Five. "Siblings"

Day five. My Siblings.

I have four. So buckle down and enjoy the read.

Nathan with my mom (Gretchen on her back).

My brother Nathan is the oldest in our family. He is twelve years older than me. He was adopted right our of the hospital. His mom contacted my parents saying she wanted to give him up for adoption, and my parents had been wanting a baby for a few years. Both my mom and dad were so excited to finally have their prayers answered and their waiting ended. As the story goes, he was an extremely charming little boy and very well-behaved (which he made up for later in life. haha...). My mom told me that she used to talk to him non-stop because she read that children whose mothers who talk to them are much more likely to talk quickly and with a more expanded vocabulary. It must have worked, because my mom said he was talking well long before he walked, and if you happen to know his daughter, thats not hard to believe.

 Of course he possessed (and still does) all of the characteristics of "older-brotherhood". The teasing, burping, tickling, chiding, lifting-up-by-the-straps-of-the-overalls, etc. But really, he was a good brother for all of the drama he had to deal with, and I'm sure he is a better husband for it. My mom says he would even play Barbies with my sisters, at least to the point of where he would build houses for their Barbies to live in, and in turn, my sisters would help him build forts in the woods.

To be honest, my direct memories with Nate are somewhat few, at least compared to the plethora of hours spent with my sisters. Still, I have always admired him with sort of a "cool teenager" awe. He is a total neat freak, so I have many memories of chiding about my messy room. He is also very intelligent and after taking some time off to work when he first got married, he got his degree in accounting from the University of Illinois. Which is like one of the top buisness schools in the nation, or something like that.

He is also a great husband and father. He was married when I was eight, (on April 26th, in 1997) and my sister-in-law Janet is as close to me as any other member of my family. She has always been there, and Abby and I loved her so much, and admired her beauty...heck, we still do. Four years ago he was blessed with a baby girl. Mercedes is our absolute joy. She is hilarious, but that's another post altogether. They are soon expecting a baby boy as well, and I'm sure he is very excited not to be for once, outnumbered.

They are still a big part of our lives, and live just up the road. They are such hospitable people, and on any given night they might ask my dad and I to dinner.

My Oldest sister Gretchen comes next. She was born just eighteen months after my parents adopted my brother. My parents could not be more overjoyed. She was an adorable little girl, with those big blue eyes! Gretchen has always been the oldest sister type. She is takes on her leadership role with ease, which cause her and Nathan to clash a little bit as kids. She blogged all about her childhood last summer, so if you are interested in reading more about her, you can click here.

When I was a freshman in high school, my mom took off a year of home schooling, and Gretchen took over. It was awesome! She is a really great teacher, which makes total sense, since she has a degree to teach high school history. We had so many fun learning experiences that year, and I read some of my favorite books of all time (Jane Eyre, Uncle Tom's Cabin, To Kill a Mockingbird). Gretchen always pushed us to be studious. She was always discussing college options, and giving her insight on what major we should go for. If I had to compare her to a literary character, I would lean solidly toward Jo March. I mean, I doubt she would have turned down a marriage proposal from Christian Bale, but she is an avid reader and writer. Her dream job would probably be to be a Children's book author.

 Although we are eleven years apart, Gretchen and I have shared many, many experiences with one another. Mostly due to the fact that our interests are similar. When I was fifteen, she and a close friend envisioned a Day Camp Ministry for kids in our local town. This ministry, "Camp OUTT", among a few other instances, completely changed my life, and Daniel's too. Working side by side with my sister was super beneficial for me, and I have learned so much from her. As a fun treat to ourselves after the conclusion of Camp OUTT, we took a trip to New York City. Neither of us had been there before, and needless to say, we had an absolute blast. Definitely in the top ten of the best trips of my life! Another experience we shared was being in plays together. In highschool I was apart of the Community Theatre here in our town; and Gretchen was too. I remember my first audtion ever. It was for the King and I and Gretchen went with me. I remember we had to rush over after church on a Sunday night so we were super late, which was actually kind of nice because almost everyone had left. We both sang just a tiny bit, and they said, "You're in." Needless to say that was probably one of my best audtion experiences...

When Gretchen was in college, she met this awesome guy right here. Josh is like a real brother to me, in the same way that Janet is like a real sister. Thats just how our family does things. Once you're in, you're in for good. They got married right after I turned twelve. It was an extremely fun day, everything was really laid back and orginal, and almost "hippy-ish" which is totally Gretchen. For the first years of their marriage (after a quick year Josh spent finishing up college) they lived less than two minutes away from us. It was awesome, Abby and I would just pop in like every night it seems, or Gret and Josh would pop in at our house. Major bonds were created during those times.

Gret and Josh have since moved away to Kentucky, and a little over two months after my mom died, they had a beautiful baby girl, who they named Susan, after my mom. When the bonds of mother/daughterhood are unavailable, the bonds of sisterhood grow even stronger. When Susie was born, Abby went and lived with Gretchen and Josh for a few weeks to help out with everything. That is what sisters do. They step up to the plate long before it is expected of them. Just like Nate and Janet, Gretchen too is expecting a baby boy at the end of May. I dont know what we will do with all of these babies! :)

My sister Anna is next. She was born a little less than two years after my sister Gretchen. She was the baby for nine long years. She has a few of the "youngest child" traits in her, but many of them were lost when I came along. Anna has always been a lover of small children and small animals. She especially loves cats and kittens. I so wish I had a picture of her with a kitty, but for times sake I cannot go digging for more pictures. Just suffice it to say that she loves them. She spent a lot of her childhood babysitting, and a lot of her teenagerhood babysitting her sisters. She was pretty much a natural. I have vague memories of her playing Barbies with me, and I remember it being so much more fun than playing by myself. I also remember when I was little that Anna always had a huge stash of candy. Every once in a while she would let us have some. I remember specifically that she always had "Now and Laters" and those "Air Head" taffy things with the sprinkles on them...tell me you know.. Like my brother, she is also a neat freak, and I remember there were strict rules against getting on her meticulously made bed. At the time I thought that was so mean, but now I totally understand!

Anna is my glamorous sister. She and I have the whole girly-girl thing in common. Abby and Gretchen are girly too, but not to the glitter and sparkle level that Anna and I are. It has really brought us together as we have gotten older. She is the sister who loves to shop (unlike Abby) and loves to wear make-up (unlike Gretchen). We are both lovers of jewlery, clothing, purses, etc. She is also extremely hilarious. I love to hear her point of view on things, because while she is opinionated, she has such a sense of humor about it. We also share a lot of the same tastes in music and movies. Ok maybe not movies. She loves scary movies, I HATE scary movies. We have often been told that we look alike, and I much agree, especially in that picture above. It is a total complement, because Anna is so very gorgeous. I remember all the teenage boys (like my age...and she was probably already married) saying that she was so pretty...not awkard at all....

Like my other sisters, Anna and I have shared many awesome experiences. Many amusement park trips (she is the perfect roller-coaster buddy, since we both LOVE them and will go on anything!), scrapbooking nights, movies, and out to eats. The most fun trip that we shared was to Florida for spring break last year. It was perfect weather and seriously so much fun! The most adventurous part of the trip was when a bird flew into our hotel room, and after she and I dove under the sheets for a few minutes, she bravely guided the bird out the window with a bath towel. There is always a stronger bond between two people after near death experiences such as those. :) Although nine years apart, once I hit highschool, Anna and I pretty much found each other to be of a realitively similar level. I remember sharing with each other relationship advice, at a point in time where the most I knew of relationships was talking to boys on the phone. It meant so much to me though that she trusted my opinion and that she counted me as someone worthy to talk to about things that she was concerned about. I have always tried to be two things for all my sisters. An unbiased opinion, and a listening ear.

 In May of 2004, Anna married Bob. They are the most hilarious couple in the world. Polar opposites in some ways, identical in others. I love how when they fight they still use terms of endearment, "HONEY..." It cracks me up. They are so cute though, and a lot of fun to spend time with. Anna would give anything for Bob, and he would give anything for her. They were talking of their wedding day, and I said, "Best day of your life right?" To which Bob replied, in his Bob way, "Yep." Their wedding, was a another super fun day. Riding in a Limo, wearing a dress that I loved, dancing with boys, all very fun things when you are fifteen.

Another bonus of Anna's marriage was that she married one of Abby's and my best friends older brother. So now Alyssa is Anna's sister, and therefore we have dubbed Alyssa our sister as well. Love my Anna sister!

On to my Abby sister. She is the baby. Three years younger than me, twelve years younger than Anna, fourteen years younger than Gretchen, and fifteen and half years younger than Nathan. She is all of our baby. I dont know exactly how it worked out this way, but I feel like I am both her motherly older sister, and her entirely equal best friend. Three years if perfect in my opinion. I mean, dont get me wrong, I struggled a bit with the transition of youngest, to middle, but it is such a good thing that I was not the youngest, talk about potential for a spoiled brat. No, we were all extrememly excited for Abby to come along. Including me.

There are simply too many experiences that we have shared to go  into in a single blog post. Way too many. We lived, breathed, homeschooled, ate, slept, and played together for many many years. It has created an unmatched bond. I do not plan, nor do I believe it is possible to ever have a stronger bond with anyone than I have with Abby. Not to say we dont have our disagreements now and then. We totally do. Still, I'm the type of person that if we have never had an argument, then we probably aren't that close. Arguing is a natural part of expanding and open relationships. Abby is without a doubt, my best friend.

That age difference has also allowed for me to get the wonderful privledge of watching her grow up. I was there to witness every birthday party, every Formal, every homeschool event. Its so special, because I feel like more than just a peer, I am a real part of her life. This picture is so stunning that it sort of hurts my heart to look at it. What a beautiful woman she is! Not a baby girl anymore like I sometimes think. I am thankful that she is grown up too though, because it allows me to talk to her about anything, which I do. I'm a talker, Abby...not so much. I went into detail about this in a previous post, which you can read here.

Naturally, Abby is a boy-magnet. I say that only because I know that she wouldnt care. She is. Unlike me, Miss One Boyfriend My Whole Life. She has taught me a lot about relationships, mostly that there is not a cookie-cutter way to do things. Often I say, "Well Daniel and I did this." or "With me, it worked like this." and then I stop and realize that she is not me. Woah. Wake-up call. She is NOT me. Her life is entirely her own, and she should learn and make choices that suit her, not me. It has been so good for me to realize this, and incredibly important for my career as a counselor. It is sort of the running joke in my famiy, "Who is Abby dating this week?" but really, I trust fully and completely that God has the perfect man for her out there, she just hasnt found him yet. Keep up the search, Abby-dino, you're doing a great job keeping your chin held high. :)

Abby is, in a word a: firecracker. She is probably borderline Bi-polar. JK, Abby, simmmmer! She is passionate about everything she does. She goes in there 100%. She is reserved at first, but once you get to know her, she is an emotional roller-coaster, and there is never a dull moment with her. Seriously, of all the things that Abby is; boring is not one of them. She is awesome. So hilarious and outspoken. My word, we are polar opposites. Thats probably why we are best friends. Seriously. She is also a great people watcher. When I went to visit her at college, we sat and just watched people for about 1/2 hour, so much fun! Haha.

This year has been impossibly hard for me. Last fall she left for college. Misery insued. I have never been away from the baby for more than three weeks at a time. Pure agony, let me tell you. About eighty times harder than watching Daniel leave. Or maybe not harder just a different pain altogether. I'm going to go all cliche on you and say, "Dont it always seem to go, that you dont know what you got till its gone." I thought my life was hard without Daniel. Then Abby left. ::nightmare:: The pure grace of God has sustained me, as well as a continual counting down of the days until her return. Thank goodness that my dad has missed her like crazy too, so he has allowed for us to go see her several times this past year. So excited that I only have 12 more days left until I see her!

I love you so much Abby! Thank you so much for teaching me in your totally unintentional way! I am totally looking forward to a beyond awesome summer! Smoooch! :)

So, if you made it this far. Those are my wonderful brothers and sisters. Thanks and praise be to God that they are all His children! That is how I can trust their wonderful advice and love towards me. I am so thankful for each one of them. I wouldn't trade my beautiful family for anothing in the whole world! :)