Merry Christmas!!

We are packing and packing and packing and packing for our trip to Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina. I am not sure if the children will be able to go....there just isn't room. Kidding. Only kidding. But Seriously, they may have to stay here.



It is stressful to pack up your family for two weeks. It is REALLY stressful to pack your family up and take CHRISTMAS WITH YOU! Yeah. But it will be SOO worth it! Hopefully we will be able to update with some pictures at least once along the way. We might even get a white Christmas!

I hope that your Christmas holiday is wonderful and joyful and full of love, goodies, family, carols, hot chocolate, turkey, pie and all the trimmings.


But even more than that I pray that you will be blessed by the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who tread the earth fully man, fully God, to offer us forgiveness while we were still sinners. Blessings Dear Friends From our Savior and Lord!

A Personal Baking Day

12 long hours of stirring, chopping, cutting, frosting, cooling, saran wrapping, dividing ....



1 pan of peanut butter fudge

1 pan of chocolate peanut butter ribbon fudge

1 pan of cool mint frosted brownies

3 dozen triple chocolate brownie cookies

15 mini loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread.

=

8 boxes of goodies for the kids Sunday school teachers

7 bags of goodies for the church staff

Sharing the gift of giving with our children........priceless!

Today after my satisfyingly relaxing nap I am so thankful I spent the time to "try" to bless some of the important people in our lives.

What do you do at Christmas time for the people that have a special place in your life or the lives of your children to show your appreciation?

Some Pictures to Fill the Void

The only pictures taken of Dan's ordination service Dan's ordination weekend - It was SO much fun having everyone here!

Sweet cousin Luke

Day trip with Daddy/Uncle Dan to Caprock Canyons State park

Out takes of the family Christmas picture. We took A LOT and there wasn't one where EVERY SINGLE person was looking and smiling at the camera with eyes open. Oh well.

These were taken on Thanksgiving day at Nana and Papa's.

What a sweet group of kids!
How cute is this little man?!Aww...picture perfect! Isn't my sister beautiful!?Early Christmas presents from Aunt Patty and Uncle Max.

The horses all have names but I will have to verify who is who for you.

Holiday Stupor

It hit. The holidays. I remember as a kid my Mom not being ready for the holidays. As a kid, ok...let's scratch that, Up until this year, I have always been chomping at the bit for the holidays. The busy has invaded and it stole my joy! I have been working all day get my decorations up.....because I have to. We are having a Christmas party this weekend and.....what would people think? Gasp. yes, sometimes I, Kelli B., succumb to peer pressure. Well, and my kids would be really sad, too.

I almost got my joy for the season back until it reminded me of all the other things I need to do that I hadn't already remembered.

Now that I have officially had a pity party for myself....we can move on!

But seriously, I am busy. I have lots of things I would love to post. Lots of pictures. Lots of fun ideas for the holiday. I don't have time. That's all there is to it.

So, if you are starting to feel the rush........your heart starts beating faster and faster until you have to sit down or grab some paper to jot all the things......parties, gifts to purchase, memories to make, letters to write, pictures to take, cookies to bake, travel plans to plan, lines to memorize, parties to plan, Oh and let's not forget about teaching our children that all this STUFF is to celebrate the birth of Jesus....yeah, it gets my heart goin'........you aren't alone.

I will not be a scrooge.
I will not be a scrooge.
I will not be a scrooge.

Tomorrow night I vow to sit by the fire in front of the twinkle lights and read, visit, sip cocoa, something enjoyable! I know the best way to combat the loss of joy is to be thankful. I have SO much to be thankful for! SO MUCH! I can count four sweet faces lying asleep right this moment and one very handsome one waiting for me to do the same! Life is full. I will not let the busy win! I think I will go kiss all five of those faces right now!

Random Me

Shannon tagged me to post 6 random thoughts about myself. So before I sign off of the world wide web for the week I thought I would give it a shot.

1. I enjoy one cup o' joe in the morning. Only one. With two HEAPING tablespoons of
creamer and one HEAPING TBS. of Hot Cocoa. Yum!

2. My favorite CD right now is Addison Road. LOVE THEM! My favorite song is What Do I
Know Of Holy

3. I got a new rotary fabric cutter and while I was opening it I somehow threw it in the air and
cut a sizable gash in my left thumb. Yup. Kind of diminished the joy of starting a new sewing
project. Just to let you know....Those blades are SHARP!

4. My favorite holiday food is cornbread dressing.

5. I am a crier. If you cry...I will cry. If you do something nice for me...I will cry. If I watch a
Hallmark commercial...I will cry. When my children come and give me hugs or kisses of their
own accord...I cry. When my feelings get hurt...I cry. When I am tired...I cry. When I am
frustrated...I cry. When I am angry...I cry. When I am happy... I cry. I cry a lot.

6. I like to plan things. I stink at following through. And I am not very organized, but I would
like to be. And I have LOTS of ideas of how to be.


I am probably not going to tag anyone...it's a holiday week. But go ahead and do it if you want. Just link back to this one and comment that you did it!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

The Plague '08 and a catch up

Hopefully today is the last day we will miss out on life outside the walls of our home due to the plague that has decended. It has officially made every person under our roof puke, numerous times. Not to mention the other side effects. Believe me, you don't want to know!

The irony is that we had lots of company come and go this week. My house was very clean. Was being the key word in that sentence. But let's get caught up.......

Dan's ordination service was last Sunday. Dan's parents flew in from VA. Angie and cousin Luke drove up from Austin. Mom and Dad came in from Floydada. Uncle John and Aunt Rachel came for the day from Garland. It was so special. Dan's Dad, PopPop, delivered the charge and it meant so much to Dan and I that he was able to do it. My Dad, being an ordained deacon was able to participate as well. I highly misjudged my ability to hold it together. I tell you, hearing my Daddy pray for my husband, well, there are just no words. I am about to cry just thinking about it. Uncle John, PopPop's brother and wife were able to come and participate as well. It was so meaningful to have the support of our church, whom we love dearly, and the support of family all there to celebrate God's call on our life. I think it will be one of those times in life that you ALWAYS remember.

I have a picture or two of the weekend, I think, (my camera is dead so those will come later.)
Sunday ended with the beginning of PukeFest 2008. FaithLyn got sick that evening. Then everyone left Monday morning. It was an all around great weekend. Since I celebrated my 30th birthday the Thursday before everyone arrived we did some more celebrating that weekend. Mimi and PopPop cooked me a killer steak dinner Friday night and we did some celebrating on Saturday, too. I try to enforce a manditory birthday week. It worked out pretty good for me this year. Until my insides decided they wanted to be my outsides. But no one wants to hear about that.

On my actual birthday we had lots of fun, too. I got a yummy cake from the local bakery and Dan lined up some FREE babysitters so we got to go have dinner all alone. It was nice. My house was clean because I had company coming, I got dinner out, and chocolate cake!! What else could a girl ask for!

Oh and I forgot to document that Olivia went on her first trip to visit Nana and Papa with out us! When Mom and Dad left on Monday morning they took Luke, Angie's son, and Olivia with them. They are both 3. You can imagine how much fun they have had this week! But Angie arrived at Mom and Dad's yesterday so the fun is over now. A Mom has come to restore order. They were both pretty sad to lose the control. hehe! I miss that little girl pretty bad. But I must say......it has been significantly more quiet this week!

What fun! Minus the puking. That was NOT fun. Now I am trying to catch up on my 15 loads of laundry so we can join the fun at Nana and Papa's for Thanksgiving tomorrow! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy the family time, turkey and football, or what ever you to celebrate!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Patty!!

Many happy wishes for you!

I hope your day has been as great as mine!

It's the Small Blessings that Add Up A LOT!

I like to remember the goodness of our Savior. That's one of the main reasons I have this site. I have a few goodnesses I would like to get down for the sake of posterity and family history.

Blessing #1 We lost our first tooth in the B Casa this past weekend!

Blessing #2

This one is WAY over due......Back in August Elise read her first book! She is catching on pretty darn quick, too!

Blessing #3

Dan is going to be ordained into the Ministry this weekend! He is already licenced and now he will be an "official" minister. Now all the bulletins will say: Youth Minister - Rev. Dan Bragdon. Both of our parents are coming in and Angie and Luke are also coming to celebrate with us. You can come, too, if you want! We would love to have you join us!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

3:00 pm

411 S Wall

Iowa Park, TX 76367

Blessing #4

No picture for this blessing. Just a story.

If you know much about our history you know that God is OUR provider. He helped us get through college with almost no student loans. He provided us with a PERFECT job one month after moving in with Dan's parents after college graduation. He made a way to pay for the birth of our beautiful baby girl born without maternity insurance. You get the picture. The list is incredibly long of how God has provided and used many of you to help meet our needs and love us in very special ways. Today is just one more little chapter in that story of loving kindness. Dan drives a red car. That red car is, in and of itself, a gift of loving kindness given in our time of need out of love and generosity. It drives him around faithfully. The other day the red car got a flat. We left it parked at the church overnight. The next day Dan took the tire and got it repaired. Fast forward about 5 days later. Today Dan got a phone call. Someone has paid a local company to replace two of the tires on Dan's little red car. It was not more than two weeks ago that I mentioned to Dan that we probably needed to look into getting new tires for his car.

The gratitude I feel is a lump in my throat.

"Who am I , O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" 2 Samuel 7:18

A Little Daycation: Wichita Mountains

Get OUT and VOTE!!!

I JUST VOTED!!

Have you!?

Voting is what makes this wonderful nation wonderful! We have a say, a voice, and no matter what you may think.....IT MATTERS! It WILL be heard! OUr democracy stands on the belief that we as a people are educated enough and care enough to run ourselves! We elect our leaders. We elect leaders that stand for our beliefs, standards, ideas, ideals....

With media telling us what to do and think in every area of our lives all too often we unfortunately leave the work up to them...or sadly we vote based on who LOOKS best, or whose name we have actually heard. I have done it myself. Those local elections don't get much media so I vote according to party or whose sign I have seen more prominently. Shame on me! It is my right to vote. Women weren't always allowed the right. We weren't seen as Educated enough or we were seen as too emotional to make an educated decision. We as a nation have become appathetic to the glorious rights our nations freely gives us. We have not recollection of the cost that these rights so dearly cost our forefathers. So we vote according to whim or we fail to vote at all. Granted I have felt the despair of feeling like my ideas or thoughts on the "issues" won't matter much but what would our nation be if EVERYONE took this defeatest attitude? Are we going to let our nation succumb to SURIVAL of the Fittest or Loudest or Best Looking? Is that what we as a nation want? Do we even know what we as a nation want?

Well- Today is your day to have a say. Your vote will count IF you cast it! If you fail to cast your vote then you have forfeited your right to moan and groan about the outcome!! IF you care about the outcome then put your toosh in action and do something about it! VOTE.

No matter how this election turns out...I am at peace. I have cast my vote. I vote PRO-LIFE. It is the most important issue to me. That is the beauty of our government. I can vote my conscience and you may vote yours. And at the end of the day when all the dust settles I can go to sleep knowing that whatever the results are....I serve a God that is bigger than any President, Government, Bigger than any issue, cause, Disappointment, Victory, Man or Woman! And my trust and peace lies in HIS Glory and Majesty. I choose to let my life reflect HIS glory with HIS help and no matter what my country decides HIS will is victorious and I can rest in His sovereign plan.

SO- get out there and make your vote count!

Picture Update

Elise's Preschool PartyThe Loot

Cinderella Snow White, Betty Sue, and the Baby Bear

FaithLyn and Me after her Kindergarten program last night

We all enjoyed the program...Judson danced and clapped through the whole thing!

Doin' her Thang!

Aww SHOOT, MAN!!

Well. It is a sad day here at the B Casa! And not just because I just watched the Little House episode "School Mom". You know....the one where Miss Beadle breaks her ankle when the horse gets spooked and Mrs. Ingles is asked to teach. She teaches the older boy Able McKay how to read in about a week. He's fluent by the end of the show....Man that one gets me EVERY time! I thought I was hardened enough but no. I cried again! Sometimes that show makes me yearn for simpler times. By simpler I only mean times when everyone walked everywhere and had more time for each other. Not the make your own bread every day from scratch days....

Which brings me to our current sad state. My kneading blade in my Bread machine broke. I didn't even realize it. But it's dead. And today I am mourning. The worst part? I looked up the company online and it's so old that they don't make them anymore and DON'T EVEN PROVIDE REPLACEMENT PARTS!!!?? What is a girl to do? Surely you don't expect me hand knead me bread and sweet treats? I don't even have a stand up mixer to do the work for me. Yeah, I don't want to be Caroline Ingles.

Anyone have a bread machine layin' around gatherin' dust? I would be willing to give it some tender loving care!!!

Post Anti-TV Update

It would be a lie if I told you we have breezed through the last few days with out even a thought about TV and what we could be watching. We(I) have thought about it. The girls, mainly Olivia, has asked REPEATEDLY to watch. But frankly, we are too busy to watch TV right now.

As you can see Mount St. Laundry erupted on my couch Monday. The sad thing is, that wasn't even all the clothes yet! I had three or four more loads to add to that. So, Monday, thanks to some sick kids we were able to stay home ALL day and get some work done. I am not thankful my kids are sick but Mondays are super busy and following a super busy Sunday makes for a pretty hard start to a new week. We started by making some yummy chocolate pumpkin muffins. Then we tackled the floors in the living room and kitchen. With that done we moved on to the TV room to tackle the natural disaster on our couch. I broke out the Little House on the Praire DVD's and got busy. I folded and watched and cried and folded and watched and cried....by the 3rd episode I was sufficiently hardened to the pulling of my heartstrings by Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, and Carrie. That's when I really got busy! I got all of those clothes folded but they are still waiting to be put away. Along with the 3-4 other loads that now need to be folded. It's a start!
We took a little break from folding to play.

I know I still have a long way to go. It is amazing to me to see how much more I get accomplished with out the added pull of keeping up with my "hollywood family". I have also been able to see some of the other habits that are leading to my ineffectiveness in my home. It's good. We haven't dug the bunny ears out of the trashcan. We won't. But there are some signs that I am starting to feel the effects.

Actual Conversation This Morning:

Dan: Kel, do you know what the weather's supposed to be like today? Is that front going to hit?

Me: I DON'T KNOW! I don't know anything anymore! WE DON'T HAVE TV REMEMBER!?"

Dan: "Kelli..."

Me: heavy breathing as I leave the room.....

We never even watched the news! I am a lunatic! But at least I have the ability to change that.

Don't I? I mean I am not just crazy am I? It's the withdrawl talking...it can do crazy things to you....CAN'T IT? HEY YOU! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?

Update: for those of you that like to keep up with these sorts of things....

The front rolled in this morning right as everyone left for school. I can hear the wind whistling under the doors and around the windows. It's a nice and gray Fall kind of day! Now I have to get back to my clothes. Mary and Laura are about to be invited to a town pary at Nellie's house...I don't want to miss it!

Here We Go Again!

Some of you know our love hate relationship with TV. We LOVE to watch it and HATE what it does to our family. Some of you also know that if a TV is on Dan will stop whatever he is saying/doing/thinking and watch...open mouthed...like in a trance. If I want to bring my children from any room in the house all I have to do is turn on the TV. It doesn't matter what time of day or how loud the volume....they come RUNNING!

I often use evening TV watching as my way to hear adult conversations....Dan is a youth minister and a Seminary student. He is wonderful at balancing it all, but I am just saying...he's busy. I SHOULD be busy. If I weren't glued to the TV most evenings of the week I bet I would get lots more work done, or more reading, or at least more sleep.

There isn't anything wrong with watching a program or two. But it is certainly no substitute for life! I have an idea of what I would like our family evenings to look like. That ideal does not include 3 hrs of TV viewing.

There are so many things I want to do with the kids before they get so busy we hardly see them. I want to read LOTS of books out loud and someday I hope they will read to me. I want to study the word and memorize scripture. I want to live in a clean and peaceful home. I want to think more of what would be fun for my kids instead of what would be the least amount of work for me. TV makes me selfish. It ROBS my family of time spent together learning about each other and interacting with each other. It ROBS me of my joy in service.

BUT TV is not a thief. I invited it into my home! I let it entertain my children so I can read or write on my blog or even get dinner ready. SO I am ready to admit that I have to change this.
We got rid of our bunny ears today. After letting my kids watch 2 1/2 hrs of cartoons this morning. I am ashamed to even admit it. I am more ashamed to admit that this has become more of the norm than exception. BUT NO MORE! I am taking back control. From now on when we watch something it will be a deliberate choice. A deliberate choice of WHAT we watch and for how long.

We have done it before and will no doubt walk this road again but for now I am determined. I wouldn't be honest if I didn't tell you I am a little scared too. You see TV has become a convenience for me. And convenience is good.....until you become dependant on it! Then you are just a slave to one more thing that makes life EASIER. I want this family to have a choice to be slaves to righteousness, not sitcom and ease.

This is, I am sure, one of those things I will have to tell my children "builds character." And as much as I hate to say it, it won't kill them or me for that matter. Now I will no longer feel the rush to get the kids to bed so I won't miss my show. And hopefully we will all reap the benefits of some renewed creativity.

We will probably still be doing some of this (our family movie theater night)
But hopefully no more of this (afternoon snack and tv watching)

Here are some of the ideas I have to fill the TV void my kids will surely feel:
-Baking
-Crafts
-School time with Mom (I have some workbooks to use)
-More responsibility with housework
-Playing more games together
-READING!!
-Coloring
-Play-time stations (this is where I pick out certain toys and put them in separate rooms for alone play time)
-Books on Tape
-Playing outside together
-Walks
-Science walks
-Prayer walks

Well the possibilities are nameless! I have two good friends who encouraged me in this decision! So thanks, girls, for showing me the way and helping me get a head start!

Obedience

That's the theme.

It's the emphasis of my bible study this week.

We had some issues with E during the children's sermon this week at church. (that, and how we handled it was also emphasized at our bible study ;)

We have a 14 month old son who is now walking.

We have a Kindergartner who is WAY to wrapped up in all the boys at school.

And we have a 3 yr old who wants her way.

Obedience has been on my mind A LOT.

It's not something I have been mirroring for my children lately.

Here are some of the scriptures that have been playing on repeat in my head the last few days.

• 1Samuel 15:22 "...To obey is better than sacrifice...."
• John 14:23 "Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching..."
• Jeremiah 7:23 "...Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you."

Obey: to do as asked; to yield to someones command or wishes. (according to my NIV concordance)

We yield to the wishes of our Maker because we believe He knows best. It is an act of self-discipline. We YIELD. We do it out of love. We love Him and trust Him. It is the same with our children. We must love them ENOUGH to expect obedience. It is the natural order set before us from the beginning of time. The Creator created man, Adam, and set down the rules. It was only ONE. He disobeyed. Because the Creator loved us all so much He already had a plan in action to redeem all of mankind from disobedience. Disobedience is SIN. James 4:17 "Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." It's that simple.

But it really isn't that simple, is it? You see, in my opinion, the hard part is the yielding part. That's the hard part for our children, too. To yield means to give up the possession of something; to give way to. We have to give up the possession of our will and give way to the will or commands of our Creator. It's not always an easy thing to do.

But if we love Him....

we will.

These Boots Were Made for Walkin' and That's Just What They'll Do!

Well, I guess it's official. Judson is a walker now. Yesterday he took his first steps without us goading him. It was before lunch and he walked away from the fireplace a couple of steps on his own toward us at the oversized chair. I made a huge deal of it all and immediately staged a do over so I could record it for posterity. It was big stuff. I, of course, knew he could do it long ago but the little stinker works on his own terms. It was pretty fun. If only I could get him to stop pulling things off of every flat surface he can now reach.....

Surprise Visitor!

We were so pleasantly surprised by news that Uncle David's work brought him SOOO very close to us last week! He was only an hour and half away for the day. So he drove the hour and a half and spent the night with us......well, he rested for a few hours. He had to get up VERY early to make it to the airport for his flight home. We got an hour or two of good visitin' in before bed. The girls were so pumped to see Uncle David!! He is a legend around here! They waited up for him to get here and we sat and visited with him while he ate a sandwich then he read them their bedtime bible story. The big girls were glad to give up their bed for him. They were super sad, though that he wouldn't be here when they woke up.
Even though I told them SEVERAL times before we even left the bedroom that Uncle David was already gone they came tearing through the house to see for themselves. Alas, he was IN FACT already gone.

We were all sad we didn't have more time with David but we sure did enjoy him. What a super treat on a reagular Thursday night. It also gave me a super sweet reason to *miss* the VP debate. I am so DONE with this election year! (DON"T FORGET TO VOTE!!! NOV. 4)

It certainly wasn't the easiest thing for David to come see us...I am sure it made his Friday LONG, but we sure did feel special that we got to be his pit stop for the night!! It was just enough time to make us realize how darn much we miss him! These years in our families lives don't offer lots of free time and it's only going to get crazier....But we sure do love our families! We are so blessed by them all!

I had to make sure I got a picture to document the event.

I will leave you with the song that sweet little Elise was singing Friday morning while getting ready for preschool....you will have to imagine your own tune

"Uncle David, Uncle David, we love you. I wish you could have stayed longer.
Uncle David, Uncle David, Uncle David , Uncle David, we love you.
I wish you could have stayed longer....."

It made me smile, anyway. And it is just SOO TRUE!

Weekend Getaway!!

We are heading over to the Doorpost for an early weekend. The hard working Daddies are going to have some no questions asked men-only camping. We are going to try to keep the kids enterained and fed at the house. I am so excited to spend some time with our sweet freinds. These guys go WAY back. They were at our wedding we were at their wedding. They were some of our first friends at college. Now our families are friends. They are a true blessing in our life. I hope we don't wear-out poor Mandy! Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, FaithLyn Diane!

That's right! She's our BIG 6 year old as of Saturday! We have celebrated 3 times now. FaithLyn was able to choose 3 girlfriends for a party at Chuck E. Cheese. (with FL you have to distinguish between boy friends and girl friends....she has LOTS of "boyfriends") We did that a week ago because this past weekend was Homecoming and you know how small town Texas is crazy about football! It was a full weekend! But we were still able to squeeze in an intimate family party at the park. I have no doubt FaithLyn felt well celebrated this birthday! She even got to take cupcakes to her class and celebrate with all her new friends at school.

Doesn't she seem so grown up?

This game is SOO much fun and it's for ages 3+ and it really is a game a 3 yr old could play. The girls can play together and they love it!!!

The love of my life, my encourager, my Danny!Here is the Princess Party. Girls Only!


FaithLyn we are so proud of the young lady you are growing into! I love your sensitivity, your strong sense of justice and your ever-loving spirit! May the God of Peace continue to develop your heart to love others and walk humbly in His path. I pray you always have the courage to speak up for those who can not speak for themselves and continue to love the less lovable!