The family of God . . .

I'm an only child.
Which is why it is so strange that I have so many brothers and sisters.
Let me explain.
Today was Sunday, and if you know my family, you know what that means . . . Sunday dinner.
Two things about Sunday dinner: 1)we always have pasta and meatballs and sausage, covered in Gramp's famous pasta sauce (gravy, we call it), and 2) we nearly always have a full house, and then some.
So, days like today are not unusual.
But they are always special.
Today we had a smaller crowd than we typically do.
Our good friends, the Nwagwus and Daniel Williams came over for dinner.
And maybe it was because it was a smaller group, and I was able to sit more and enjoy the moments and take more in that I thought more.
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I am an only child.
For a long time, this was a very sore subject for me. I would watch my friends, and even strangers, interacting with their siblings, and a twinge of jealousy and loneliness would shoot through me.
I wanted a relationship like that.
I wanted a brother or a sister, or both.
Now, I was blessed with cousins who were more like siblings to me than cousins, so that filled a large portion of that hole. The majority of my childhood memories include my cousins. They were, and are, a very important part of my life.
Nevertheless, I longed for brothers and sisters.
Today we were sitting around the table, and my friends' child, who is Daniel's age, was calling my grandpa "grandpa" and my mom "meme Lin", and we were all having such a good time around the table, laughing and sharing food and life, and I thought, "Wow! For so many years, what I wanted more than anything else was brothers and sisters, and God, by adopting me into His family, has given me the chance to have them . . . in spades."
Amazing.
After dinner, we had a bonfire out back, and lots and lots more sisters and brothers showed up to join the fun and worship a bit and eat . . . of course.
Thank you, God, for giving me the desire of my heart when it comes to brothers and sisters!

Here's another Daniel story before I turn in after this full day . . .
This evening, after everyone left, Daniel was in the hall, looking at himself in a full length mirror we have hanging on a wall. I guess he never noticed it too much before.
"Look! Mom! IT'S ME! IT'S DANIEL!" he squeaked.
"I'm in that picture!! I'm in that picture!!"
He was so excited to see himself.
Tres cute!