Becca's finally 21! Woo Hoo!

Wow, so much has happened since I last wrote a blog. I was determined that I was going to try to keep up with this blog no matter what and you see where that got me!

My daughter-in-law, Jennifer and Becca

Well, Becca has finally turned 21! It's so hard for me to believe that my baby girl is 21. It sounds cliche, but it really does seem like she was born just yesterday. I feel so old (haha). We had a huge party on the deck and there were people in and out all night! All the kids were here, lots of friends and a bunch of Becca's co-workers showed up. We had enough food to feed an army and everyone went away with at least a full stomch!

Family Reunions

Well, it's getting to be the time of year when most of us have to start thinking about family reunions. We all love our families, but life sometimes has a habit of putting distance between family members. Sometimes it kids, sometimes family moves away to another state or country, some have health problems, etc.

If it's not little league, then it's dance or gymnastics, soccor, school plays, birthday parties, vacations, Christmas or whatever, but it just seems that you don't have much time to see your extended family members. Family reunions are a great way to at least get to see your family once a year, if not more. And of course, there's always the pot luck lunch that comes along with a reunion.

My father-in-law, Gene and his siblings have been having reunions for quiet a few years now. There were four brothers and one sister in the family. Gene's mother died when he was a baby and his sister, Frank (Francis) helped to raise all the boys. There are only the twins, Hoyt and Howard left now. Gene, Milton and Frank have all passed away, but the family still gets together to have a reunion and to remember them.

There's always lots of laughter and plenty of good food. When I got into the family, I started making them get together for "group" shots so that my kids would grow up knowing who their aunts and uncles are. It's a wonderful way to get to know your extended family and to have a great memory of the day. I always made sure I got a picture of the brothers and sister whether they were all there or not. I cherish them to this day. The pictures from 1999, 2000 and 2001 are above.

My mother-in-law, Dorothy and her sisters Willene and Betty, have a family reunion every year. They do it for the joy that they get out of seeing those they love and out of respect for their mother who made them promise on her deathbed, that they would always keep the family together. I'm sure that this wonderful woman we called "Grandma Dodd" is so proud of her daughters for the love and hard work they put into her dying wish. The pictures above are from 1997, 2006 and 2009.

If everyone shows up draggin their young 'ens in tow, then they are estatic. If not, they're happy with whomever happens to pop in the door. They will cook for days to make sure that each and every one gets to eat something they love and to make sure their houses are spotless and ready for "company". They enlist the help of husbands, kids and grandkids alike to drag chairs and tables up from the basement and meticulously make sure that everyone has a seat.

They valiantly try each year to get us to sit with members of the family that we don't normally get to see and we try, but somehow or another, we always end up sitting with the same ones each year..... but, God love 'em, they keep on trying!

If you get the chance to go to a family reunion, then try your best. Even if you think you won't hardly know anyone - I guarantee you that someone will know you and want to know everything you have been up to since the last time they saw you (which may be 20 years or more). You'll be amazed at just how much fun you can have. And remember that these are the people you came from - no matter how good or bad they are - they are all a part of your "family history" and a lot can be learned from them. And be sure to take a camera - you never know when or if you'll see your "kin folk" again.

Enjoy this beautiful day that God has given us and remember I love you all!

Hallelujah! Christ is Risen.

Easter has always had special meaning for our family. We are Christians and today is the holiest of all days to us. It means that we are forgiven for our sins and will be together in eternity as a family because Christ died for our sins and was resurrected on the third day.... which we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

We get together as a family at Grandma's house and celebrate in all the traditional ways - we have dinner which always includes ham, deviled eggs, peas from Grandma's garden, biscuits, all the other fixings and some good ole Georgia sweet tea. Grandma makes her biscuits from scratch right out of the flour container (which I have never been able to do and never will never attempt to do unless you like skipping stones with your dinner!). We always laugh a lot and there is usually one or two who take a nap after lunch.

We decorated eggs and had easter egg hunts for all the kids when they were younger. Some of the eggs are still turning up in the yard, years later. (Not the real ones, we'd find them in the summer after Easter when they started to get really "ripe"!). And with me around, there was always the "family group shot" that everyone moaned and groaned about, but now loves to see how we all changed through the years!

Enjoy your day and I hope that you spend it with family. Easter is a celabration of life everlasting so just remember that without Christ, Easter and our lives would have no meaning, no point. God bless you all and remember I love you!

Family History

When I was in high school I became very interested in my family. My mother and father both loved their families very much and talked about their ancestors often. It was only natural that I would want to know more about these people I had heard so much about as a child. Our ancestors have a lot to do with the people we are today.

If you have ever had an interest in your ancestors and set out to find out who they were, then you understand just how addicting it can be. Genealogy (the search for one's roots) is a wonderful hobby but can become all consuming. When my children were younger, I would drag them to old courthouses, family reunions and cemeteries. I can remember my son sitting in the back seat of the car when we'd pass a cemetery he'd say: "Don't stop mom - we don't have time".

I have a database containing more that 10,000 people with the same surnames as my family and more notes on those people than I will ever be able to post to their information. I learned early on that you have to gather any and all information on people with the same surname because somewhere in the branches of your family tree, they are going to join into the same tree trunk as your family - otherwise known as "branch kin".

Genealogy is also a wonderful way to learn history - not only of your family but of our great nation. I never really liked history much and could have cared less about it until I started digging for my roots. I've learned about the civil war and many of it's battles, migration patterns of our ancestors, the Revolutionary War, the World Wars and many other momentous occasions in the forming of our country.

I never knew any of my grandparents because they had all passed away before I was born, but I felt as if I had known them since they were so loved and talked about by my parents. I longed for the knowledge of who they were, what their lives were like and where they came from and was pleasantly surprised at the things I found.

Genealogy is an ongoing process and after four decades of searching, I still find out things about my ancestors that never cease to amaze me. And yes there are many "skeletons in my closet", but that's part of the fun of genealogy - finding out that there were some black sheep in the flock right along with all the pretty white ones.

In all my countless hours of searching, I learned a lot about who I was, who I wanted to become and who I wanted my children to become. I know that because of the wonderful God-fearing ancestors that I have that I am a better person. I continue to grow and learn, and I know that I have a lot of relatives long gone standing behind me cheering me on.......

Who knew I'd ever have a blog!

A good friend of mine has several blogs that I just love reading and so I thought that it might be fun to have my own blog. Well, after several hours of trying to figure out what I'm doing (and I'm still not sure I completely understand all of this - I'm technologically challenged), I'm finally writing something!

Now I have to figure out what I want to write about! For my first blog I think I'd like to write about the thing that makes me the happiest - my family.

I have been married for almost 25 years to my second (and last) husband who was always the love of my life, I just didn't know it at the time I married my first husband. I met him when I was in the 7th grade and he was in the 8th. We both worked at the vacation Bible school that our church had that summer. His sister was my best friend and so we were always together. As fate would have it though, he and I both married other people and it was only after divorcing our spouses that we ended up back together. The rest is history. I sometimes want to strangle him, but we can usually come to a mutual agreement before I get to that point. We have had very few arguments during our married life (I can probably count them on both hands) but when we do, they're doozies. But that's a whole other blog.

I have three grown children, 2 daughters and a son who is married to a very loved daughter-in-law and I have a 17 going on 40 year old granddaughter. Sure there are moments I want to drown them all and start over and then I remember the diapers, spit rags, croup and various other things that go along with raising children and I decided that I'll just keep the kids I have. Besides the good times with my children far outweigh the bad times and I really don't want to raise more kids (unless I can spoil them and send them home!). My kids are beautiful and I always tell them they were swapped at birth because they are so pretty, but I know they are all mine and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love them all.

Sometimes God has thrown our family curve balls, but we've always managed to catch them and make base hits out of them. It continues to be a wild ride with lots of challenges, but worth them all.

Life is not easy, it's always full of curve balls and challenges, but if you try really hard, you can hit a home run with them. Enjoy them all, no matter how fast they come at you!