Welcome to the Family!

"Welcome to the family! We're glad that you have come to share you life with us." Did anyone else listen to or watch Psalty the Singing Songbook when you were growing up? Well, that's the opening line to one of his songs, and when I was thinking about this blog post, it's what came to mind.

There are just a few ways that a person can come to be part of a particular family. The first and most obvious way is a way Chase and I are experiencing adding to our family right now - to be born into the family. That's a natural thing, and we can debate the merits of nature versus nurture at another time. But birth is one way of becoming part of a family.

A second way is through adoption. This can be formal or informal - I think most of us have experienced the formal adoption of a family member, be it a cousin, niece, brother, or other family member.

The third way is through marriage, and that is what this blog post is celebrating! Marriage is a really wonderful thing by which we get to add to our family and have a really big party doing so. (Come to think of it, in all the cases of adding to the family, there's usually a party of some sort, but it's an especially big event when it's a wedding.)

Let me introduce the latest addition to our family:

This is Kayla (and in the background is her sister). This picture was taken on the last day that Kayla was NOT officially part of our family. We were at the nail salon getting pedicures in preparation for the big event the next day. Speaking of which, we'll move right on to that big event...

The wedding was next to a lake at a cute little conference center in upstate New York. I took this picture as Tony was giving Kayla her ring. The picture may be worth 1,000 words, but it can't give all the details, so I'll fill in with some. The week had been wet, really wet, with rain every day, but that Sunday, it was cloudy all morning until about 4:15 (wedding was at 4:30), when the sun broke through the clouds for about 45 minutes, which means that the wedding ceremony was showered with sunlight rather than rain! It made it a little warm for the gentlemen in their suits (I think poor Tony's body thought if the clouds weren't going to rain, probably his body should), but it was a beautiful ceremony.

And the best part of all of it is that now my sister Kim and I have added to the female ranks of our family the newest member: Kayla! We partied all afternoon and evening, and very much enjoyed the festivities.

So, I guess all I really want to say is Kayla, welcome to the family. We're so glad to have you as one of us!