I know that I could never be a women's speaker because everytime I read scripture in front of a group I am so moved by the Word that I cry. Not that that is a bad thing but it sure is hard to understand a blubbering woman!

I took the advice of my dear Mother-in-Law, Diana and my sweet husband and I used an excerpt from my blog. It was just right. I was able to share what purpose my blog serves and then I was able to share a devotional thought. The verse that made me blubber? I Cor. 13:10,12. "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears...Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." Isn't that exciting? When Christ, perfection, comes we will be made perfect!! My throat is getting all tight and my eyes are clouding up just thinking about it!! All of the goodness that we know of Christ right now will be personified to the umpteenth degree when he comes again to reveal his glory. All the questions we have will be made clear!

The whole time I was trying to prepare my speech I was thinking of how my college speech prof and mentor, Mrs. Strickland would react to my lack of prep and commitment. I had a speech(Communications) minor in college. This was what I was always really good at. I realized that those abilities that I was so proud of, well, first of all, they were a gift from the Lord, and second, with out the blessing of the Lord they are useless!! That is why I was struggling! I wanted all of those women to hear me speak and be in awe of...well, ME! I wanted them to want to know ME as a result of my presentation. And until I surrendered that desire and wanted those ladies to see and hear from my Lord through my presentation I had nothing! As soon as I gave it over and said, "Enough, Lord. If I go up there and look like a fool that has never spoken in front of a group then so be it! I want you to be glorified, NOT Kelli." Then and only then was I able to truly share my heart. And I believe that those ladies did get to see an accurate picture of who I am. I was able to make myself vulnerable to them in the most intimate way, I shared the heart of my Savior with them. I don't remember if I followed all of the rules for public speaking, or if I said "UMmm.." or "Like" and I just barely made it in my time limit BUT, I was able to give up my desire for earthly recognition for the moment. And the best part is that the Word of God was honored and He blessed MY heart. I learned a valuable lesson about sharing the Word. It's God's word, not mine!!
"To God be the glory great things he hath done, So loved he the world that he gave us His Son, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the Earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice.
Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son, Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done."

PRESENTATIONS #*%!!#@%*

I have a presentation tonight for my Minister's Wives class and it has really bee frustrating to me! This is what I am supposed to be good at and I can't figure out what to share!! I feel like such a loser! The truth is that there is so much that I could share I am having a hard time fitting anything into 5 mins.! The presentation is pretty unstructured. Mrs. Dr. Patterson just wants us to get some practice speaking in front of everyone. This is supposed to be my thing!! And I have been unable to commit to a topic. I am going to take the easy way out and just share one of my posts from this blog. For me, this blog is a ministry. It is a ministry to my family. I got tired of feeling like they didn't me. SO...what better way to let your family really know you than to share your thoughts more concistently than a phone call every week? It has become so much more than just a collection of pictures and events for me. This blog is where I work out what God is teaching me and make myself vulnerable to others about what God is teaching me. Now how do I share that in 5 minutes? Oh, well, I have got to get back to the archives and find a post to share!

Happy Birthday, FaithLyn!

Today we went to get FL's hair cut. She wanted it short like Elise's. Then we all went to the Museum to play and picked up Dan for lunch at Mickey D's. What a fun day! (The little girl between FL and Elise is Katelyn. She stays with us during the day.)
This is going to be one of those really cliche things to say but. . . I can not believe that only four years ago we were introduced to FaithLyn for the first time. I can not believe she is growing up so fast. I remember when she was born she looked around the room very calmly. She turned her head and looked all around and then she reassured us with one little cry and went back to observing. She was amazing! She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. But every mother thinks her children are beautiful. It's one of God's most special gifts for moms. After nine months of carrying that child we better think they are cute!! I was so ready to get home and have her all to myself. That changed eventually and I learned how special good help, or ANY help for that matter, is.

FaithLyn, this message is for you someday. I hope that someday when I am not your bestest friend anymore you will find this and know how special you are to me. I am so thankful for how you are growing. You are so sweet and thoughtful. Just today you shared your birthday milkshake with everyone at the table. I love that you are friendly and good at including others in your fun world. To see your imagination taking bloom brings delight to my heart. I know that there will be years when you think I am less than tolerable so I am storing up these precious memories now so that they will last me through the dry spells. Believe it or not, you won't always want Mommy to tell you a "little Mommy story" before bedtime. So until then I will tell you as much as you want to know about Mommy when she was little.

I am so excited to go with you and get your very first Library Card. I remember my first Library card. It was my first taste of freedom! I was in charge of what I picked out to read. I hope this excitement will continue to grow into a full blown passion for literature. I hope your love of reading will overflow into a love of learning. My heart melts every time I see you experience something or learn something for the first time. That AH HAA! moment is priceless to me and I hope someday you have the opportunity to experience it yourself with your own children. There are so many things that I want for you. I want your life to blessed by the love of Christ. I want His joy to be the joy that radiates from your smile and everything you do. I want you to be protected from bad choices and mistakes because you are obedient to God's will for your life. But more than any of those things I want you taste and know that the Lord is good! To feel His presence and know His forgiveness. If I don't do anything else for you besides teach you of Christ's love then I have succeeded in this life on earth. There is nothing else worth living for. My prayer for you is that you realize His love and surrender to it at an early age. By surrender I mean I want you to give yourself to Him unashamedly, every part of you and every dream you ever had. Because I promise you that the Life He has for you is better than any you could imagine for yourself. Living in God's will does not insure ease or outward comforts and happiness. But God can give you a lifetime of peace, joy and love that no one else can ever give.
My darling daughter, I love you! You are jewel and a princess of the Most High King of Kings. Please, never forget that!!

Back to Real Life!

We are back and had a great time with my parents in New Mexico! My only regret? I forgot my power cords for all of my cameras!! So I got two pictures of the whole week! ARRGH!














We got to have a little family birthday party for FaithLyn. She had a great time! Nana and Papa got her some skates and a Cinderella doll. FUN! She opened the skates and said, "I have been wanting some skates for my birthday!" It was really cute and it made Nana and Papa's day!
We had a great time in Cloudcroft. The only big thing we did was go to the Alamogordo Zoo. Which can't really be qualified as a big thing. But the girls really had a good time. It rained just about every afternoon so we just took it easy and lazed around. I did most of the cooking to try and earn my keep but even then it was so relaxing! I didn't have to worry about laundry or cleaning or entertaining anyone. It was beautiful! Memaw Cumbie ( sitting on the couch in the R pic) gave the girls some spending money for the trip so we went out one afternoon in a downpour to spend it. We took them to get ice cream. They felt very big buying their own treats. They also go to buy some M&M's. They also got to watch LOTS of TV. I am sure I will be paying for that this week! But what else is there to do on the top of a mountain in the rain? The rain and cool weather was much desired change for us though.
Now it's back to the normal schedule and normal life. Being away from Dan was the hardest it has ever been for me. He let me know just how much of a difference we make for him. It was really nice to feel needed. I am so glad that he didn't do better with us gone! I was a little worried that we might have become another responsibility. But I should have known better than that! Dan is the best and he truly does live out the love of Christ for us. Being away gave me two things, 1. It gave me a much needed break from the rat race. 2. It gave me a new found desire to do everything possible to make life easier, better and more fun for Dan.
I love being a wife and mom. It is such an important job and I am so blessed that I get to make that my focus!

Off to New Mexico!

WooWHOO! I am off to spend the week with my parents! We are going this Sunday to spend a few days at Cloudcroft, NM. It's supposed to be in the mid60's and raining! Sounds perfect to me! Hope you all are having a good week and if you think of Dan give him a call and make sure he is surviving. When I am gone he eats PB&J or peanut butter crackers. That's going to be a lot of crackers!! But I am sure he will stay busy with work and class. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Minister's Wives Class

Last night was my second class to help me learn to be a minister's wife. I tell you, everything has been going against me liking this class, well, except for the free childcare! But last week, my kids weren't signed up for childcare and I wasn't signed up for the class. URGH! Do you know how long it takes to get three kids to three seperate classrooms and hand off bags and give instructions? But I persevered. I filled out ANOTHER childcare sheet and thought I would try again this week.

Last night they did have my kiddos signed up for childcare but my name was not on the list! URGH! So I filled out another registration sheet and this time I handed it to Dr. Stovall, the director of Women's Studies. SO next week if I am not on the list I am done! But, despite the loss of my registration I really enjoyed the class last night. The topic was Marriage. The speaker was dynamic and very, very, happy. SHe started off by giving a little background of the Trinity. God the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit. She outlined their unity and their diversity. Then she took Genesis 2 and outlined God's creation of marriage and what it was before sin. So we got a good look at what God intended marriage to be. She pointed out the seperate roles of Adam and Eve. It was really interesting. Some things I had heard before but most of this teaching was eye-opening to me! Don't get me wrong I understand the importance of submission but now I have a whole new appreciation for my role as a woman, submission and all!! I still may not always like it and I am sure my "desire will be for my husband, and he shall rule over me." Gen. 3:16 In other words, I will still want to be in charge but that doesn't change the fact that Dan is!

We talked about how Marriage is meant to portray the image of God. Man and woman both portray different characteristics of the trinity. We become one and compliment each other. SO when Jerry McGuire (Tom Cruise) said " You complete me," He was theologically sound! I wonder what he would say to that?!!

Anyway, I took really good notes so I would love to talk to with you about this! SHe also gave some insight into why God hates divorce and homosexuality. The whole three hours just flew by and I really enjoyed every minute of it!

I have a book to recommend if you are contemplating your role as a wife, The Excellent Wife. I can't remember the author and I can't find my copy but this book will knock your socks off! It was very challenging to me. I would recommend it for any wife, new or old, who is seeking God's best for your marriage, life or family.

More catch-up Pics!

Luke and Olivia were due one day apart. But Olivia decided to come a whole month early! We got to have a birthday party together anyway! Here we have Olivia and Luke in their birthday hats and playing with the birthday loot! FL and Elise loved it just as much as Luke and Olivia.


This was Luke's first taste of cake! I think he liked it! I can't tell you how fun it is to live close enough to family to get together for family events like this! Isn't he sweet!?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI!!!

Bill and Diana are spending this weekend with David and Ellen in DC. They are going to visit Aunt Judy tomorrow and see her new townhouse!! I also hear AUnt Judy just got a promotion!! Congrats! I am only a little jealous!! We miss you guys!! Hope you have fun and we wish so much that we could be there with you celebrating this special day!!!

WE LOVE YOU MIMI! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

YIPEE for fast internet!

Dan and I have never been, well...normal. If you know us at all you know that. But for some reason we have fought the progression of technology in internet service. I am not fully sure what our thinking was but we have been dial-up users until today! We are now DSLers! WOOSTINKINWHO! In Pa we had dial-up because that was the only choice. In TX we have been frugal. We finally decided to put up the $3-4 extra for DSL. I can't imagine now what we were thinking. My only excuse is that we were living in ignorance. You can't miss what you have never known. Well we are fully educated now! SO, this blog will soon be up to speed with all of the bragdonclan pics that you have been missing. Here we have a few from our trip to FL (at Uncle Max and Aunt Patty's in the photos with the girls)and one of Olivia's B-day back in July. I am so excited !!! There may not be anyone out there who cares but I am really excited!! Yeah for fast internet and yeah for digital cameras!!

Oh and just an update. I did decide to babysit Katelyn. She fits right in with all of us girls. She is lots of fun and the girls love having her around. She is very polite and very obedient. For that I am a million times thankful! It has been an adjustment, one more to buckle into a car seat, one more lunch to fix. But some things are a lot easier, potty training is a lot easier for me to do for two than one, and I am certain there are other things but right now I am drawing a blank. I have committed for two months and at the end of the first 4 weeks I will reevaluate and let the Millers know. I am keeping an open mind and heart to God's direction. But we have already benefitted greatly from following God's will in this decision. I was forced to reevaluate my goals as a mom and get a better plan for accomplishing them. Once I get over the newness and we get more settled into a schedule I think we will really have a good time.

My class last Tuesday? Well, if nothing else I did take away one truth that I will share that makes it all worth it! This time in our life, here at Seminary, will be one of the hardest times for us as a family. But no matter how hard it gets, God has placed us here, and He won't leave us here alone to struggle through by ourselves! Sounds pretty elementary writing it out but on Tuesday night for me it was just what I needed to hear. Yes, it has been hard to adjust to less money, a smaller house, and less time with Dan, but I have grown in my Faith for God's provision SO MUCH!! I have learned a little better how much I can be stretched and succeed and how much I can be stretched and fail. I have made great progress in my relationship with the girls, and I have been forced to lean less on Dan and more on my Heavenly Father. So even though I am so tired that I cry pretty much anytime it is so worth it to be closer to the Lord. Even though it's harder than I have ever known before I am living a more fulfilled life than I ever thought possible. That, my friends, is what Jesus can do for you!