michigan family

the second part of our recent first family vacation included a stay with luc's aunt and uncle in michigan. it was a lovely time and i wish we could have stayed longer. his aunt and uncle are like family to me as well - they have made me feel so welcome from the first time i met them 7 years ago. their property is great, with room to run around, a pool and lots of fun new sites for the bird to explore. one of my favorites times was taking channing on a wagon ride around the property to pick wild black raspberries. she thought they were pretty fantastic! did i also mention that they have 8 grandkids, with 6 of those being local to them. so, the bird had plenty of kiddos to play with as well as toys! we were very lucky to get to spend lots of time with 2 of luc's cousins and their kids. i am so thankful for this time with all of them! it was also perfect timing for me, to be able to talk with his aunt about channing and how i was doing and feeling about being a mom. after all, she has 3 kids and 8 grandkids...she's seen and experienced a lot! one of the best things i will take from this trip is something she said to me one afternoon, while talking about how i was handling motherhood and my challenges with schedules and wondering if i was doing things "right"...

she said that she never read any books on raising kids or really got a lot of advice from others. instead, she listened to her gut and tried not to overanalyze every little detail. her biggest source of guidance was to remember that her children were part her and part her husband. that certain traits, of her kids, were very much like hers and other traits were very much her husband's and she used that knowledge to help her along the way. so if she needed to figure out how to approach something, she first thought of how either of them would respond (depending on what was happening and how that might be most like herself or paul) and then used that to help her understand what her children would want or what would work best for them.

i had never thought about it that way. those words really affected me and i hope - bettered me as a mother.

their love and support was just amazing, i just can't express how much we all appreciated it. we hope to visit more often.