Because my children were adopted at an older age (5, 8 and 11), family has extra special meaning to them, especially extended family. They enjoy meeting second and third cousins because it gives them a sense of connection to a whole other side of their family. They get a feeling of being part of something larger than just our immediate family.
My cousin Pat, her two daughters, and their daughters came to visit this past week. My children know Pat well but they’ve only met her two daughters once before, and they never met their daughters so this was a really fun visit for them.
Shawna (left) with cousin Kristen on our swings.
Cimion & Jacqueline making funny faces with cousin Ashley.
Shawna playing with cousin Sierra
During the week we all went to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park for the day. It’s a beautiful place to watch manatees and other local wildlife.
In 2002, I began to chronicle my adoption journey and created Forever Parents, a supportive online community for adoptive and waiting parents. Over the next year, we grew our support forums to include an adoption shop and a blog. Forever Parents stayed active, helping thousands of people for over ten years. I’m in the process of updating and moving all the posts to this blog, in the Forever Parents section. This post was originally published on March 25, 2008.
It is wonderful that you give your children such an amazing opportunity to connect with family. Family to me is everything and it is so important to me that my children always be connected to their cousins and aunts and uncles. It gives us such a strong foundation so that when harder trials are thrown our way we are able to circle the wagons and get through it together.