Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I Heart Connecticut, too!

Is it just me or is it so much fun to say "Connectthedot" instead of "Connecticut"? After our time in NYC, Hubs and I took the train up to CT to visit his birth mother and her family. We had a wonderful time!

Just to give you a little background, Hubs was adopted as an infant by his wonderful mom, "J". Several years ago, she encouraged him to consider finding his birth mother. Long story short, his adoption agency found her after only a couple hours of searching! As Hubs says, he feels like he won the adoption lottery. Not only was adopted by a great family, he now has a fantastic relationship with his birthmother, "A"! (Hubs has written a little bit about his adoption story here.)

He likes to tease me about getting not one but two mothers-in-law when I married him. I'm just so blessed that I love them both and they both love me so much! This is a picture that Hubs always wanted--him with his adoptive mother (on left) and his birth mother (on right). It was taken at our wedding.


"A" has been married her loving husband for years and they have four children together. So when Hubs found "A", he also learned that he has a step-father, "H". When "H" met Brian for the first time, he threw his arms around him and welcomed him to the family. His family calls him "The Toasted Marshmallow"--crusty on the outside, but a big softy on the inside!


"A" and "H" have 4 children and 8 grandchildren, which means that Hubs found himself with 4 half-siblings and a whole slew of nieces and nephews!  No one really uses the "half" terminology, though. They all refer to each other as brothers and sisters. It is a really wonderful story that just keeps unfolding.

Here are some pics of Hubs with some of his siblings:



The day that we arrived in CT, most of the family was at the house, including the newest member of the family, our 3 day old nephew (the son of Hubs' youngest brother pictured below).
Here are a couple pics of us with our nieces and nephews. It warmed my heart hear all those little voices calling me "Aunt" and "Auntie". I don't think I'll ever get tired of that!



Though we were only there for three days, it was enough to reconfirm what I have known since the first time I visited New England: I am in love with the state of Connecticut. The New England architecture, the green lawns in front of saltbox style homes, and the Rockwellian feeling I had when I was there were enough to make me want to go back again soon! I'm so glad we have family that we love in a place that I just adore! 

3 comments:

J said...

What a lovely post, and beautiful pictures. :)

My siblings are all 'halfs', too. They feel whole, so like Hubs, I don't use the word half when describing them.

SO glad the story of Hubby's adoption has such a happy ending. It's a pleasure to read about.

Autumn's Mom said...

Beautiful family :) I've only been to connectthedot once and it was so cold! I didn't really get a chance to enjoy it.

Kim said...

My gosh! They all look alike! (: It's always wonderful to hear of adoption stories ending like this.