I Believe in My Family by Erica Van Houten

I believe in my family. When I was little, I had a hard time with my family, but what kept us together was believing in them. They taught me what family is and that the meaning of family is love. There's love in every family and loved ones don t let each other down. I believe in my family

In the year 1993, my family was split into two families, but that did not change the love towards anyone in either family. My family was split because of two people that meant so much to me; my parents. My parents were divorced in 1993 and that's when there was custody battle over us. There was one thing that I didn't like about it and that was the battle over us. My parents will always be my parents and they sure don't need to be fighting to keep us. My love for everyone in my family will always be there, through good and bad times. To tell you the truth, being in the middle of this battle for custody, is not fun. It's hard to keep in contact with your family members that you barely get to see. It hurts me knowing that my life is not the same as other people, but knowing that I still have them in my family makes it better.

In my family, I'm the second oldest daughter and I have three siblings. I have an older sister, younger sister and a little brother. All three of them have a special place in my life and especially in my heart! My older sister was the sister that was there for me when I was born, up until my little sister was born. We would always do things together, no matter what toys we were playing with at the time. There was always laughter in the air between my older sister and I. Then my little sister came along, and my older sister would pick on her and get into trouble. My little sister and I became close. All of us got along just fine until one of us got someone in a bad mood or we got into trouble. There were only girls until my little brother was born and, then just about everything changed. My brother was the new baby in the family and there I was, always helping out my mom. My mom was a very busy women. She believed in all of us and we believed in her as well. During the time I was helping my mom with my little brother, he started to call me mom for the longest time. That put me into shock and my mom as well, but nothing changed and feelings weren't hurt.

My family means the whole world to me and I'm glad that I have them as a part of me as well as I'm a part of them. My little sister and I are so close, that we are practically twins in many ways. In our lives, we have seen each other periodically and try to spend time with each other when we can. This is the same way with my brother. We have much in common and we like to do things that are the same. I can not forget my parents. They are the ones that brought me into this world and I thank them. They are very important to me, just like everyone else in my family.

I'm very pleased to be my parent's daughter and also have my three siblings. Without any of them, I wouldn't have this family that I do now. I will always believe in this family throughout my lifetime. I'm very happy that I have a family that is loving, caring, trustful and has respect, hope, and dreams for me. I believe in my family!