A New Family

Today we had to leave our fun weekend in Missouri and return home. On the plane ride home, I was thinking about the incredible time we had this whole weekend. More than anything, I am amazed at how our little family was embraced by both the Stagnis and Tilleys. Confession: when Ben and I got married, Ben's two nieces were our flower girls. I love them dearly and was glad they could be a part of our wedding, but I was not super understanding or flexible about having kids in the wedding. As a kid I had been in a wedding where the ring bearer flipped out and caused major distraction and stress for all involved. I had told Ben if either of his nieces started to lose it, they wouldn't walk down the aisle, period. They did fine and we had no problems, but in the two occasions that my daughters have been flower girls I've expected a similar outlook. After all, the day belongs to the bride and groom, not my unpredictable kids.

Fortunately for us, the families this weekend are much nicer than I was. We were included in all the family activities. My family was made a priority along with everyone else in the bride's and groom's families. I would not have been insulted or hurt at all if we had been left to our own devices as these families focused on their bride and groom. Never once was I made to feel a burden or inconvenience. To give some examples, here are a few of the events from the weekend:

- My children received goodies no less than THREE times throughout the weekend
- We painted nails with Laura in her hotel room on Saturday morning
- Ava, Jocelyn, and I rode to the ceremony with the groom's family so Molly (and Ben) could stay at the hotel and nap
- When Jocelyn got tired at the end of the night, numerous people took turns holding her, saving Ben and I from breaking our backs
- Rob and Laura came to our room at 7:45am the morning AFTER their wedding just to spend a little more time with us before we had to leave

I am doing a terrible job at expressing just how welcoming these people were, and how truly honored and blessed I felt to be part of this incredible group of people. We really did expand our family this weekend, and I hope we get to see lots more of the Tilleys and Stagnis in the future.

The Crew: Jocie, Keith, Theresa, me, Laura, Ava, Ben, Rob, and Molly