This day...

This halloween day, I'm loading up things to go in the motorhome. We are taking a little trip over to Destin for our anniversary. We just want to get by the beach and veg out! Oh, yea, and shop! Well, I probably shouldn't shop at all, I opened my credit card and almost had a heart attack, and know that when DH sees it, he WILL have one. You know, it isn't big stuff, just a little Coldwatercreek online here and a little Chico's online there and all on sale....you know just a little bargain here and a little bargain there...adds up to me saving a LOT of money....and paying a BIG bill. I'm off the online shopping for now. It is too dangerous and I'm reeling myself in before I break the household. I mean, you know it is getting on to winter and the money tree in the backyard is looking pretty bare!

So, I will enjoy walking on the beach! That's so much fun when it is cool and you're not sweating like crazy. This picture is not the beach we'll be on, but it is the beach. Now that day was HOT! I hope you all have a good weekend, I may be able to blog from the motorhome, but I'm not sure. DH has been out there working on all that electronic stuff, because no way can we be without our t.v. and computer....we really don't know how to just relax!!!

Dreams

I was reading on another blog about family traditions. Our family has several family traditions, but that isn't what I want to say today. One of my dreams has been to have a family portrait....by that I mean me, my husband, my son, his exwife (I consider her a daughter), the grandchildren including their half sister because if she is part of them, then she must be part of me, my youngest bio son, my stepson and his wife and the youngest. I want it to be a picture full of happy faces and I want to hang it over our mantle so that everyone who visits can see our family, our entire family. I have thought about this for several years. I don't see it happening because everyone is so scattered.

I understand what Angie means when she says after a divorce it is different. In fact I wouldn't mind having the father and mother of our children in the family photo....after all they are part of the family. This is one of the reasons I try so hard to advise people to do whatever it takes to have their family unit stay together. I know that God takes whatever mess we make and makes it work out for His glory, but it would be so much easier if we just lived by His Word.

I will always want that portrait. I can take pictures of everyone and just frame then all together. That wouldn't be the same. I could photo shop them (as if I knew how). That wouldn't be the same either. I have always loved the Christmas cards with the children on them, but I never could do that because I couldn't get a picture of them all together.

I'm so grateful to God that I have each and every one of my children and grandchildren and that God has given me so many blessings. DH said one time that he thought it wasn't so much the portrait I wanted but what it represents...a family united. I'm keeping the dream because sometimes dreams do come true!

Mama really NEVER said there would be days like this!

It has been such a strange Monday...several upsetting things that I just don't think I should blog about. But trust me, over here in normalland, there is never a dull moment.

After the strangeness of the day, I went to Publix to pick up a few groceries, turned down an aisle and there was a woman sitting on the floor beside her buggy eating a sandwich. My cousin, don't ya just love small towns??, was ahead of me on the aisle and I heard him ask if she needed help. She said no, I'm just eating. When I got to the cash register, I said are you aware a woman is on the floor on the chip aisle? The cashier said, yes, we asked her if she needed help and she said she had to eat her sandwich because the olives were falling out, to which in my oh, so tactful way, I say, I think she may be a few olives short of a jar and anyway isn't there some kind of safety rule that says you should HELP HER WHETHER SHE WANTS IT OR NOT??? I just need to stay home!

Family Reunion....Continues

Mama such a good time seeing family, her cousins and nieces. This is her brother's daughter.




I've always loved this gravesite, well, you know, as much as you can love a grave! But behind the church is a little cemetery and most of the people there are related to me! When my grandma was alive and able to go to reunions, she would walk among the graves telling about who was who and at this one (I think), I asked one day who was buried where the little headstone was by the two big headstones...she answered, oh, that was the first wife.


Here's Cathy, Mama and Tommy after we were successfully removed from the bathroom incident I mentioned in the last post.

We have one 1st, 2nd or 3rd cousin (you really lose count in a big family), that mama loves to see each year. Regina's parents were killed tragically in a car accident many years ago. But just to show that senility runs in the family, as we were leaving she came up to hug mama goodbye and my sister says "Tell your mother we said hello" and as my brother and I were gasping in shock trying to get them to zip it up, mama says "Yea, how are they doing?" Well, as brother and I fell to the ground in a dead faint, Regina sweetly says "They're just fine, they're in heaven." As we walked on to the car, Cathy mumbled something like, "oh, ground, open up and swallow me now!" :)

It really was a nice day, I'm glad we went.....I wonder what will happen when the older ones in the family are all gone. Will we still get together and reminisce? Or will we slowly just all drift apart? I hope not. It's a good Sunday, have a great week!

Family Reunion.......Part 1

Well, today was the day.....my brother, sister, sister's granddaughter, mama and I loaded up and drove to De Funiak Springs, then on to Pleasant Grove Baptist Church for the Anderson/Broxson reunion....You see since wayyyyy back in the, well way back, the Andersons and the Broxsons started marrying one another. Now it is a big mixture. The day started nicely, we were cruising on the road for way too long when everyone but the driver (guess who? Right! The man) realized we were lost. We finally pressured him to stop at the Friendship Baptist church and ask directions. Thankfully, someone was there and directed us. Eventually we arrived at the little church pictured Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.

The first picture is the church itself, then there is the sign my daddy built before he died and the granite rock which is self explanatory. My great grandfather Preacher Dan Anderson was the first preacher. We went into the little church, late, but we were there and listened to family history for a while...then mama quite out of the blue wanted to introduce her great granddaughter....who wouldn't stand up:) She's 7 poor girl. After all the inside stuff was over, everyone was scurrying for the bathroom, there 4 bathrooms, two of them were right behind the church. They are old but o.k. Sis and mama and I went in and locked the door. Did our business and started out.....the door wouldn't unlock, I mean would not....Cathy tried, I tried, then I, being very claustrophobic and knowing I couldn't climb out the one small, high window, started yelling "Help, we're locked in the bathroom". I yelled several times until the man in the bathroom next to ours says "Do you need help?" ...Ummmmm, YES! So we kept trying but that door was not unlocking. My brother had decided to kick the door in when mama's cousin came by and took out his knife and started taking the doorknob off.....finally! We were free. Whew....By the time we finally got to the food, we were lucky to get the last little bits. It was wonderful....and it feels good to be a good Scottish girl with ancestors in the cemetery behind the church. There is more.....later.

For some reason blogger is not letting me move pictures around so the one of my sister pulling on the bathroom door is when we were stuck!

correction

Please forgive me for giving the wrong info about the location of the family reunion! It will be outside De Funiak Springs instead of Ponce de Leon.....my older sister corrected me! I plan to take lots of pictures of the cemetery as well as the church. I've baked cookies (Pillsburies break and bake)and we'll take something else....you know our country cousins will have the good stuff, like fresh peas, corn and the like. And you all know I'm not one to complain, but this is two Saturdays in a row that I'm gettiing up early. This has to stop! :)

A Family kind of time...

This Saturday is an annual family reunion. My sister and her granddaughter are coming from Pensacola, She and my brother and I will be all taking mama and going to the outskirts of a huge town, Ponce de Leon to a small Baptist church founded by our great grandfather...It is the old fashioned church with the cemetery behind. When my grandma was alive, I loved to walk in the cemetery with her because she knew everybody out there. There is a little church service and catching up on who's passed on and who's the oldest you know the reunion drill! Then we'll go outside to the actual dinner on the grounds. You know those country cousins can cook now!! We will consume lots of good food and see family members we never see except here and at funerals. I'll take pictures and show some of our family.

Tomorrow's Friday!!!!! You know how I love my Fridays.