Family

My family just left after staying with us for a week and a half. The place always seems so empty and quiet afterward. Like an abandoned house after it stops being a home. I want so badly to have another piece of home again. How my childhood was - everything was always okay; secure. So much has been taken from me, so much has been lost. My family is the only thing I have left from that life and it hurts to not be able to have them close. Why do I have to only see them a few times a year? Why do we have to remain separated like this, with my mom dwindling, when my prayers are plentiful? I'm just tired of this hurt. This constant longing that remains, always. I pray one day that the Lord will bless me with my family again. The family I lost when I was so very young.