September 2, 2010

A Lovely Family Visit

 

Alex, Mason, and I traveled to North Alabama last Friday.  We spent Friday night with sister #1 and then we all gathered at sister #4’s house on Saturday for a little family get-together.

Actually, there is nothing little about our family.   Over the course of twenty one years, our mom and dad had six children, five girls and one boy.  The six of us gave them twelve grandchildren, who in turn have had twenty-two great grandchildren.  One of the great grandchildren already has a child.  Including our husbands and wives, we are a total of…A LOT!  We’re pushing sixty!!!

It is next to impossible for everyone to get together at the same time.  We are spread out across Alabama, Texas, and Florida.

Last weekend found eighteen of us singing, eating, and laughing together at sister # 4’s house.  {Yes, she is the one who recently broke her arm badly.  What can I say?  There is no stopping her.} 

Here are a few scenes of the day.

 

Some of the younger generation

 

Sophie and Grace

 

Mason and Molly

 

Uncle Pebo with Molly and Sophie

 

Sister # 3, our only brother, and sister # 4 practice for an upcoming musical event.

 

Mason loves Aunt Jana’s childhood rocking chair

 

Mason strumming  his new guitar that his Uncle Pebo made for him.

(I am getting a whole set of his smaller instruments for a musical themed Christmas tree.)

 

 

Sister # 1  lives on the Coosa River.

Her daughter and three of the grandchildren spent the night too.

How delightful it is to wake up to these views.

 

View from the sunroom

 

As I stood here,  I wondered how anyone could believe that God doesn’t exist.

 

The stairs are long – at my age you need a place to rest as you make your way to the river!

 

This as far as I went.

 

I let the zoom lens go on down to the boathouse - alone!

 

This little guy was sunning on the neighbors pier.

 

I thought he was a cool dude…

 

…until he bent his knee like this!!!!   OUCH!   :)

 

I love their sailboat weathervane

 

Here are a few photo’s of sister #1’s house.

 

Portraits of the five grandchildren
 
 

Foyer

 

This stunning Waterford lamp was a gift from her daughter.

 

    Pretty Limoges boxes               

 

My favorite piece of art

 

This sweet painting is in the powder room

 

A few paintings from her watercolor collection
 
 
Alex and I got lost trying to take a shortcut to their house.

We had just driven through a ferocious thunderstorm with pretty high winds on a very rural,  two lane highway.  Alex was aggravated because I was more concerned with the beauty of the area than finding out where on earth we were.  While we were driving around hoping to find phone service,  Alex saw this rainbow.

In all of my years,  I have never seen the end of the rainbow. 
It took my breath away.  I seriously almost cried!
 
 

All I could think about was God’s promise as I looked at this

beautiful rainbow painted so gloriously across the rain-washed sky.

Genesis 9:12-17 - And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." (NKJV)

 

Steam was rising from the Earth…

 

…while this beautiful  pony scolded us for being on his property…

 

…and I realized that the pot of gold was in the middle of the river!!!

 

Thanks for going with us on this family trip!

Now,  let’s go see what else is happening at “Outdoor Wednesday”.

 image

Rhonda

14 comments:

  1. What a beautiful family. I've never seen the end of a rainbow either. Heaven & earth are filled with His Glory. Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I could sit on the edge of the dock all day long with my feet in the water just chatting it up with a friend. BEAUTIFUL photos. Love the one of the two children, Molly & Mason... adorable. Sorry to hear of sis's broken arm, speedy recovery to her. Your photos show the glory of God all around!! You captured it perfectly. Hugs to you. Tammy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, Rhonda! This is my first visit to your wonderful blog. What a beautiful post! Spending time with family & enjoying all the wonder and beauty that God has given us...it can't get any better. Thanks for sharing.
    ~Holly

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful post and photos. I just have to say Sophie and Grace look like a fine oil painting.
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Although our never-ending trip down Lickskillet Road was not fun to me, the rest of the trip was! I have been humming "In the Pines" to Mason at night to soothe him to sleep. You should have taken picture of all the good food! Except I think we eat it too fast to have a photoshoot :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a beautiful post...and that rainbow photo is so amazing!!! Thanks for sharing it with us!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bonjour Rhonda,
    What a beautiful family! And an even bigger blessing! Glad to see sister #4 singing - sling and all. The rainbow is a wondrous sight indeed, it is amazing how verses come to us when we see something like that.
    Thank you for sharing your family with us!
    Baby Mason is such a cutie!
    Safe travels,
    Mimi

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks like a fun, relaxing getaway!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Rhonda- What a beautiful family...what a beautiful house...what a beautiful post. I can just see the love shining through in each photo! Love the rainbow's end..and can see God's Glory everywhere I look! Thank you! Diana

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderful trip. I love to hear that you were all singing together. I'll bet cutie Mason was the hit of the party. :)
    Hugs, Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a perfect day! I loved looking at all the photos. Thanks for sharing and for the extra sweet note you left me, I said, "ahhhhhhh".

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a lovely family trip! Your commentary is fun! I never thought about seeing the end of the rainbow until I got to your pictures. How amazing! You captured it beautifully! Thank you for sharing! Hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Absolutely GOD Is GOOD!!!Beautiful photos!Thank you so much for taking us with you! and sharing all of your wonderful resources.You really had so much fun of your relaxing get-away! Wonderful family.So great Blog.inspiring. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sweetie, I was so excited to receive your lovely pillow cover today. It's so so pretty. Even prettier than the photo which I didn't think was possible. And your work is excellent. I'm so proud of it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was going to leave it on the most recent post but just felt it would be inappropriate there. My heart and prayers are with you dear.

    Your family visit looks like it was so enjoyable. Beautiful scenery, a lovely family and lots of relaxation. Stay strong in knowing there are many of us praying for you and your family.

    Much love, Tracy :)

    P.S. I'll be blogging about it hopefully no later than tomorrow. If you don't mind, I'd like to use your photo because it's so much better than mine.

    ReplyDelete

So happy you are here - I love your comments!