driving to the other side of Chicago with my introvert husband half-heartedly going along with my request and my kids asking repeatedly why we were meeting these people. They thought that perhaps second-step-cousins once removed was pushing the limits to qualify as "strangers we would drive three hours to meet."

There was an immense feeling of awkwardness at first for the kids, there often is in new things, even good things but it was worth pressing through. I believe they bonded over "Can you believe our parents are making us do this?!".

It was fun to see my cousins and we had a lovely lunch.  Before  long there were giggles and games and they began to figure out who had commonalities.  Like the two red-headed teens laughing on the couch. 

They not only survived but my kids became social media friends with some of theirs.  Being family makes all the difference. 

And this week? This week my daughter who lives in Lafayette, sent this picture from church on Sunday where Karman's daughter was just assigned to serve as a missionary.  Little did they know on that Thanksgiving weekend three years ago that their paths would cross again.

Or that when they did they would have two mama hearts bursting with joy. 

I bet that's how our Heavenly Parents must feel when we finally figure out that those around us are our family too. 

Chieko Okazaki taught, "All over the world, as brothers and sisters in the gospel, we can learn from each other, grow closer together, and increase in love for each other. Our unity grows from what we have in common all around the world."❤️