Thursday, October 15, 2009

Family Reunion in Hope, Arkansas!

Its hard to believe our reunion was a month and a half ago!  We had such a wonderful time in Hope and look forward to going back to visit!  Small towns are fun to visit, but I sure could not live there!
Nana and Landon

Landon and his great grandpa..Papa!!

Mom and Papa

Some old pictures from our previous reunion.  The last time I was there was when I was pregnant with Landon!

Lindsey and I

The boys playing football!  Landon felt right at home!  ;)

Aunt Barbara, Aunt Lane and my mom!

Of course we had to visit the Clintons gravesite.  The whole time is cover in Bill Clinton stuff!  lol  My mom actually went to the same day care (years later) as Bill Clinton did!  Oh the things to be proud of!  ha

The family!!! 
I'm smack in the middle and Landon is the 2nd kid from the right!

The Ray side!
(Olivia is right next to Landon in the front!)

My pumpkin!

Crazy monkeys!  Landon, Olivia (in the middle), and our other cousin.

So there you have it! 
Thank you all so much for your sweet messages, comments, phone calls over the last week.  It was such a wonderful feeling to be in Arkansas with my family.
They services were just amazing.  I felt weird saying that about a funeral, but thats not what is was.  They did such a great job making it a celebration of her life!  She was a wonderful little girl that went way too soon, but we all know she is in such a better and more beautiful place.  Olivia has been to more countries, missions, and served her Lord more than many adults I know (including myself)  She had a wonderful 10 years and they portrayed that so great at the services.
There were over 800 people at the service!  They also have friends and family all over the world, so they had it broadcasted on the church website LIVE.  They had over 1,000 people watch it online.  Theres just a little glimpse at how many people loved this little girl and her family!
My aunt, uncle and cousins are so strong in their faith and doing as good as can be expected.  They have a tough road ahead of them, so please continue to keep them in your prayers.

I still have a bunch of posts that are half done to post!  I need to get to work I guess!
Of course that will have to wait until after I meet up with Steph, Rach and Emily for dinner and drinks tonight!!!!  :)

8 comments:

Tam said...

Just read your post! You all are so strong! It is great that you were able to attend the reunion and have amazing pictures of the time spent with Olivia!

Jenn K said...

That is so cool you have those memories with Olivia.

I LOVE the monkey photo...total framer.

Your mom is so pretty!

I can't wait for these 1/2 finished posts, I have several too :)

Landon is just the cutest kid in Texas!

Unknown said...

OMG! Steaphanie, this is sooo great! I love it!!! I may have to piggy back on your idea for me and Gianni! I am a religious scrapbooker and I am crazy in love with this idea! I love all the pics! Too precious!!You have a beautiful and oh-so-big family! I would do anything to be able to do this with my family! So awesome! Landon is getting do big! He's sooo darn cute!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Great job!!!

Unknown said...

Sorry I misspelled your name!!!Oops! :)

Anonymous said...

I'm so, so sorry to hear about your little cousin! :-( But I'm glad your family could all be there for each other and uplift each other during such a difficult, emotional time.

And your family reunion looked like a lot of fun!

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

I'm so glad you got this reunion trip in. I'm sure it was bittersweet looking at all of the photos.

It sure sounds like Olivia has a great spirit and that she "infected" everyone she met. I know she will be missed, but never forgotten.

Stephanie said...

I'm so glad to hear it was a celebration of her life and to hear that she touched so many people during her short time with us. Most people don't have that and there should be more people in the world like her. It sounds like she set an amazing example.

Lovely Lalo-Cha said...

Glad to hear it was a celebration of her young life. You always have great pictures. Good post.