Family

When comparing family trees, Mike and I have some distinct differences.  For example, my immediate family is very small.  It consists of Mom, Dad, and Me. That's it.  I love my parents and get along with them wonderfully, but it is a small family for sure.  Mike's, however is a little bigger.  And I was introduced to them during our first date on September 22, 1996. Well, I take that back, Mike didn't actually introduce me to everyone that day, but he did take me by his Granny's house here in Oklahoma City so I could meet her.  The rest of Mike's family lives in either New Jersey or New York.  He wanted to show me a picture of his parents, brother and sister, and Granny's house had plenty of them proudly displayed on her living room wall.  

Here's the first picture I ever saw of Mike's family:

Isn't Mike cute?

As I was looking at it, Mike whispered, "I look a little different."  And then he began to explain his story.  Mike was born in 1976 in Guadalajara, Mexico.  He was adopted five days later and brought to the United States.  Mike's parents already had a six year old biological son at this time.  But they looked into adoption when they knew they were not going to be able to have other children.  They both have always loved Hispanic culture-- even Mike's older brother (who does not have a Latino bone in his body) is named Juan Carlos-Ricardo.  Look at his picture. Does he look like a Juan?  When they adopted Mike, they named him Michael James.  What irony!  Now, not pictured in the above photo is Mike's younger sister, Rachel.  She was adopted four years after Mike.  She was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and is a beautiful, tall, green-eyed beauty.  

I think Mike took me by his Granny's house that day to get all of that out in the open.  He has spent his life explaining why he doesn't look like the rest of his family and why his last name is not Hispanic sounding (we have a very Irish sounding last name).  And I think he wanted to see my reaction to such a "non-traditional" looking family.  It didn't phase me in the least.  I love it. I love that three children can come from three different starting points, but be put into a family and it just works.  Juan, Mike and Rachel have a great relationship.  I love that our girls are half-Mexican.  And I love that adoption shows how love is not bound to blood relation only.  

Mike's family has grown a lot since that first picture I saw.  Juan is married to an awesome woman, my sister-in-law, Tracy.  And they have four beautiful children:  River, Hailey, Corban and Connor.  And Rachel got married just three years ago to a wonderful man named Juan Pablo (Another Juan just to confuse things! Rachel's Juan is originally from Colombia and we call him by his nickname, Juampa).  They have an amazing little one year old girl named Velda. With our kids thrown in, that makes seven grandkids! 

All three of the couples get along great.  Amazingly great.  We truly all love each other and have a lot of fun together.  I just wish we lived in the same state!  So even though they were all here in Oklahoma this week because we were mourning the passing of a wonderful grandmother, we also celebrated how wonderful it is to have a loving family.

Me, Tracy, Rachel

Playing Bananagrams:  one of our favorites.

The girls out riding their Princess scooters that their Uncle Juan and Aunt Tracy brought them.

Uncle Juan showing Leah how a professional rides a tricycle.

 Mike, Juan, & Rachel