Family

I know it has been a few weeks since I have updated.
We've been a little busy, what with being international travelers and all.

Before we left, we spent the weekend with our extended family at Matt's parent's lake house and had a fabulous time. I was frantically trying to edit the pictures before we left for France but was unable to make it happen.

I managed to get them ALL done today and pull together a little slide show to hold you over until I got to my France pictures.
Hold onto your hat for those things.

I will tell you this about France, everyone should just stay home.
Don't go.
It will ruin it for the rest of us.
It was perfectly lovely and we will be moving there one day.
:)

So here you go, video times:

Family Weekend

This past weekend, my sister and her kids, my brother and our family went to visit my parents in our family town of Albany, Georgia. 

I love the homes here for more than just the family that inhabit them. They actually hold memories. Mine, my mothers, my grandmothers. 

It is so fun to bring my husband and kids here to make their own memories. 

Lucy and my niece Sarah. They were two peas in a pod. 

All of the great-grandchildren with my grandmother. 

Our "Olan Mills" pose

Reasons why I love my grandparents house: 

 Not bought at Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware.

 Their clothesline. Why does it look like a gas pump?

 I don't know. But I like it. 

 My grandfather's barn.

If I was more brave, I would go inside it. 

But I am scared a den of rattlesnakes live there. 

Have been since I was born. 

 Not scared. 

Never. 

 You don't get old oak trees with Spanish Moss hanging down ANYWHERE near Asheville. 

There is something super mystical, serene and very peaceful to be around it. 

The swaying moss just lulls you to somewhere peaceful.
It's either that or the gin and tonics that flow like water round here. 

Through that window is the room where I stayed every summer. 

My things are still in the dresser upstairs. 

I firmly remember playing rounds and rounds of spades, hearts, Othello, calling 1-900 numbers for ghost stories, raising frogs and swimming until everyone was sure that I sprouted gills here. 

No other place compares. 

I hope my kids have memories of places like this one day. 

There's No Place Like Home

Having not gone home for Christmas did cause a bit of nostalgia to rise up in me.

Nostalgia for what traditions; I am not quite sure.

We moved at minimum every four years growing up and so Christmas never looked exactly the same. We seemed to absorb whatever the "locals" did into our own family traditions so now we look like a collage of world traditions that don't seem to make much sense.

Christmas Eve in South Georgia:

"Sure, have another glass of Gluhwein, Opa!"

"Just pass it over the fried rice."

Or something exaggerated like that.

But it is home and you have to love the home that you grew up in. No matter how insane it might look to outsiders.

I saw this video last night on YouTube and it was so so sweet.

It made me want to bust out the video camera much more often around my kids.

And the real reason why I should use the video camera more often?

Right here.

Just wait until the last 15 seconds.

Disclaimer: Lucy dressed herself today.

True Thanksgiving

As we head into the holiday weekend, it can be a difficult time encountering family and extended family (I know nothing about this-mind you) with years of hurt and past difficulties rising to the surface as you pull into the driveway.

I was reading this passage by Henri Nouwen this morning and thought it might be a nice reflection and give purpose to the weekend should you have a moment (and I would encourage you to) to pause, read this and ask God to let you have this as your worship to him this weekend.

Judgement

"We spend countless hours making up our minds about others. An unceasing exchange of opinion about people close or far away keeps us distracted and allows us to ignore the truth that we ourselves are the first ones who need a change of heart and probably the only ones whose hearts can indeed change.

We always say again: "What about him? What about her? What Jesus says to us, as he said to Peter, who always wanted to know what would happen to John, "What does it matter to you? You are the follow me." (John 21:21-22)

Imagine your having no need at all to judge anybody. Imagine your having no desire to decide whether someone is a good or bad person. Imagine your being completely free from the feeling that you have to make up your mind about the morality of someone's behavior. Imagine you could say, "I am judging no one!"

Imagine-wouldn't that be true inner freedom? The desert fathers from the fourth century said, "Judging others is a heavy burden." I have had a few moments in my life during which I felt free from all judgements about others. It felt as if a heavy burden had been taken away from me. At those moments I experienced a deep love for everyone I met, heard about, or read about. A deep solidarity with all people and a deep desire to love them broke down my inner walls and made my heart as wide as the universe...

We all have these moments if we are attentive to the movement of God's Spirit within us. They are like glimpses of heaven, glimpses of beauty and peace. It is easy to dismiss these moments as products of ours dreams or poetic imagination. But when we choose to claim them as God's way of tapping us on our shoulders and showing us the deepest truth of our existence, we can gradually step beyond our need to judge others and our inclination to evaluate everybody and everything. Then we can grow toward real inner freedom and real sanctity."

Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

pages 60-61

Inspiration for the Weekend

Here is your plans for this upcoming weekend:

• Go outside.
• Put down your phone, gardening tools, etc.
• Lock the doors and don't let them back in.
• Eat all meals outside.
• Let them fall asleep in a hammock with their cousins.
• Stay too late with friends, family, whatever on Sunday night because you don't want to the weekend to end.
• Pay the price for the entire next week. It doesn't matter.
• Life is too short.

Family Full Of Cousins

Ever tried to take a family picture with nine kids under the age of seven?
It can't be done. Can't.

We just spent the day with Matt's family at the lake.
Every single child is beautiful. All of them.
The most beautiful one? Maggie. But I didn't manage to snap a pic of her. Sorry Buff.

Doc (the captain of this family)

Lucy (looking like a sailor out at sea)

Uncle Diaper David

Gammy with Zoe and Tori

Asher (with his shooting face on)

Nate

Watts

Emmaline

Zoe

Tori

Sam

My smash nasty boy. Oh so handsome.

Matt is sitting there just thinking about the dadgum kitchen and how he doesn't want to go home.