A Completed Puzzle

So not sure if I've posted about this, but back when I was on maternity leave with Gwen, I got a call from my dad letting me know I had a sister out there. It was definitely weird getting this news that they found out about her through doing one of those DNA tests and found her on Facebook and they had gotten to know her and now were passing along the news. I immediately friended her and sent her a "welcome to the family" message and we talked back and forth.

Well as luck would have it, even though she doesn't live in Utah, she was graduating and the ceremony was being held in Utah. The Wilson clan decided this would be a great time to get together and get some family pics with her in them. Luckily they were very accommodating and came to a place close to our house to do the pics so that we could do them on a Friday after I got off work. On the way there I was telling Larry how I was a little nervous meeting her and, of course, the topic of that long lost brother I knew was out there came up. I have to admit ever since I heard about Amanda (my sister) I've thought more and more about this mystery brother and how I wish I could get in touch with him, somehow, and how it feels weird to know he's out there, but I have no idea who he is. This was something I was going to ask Don about, if he'd feel weird if I tried to get in contact with him somehow, but I always chickened out when I got a moment to ask.

Well as we're driving up I notice two men I don't recognize. I assumed one might be Amanda's husband, but I wasn't sure which. I figured the other might be the photographer, but neither really gave me photographer vibes haha. As soon as we park, Don comes over to my car and announces that one of those mystery men was my brother! The one I thought I'd NEVER get to see or meet! I was SO excited to hear this I hurried the girls out of the car and ran over to say hi to Amanda (my first time meeting her) and Ryan - my brother.Still getting used to everything, but this is a big deal!

This was the most exciting moment - it felt like a completed puzzle. I officially know and have met all my siblings out there. I understand this is a very odd statement, but that's my life haha. We were able to get some full family shots and some mini family shots that turned out so cute!

 

The next day was Amanda's graduation, which we had to unfortunately miss out on, but then we all met up for dinner at Spaghetti Factory (one of my favorites!). Larry and I got to sit next to Amanda's other sister, who had two kids close in age to our girls. We ended up getting along with them very well and it was so nice to sit with them and not have it be awkward at all. We also got to meet Ryan's wife and his 4 kids (very briefly, they were at a different table). All the kids ended up dancing in this small area in between our tables. It was so cute to see them all get along and have fun together. It warms my heart to see how well Cara does with other kids when she's not fully used to being around a lot of other kids most of the time.

After dinner we did quick, cell phone family pics and it was fun to get so many fun, different shots to share. It was kind of weird meeting everyone, but still exciting.

 

Unfortunately, as fun as it was to meet Amanda, Ryan, and their families, I have to admit I ended up having some second thoughts. I got so caught up on the excitement of it all that I didn't realize till the next day that these are technically strangers, I need to be careful who I'm exposing my girls to. And while I would hope that nothing bad happens, I still get scared of things going wrong for them. The other things is, this is normal to me - constantly meeting new siblings, but I really want them to have a stable life and I don't want them thinking every few years there's going to be new family members that they didn't know about. Luckily, this really should be it, and I have talked these concerns out with Tracy, and she assured me these were blood relations, and not strangers on the street, so I do look forward to getting to know them more and for us to be one big, happy family :)