Family Reunions are a lot of work to organize, but the pay off is priceless. This past weekend we gathered my maternal grandfather's side of the family together at a hotel near the Orlando Airport. It's About Time was the theme because we haven't had one in a long time. Ashley Walter provided the perfect cake, and it was delicious too!

We had over 60 come from all over the country - California, North Carolina, South Carolina and Oklahoma, not to mention all my cousins from Lake and Polk Counties. We ate a delicious catered lunch from Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ, shared stories, took pictures (thanks to Aubrey Reel!) and made a huge family tree on the wall with 3 x 5 cards. This was the best visual aid ever, and it saved my Mom from having to say answer this question over and over again, "Now how are we related?". If you are working on a family tree I highly recommend MyHeritage.com to you. What a helpful program to organize and research your family roots.

Tom added his part to the family tree showing how we all connect; He added "Adam and Eve" at the very top - thanks, Sweetie, that really cleared things up!

My favorite part of the weekend was Saturday evening when all the out of town relatives gathered around a large table and took turns drawing cards from my Table Topics for Family Gatherings cube. This is a wonderful tool to use whenever you want to have a meaningful conversation, but aren't sure how to get one started. The stories we heard made us laugh, made us cry, made us reflect and made us grateful for all that God has done in our family through the years.