In-laws

Many couples have today what is called blended families, therefore you have a lot of in-laws, especially if you remain friends with the old ones, which is a rarity I'll admit. My first set of in-laws came to my second wedding and we stayed in touch for many years but don't really visit any longer. I was married to their son for 21 years so it was hard to break those ties with them. I remarried, his dad had passed away before I knew any of them and I inherited 1 mother-in- law and 4 sisters-in-law, don't stay in touch with any of them. I now have a new set of in-laws ( I have had them about 8 yrs now) and have 2 new brothers-in law and 1 sister-in-law. None of us are very close. I think it had to do with the age we all were when Monty and I married, or maybe we just don't have anything in common and we are all too old to want to work at getting to know one another any better.

Anyway, when you re-marry you inherit kids and your kids inherit step parents. This was never God's plan and probably why it doesn't work out too well for most of us. Ours were all grown when we married, and we never realized how hard it would be to handle problems as they came and come up with our children/step-children. The problems ebb and flow of course, as someone told me once, a storm never lasts forever, but sometimes it seems like they are neverending.

(This was Jesus' birthday party)

I do have a real bright spot though that I would like to mention in this blog. I have two sons and I have one daughter-in-law. She is probably the only one I will ever have. She and my son have been married for 12 years and she still doesn't get us. I think we all drive her crazy. We all (me and my boys) tend to say or talk about whatever we are thinking about and she happens to be a very private individual. We have never worn her down and I don't think are likely to at this stage of the game. My daughter in law has step parents and of course my son has step parents. The statistics are not in their favor for them to stay together. Hopefully in this case they will prove the statistics wrong. They both love the Lord and are teaching their boys about Him, bringing them up in a Christian home so they are headed in the right direction. She has been the one that inspired me to start a blog, because I love reading hers. If she doesn't share all her thoughts out loud she shares some very beautiful ones on her blog. She and my son are polar opposites (except they both have red hair) but as she has become the mother of my grandchildren, I can relate to her more than I have been able to in the past and want her to know that I appreciate all her help in the blogging world (she showed me how to add pictures along with my blogs instead of beside them) and in copying pictures and adding wallpaper. I appreciate her hard work in rearing our grandsons. I remember how exhausting it can be and how hard it seems sometimes. Parenting is such hard work and I applaud them both but I especially want her to know how much I appreciate her taking the time to teach her boys about Jesus and his birth and what Christmas is all about. I know marriage is hard at the stage of life they are in right now, especially with the added stress of having a child that needs extra attention and all that encompasses, but she seems to take it all in stride. She takes beautiful photographs and documents the boys lives and the little things they do that I don't get to see and shares it all with those of us that aren't with them all the time. I loved helping her decorate her tree at Christmas and love the photos she took of my house (hers are so much better than mine). I applaud her talent and just want her to know I love and appreciate her. So glad you are my daughter-in-law!