Families

I spent the past week at a retreat down here in Miami with my fellow CVIF members.  It was a great retreat and there is lots to share but I think this post is meant to reflect on something else that is often on my mind.  Throughout my time down here, I have shared with many people how blessed I am to have a very supportive family back home in Kansas.  While there are a lot of them, cousins, aunts, uncles, not to mention my immediate family, I know that they will always be there for me regardless of the decisions I make in my life.  They truly mean the world to me and I love them dearly.  I have missed them so much this year and think about them constantly but their support is what gives me strength when I am feeling down.  I realize that not everyone has the same family situation which makes me love mine even more but I do think that everyone has a family or families that love them. 

The word "family", to me, no longer just means someone that is related to you by blood.  The older I have become (and I know I'm not that old) the more families I have been surrounded by.  When I was in college, I gained my Didde family because I needed a church family to cling to and help me grow. In Didde, I gained brothers and sisters that helped me grow as a person and in my relationship with God.  We even had a "mom" that watched over all of us students and took care of us whenever we needed a mother.  The bonds I formed there are some that I know will last for a long time as if sisters and brothers that have know each other all their lives.

In the summer of 2009, I gained another family in my life--my Camp Hyde family.  I remember my boss, Jon, telling us at the start of summer that we will be a family; we will have great laughs, fun times, and some arguments along the way but no matter what, we stick together.  I have always admired Jon for all the hard work he puts into camp each year and the time he invests in each person that works for him during the summers.  I have formed great memories at camp and am grateful that my friends have been very supportive of me moving down here for the year.  Their confidence in me made me feel stronger about moving away.  They were there with me on my last day in Kansas in July and some of the first people I saw when I came home at Christmas just like my blood family. 

This year I have gained another family in my life. I'm sure you can guess this is my CVIF family.  Spending the past week with these people has been nothing short of wonderful.  We have been through many struggles but also joyful moments thus far.  We started out the year with 14 in August, lost 5 along the way but gained 5 as of this past retreat.  This family is a group of people that I am able to relate to in a new way.  The experiences and emotions we have been through this year are those that not many others can relate to unless they have had a similar experience.  This is no one's fault but simply the product of our choices.  We had a speaker that talked to us about how to handle life after our service year which was a topic that had been occupying my mind lately.  We found out there are conferences in different parts of the country where we can share our experiences with others who have also been part of a volunteer program.  There were several of us that would like to attend one because while we love the families we left behind very much, it can be hard to relate to someone that does not see the same struggles and go through the same changes we have.  God has definitely sent me some amazing people to share my year of service with and I have no doubt that this is yet another family that will be part of my life for a very long time.  

I am headed home on Wednesday to see my other families and cannot wait! Each family that has become part of my life so far has had a unique and beautiful impact on my life and I am grateful to each one of them.  They have formed me and shaped me into the young woman I am today.  I love each member of my different families and am so blessed to have so many families in my life. 

For all you Kansans, see you in just 3 short days! I can't wait to be home!