How the "Princesses" came about

I thought a little background on how the Pigeon Forge Porch Club and the Princesses all came about was in order. Just to get everyone up to speed.

For close to 15 years now, our extended family, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, have got together for a week. I think around 13 years of this time was spent going to the beach. Lots of eating, fishing and quality family time! Due to hurricane Katrina.....we lost our wonderful beach time together. In 2006, we made our destination Pigeon Forge. The "more mature" generation had a cabin together. That would be our mom's and dad's! And ALL of us cousins stayed in another large cabin.

I must say, we are not the typical family to start with. We really do love each other and care about each other! The picture to the right is just about all of the cousins when we were very young.

Anyway, God blew that hurricane in and everything changed. Not like you would think. Looking back, you just know that God had his hand in our 2006 trip. Something happened to all of the cousins while there. We sat together, laughed together and even did a little crying together. But what came out of that was this tremendous bond between us! There is no way to describe what happened.

The picture to the right is all of us at meal time in 2006. Just for fun, some of us decided that we would become "disney princesses". Cinderella, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Jasmine, Mulan, Belle and Ariel. What fun! We have crowns and matching cloths. Email and call each other regularly.

The real deal is, this past year, our family has been handed some hard life lessons. We have lost 2 members of our wonderful family. My mother and her brother. Within 10 months of each other. And if that was not enough, 2 more members in that same generation has had serious illnesses. What a hard year for all of us!

I can personally say from my experience this past year, I dont see any way I could have come out on the other side of all this with out my family. Not just the "princesses". But everyone!

We spent our 2007 family reunion in Pigeon Forge again. Minus several members, but thinking of them every minute and missing them even more!

So that is kinda what this is about. Just sharing and caring for each other. Sharing how God touches each of us every day. More later...............but I promise, not this much.

Love to everyone, Princess Ariel