Taylor - Made

When my husband and I met, I was going through a rough patch in my life. I was shy and my life was chaos and yet, my husband’s family welcomed me and my children with love and warmth as part of their family. In the past I tended to be emotionally distant with people because of things that happened while I was younger; I would get close to someone, and for some reason or another, they would either leave or hurt me. My in-laws and I have had our ups and downs throughout the past five years, but they never gave up hope or their faith in the restoration of what was broken.

My husband comes from a very close-knit family full of love and support. A lot of what I didn’t have growing up. I remember the first time meeting his mom, dad and siblings. I was a nervous wreck about what they would think of me. He kept telling me, “don’t worry, they’ll see how much I love you and they’ll love you too.” And they did.

When we got married two years ago, my good friend Gary was going to walk me down the aisle, but he got sick the morning of our wedding. My fatherin-law, Dave, didn’t hesitate to say yes when I asked him if he could step in. I didn’t have a mother to help me pick out a wedding dress, but my mother-in-law, Beth, took me shopping for not just my dress, but the bridesmaid’s dresses also, as well the other wedding decorations. If it weren’t for his family (and others), our wedding wouldn’t have been as beautiful as it was.

His sister and her husband, Makenzi and Jonathan, are two of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and their daughter, Hazel, is just the smartest and cutest one year old – but you know I’m a bit biased in my opinion there. We recently went to Amarillo to stay with them for a weekend while we awaited his brother, Cason, to arrive that Sunday from California. Cason is in the Marines and is getting stationed in Japan for a year, so this was the last weekend we could all get together before he leaves. We went to Medi Park in Amarillo that Sunday and took some family pictures.

I absolutely love spending time with my husband’s family. You get all of them together and trust me, you’ll never stop laughing.

A lot of the times we’re all hanging out, I sit back and listen to their banter, laughter, the joking around and I think to myself, “How did I get so lucky?” I’m proud to say I’m part of this family and I’d hate to think where I would be without their continuous support.

I want to thank them for accepting me. They might be “my husband’s family”, but they are mine as well.