Home Is Where The Heart Is

I entered my first photo contest that a good friend of mine, Karen, is having over on her photography blog. So you can come play along if you would like. You can enter at her site : http://blog.karenbagley.com/ just click on contest and you can see all the entries as well as find the rules here! Have fun!


Now onto some pics from our trip to Georgia.

Every year we look forward to going to Georgia. My very first family reunion that I remember was when I was 5 years old. It is the first time I rode a dune buggy, a 4-wheeler, played baseball, swam in a creek, sat in a truck while everyone picked watermelons and where a few snakes were shot while doing said picking. It is where I first felt a surge of love in my heart for a land that has been in the family for generations and has been worked over and over again, for food, money and pleasure. It is my heritage. It is a part of me and will always be a part of me so long as there is breath in me. A little sentimental? Yes, well it is what it is. :) I love Southern Georgia.

We didn't always have our Reunions there. For a time we did them in Palatka, FL. There were many wonderful memories made there as well. Water skiing, tubing, fishing fresh crab, shrimp and fish fries, but the Georgia is home to my heart.






I am grateful to be able to pass this on to my children who love it just the same. It is always something they look forward to as well. I remember as a child I would sit on the couch and think so long and hard about going to the Reunions when we were a week away from our journey. I would be so excited that I almost couldn't contain myself. I don't know that I would go so far as to say that for my kids, but I do know that it too is a special place in their heart.




Laney was in love with it too. Her favorite part was the freedom to walk on the front porch and dig in the dirt!




The kids played Hide-n-seek tag with cousins (young and old-er). This is what I had done when I was little. It brought back such sweet memories. Sometimes it is bittersweet when I realize that that part of my life is slipping further and further into the past, but I am grateful to have had them.




This is Miracle. I remember when she was little like Laney-bug. Now she is a teen. A beauty too!




This year we had a lot of little ones running around. It is strange to be the same age that many of my Aunts and Uncles (as well as my dad) were when we were our kids ages.




He had just enjoyed a yummy dessert and was loving the unusually nice-not-so-hot weather we had been having there.




This pretty little gal is only a few months younger than our little Laney-bug! Can't wait for them to make memories!




My Uncle's, my Dad and their friend since childhood. It is awesome that I graduated from the same High School as all of these men (and many of my cousins).





He couldn't get enough diggin' in the dirt! I remember his daddy at this age. And he now has 3 youngin's of his own. :)




I have walked, jogged and 4-wheeled this path many a time! My Uncle's all pitched in together and built a Reunion House where we could prepare the food, eat and have bathrooms (with showers for those who brought campers). This is the path that leads to it all.




Getting pictures done and gathering to say grace for the food. It is a tradition we have had since I was young.

I also had the pleasure of meeting a cousin that  came with her husband and two friends. She is the daughter of an Uncle that was killed in his 20's. I enjoyed meeting them and talking too. There is nothing more important to me in this world then family. Without them I wouldn't be who I am.