Our family means the world to us, and we love spending time together whenever we can. We are lucky to have a huge extended family, mostly in part to Kwame having so many aunts and uncles and countless cousins. There is a constant stream of birthday parties, Thanksgiving dinners, holiday gatherings, barbecues, weddings, baby showers, wedding anniversaries and more. And when we can’t make it in person, we often connect via Facetime in real time to the event!
We believe that family isn’t only defined by blood, which is why adoption feels so natural to us. Many of our friends have become like family, from longtime friends since childhood, work colleagues who became friends, to friends we made in recent years as fellow parents. Our friends include people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences.
Our parent “village” where we live is strong. Parents in our community have strong family values. When we were pregnant with K, we went to an infant CPR class and we met other expecting parents there who live in our town and they became part of our core parent friend group. We helped each other adjust to life as new mothers and supported each other through the newborn phase, baby years, preschool and through present day. Our families are still friends today and we attend each other’s kids’ birthday parties and school and town events. Our village keeps growing. We continue to make more friends with more families as our daughter grows. We’re lucky to have this growing support system. Our daughter has friends who are diverse and her future sibling surely would as well!
