It’s a rare thing these days, being able to get together with your whole extended family — especially when that family lives overseas. But after so much has happened in 2020 and 2021, we were so thankful to be able to have a most memorable vacation in the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. Not only did we have a special time together, we captured it in these videos.
The first video captures are arrival in Tennessee, our extended Reutter family reunion, the fun we had, and last but not least my mom’s 70th birthday celebration! The fun continues in the next video when we enjoyed the beauty of the area in some of the best ways.
A happy family isn’t something that just happens. It’s something that you have to fight for. Our family is not perfect — nor is our extended family. But we are all so blessed and thankful to God for all of his love and blessings in our lives. While living in Japan takes us further away from family than we would like to be, we are so thankful for a family that values getting together and makes space and time for it.
So many times I find out that our family gets together as much or even more than families who live close to each other. The fact the you live close to somebody physically does not mean you will automatically be close to them emotionally. Living far away, you have to make a conscious effort to be close to others — FaceTime calls, care packages, social media and planned vacations are all ways that you can be close even when far away. And these days, that is more important than ever.
These days, it doesn’t matter if you live near or far away from your loved ones, you are as close as you want to be.