part of a family

I've always thought that one of the neat things about adoption is that a child goes from having no one to having not only a family in the sense of mom/dad/siblings, but also gains an extended family.

Last week we celebrated my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. Krassimir has great-grandparents! He is part of this family...

Our family with my grandparents

...and this family...

Our family, my parents, and my grandparents

...and this family!

All of us that made it to the anniversary party! We're missing my sister, her husband and daughter who live in Germany, and two of my cousins who also live far enough away that they weren't able to make it.

Today we were at a big Glewwe family reunion. And when I say big, I mean BIG, as in there were people there whose relationship to each other was that they were sixth cousins. That's going a long way back. Each of us had name tags custom made that listed out our geneology back to the original Charles Glewwe who just happens to be the point that connects all of us. Kind of mind-boggling. I have loved being part of this family because there is so much local history connected to it, and I didn't have that with my family of origin, so marrying into it was pretty neat. There was a Glewwe grocery store, and a Glewwe taxi service, and a Glewwe car dealership, and a number of other significant parts of the local economy. Everywhere we drive around town we're passing by the old houses that used to belong to Glewwes or their descendents, including the house we come home to every day. ;)

Lots and lots of Glewwes

And now Krassimir is part of that family. He has a family!! Not that much more than a year ago he had no one, and now he belongs to a FAMILY! We forgot our camera, so I don't have photos from the afternoon, but when I got home, I had to take this one.

Look at that. He's part of a family. ;) (As a point of interest, there is one family who has people down to the eight generation who were in attendance today. We had people from generations #4 through #8 at the picnic.)

And, apparently I was not the only one who thinks this is pretty cool, because look at this picture that I found on the camera when I downloaded photos tonight:

Daddy took that one. ;)

Just in case any one was wondering, this boy is not "Krassimir who got left in a terrible orphanage to fend for himself" but "Krassimir Emmanuel Glewwe who is part of a family and belongs to lots and lots of people who love him a whole lot."

And that's what I have to say about that.