Trying out new blog

I'm trying out the Vox blog. If you'd like to see it go to: http://marlafb2000.vox.com/. I don't know if I'll stay there or keep using this one. The jury is still out.

Remote control dog

I came into the living room and Cinnamon had the remote under her. Breanna put her foot on top of it and she stayed that way until we got these pictures. What a dog!

Zion duty

We sometimes get the privilege of "Zion duty" so mom can have a break. Breanna just didn't have the touch but "In-house Grandma Marla" does (my parents dubbed us In-house Grandparents and Breanna In-house Aunt).

She looks so peaceful when she is sleeping but she can cry a lot. She has some gassy stomach problems.

Health Issues

I've been having some female problems that ended me up in the ER on Thursday, Feb. 7th. Since then I've been on hormones and feel pretty tired. The OB/GYN said my hemoglobin was down to 8.1 because of the bleeding problem I had had. At the ER it was 9.3. I am taking an iron supplement to get my levels back up. I feel pretty tired by the end of the day. I'm thankful that I am health otherwise although they did a biopsy and I will find out the results this coming Wednesday.

I'm thankful for my friends and family who have been praying for me! God's grace and his healing touch are here. Thank you, Jesus, for life and health!

It's been a year!

Today is the anniversary of my friend Kim and her two young children's deaths. Kristian was 3 and Kiana was 11 months. They died in a fire last February 15. I can't believe it has been a year. I pray for God's comfort over her remaining children (4) and her mom, her twin sister, and her aunts, uncles, and cousins. Life has changed so much for us since her death. Some of it very good and some hard to handle. I know she and Kristian and Kiana are very happy with the Lord.

Last night I dreamed I had a fire in my kitchen. I tried to put it out but I couldn't seem to get it all. Others around me were not that alarmed. I couldn't get the water faucet to work or I couldn't find something to fill with water or I'd think the fire was out and then it would grow again. I asked God to protect my family and church family after I woke up. I want his flames to burn us but not the flames of destruction and death.

Breanna's ensemble at contest

It worked! The first few seconds are waiting for the judge to say it was time to play. (Oops! I was all excited until I realized this is the one that only shows their tuning up. At least it is a video that loaded. I'll try again later for the longer one.)

Breanna's orchestra contest

Breanna went to contest yesterday. She played a solo and played in an ensemble. Her ensemble got gold and will go to state. She played Mozart Concerto #3 in G (a very complicated piece) and got silver. Her violin teacher said it was a high silver. Toward the end, she messed up for a few seconds. We think that is why she wasn't gold. She is relieved to not have to play this piece again since she's been playing it since last summer!

Practicing her solo.

The ensemble: Breanna, Matt, Jenny D, and two other girls I don't know their names.

Close up of Matt and Breanna before they began their piece.

Matt's solo. He got a gold but it was a group II piece so he isn't going to state. He played very well, though.

Tuning up before her solo. Under her elbow is her former private lesson teacher, Lyn. She graduated Breanna to a new teacher this fall. She said Breanna needs someone who can challenge her. She got Breanna started on the Mozart piece and then apologized after we found out she got gold for giving her such a hard piece to go to contest with.

I've been trying to upload the videos of her solo and ensemble but it is not working right now! Any help anyone can give me would be wonderful!

Our small group gets to meet Zion

Our "Breaking Free" small group that Amanda and Mark are a part of was able to meet and hold Zion. Amanda and Mark brought the baby upstairs after our meeting so everyone could meet her. You can tell they were glad to see her!

Zion Grace is here!

She's cute as a button and healthy. Mom had a rough time of it during labor. We are all glad that the baby is finally here and the ordeal is over. She was born on January 2 at 3:20pm. She weighed 7lb 3oz. They came home late afternoon today. Mark and Amanda are very proud parents. Now the journey begins...

Christmas Parties

My wonderful mother-in-law, happy that some of us came to her big meal.

Breanna crocheted her this scarf.

I gave Ron a salsa mix.

Then the day went to the birds. We took lots of bird pictures outside their picture window.

Kyle was so tired, he slept most of the afternoon.

Amber and Matt decided to leave on New Year's Eve because the snow was coming. Grandma B had invited us to come on New Year's Day. Bob's brother, Rollin, and Laura couldn't come because of the snow. Jezra wouldn't get out of bed to come (he had just gotten to bed at 8:30 a.m.). It was only Kyle, Breanna, Bob and me who had come for the lovely meal.



To see our family Christmas and the G Christmas, go to Amber's new blog: http://amberella148.vox.com/. She had a new camera and took pictures. I didn't take many while they were here.

Merry Christmas to All!

We pray all of you will have a wonderful Christmas time reflecting on the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who came into the world so we could all be free and live with Him eternally.

There are a lot of changes in the our household. You will find mention in the previous posts on this blog the following changes for 2007:

1. Marla has a new full-time job and is no longer working at the church. She works in a financial services office as the receptionist/administrative assistant. She started there on September 10. It is close to home and she walks to work whenever she can. It saves us a lot of gas money as well as almost doubling her salary. The extra money has been helpful since Bob's construction work has really slowed down. We have considered Bob getting a new job or doing something on his own but so far haven't felt that is what the Lord wants.

2. The boys (Kyle and Jezra) both headed off to college in August. Jezra is a freshman at Purdue and Kyle is a freshman at Ball State. This left a whole basement empty. Did we leave it that way? No! We invited a young couple from our church to live there. They will be having a baby girl in January. They pretty much have an apartment down there. It has been going very well. We fit together pretty well. We both have our own space, which is nice.

3. Breanna is a junior in high school and is involved very heavily in the orchestra program there. This isn't new but it is new to only have one child at home.

4. Bob turned 50 on December 12. We celebrated by having a surprise card shower for him. Friends, family, and church family gave him cards. Marla and Breanna hid the cards until the day of his birthday. We piled them all (32) on his dinner plate that evening. He spent a long time opening and reading all the cards. Thank you to all who sent him one! (He has received 40+ cards thanks to the procrastinators who have made his birthday celebration extend over tw0 weeks!) Marla also went to a bakery the morning of his birthday and picked up cinnamon rolls. I made him hot chocolate and heated up the rolls as a surprise for his birthday. Marla wanted to get pecan rolls his favorite but they didn't have any that day. We had to make this a very low-expense event because of our tight finances. It was a very nice way to celebrate his birthday, making it special without spending much money at all.

Now that the boys are home for the holidays, our main floor is pretty crowded. It will be an adjustment to living in our more cramped space while they are here and Matt and Amber come home for Christmas on the 26th. We celebrate our family Christmas by fixing a "theme" supper on Christmas Eve. This year our Christmas Eve will be Friday, December 28 since Amber and Matt can't come on Christmas Eve. Our theme this year is Italian. We are doing homemade ravioli. Everyone gets into the cooking and we always have a lot of fun.

We are having 17 (including us) over for a Christmas Day soup lunch. I invited everyone from our families who didn't have a celebration to go to. It turned out to be quite a lot of people but the couple who lives in our basement are coming, too, so we can use their space for the crowd. It should be a wonderful, unconventional Christmas Day.

Blessings to all of you as you enjoy looking through the pictures and events that are in this blog, getting updated on our family.

--Marla for the whole family.