Turkey time

I haven't written much about my inlaws on my blog. It's been a painful thing to talk about and my motto is "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I was once very close to my mother in law and sister in law. People seeing us out together would question if I was actually the daughter to my mother in law since we both have red hair. The biggest things in common we had was drinking together and golf. Going to camp was something we all enjoyed and basically once we had Tyler, things all changed gradually. It seemed as though Paul and I grew up and they stayed the same.

Well, in just the past couple years, our visits became less and less often. We felt like an inconvenience to them especially in the summer. We were told in no uncertain terms that with all the golfing that they do, that there really wasn't any time to get together or have contact. They missed out on 2 1/2 years of the kids lives. I kind of always felt that ever since I stopped drinking and turned my life over to God, that it was the real reason for their step back. They were once Catholic when Paul was young, but now it's almost as if they are atheist. So I've never ever pushed the issue. Never. At any family dinners, I prayed silently as did the kids.

Now over the past six months, we've seen a real change in them both. That's why I'm writing tonight- I have something good to say. My sister in law called me a couple of weeks ago and told me that she was committed to two T-day dinners with her boyfriend. I asked her what her parents were going to do and she said that they weren't going to have anything or go anywhere. I can't remember ever having T-dinner with them- we always went up to Dad's camp and then to my Mom's. Well this year, there wouldn't be camp and my mom was making dinner for some that are alone at church. Joy decided to have her dinner at home around supper time. So God was testing me. Was I going to step up and invite them over? The opportunity was there... So today, I cooked a lunchtime dinner for them and it was great. Tyler lead us all in prayer, the food turned out pretty good if I do say so, and there seemed to have been a repair to that bond we once had. They seemed to respect the fact that we say grace and even complimented Tyler.
I can't even tell you how much I have prayed for this relationship. I have had so much unforgiveness in my heart towards them and prayed for a long time about this. I know that my attitude towards them whether spoken or not was not something that was healthy in my marriage and I so wanted for that not to be a sore spot anymore. And so it's been lifted. I can see them for who they are and they can see us for who we are and there's no hard feelings. It's amazing what a prayer and a little turkey can do.