Why I love “Auntie”

So we had an interesting thing happen just after we got Braxdon in foster care. You see, about 4 years ago we were in a ward (at church, for those who aren’t LDS) and my husband was in the Young Men’s Presidency. There was a young man in one of the classes, I’ll call him “Uncle”. I wouldn’t say they were super close, but my husband knew Uncle pretty well. I would say the same for me and Uncles mom, she was one of the ladies I enjoyed sitting next to and chit chatting with before relief society. We moved out of that ward a month after we got Emma.

Right after we got Braxdon I was doing my usual Facebook stalking of his mom’s (Kim) family. I learn SO much from snooping on Facebook. I was looking at Kim’s sister’s (Auntie) Facebook page and my husband walked in. I had a picture of Auntie up with her husband. My husband walked in and said, “Is that UNCLE!!?!?!” I then realized, yep Braxdon’s aunt is married to the kid we knew years ago “Uncle”.

We weren’t quite sure what to do. We knew that we wanted contact with them, but we weren’t sure how or when. We then ran into Uncle several times at his place of work and he didn’t even realize that we had Braxdon. On a warm summer’s day my husband was taking Braxdon for a walk and discovered Auntie and Uncle lived 8 houses down from us! (They have since moved) Not long after that my husband ran into Uncle’s dad and us having Braxdon and their relationship with him came out in the open. It has been such a great thing. Auntie and Uncle have been amazing about our privacy and have never given out our personal info. Braxdon (and Emma) have been able to spend time with his cousin. We try to hang out once in a while, usually about 1 to 2 times a month.

Tonight I had to sit back and say, I LOVE Auntie and how she respects us. She invited us to her son’s birthday party, I wanted to go and knew the kids would love it, but I had a meeting at the church. There would be people at the church to watch my kids so it’s not like I needed a babysitter. After talking to my husband about it, I texted Auntie and asked if she wanted me to drop Brax off for the party even though Emma and I couldn’t come. She said sure. Right after that I talked to Kim on the phone for the first time. Since we just finalized Brax’s adoption I am slowly started to move forward with the open adoption. As I talked to Kim she asked if we would be at the party. I explained that I couldn’t come but Braxdon would be there.

Not too long after that I got a text from Auntie telling me Kim was going to the party and was I still okay with taking Brax since Kim was going to be there and I wasn’t. That right there is why I love and trust Auntie so much! It’s fun having friends that are also my son’s biological family!