5th of July, 2015! I am sitting at the kitchen island at our rental place near Franklin, TN. Lisa and Ms. Kate are mixing and prepping stuff for the afternoon meal. Ms, Kate is making home made bisquits for strawberry shortcake later on. Lisa is working on making baked spaghetti for supper. Lisa's hubby, Gary and her two kids, Matt and Amanda are all out in either the hot tub or the pool. Julie and Jim have gone to Franklin to the verizon store because Julie accidently locked her phone and forgot her password. Heather, John, and Lauren have gone to the Walmart supercenter and young Jon is sleeping on the couch with strep throat. Here we are for a week of family reunion and I couldn't be happier having all the kids here in one place.

This is really a nice place. It has a few things we don't like but over all is fine. The internet connection is horribly slow and unreliable. With a house full of people with tablets, computers and cellphones, it is frustrating. The other biggest complaint is that the place has no covered porch area. Our place we rented two years ago had wonderful covered porches and we could sit out there and watch the rain and not get wet. We had a big downpour last night and we were all wishing we could be sitting out side watching it.

The house has been full of jabber-jabber and laughter since everyone arrived. Everyone is busy trying to catch up on evryone else's life. Despite the fact that they talk all the time on Facebook, seeing one another for the first time in two years makes a difference. The kids have grown so much both physically and mentally. Before we know it they will all be gone and married and having families of their own. That is the case with Josh already.

And so, we give thanks to the Lord on this wonderful Sunday morning from the mountains of Tennessee. I hope your day will be a blessed one full of joy and love.