The Cousins are Asking

This past Friday and Saturday, Kathee and I headed up to Dubuque to visit my great uncle Skip (and his friend Virginia), my aunt Licia, and 2 of my three brothers and their wives and children.
As I blogged a bit about the church family last week and the support we are receiving already, and how excitedly we anticipate their involvement in our son's life, I thought I'd write a bit about how excited we are for family, too!
What a great time we had this past weekend. And there was much talk about the adoption, about when we may be going, new updates, etc. But one of the things that made us most excited was that Samuel, Ava, Noah, Jonah, and Elijah all asked if we brought Gideon, where he was, when he was getting here, etc. Now, lest you think Otto and Miriam are rude and don't care, they are too young to know to ask... although I could see it in both of their eyes that they were a bit down that they couldn't play with their new cousin yet.
Why did this excite us? Because that means they are talking about it at home. Nathan and Kris, and Aaron and Jenn are talking about it with their kids. And the cousins are excited. They can't wait for Gideon to get home so they can meet and play with their new cousin.
And we are excited about him being loved by his cousins and relatives. Our neices and nephews play well together when they are together and we are excited to let Gideon run with them. What a great family to be in.
Another thing that greatly encouraged us about being with my family is that we know Gideon will be loved by his Grandmother, Grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Not because of the type of kid he is. Not because of his skin color. Not because of anything other than he's a Terwilleger kid, and the Terwilleger's take care of each other (and their kids). Kathee remarked in the car before we even got out of Dubuque, "Isaac, I'm so excited for Gideon to to loved by your family. They will love him like their own."
And it is my hope that my son will be as trusting and comfortable with my brothers and their families as their kids are with me. Friday night Nathan and Kris dropped off Otto at Mom and Dad's because they and the two older kids had a benefit to attend. Otto spent much of the night sitting in my lap as we looked at M and D's changing picture frame (with Otto telling him who was in each picture). Otto felt comfortable in my lap. On Saturday, Miriam came up and played with me. The older nephews and niece the same.
Oh, how we hope that we live this month of October to the fullest, with the hopes that this month flies!
I'd say that between our families and our church, we have the support network that we need. We have good, Godly people in our lives who love us, support us, and want the best for us and our Gideon.
Our loving Father is so good when we wait on Him and His great timing for us. To Him be all glory.

Isaac T