Family is more than blood

This quote has been on my mind alot over the past few weeks or so.  I have be so blessing to have so many amazing people in my life.  I think that we all have amazing people in our lives it is all a matter of seeing it when we need to.  It is a matter of being there for each other when you need it the most, or even the least.  I don't think you have to only be involved in adoption to have the entire family isn't always blood feeling.  I will say that once we started the adoption process I had my eyes open to the kindness of strangers and even friends.  People went out of their ways to help us with fundraisers and prayers and just being plain good people to us. 

Then we matched with Noah's birth mother and grew to love her.  We knew that good or bad, placement or not she would always hold a spot in our hearts.  When she did place we promised her a spot in our family for eternity, how could we not look at the amazing gift she had give us.  Don't quote me on this wording but I read someplace something a birth mother said once, If I had loved him even one ounce less I would have never placed him.  I loved him enough to walk away for him to have the life I wanted him to have.  I don't for once second think that Noah's birth mother, or mamma D, as she is called in our home, didn't love Noah.  I think she loves him with every single ounce of her entire being, just like I do.  We are both mothers to him in very different ways and I am 100% ok with that.  Then the relationship with her parents started to form.  Grandma J is talked about in our home alot too.  She and I texted and talk often and alot of time it's not about Noah.  Yes to do talk about him in the course of the conservation but he isn't always the reason we start the conservation to begin with.  they are 100% our family they became our family on January 31, 2012.  

I have friends who I consider family.  They are there when you need to vent, to cry or celebrate good times with.  They bring you your favorite drink when they stop for a visit, they call you on your birthday.  They send you a random card or gift because it made them think of you.  They give you the encouragement to do things that you may not do without it.  

For some reason in my life I feel that family as hurt me way more than they should have.  I feel that being "blood" has given people the right to feel they can say and do things they wouldn't do to friends.  I know that I have been guilt of it myself and I completely regret it, I have also tried to learn from it and grow from it.  I have tried to not let hurts bother me or cloud my judgment on people because we all make mistakes.  We all have times that we use poor judgment or do things that are hurtful.  To me the hard part is people who continue to do it over and over and over and never seeing or being willing to see the effects of it. 
Family is a fragile fragile thing blood or not, and if it's not nurtured and cared for it will break down and fall apart.