My Christmas card this year, traditional of course, is a really special one.
Ever since our children were young, we’ve been blessed to be close with them. We’ve also had many other kids in and out of our home. There were very few weekends that we didn’t have additional kids here, many times a house full of them. Through the years, as they grew, some of them would come back to visit; others didn’t, and that’s okay. However, some of those kids made the choice to be a part of our lives.
Our family is not a family of necessity—even with children that share DNA—we’re a family of choice. We each make the individual choice to share our time with one another.
I wanted my traditional Christmas card this year to include us all: our amazing son, Jaymes-Irish, and beautiful daughter-in-law, Mariah; our incredible daughter, Alexis, and their tenacious cat, Frankie; our wonderful bonus son, Derek, lovely bonus daughter-in-law, Brittany, and their remarkable kids, Arabella, Zoë, Noelle, and Killian; and our talented bonus daughter, Taylor, marvelous bonus son-in-law, Bobby, and the miracle baby girl in her tummy that you can’t see, due in May. (Unfortunately, our brilliant bonus son, JC Coker, III. couldn’t be here for the picture.)
It astounds us every day that God has increased our family in ways we never could have imagined. As we all move into another year, my hope for all of you reading this is that God bless your homes, your family, health, and finances. May He give you the desires of your heart and fill your life in the most unusual and unexpected ways.
God bless you all and Merry Christmas! (And yes, Larry is smiling 😄)