Recently Found These Family Pic...

#20 is my Uncle Eddie

Uncle Eddie, Little Eddie (Grinkle) and Tina

Uncle Eddie and Grinkle

Uncle Eddie

Great Uncle Lewis and my Memaw Clara

My mom Mary aka Mouse

My Nanny (my Memaw Clara's mom)

In more recent years the value of family has really resonated with me.  A lot of my older family members have passed on.  My mom is the only living of her immediate family members.  It's the older family members though that hold a family together and keep us all connected.  More and more the family members that are left are kind just keeping to their immediate family members and us cousins and our kids rarely see one another unless there's a death in the family.  I can only imagine how hard it must be for my mom to be the last but you wouldn't know it because she never shows it.  All my life she's been such a strong woman, mostly because she's had to be. Life has never been easy for her but she's done the best she knew how.  I don't know what the future holds but I do know who holds the future and that is a great bit of information to know.  I will continue to trust in the Lord as we continue to move forward in life making the most of the moments we have with those we love.  I'm so thankful for all the photos that we get to have to remember those who have passed on with.  The memories we make are treasured always.   

More Pics From Nationals...

Here are some more pics from Nationals that I forgot to post or at least I don't remember posting them anyhow.  It was such a busy and fun time that some pictures just didn't get shared but here they are now:

Tim after checking in with his badge.

A close up of his badge.

Tim with his Nationals t-shirt.

Tim meeting Hampton Morris our Paris 2024 Olympian.

Tim and Scot outside of the Convention Center.

Me and Tim outside of the Convention Center.

A collection of my absolute favorite pictures from Nationals.

My Aunts Service Yesterday...

Aunt Joyce's Celebration of Life service yesterday was done so well.  So many showed up for it.  It was done exactly the way one would expect a service of that sort to go.  The minister did an amazing job.  Everything was done so tastefully and so respectfully.  Everyone really loved the video that I made for the service.  I was glad that I was able to do it for them.  It was a way that I could honor her and be a blessing to my cousins at the same time.  

Here's the link to the video if you would like to watch it:  

https://youtu.be/HoYMJIAl0pk?si=4uuZAsQaZD6XD1Iz

She will always be in our hearts and missed.  My mom is the last living of her immediate family.  It's sad to think about that when she passes a huge chunk of our family is gone to only be forever remembered in our memories.  

Joyce and the rest of our family who are gone will be forever in our hearts and cherished in our memories.  So thankful for the time that we had with each and every one of them.  

After the service we went back to my cousins house and we ate and swam in her pool and just enjoyed family time together.  Here are some pics that we got:

It was such an enjoyable time with the cousins and my mom.  We have to cherish all the moments that we get because we never know when it will be our last.  

Coach's Recap...

Tim’s coach posted a recap. Take a close look 👀 at the picture and you’ll see Tim😊.  Here's the coach's recap:

"This past week the Athletic Lab Weightlifting Club made the trip to Pittsburg, PA to compete in the USAW Nationals Week.

Nationals Week consists of the top weightlifters in the USA competing head-to-head. Below are the results of each individual lifter. In total, the Athletic Lab Weightlifting team brought home 5 medals.

Team Results:

• 30/36 (88.3% successful lift rate)
• 5 medals in total. 2 Silver, 3 Bronze
• Each athlete hit a PR

Individual breakdown:

• Eva Young, 55kg (Youth) (Snatch: 65kg, CJ: 74kg Total: 139kg) 4th Place
• Tim Neal, 61kg (Youth) (Snatch: 75kg, CJ: 95kg, Total: 170kg) 4th Place
• Wakeland Branz, 67kg (Youth) (Snatch: 63kg, CJ: 80kg, 143kg) 25th Place
• Ewan McCallum (U25) (Snatch: 92kg 🥉, CJ: 109kg, Total: 201kg) 4th Place
• Chase Overpeck (U23) (Snatch: 98kg 🥈, CJ: 123kg 🥉, Total 221kg 🥈) 2nd Place
• Jacob Penner (U25) (Snatch: 117kg, CJ: 150kg🥉, Total: 267kg) 4th Place

The best part? Half of this squad has been lifting for less than a year. We’re just getting started😤."

 

RIP Aunt Joyce - June 21, 2024

My mom's sister passed away on the 21st.  She was 80 years old.  She'd been suffering with health issues for right at a year and had gotten considerably worse in the last couple of weeks prior to her death.  They are having a Celebration of Life service for her on the 29th.  Although she is gone she will never be forgotten.  I spent most of my childhood visiting and staying with her and my cousins during vacations/holidays/summer breaks from school.  And even though my family has their issues there's one thing that never changes and that's that we love one another faults, worts and all.  We may be a bunch of hicks and crazy at times but you'll never say we are boring...LOL😜😂!  RIP Aunt Joyce!!!

More Pictures from Nationals...