Matthew attempts to make sense of my strange, wonderful family

So anyone who knows me well knows my family definitely is not average! While my immediate family is fairly traditional, my extended family on my dad's side can resemble the United Nations. My Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dan had three biological children, then decided to open their home and their family to six adopted children. Laura is Ecuadorian, Peter is South Korean, and Emma, Eli, Sam, and Katy are all African American. Now, my cousin Penny and her husband Len have followed suit. They have two and a half year old twins, Joshua and Joelle, and this January adopted a brother and sister named Faith and John from Ethiopia. We were able to meet the newest members of the family when we were up in Indiana earlier this month. They were also able to spend some time with Matthew and Nathan one evening. They seemed to get along well, so I didn't think anything more about it. But, apparently, Matthew's been trying to process all of this. Yesterday, he notices that I have Len and Penny's family picture up on the refrigerator, and he comes to me and asks if Faith and John are their kids. I told him they were. He thinks for a minute (you can see where this is going, can't you?), and then asks how they can be part of their family if they're not the same color. I told him that you don't need to be the same color to be part of the same family. I tried to make it easier for him and said, "Sam, Eli, Katy, and Emma aren't the same color as you, and they're part of your family." He looks at me for a second and says, "They are??" I about fell over. I said, "Of course they are." He says, "Well, they're my friends!" I guess you can't be friends with your family members in his eyes!

Ah, the innocence of youth.