Thursday, May 22, 2008

Belonging

Here are the family photos from our Atlanta trip.
Unless you are family, you don't have to scroll down.

I know none of you care that much, and it doesn't offend me.
I wouldn't care about your family photos either.

But, you may care about the title of the post: belonging.

I am so proud to belong to such a wonderful family.
I don't know if they really claim me behind my back,
but I feel like I belong.

And, I love LeGrand's family, with all their quirks and all.
(Isn't that what marriage is about, embracing your in-laws quirks, like you do your own family's?)

Anyhow, we had a little bit of a family dilemma for this photo shoot. Should we include Logan's girlfriend Jillian or not? She's not "officially" part of the family yet.

(Side note: I am cracking up right now. Logan and Jill had a little joke this past weekend. Whenever they would put words in "quotes" it was code talk for "we were really making out" - You know..."We were watching a movie", "we went for a walk"..you get it) S

o, when she is "officially" part of the family, do we all have to make out with her or should we just take the quotes out from around that word now?

We decided to take photos with and without her. You can never be too safe. Jillian took the news like a champ. It didn't seem to bother her. Maybe she doesn't want to "belong" with the rest of us crazies? Logan was a little upset. I think he really wants her to "belong". (And, if you put it in quotes, then he really really wants her to "belong", if you know what I mean?)


Only time will tell who belongs and not. (Golly, for all I know, they could kick me out of the family any minute, like after reading this post) We all really like Jillian. We hope she will belong forever. But, just in case she doesn't, we will have the photo we took without her. And, it will make for a funny memory, no matter what happens in the future.

Anyhow, with all the family discussion on whether or not we should include Jill, it got me thinking. What does it mean to belong?I think that every family should take pictures without a member of it from time to time, just to remind them of how important each individual is to the family. Belonging is a wonderful thing. Belonging in a family is the perfection of God's plan.




See how Logan is looking a little mad without his main squeeze?



We unintentionally left Jill out of our girl picture too. Don't we look so much better with her?




12 comments:

Renee said...

That's an awkward situation that you all handled beautifully it sounds like!

tiki_lady said...

You were in ATL! dang, my sil lives in ATL. Not like we could have gotten away to meet with your family and all and my inlaws. But, ummm... it was a thought.

tiki_lady said...

OK, about the soon to be in law. It was good that you took pictures both ways. It was sad it was such a big discussion. We had a situation like that for our family pics but nothing is a done deal until the vows are made. We took family pics with him in and out, and said OK, now step aside and you take our picture. Thankfully, they did marry but with the digital age. A person can easily be added or deleted. Gotta love that! LOL

ShEiLa said...

I love the family photos, even though I am not part of the family... hello. Families are a complicated thing. When my oldest daughter was engaged to Elijah he went with us to Lagoon and he was in our family picture. I think you are right belonging is an important thing. Thank heavens I don't have to worry whether or not I belong to God's family.
toodles, Sheila

Mia said...

I loved your comment about taking a picture with a family member missing to realize how important and how much we would miss each other. We were missing one of Forrest's brothers at our wedding because he was on his mission. I missed him terribly even though I had never met him. We made a cardboard cut out so he could be with us in spirit and he wore the tie that matched all the rest of the brothers' groomsmen ties that day on his mission.

The Dreamer said...

I did scroll down and look at ALL the pics and I love them!

The kids especially! Cousins! You need to make a nice black wood frame and paint with cream paint-COUSINS.

Nice job with including Jillian!

Yo Mama said...

Alice,
I love this post. For lots of reasons. I love the pics of your kids. They are such pretty girls. Also, I love pics of family, especially the Golds. And although the pics were great, the best is the quotes story. I'm totally scheming on how to use that in my own life. Very catchy. Thanks for the comments on my blog. I'm not the best blogger, so you may hear from me every now and then, and you might not. Until then - - Choi!

Rita said...

What fun family pictures!

When I was engaged to Matt, I was not allowed to be in the family Christmas photo and I was totally okay with it. I'm glad Jillian was a good sport! :)

Cynthia said...

Okay, I am laughing so "hard"!!!

I can just see it now, I will beat the quote thing like a dead horse.

Hey, Adrian, lets send William to pick up Lucy cause you and I need to go "grocery shopping"
OR:
No, you aren't too sick to go to school! Anyway, Dad and I have a lot of "work" to do today.

Too funny

Amy Niebuhr said...

We sure are cute!!

LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love ya

Anonymous said...

I am saying this in the nicest way possible: Relax when it comes to your "I don't want to see your kids pictures" ranting and then making excuses for you posting pictures of your own kids.

The P*dunc's said...

When people put up photos of family get togethers it makes me homesick.