Family

There's no getting away from them - and for the record, I would never want to!  Perhaps I'm biased, but I happen to have the best family in the world.  This past weekend I flew down to Georgia for my mom's family reunion.  Every 2 years the brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, great uncles, 2nd cousins...you get the point... unite in Georgia to celebrate family.  And what family celebration would be complete without fried chicken, peas and butterbeans, pulled pork, chicken & dumplin's, baked beans, banana pudding, sweet tea and of course, boiled peanuts!

(In case you're wondering, yes, it was a diet killer!  I don't think I gained any though, but I officially weigh in tomorrow!)
My family KNOWS how to celebrate with food and thankfully I'm learning more self control and portion control (sometimes you only need a bite!)  My family also knows how to document the celebrations.  There were flashes going off all over the place.  The end of the day always turns into family portrait time.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

 These are my cousins.  We are missing 3 who couldn't make it.

 My cute little family...

My mom and her brothers and sisters.

If it's not evident in these pictures, my family KNOWS love!  You know how God loves us unconditionally? I feel like unconditional love can be such a hard thing to fathom, but I think I caught some glimpses of what it looks like as I observed my family loving each other.  Thankfulness, joy, warmth, happiness...these emotions don't even begin to express how I feel.  And I can't even begin to explain how much I miss Georgia.

I've also been trying to figure out a time to visit my dad's sister and my cousin.  My uncle is currently overseas and my other cousin just went to college.  They only live about an hour away, but finding a weekend to visit seems impossible!  Life should never be too busy for family!

Work has remained busy like never before, but I still love it!  I'm turning into a regular Ms. Fix-it at home.  Last night I replaced the handle, fill valve and flapper on my toilet.  I flooded the bathroom, used every tool I could find and hit my head more times than I can count in the process, but I did it!!  My new roommate's dad has to dig up my front yard to fix a leak in the basement.  He's also installing a shower in the basement.  (I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life!)   My house is sort of a wreck, with all of the projects going on, but it's nice to be getting things done that I've put off for so long!

So yeah, today I'm thankful for a lot of things.  What are you thankful for?

Oh and by the way, in case you're thinking, wow, those pictures are a lot better than the ones Val usually takes - that's because I didn't take them.  These are all courtesy of my sister!  Here's an example of what happened when I tried to take a picture...