Just to warn, this is kind of a long one, but I think its worth reading all the way through.  Though you might not believe that these things actually happened.

As many of you know, this weekend was the first ever Pursley family reunion (Pursley is my mom's side of the family).  Now please allow me to briefly describe to you the dynamics of the Pursley clan so that you may more fully understand what I am about to relay.  The Pursley clan is run by the women.  The Pursley women are loud, witty, assertive, bold, creative, and in control.  The Pursley men are relaxed, witty, assertive in a calm way, and willing to let others run the show.  There are, of course, exceptions, but for the most part this is how our family is.

So this past weekend this family reunited...but not in the way a normal family would...no no...we had to make it big.  Here is a brief list of the not-so-everyday reuniting that took place...1) A son who had not seen his father in 15 years 2) twins who had not seen each other in 6 years 3) a daughter who has rarely seen her father throughout her life.  Add these to the already awkward atmosphere of a family reunion and let me tell you friends...we had a PARTY!

Seriously, though emotionally draining at times, this weekend was a BLAST!

To begin with we were in the middle-of-nowhere New Mexico (Hobbs and Eunice for those of you who know the state).  All 16 of us stayed in one hotel where we pretty much took over the lobby for the whole of the weekend.  The first night we crashed the 50th high school reunion of Eunice High School because my grandpa taught there during that year and my cousin was in that graduating class (yay class of '57).  We all had to wear name tags and rather than just putting our real names, we made them up.  I was Lakisha Fay, class of 1932.  This was followed by family pictures with the WORST photographer ever.  I mean, her pics may be fine, but her posing was the strangest I've ever seen.  After taking pics we proceeded to Chile's where we quickly realized that 2 of our party were missing.  After some debate as to where they might be I noticed a police officer walking into the joint.  Sure enough, my cousin and her husband had been in  a car accident.  They were fine, but the car was totaled.  After some panic and prayer our whole family (all 14 of us now) trekked into the hospital, which was actually called "the original hospital"  This happened to be the hospital my mom was born in.  My cousin's dad AND twin sister rushed the ER demanding to see her, but neither could really give them any info about her...i mean, her dad didn't know her last name...lol.  Anyway...we finally got them the info they needed and, after being moved to the "consultation room" and waiting several hours, they got to come back to the hotel.  That was day one.

Day two was where the real action came.  We started off at a parade in Eunice for the class of '57.  My grandpa was supposed to be on the "float" but we were late so he missed getting on.  (The float was actually a trailer pulled by a truck)  So we're watching the parade and the float comes by and the class of '57 signals for him to come get on.  Before you know it, my 80 year old grandpa is running to the float followed by my mom who is trying to stop him while my whole family just yells "NO! NOOOO!"  Then, before my very eyes, my grandpa jumped onto the back of the moving trailer!  MOVING TRAILER!!  And gracefully...as if it was nothing!  Funniest thing I've ever seen!  So after the parade fiasco we moved on to the house my mom and uncle grew up in.  The house was vacant but locked and rather than moving on we indeed decided that breaking and entering would be a better route.  Yep, thats right friends, we broke into the house.  At one point a neighbor even came out to help us.  We ended up pulling glass out of a window and unlocking the door.  All 14 of us...oh so subtle.  haha.  I'm so glad we didn't get arrested, though I don't know that they even had a jail.

The rest of the trip was filled with an emotional speech by my grandpa, followed by emotional speeches from everyone else.  There was much reconciliation (though it will take time for everything to heal) and for the first time ever, my family was together.  It was amazing.  Only God's grace made it happen.

So yeah...I love my crazy family and our crazy trips.  I hope I conveyed even a fraction of what went on this weekend.  And thank the Lord for bringing my family together and making the impossible possible.