Family Part 2

Once again, love flew to Wisconsin this winter. Dodd's mom and dad left recently after spending a week with us and their newest grandson. Once again, it made us really happy to watch our parents love our son so wholeheartedly and to watch him soak up their love like a sponge.

I've often heard that having a child helps you see the world through new eyes. I find with Bear I am looking at our families especially with new eyes, and appreciating them more than ever. I'm aware of legacy, realizing how their life stories impact his.
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Bear shares a special fact of life with his Grandma Jean. They were both born on the continent of Africa. Dodd's mom was born in Nigeria. Her mother from the US, and her father from Scotland, met on the mission field, married and had 5 children there. They continued their work in Nigeria for several years before returning to the states.

Adoption runs in Dodd's family. Dodd's parents created their family through adoption. So did his aunt and uncle. I love that adoption is so normal to them. It's just family, down and dirty, plain and simple, hardly a topic of conversation. I love how this will impact Bear as he grows up.

After talking with him mom recently, I learned that a seed for adoption was planted a generation earlier in her family. Her parents tried earnestly to adopt a boy while they were in Nigeria who needed a family. This would have been unusual and controversial at the time, and the village leader decided against the adoption. There was no such thing as international adoption and few transracial families in the 1940's. But they loved him and wanted to share their family.

Commitment also runs in this family. We celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary just before we left for Ethiopia. They received a note from a friend they thought was funny and shared with lots of people that day. Just because it's been 50 years, don't assume it's going to work! His parents know and understand how life's relationships are a work in process. Each day is a new day, you have to decide to make it work. And they understand that Christ can solidify commitment when the going gets tough. They understand it because they've lived it, with each other, and with their kids.
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I read a quote while waiting to bring Bear home. I think of it all the time. I consider it an anthem of sorts for the family Dodd and I are building.

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Blood is thicker than water. But love is thicker than blood.

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I am realizing Dodd's parents are living this infront of us.

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Bear, you have great grandparents!