A Family Grows

I've added an unabashedly nepotistic link to my strange blogs. One of my sisters, Heather, is chronicling the journey she and her husband, Alan, are taking to China to pick up their newly adopted daughter, Hannah. My new niece will belong to a wonderfully caring family and I'm thrilled for her and for them. I'm only sorry that we won't get to meet her for a while—we'd already planned our family vacation for mid-August, before Heather knew when they'd be going to get Hannah, so we'll have to wait until later in the year or early in '09.

I don't get to see my family as often as I'd like, since flying is our only option and not cheap. My sister right below me, Kelly, lives with her husband, Jim, and children, Rebekah and Will, in Midland; our youngest sister, Ellen, lives in Granbury not far from my parents in Fort Worth (Heather is in the middle). We'd originally planned our trip to Texas for the spring—almost a year since our last visit there—but it had to be changed a few times before we finally settled on the dates next month.

I'm really looking forward to seeing them all again—although I do wish Heather could be with us. We have a habit of spending the first night we're all back together staying up way too late and talking loudly. We're not arguing, really—although we do have differing political opinions—we're just loud people... a trait we inherited from our father, who has always had a big voice. Not that our mother doesn't hold her own, mind you, but she's by far the most soft-spoken member, relatively speaking. Regardless, our Loud Family (as Kelly has dubbed us) gathering will be a little bit quieter this time.

So, welcome to our family, Hannah! We're all so glad you're going to one of us. We may be a little overwhelming the first time you're trapped in a room with all 12 of us talking a-mile-a-minute but it's a lot like living in the flight path for an airbase (which my parents do, actually): eventually, the racket just seems normal.