Extended family has always been important to me and I want it to be important to my children, especially since they were adopted. It's possible that I work extra hard to maintain those extended family connections, even with the distance, so that my kids feel connected to our families. I believe the fact that her son would be a part of a large extended family was appealing to Snuggle Bug's birth parents. I'm not sure if it mattered to Boo's bio mother either way.

The kids are finally to an age where they are remembering all of their relatives and beginning to understand how everyone is connected (i.e. their grandmother is my mother, their aunt is my sister). It warms my heart to hear the excitement as they talk about this upcoming visit. They can't wait to see their 8 cousins! They've been marking the days off the calendar for about a month now.

We're flying back home for 10 days! I'm pulling Snuggle Bug out of school. My father's health is quite fragile right now so I feel it's important for them to see him, possibly one last time. Thankfully, Snuggle Bug's teachers are understanding and are sending homework with us so that he won't get behind.

Two more days until we board the airplane that will take us to my family!! I can't wait!!!