How often do you see your parents, siblings, or other close relatives?
I am not used to living near any relatives, until recently. I feel like I don’t really know what a normal amount of “visiting” is! If you live close to your parents, do you see them every day? Every week? Once a month? I understand that every family is different, and the frequency of visits will be based upon schedule, needs, etc. I also realize that we have to find our own way.
But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to know how things are for you! So, please, jump in and let me know!
April 13, 2008 at 7:36 am |
Hi Holly!
Well, Mom (81) lives here on the farm with us. She has her own little house and at least one of us sees her most everyday. I talk with her on the phone several times a day and we even email occasionally (like when I can’t get through to her because she is busy on the internet!). We do things together quite often (meals, shopping, sitting under the tree or in the porch swing just enjoying each other).
It wouldn’t work for everyone but it works for us
Cheri
April 13, 2008 at 8:09 am |
We see my parents and Grandpa almost every week – they live 45 miles away. We see my hubby’s mom probably every other week, maybe less – she lives 75 miles away. Seeing siblings is a lot more difficult since they are farther, but w/most we try for once a month/6 weeks. The aunts/uncles/cousins on my mom’s side are pretty close, relationship wise, so we see each other pretty often, too…it helps that they live in the same town as my parents! My oldest aunt lives 12 mi away and we see her about every 2 weeks – more if we need free babysitting! You know, if we’re being honest, there are some family we wish we were closer to, but we love it where we are and it seems like we have a good balance. Good luck – it’s not always easy to figure out how much you want to see the ones you love. Sometimes it can be too much of a good thing…
April 13, 2008 at 8:18 am |
DramaMama,
I was just at your site, and wanted to comment…but couldn’t! I guess that I’d better set up a fake blogger account soon!
April 13, 2008 at 8:41 am |
My husband is an only child, and I have two brothers who live in the next town. We see them at Thanksgiving and funerals.
We live only 20 minutes from my in-laws, but see them about 5 times a year. Unfortunately, they are very busy (MIL is a minister at a large church), and our house is not on the way to anything, so visits aren’t squeezed in very often.
We have seven (+) children, run our own business and a farm, and are pretty busy ourselves… so we understand busyness, but also know that it would be easier for them to come to us technically. They make the obligatory 3 minute phone call on the children’s birthdays, and send a card, but there’s not much there otherwise.
My mother lives 8 hours away, and because of her living situation, we just can’t afford the trip and hotels, etc. very often. We see her once a year on a good year. I had three children before she ever met my first, and she has only seen me pregnant once out of eight pregnancies so far.
I think you have done a wonderful, self-sacrificing thing to move you guys to be near your folks. You have a chance to repair the breach, and I am excited for you. You are a pretty humble girl to be able to start from here, and restore the years that the locust has eaten. At the risk of sounding condescending, I am very proud of you.
April 13, 2008 at 9:02 am |
Lets see. We drive 45 minutes once a week to visit my widowed grandmother. My mother lives 4 lives one way–I see or talk to her every day some weeks and then other times we won’t here from her for weeks–especially during hunting season. My dad lives walking distance away and takes one of the kids to breakfast each week–they take turns. He stops in then and we chat a little. We also go hang out at the pond which is his property every other week or so. Our house is between their houses and my brother switches between the two every other day so they pass by and stop often.
My inlaws live 4 miles in another direction, mildly out of the way so we see her every other week or so. It took us a long time to figure it all out and decide what worked best for each part of the family. It is really easy to be pulled in all directions and for a long time my inlaws had a hard time understanding things like naptime and bed time.
Now it doesn’t matter so much. 
April 13, 2008 at 9:03 am |
Oh, and I see my brother a lot–every week or so, though my other brother lives a two days drive away so we see him once a year, maybe.
April 13, 2008 at 9:12 am |
My in-laws live in town and we usually see them once a week. My husband’s sister lives in town too and she (along with her kids) see them a bit more often. So, for a long time, I felt guilty that we didn’t see them as much, but once a week is good for us. And if a visit doesn’t happen, it’s not a big deal. I will have to say, that it is special to see the loving relationship that has develped between my kids and their grandparents. (And they help me out for free when I need it)!
April 13, 2008 at 9:28 am |
As you know, Holly, I’m the mother and mil and you probably already know how things are here on Pollywog Creek. Our oldest is the nephew we raised and he lives in a town over 2 hours from here, near his father (my only sibling). We see them about every other month. We usually have to drive to them. At the same time, we visit Louis’ 81 year old widowed aunt who also lives in that part of the start. Louis’s only sibling lives 5 hours north of us and we usually see him 2-3 times a year. Neither one of us have parents or grandparents that are still living. Our 2 boys married young ladies from the same community, which was wonderful for the first two years – before Casey and Jessi moved 1200 miles away. We have only seen them once since Sept. While we were all here, we establised a family dinner night – a night that worked well for everyone – and both boys and their families would come here for dinner. We have continued our family dinner nights, but when Nick is at sea, it is only Kristin and 15 month old Gavin that can come. Because I keep Gavin 2-3 days a week, we see Kristin at least that often and Nick, too, if he is here. We also see them on Sundays at church and sometimes go out to eat together afterwards. We usually all meet at Kristin’s mother’s house for special occasions. I want Lizbeth, Kristin (and Jessi when they lived here) – my daughters in law – to all feel like my home is their home, too. I don’t expect them to knock before they come in. We have a key to Nick and Kristin’s house -which is about 5 minutes away, but I have never shown up unannounced. In fact, I go weeks without going there at all. I want to give Nick and Kristin their space. When Nick is home from sea, he frequently comes over to borrow some of his father’s tools, take Emily out to lunch, or just to sit outside and talk to his dad if Louis is home.
We talk often to all of the boys. Casey calls us 3-4 times a week while he is on the road, and we hear from Nick when he can call us from shore and Michael at least once a week if not more often. We email often throughout the week.
April 13, 2008 at 9:38 am |
Jim’s mom…every Monday, and sometimes more. She’s within 40 minutes of us. My mom and dad, not as often as I would like, but at least once, sometimes twice a month. They come here or we go there.
As for siblings, Jim has none, and mine…the ones who live in province and within two hours…at least six times a year, usually at least one just privately with each sib. One brother and family live 6 hours away so mostly when they come up to visit (twice a year). One sister and family live two provinces away…. ah…NOT near as often as we would like. usually once every other year. ARGH! miss her sometimes rather much!
April 13, 2008 at 10:19 am |
My mom lives less than 5 minutes away from us – we see her several times a week, especially since she babysits while I do part-time work from home. We don’t go over there as much as we used to, since we now have a toddler and her house, while pretty good baby-wise, has no where for him to sleep and no food that we would feed him.
My in-laws live about 2 1/2 hours south of us. We usually visit once every three months, and they come up to see us once a year, maybe. We’re not particularly close with them… My SIL and newphew also live in the same house as MIL and FIL, so it makes it VERY crowded when we do visit, and also makes it to where the grandparents NEVER get time alone with just our kids.
I am adopted, and my birth family lives in Michigan, where I’ve gone twice to visit. I keep up with my sisters on MySpace and with my mom and grandma through e-mail. My birthmom and her husband live in an RV and travel around the country, so we seem them whenever they’re in Florida, usually 3-4 times a year.
April 13, 2008 at 11:09 am |
Wow. Thanks to those who responded!
I am used to seeing my parents MAYBE twice a year! My siblings? Once or twice a year. An interesting thing happened in September. My sister came to my house for the FIRST TIME IN THIRTEEN YEARS! No troubles between us…she just lived pretty far away and didn’t have much vacation time. We saw each other at my parent’s home…but never at my home! (That made a total of 2 visits in 19 years.)
Jeff’s folks…we see them only about twice a year. He has one brother and wife who are missionaries in Hungary, so we see them…once a year IF things work well. Sometimes it is much longer than that. He has another brother and wife who have been missionaries in Mexico/South America throughout our married life (Hey Kathy!!!!) and the time frame is usually the same. Another brother lives 18 hours from us. As you can see…even though we all try….it is HARD to get together.
All of that to say…I am NOT used to living near relatives! It is going very well – I just don’t really know how to do this yet.
April 13, 2008 at 12:30 pm |
um we probably see my parents about once a month and my dh’s parents about once every 2-3 months. We don’t live nearby each other so when we get together it’s a bit of a shindig
April 13, 2008 at 1:15 pm |
My family all lives several states away, so we are lucky if we get to see them once a year. My brother in law and his wife, about twice a week since we live in the same apartment complex. My in laws which live 5 min away, we see about once a week or less. They do tell us that we don’t see them enough.
April 13, 2008 at 7:17 pm |
We’ve been very fortunate to move “back home” recently. I see my mom just about every day. She works crazy hours at a retail store so on nights she gets home around 9 I try to make her dinner. So she usually stops in on her way down the driveway. My dad is hit and miss he’s a transport driver so I see him whenever his is home, well, atleast speak with him on the phone.
THe In-laws, well, They contact me when they want to for the most part. When the hubby is not deployed we hear from them all the time, see them atleast weekly, etc. When he’s deployed, notsomuch. :sigh: can’t win them all I guess.
April 13, 2008 at 7:32 pm |
Thanks for posting on my blog.
We see my parents a couple times a month, usually on the weekend. Most of the time they drive here–about an hour–since they have smaller cars (less gas!) and no little children. Some months we see someone from my family every weekend, other months it’s more like every other weekend. A lot depends on if they are already up here in the city–they make the trip for other things fairly frequently.
April 13, 2008 at 7:58 pm |
We are in Michigan my parents in Texas we cant take the foster kids out of state with out a jugdes say so so it is a LONG process to do so. We see my folks for 2-3 weeks a summer if they come up which they didnt last year due to healthy issues. Hubby’s parents 2 hours away we see them about every other month mostly them coming here and weekly phone calls. We used to live 5 minuts from them and they thought we should come over every week end. It got harder as the kids came. but we tried at least 1-2 times a months for a long visit
April 13, 2008 at 8:35 pm |
My parents live a mile down the street from us. We go to their house almost every Sunday afternoon and more often when it is hot…because they have a pool.
My mom will drop by sometimes, but, I have to admit that I am not so good with unannounced visits. We homeschool and I just would rather not have the interruption. UGH! That sounds so bad!
My MIL lives about 15 minutes away and she and my SIL come once a week to spend time with the kids and to give me a chance to go grocery shopping by myself.
We have settled into a good routine for Thanksgiving… we do the big Thursday dinner with my parents and then spend time with my MIL and SIL on Friday after. Christmas has been worked out well, too. Usually my sister and brother and their families come from Wisconsin and Atlanta respectively, and so we spend Christmas Eve at my parents with all of them, Christmas morning and into the afternoon here at home and my MIL and SIL come over with presents, and then back over to my parents for a Christmas dinner.
Figuring it all out can be hard sometimes.
April 13, 2008 at 9:46 pm |
So, do some of you feel that you see your parents or in-laws too much?
Please don’t take that wrong…but if your husband only gets one day off a week and it is spent with relatives EVERY time, how do you get time for just your family? Or are you okay with that?
I think it sounds lovely to have such close community. I just wonder how it works out, practically.
Having spent so much time without family near, I find that I can get over-protective of my time. Sometimes, I can avoid potential trouble by swiftly suggesting another time to get together (my parents often bring other, older relatives over to see us. It’s a good thing, because the kids and I are learning about the relatives we’ve never really known. We are gaining connectedness. But it can feel like an infringement at times, if I’m not careful.) Often, I just need to deal with it and not be a baby.
April 13, 2008 at 10:14 pm |
My parents and brothers live 750 miles away so we only see them about twice a year. Once in April and once in September. My in-laws live in town but we do not communicate with most of them and we see my sister in law and her family once, maybe twice a year. One of my brothers just recently (last Monday!) got out of a cult with his son and his wife. They will be here tomorrow and I have not seen him in 6 years and haven’t spoken with him in 4 so I’m nervous and excited. Some days I wish I had family closer so that my husband and I could do some things (like go out more than once a year) but I’m thankful for the times I do get to see my family and honestly it puts a tension on everything when they are here so I’m rather relieved that we don’t see them every weekend!
April 14, 2008 at 12:27 am |
Monica, that was a big concern of mine at first. A big fear, in fact.
But it has been better than I ever dreamed. Just taking the steps necessary broke down some of those walls that I thought could never be broken.
I was surprised, but quite pleased and thankful. I never thought………
April 14, 2008 at 4:38 am |
Well, my parents live 3 doors down so I see them every day. Before we lived this close, I saw them 2-4 times a week. I see my sisters weekly. We are pretty close. But my husband’s sisters we only see once a month or so.
April 14, 2008 at 4:44 am |
Wow, Brenda. That sounds neat!
April 14, 2008 at 5:00 am |
We live pretty far from family~ it’s a 6 hour drive to my Dad’s house, and nearly 8 hours to my in-laws’ house. Add to that the difficulty of squeezing us all in to sleep at night (only 6 of us!), and we don’t visit very often. Things would be different if we lived close to them, but there would definitely be other issues to sort out then. I love to hear about families who are able to live close to grandparents and caring aunts and uncles.
April 14, 2008 at 6:19 am |
We live in the same town as both my parents and my husbands parents. My uncle and his daughter and her husband also live here.
Although we are only twenty minutes away from my folks, we hardly ever see them. I am an only child, and they cannot seem to figure out that I’m a grown up, and they meddle in all of our affairs. They ask prying, leading questions, and then give unsolicited advice and it makes us nutty. I have to be very guarded about what I say around them. My mother does not hear well, so we e-mail each other (rather than talk on the phone), but these often lead to long drawn out e-mail arguments. One of my children is autistic and his behavior makes her very uncomfortable. Occasionly, she comes over when I desperately need a baby sitter and then I always find something amiss, like a diaper put on backwards, or candy wrappers stuffed down between the cushions of the sofa. I see my uncle at Thanksgiving and Christmas. He does not understand my lifestyle choices (ie, Christianity, homeschooling, staying at home with the kids, etc.) and often encourages me to go back to work. I see my cousin then too, along with her sour husband, and frankly I am tired of having to explain their piercings to my kids (although I had to stifle laughter when one of my boys asked her why she had staples in her lip.)
My husbands parents still work, so we sometimes see them on the weekends when we see them which is not very often, maybe four or five times a year. They live about ten minutes away. He’s the baby of four children so his parents are much more understanding when it comes to the kids…His mother can diaper a child in about five seconds flat! However, we don’t feel totally comfortable about leaving the kids alone at their house, because his sisters often drop by unannounced, and we’d rather not have their influence in our children’s lives, if for nothing else but their constant cursing and rude behavior.
I wish things were different, but we pray for all of them, and do what we can to live peacefully among them.
April 14, 2008 at 6:50 am |
Well, we just did the opposite of you. We moved farther away from family, so now we can’t see our parents often enough.
Before we moved, we lived one hour away from my parents-in-law and we saw them fairly often. No more than three weeks went by without some sort of visit or meeting them half-way. Often, we saw them more than that — depending on our schedules.
Before the move, we lived four hours away from my parents. We drove there to visit them every three months or so. We also saw my grandmothers and my younger brother and his family then.
My older brother lives a couple time zones over, and they come back to the Eastern US once every year and a half. That’s when we would see them. I’m not sure how that will work now that we’re not close the rest of family. Once, my children had chicken pox and we couldn’t visit when they were back home, so it was three years between visits.
Before the move, we usually saw my husband’s siblings anywhere from three times a year to five or six times. It just depended on what was going on and how our schedules worked out.
Now that we’ve moved, who knows!
I have a friend who lives 20 minutes or so from her parents and 10 minutes from her sister. They have dinner together one evening a week. Sometimes, they’ll see each other more often — like if her parents come to see her children play a sport. I think scheduling one day a week to definitely see each other is a good idea.
April 14, 2008 at 7:38 am |
In the Michigan town that we just moved from, EVERYONE was related. (Hey, there, TRINITY people. You can vouch for me!
Sisters, brothers, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, Grandparents…they saw each other at church every Sunday and Wednesday…ate lunch together, they saw each other all of the time!
April 14, 2008 at 8:15 am |
Okay, I am from that Michigan church that saw sisters, brothers, parents, in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles every Sunday and lots of Wednesdays – I am here to tell you there is a negative side to that as well. We rarely choose to be together. We see each other enough without intentionally planning, that we rarely plan to see each other. You can’t really talk and connect in a church setting (at least, as your only means of communication) with kids everywhere, but it always seems like you just saw them or will see them in 2 days – so why call or invite them over.
April 14, 2008 at 9:04 am |
Hi Holly…
I quietly stop in often, but just a whisper tonight:
My Mama lives 5 min. from us: we see her at church every Sun., she comes and does a sewing class with the children every Friday and has dinner with us afterwards. We have Sunday dinner together once a month, and we talk nearly everyday on the phone.
My brother lives 20 min. away: once a week at church, he calls me Tues. nights, and he stops in unannounced usually twice a month.
My sister, 5 min. away: dinner once a month, talk on the phone everyday, and in the summer we see her biweekly.
My Dad, 20 minutes a way: every other month, talk on the phone weekly.
Dh’s Dad: 10 min. away: once a week, every Friday he comes to help out.
Dh’s siblings: 3 times a year: Thanksgiving, New Years, August
I think establishing some kind of predictable routine, an expected day of the week, to connect, has really worked for us.
I send much love, Holly. Hope often asks after your girls and wonder when we can get together again!
April 14, 2008 at 9:55 am |
For me, I was raised to believe that family is important, very important AND I know how close my hubby and his mom are so, it’s in some ways inconceivable to not see her as often as possible. Plus now that we have our boy and she is SO totally in love with that grandchild of hers….I couldn’t not let her see him weekly…and he loves her so much right back.
Not to say that hubby and I don’t get “our time”. J now says, I stay grammers, bye mom!” So we head out, do a meal together, kick around and such like. It’s all good. AND if I really don’t want to go, we don’t go… but to me the other (the above) tends to be more important than me (learning NOT to be selfish).
April 14, 2008 at 10:35 am |
We moved close to family almost two years ago. It has been interesting to see how it has worked out.
Some family members go out of their way to see us and spend time with us. We have found it very easy to make these family members a part of our routine. For instance we see my grandparents no less than 3 times a week. They take one of my children to school one day a week, one of my children to piano once a week (though this is temporary, I used to stop in and see them on the way to piano), and host us at their home at least once a week. We often do other stuff with them too.
Other family members are simply busier, and it is harder to spend time with them because of their commitments. I have had to search my own life/schedule/heart in this to make sure that I am not the one throwing up barriers. I have had to learn not to meet their busy-ness with my own busy-ness; it somehow becomes easy for me to start thinking, “Well, if she doesn’t have time for me this week, why should I carve out time for her next week?”
And others, we simply see when we see. I think that this is my favorite part – being here to bump into those that happen to be around. Bumping into my aunt at a store or being around to meet my uncle and cousin for lunch when they drove 1.5 hours to see my grandparents. And the holidays have been SO much easier – SO. MUCH. EASIER!
Now, as we look at the probability of having to move away again, I am just so thankful for this time – to learn to be more hospitable and to see the children develop relationships with family. What a blessing!
April 14, 2008 at 12:05 pm |
I live on the adjoining property to my folks. My brother lives next door, and each of my other two siblings also own adjoining property. I’m surrounded on each of the other sides by my first cousins, and we’re as close as siblings.
I see my parents most every day. Today Dad rode over on his four-wheeler, bringing home my 10 year old who had been up the hill helping Papa work in the shop.
Last night my folks watched all 4 kiddos so Hubby and I could go on a date. I saw my sister-in-law and niece and nephew at church today, they sat next to us. My folks and an Aunt and Uncle sat two rows behind us. We all attend a church 30 miles away from here. (we pass 19 churches to get to “ours”)
I talk to my Mom on the phone numerous times each day, even though she’s just up the hill. We’re friends.
My sister lives 3 miles away, and we see each other all the time, too. My other brother currently lives about 15 miles away, but eventually plans to build on the family property. We’re all close, and between us we have 12 kids. They’re great friends!
I consider it a HUGE blessing to be close to my family. My closest friends are my Mother and my Aunt (a mother of 10 children). Without them, I don’t know who I’d gab with, play cards with, have babysit, eat with, share with, borrow from, be encouraged by, pray for or be prayed for by, or who would care if I were sick!? Family is AWESOME!!
~Leah in Alaska~
April 14, 2008 at 1:24 pm |
I’ve always lived fairly close to my parents and siblings; apart from the two plus years I lived in London. Before I married, I used to see them about once a week for coffee, and sometimes more. Now, I guess we see them once a fortnight, even though they are not far away. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them; they are good friends of ours! My older sis has two boys and they see each other all the time. I think when we have kids we will see more of them naturally.
The other thing is that they travel a lot; they are about to go to France for two months so I will try to see more of them over th next two weeks.
My sister I see at least twice a week with church, my other sister a lot less. My brother lives in London, but we do keep in touch via email etc. I would say we are a close family; I like being able to see my family often.
April 14, 2008 at 7:56 pm |
Ah ha. There’s my Trinity witness.
I was wondering if anyone was still around!
So…let me make sure that I understand what you are saying:
When you are surrounded and inundated by family, it is hard at times to have meaningful or purposeful connection. While you may SEE each other, you may not really TALK about things. Is that one of the potential pitfalls of living close?
April 14, 2008 at 9:30 pm |
Hi Holly!
Well- my family lives 4 1/2 hours away, so I only see them a few times a year. My husbands family live here in town, so we see them almost everyday.
April 14, 2008 at 10:32 pm |
After living in another country for ten years, we now live three miles from my parents. We also go to the same church. I talk to my mom on the phone at least once a day, often many more. I probably see my mom at least four times a week. I see dad a bit less often, only because he’s at work when I see my mom. But we make sure that he sees the kids at least once a week, other than church. We normally come around to their place at least once a week for dinner. My husband and my dad work at the same company, so often DH will catch a ride home with my dad and we’ll have dinner together that night. My parents don’t come to our house nearly as much as we come to theirs. I think it’s because our apartment is pretty small in comparison to their house and dad feels squished.
I don’t know if we’ll continue at this same rate or not. I like it fine and DH is good to tell me when he just wants time by ourselves. But after being apart for so long it’s like we’re getting caught up again.
Before we left New Zealand, we lived about 20 minutes from my in-laws. We saw them about once a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
April 15, 2008 at 1:32 am |
Hello Holly!
My husbands’ family (two brothers, their wives and children, his parents) and us all live with-in 2 miles of each other. We go to church and bible study together (his father is the pastor), we get together for every birthday (we don’t have birthday’s in Dec., April or Sept. yet), we watch each other’s children when needed (although with 5 children, I watch the niece and nephews more often then they watch mine)…. In other words, we see each other quite often, and yet we are still close. While we all have different personalities, and some of us share more than others, we all still know what’s going on in their lives.
We live 2 1/2 blocks away from the Post Office, so my MIL, who goes to the Post Office every day, will stop by often during the week and we’ll talk and stuff. We all are very, very blessed to get along with each other as well as we do. And everyone has voiced that a time or two. The reason I think that is? Christ. He is our common denominator.
Now, my family…that’s a different story. I’m close to my mother, but not in proximity. She lives in Idaho and we live in Wisconsin and we talk at least once a week. She has been to our house in the last 8 years (our whole marriage) about 6 times and we have been to her house about 4 times (which includes my grandfathers funeral). My father has not been to our house since our eldest was 2 months old. She is now 7. We have been to his house (he lives in VA) twice (I don’t really get along with my step-mother very well, so it doesn’t really make me want to go there). I’m close to my sister, but she also lives in VA and they can not afford to come here. They currently live with her husband’s parents, so we can’t go there.
Except for my mother (who plans to move here once my grandmother no longer needs her), I’m glad I don’t live near my family. Even my sister. I love her very much, but she drives my crazy! And my father and his wife, no thanks! If it wasn’t for the guilt that I have about my children not knowing my father, I would be just fine not seeing them for a long time (can you tell I really don’t like my step-mother?).
I’ll end this book by saying that we have decided that if we are going to make the effort to see my mother’s mother in Idaho this summer (which we are), then we best make the effort to see my father’s mother in VA, too.
Maybe my sister will have a house of her own by then and we won’t have to stay with my father.
Jennifer
April 16, 2008 at 10:00 pm |
When we were married, nigh on 28 years ago now, we lived in a 29 foot travel trailer about 50 yds. from my in-laws house. Then we moved down the road about 1/8 of a mile to a house rental and had our first child. Then we built a house on the back of in-laws 10 acres and had two more children and have lived here ever since.
I think we have seen them just about everyday, sometimes we stop in, sometimes in passing. They travel alot of the year, so sometimes we keep in touch by phone or computer. I have been very blessed to have great in-laws who were always mindful about “butting in” and have been polite when giving “correction”! Not positive about dad-inlaws’ salvation, but mom-in-law isn’t saved….prayer alert…
My folks live about an hour and a half away, and I see them every few months and keep in touch by phone. My parents have been to my house five times and my half bro and sis have never been (we aren’t close, they being born when I was in high school and my folks moved away…I lived with my grandparents). My mom professes Christ but my dad has never discussed this….I need to give that prayer ASAP…
All this to say that my three children live within an hour of us and we speak with them or see them weekly and they inquire about their grandparents and yes, we can annoy each other as well! Closeness does NOT equate perfection…that’ll have to wait for heaven!!
It’s best to count your blessings one by one regardless of your family situation… I met my biological father twice and never heard from him again (He didn’t live but 30 minutes away…I knew I wasn’t his cup of tea the first time we met but without him, I wouldn’t be, huh? There’s a blessing right there!) The blessings are always there and you never know who or when your life may show Christ to…..
April 17, 2008 at 8:21 pm |
I feel that is one of the pitfalls of living close – SEEING often, but CONNECTING and TALKING (really talking) seldom. Don’t get me wrong – I loving seeing my family and in-laws often, but just wish we were more purposeful in connecting.
Another of the pitfalls – extended family never comes to stay the night. (Maybe some of you are saying – PTL…) This past year my in-laws lost electricity on a holiday and I was hosting the family that day. They ended up staying the night because their electricity was still not working. That was the first time they had stayed the night ever (Of course, they live 8 miles away or so) – the kids were so excited!!