New game with a stump!

One tree down (it was mostly dead) in our back yard

Dance, Dance Revolution (Computer dancing game)

Kyle and Amber and trying to step on a pad on the floor at the proper time in step with the music. It's hard, I've tried it!

Our youth group is going to Mexico next summer for a mission trip. Last Saturday evening they held a Mexico-themed banquet fundraiser to raise money for the trip. I was looking forward to going since I heard about it but alas, Saturday I developed stomach flu along with a fever and horrible headache and couldn't go. I told Bob to take pictures so I felt like I was there. Even though pictures are nice, it's just not the same! Breanna played her contest solo for part of the entertainment. At least both her grandparents and her dad got to hear it. (I was at contest when Bob was traveling home from New Orleans.) I sure wanted to be there. The food was great. The desserts are shown in the middle picture.

Mexico Fundraiser Fun!

Armor of God Prayer

I've been through some tough times the last week and a half. Today, I came across this prayer that I prayed every day for about 2 months or more about a year and a half ago. I had forgotten about it until I saw it today. My prayer is that it will help you in whatever circumstances you may be facing right now. I got this prayer from our 2004 Ladies Retreat speaker, Cheryl Weaver.

Armor of God Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank you for assuring me of victory today if I will but follow Your battle plan. So by faith, I claim victory over every hardship, every challenge, every trial, and every temptation that I may face today.

To prepare myself for battle, by faith I put on the belt of truth. The truth about You, Lord, is that you are a Sovereign God who knows everything about me, both my strengths and my weaknesses. Lord, You know my breaking point and You have promised not to allow me to be tempted beyond what I can bear. The truth about me, Lord, is that I am a new creature in Christ and have been set free from the power of sin. I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit who will guide me and warn me when danger is near. I am Your child and nothing can separate me from Your love. The truth is that You have a purpose for me today; someone to love, someone to share with, someone to encourage.

Lord, by faith I put on the breastplate of righteousness. Through this I guard my heart and my emotions. I will not allow my heart to attach itself to anything that is impure. I will not allow my emotions to rule in my decisions. I will set them on what is right and good and just. I will live today by what is true, not by what I feel.

Today, I put on the sandals of the gospel of peace. I am available to You, Lord. Send me where You will. Guide me to those who need encouragement or physical help of some kind. Use me to solve conflicts wherever they arise. Make me a calming presence in every circumstance in which You place me. I will not be hurried or rushed for my schedule is in Your hands. I will not leave a trail of tension and apprehension. I will leave tracks of peace and stability wherever I go.

I also take up the shield of faith, Lord. My faith is in You and You alone. Apart from You, I can do nothing. With You, I can do all things. No temptation that comes my way can penetrate Your protecting hand. I will not be afraid for You are going with me throughout this day. When I am tempted, I will claim the victory out loud ahead of time for You have promised victory to those who walk in obedience to Your word. So by faith I claim every victory even now because I know there are fiery darts headed my way even as I pray. Lord, You already know what they are and You have already provided me with the way of escape.

And now, Lord, by faith, I put on the helmet of salvation. You know how Satan bombards my mind day and nith with evil thoughts, doubts, and fears. I put on this helmet that will protect my mind. I may feel the impact of his attacks, but nothing can penetrate this helmet. I choose to be obedient and take every thought captive; I will dwell on nothing but what is good and right and pleasing to You.

Last, I take up the sword of the Spirit, which is Your word. Thank You for the precious gifts of Your word. It is strong and powerful and able to defeat even the strongest of Satan's onslaughts. Your word says I am not under obligation to the flesh to obey its lusts. Your word says that I am free from the power of sin. Your words says that He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. So by faith I take up the strong and powerful sword of the Spirit, which is able to defend me in time of attack, comfort me in time of sorrow, teach me in time of meditation, and prevail against the power of the enemy on behalf of others who need the truth to set them free.

I choose now to pray in the Spirit today on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests, keeping open the lines of communication with You. With this in mind, I will be alert, keeping my spiritual eyes open, constantly praying for all the saints.

So Lord, I go now rejoicing that You have chosen me to represent You to this lost and dying world. Here I am, Lord, send me. May others see Jesus in me. May Satan and his hosts shudder as Your power is made manifest in me. To God be all glory, honor, and power. In Jesus' name, amen.

Music Contest for Breanna

Breanna played in 2 ensembles and played a solo for the music contest last Saturday. She got a gold and silver for her ensembles and a gold for her solo. Her solo was so hard. It had lots of 16th notes and her fingers were moving very fast over the strings. I had tears in my eyes as she played. When she finished all who were watching her (her private teacher, Matt and his parents, and two friends and one set of parents) were very impressed! That's when she said that she put her music on the stand and slid the second page over so both were showing. As she got to the second page, she realized that that sheet was upside down! She said she almost stopped but then realized that she could play it by memory. We never noticed a missed beat! We were laughing and laughing at her. I think her private teacher will tell that to all her students! It was so amazing that she could make it through that and not mess up. She said she changed her expression and kind of messed up a little but I didn't notice. Her private teacher said the only thing she did wrong was play it a little bit too rushed. I'm so proud of her. It was a piece hard enough to qualify for state but she choose not to be in the level that could go to state for her very first solo at contest.

More about his time in New Orleans

There were 7 men and 4 women from our church who went to New Orleans last week. They left at 5 a.m. Sunday morning and returned home Saturday at 1 p.m. They stayed in a church in a bad part of New Orleans. The first floor of the church had been completely under water. There were two other crews there to work. They all slept on the second floor that was pretty much undamaged. The other crews worked on the main floor putting in a drop ceiling and doing trim work. Bob's crew worked on the pastor's roof until Wednesday or Thursday and then split up and did other jobs. Bob helped put a new floor in the pastor's father's church. He's 81 years old and has quite a story.

There were 29 people sleeping on cots in a small area. The women all slept in a 10x10 room. The four of them had very little space in that room. There were two toilets (a women's and men's) and one shower for all of them. They had to wait in line for a 2-minute limit in the shower! They always had hot water but had to have the water turned all the way to hot to get it!

I'll let Bob tell you more. You can always call and ask him to tell you about the trip. He loves to talk about it!

9th Ward

The damage was so great here and still almost 5 months later, the debris is mostly just pushed off the streets. A lot of houses were on the streets and those streets are still not opened up. This was very sobering time for the crew. The barge is the one that came over the levee.

Bob didn't take a lot of pictures, but the rest of them did. We will get a CD with everyone's pictures on it. Anyone who wants to can call and we will be glad to set up a time when you can see them all. We should have them all before this Sunday.

Garden District

Bob didn't take pictures except on the first day and then the last day when they went sightseeing. This was the garden district and he loved the huge houses. He said they stay in the family. They never sell them. If no one wants to live their, the family money keeps it up until someone in the family wants to live in it.

A better picture of the pastor's house

New Orleans Trip

This is the pastor's house where Bob and the 6 other men worked at putting a new roof on. This area didn't get much flooding but the winds tore shingles off and water got in. It's a much better part of town than where the church was that they stayed at night.

A week of single parenting

Bob left at 5 a.m. Sunday morning for a week of hard work in New Orleans. He will be back around noon this Saturday. That leaves me spending a week as a single parent. I got up and took him to where he would meet the others on Sunday morning and saw them off, went home a slept a couple hours and then went to church all alone (the kids came a little later than me). It really felt strange being there without Bob! The big adjustment for the week is having to make all the decisions and handle any discipline issues all by myself. I can talk to him on the cell phone--he has a good signal, he said--but don't want to interrupt him so I'm letting him call me as much as possible.)

I'm praying that nothing breaks down or stops working while he's gone. I'm also praying that he has a great time with lots of divine appointments and times of seeing God's glory in the devastation. He said he's in a pretty bad part of town (right in New Orleans) and it's so devastated. It was quite a shock to see it in person. Some of the guys were ready to turn around and go back home, it was so shocking.

He's got the digital camera so I'll be posting pictures when he comes back for all of you to see.

Official students and a sermon

Bob and I are official students in the In Christ's Image Training as of Thursday last week. We are both enjoying it so far. The material is very inspiring. I find myself saying, "Yes!" a lot while I'm listening to the teaching CD's and underlining a lot in the chapters we have to read. It's two chapters a week and two 20 minutes sermons/lectures by Francis Frangipane.

Bob spoke a sermon on New Year's Day at our church. He told me I was to stand up there with him while he asked me a few questions. I didn't have any idea what the questions would be ahead of time. It was very powerful and I was crying by the time I got done (about 5 minutes of his sermon). He asked me like Jesus was asking me questions like, "Marla, will you follow me no matter what happens?" "Will you feed my sheep, teach my people?" Bob said that as my husband, he was commissioning me into what God had for me this year and he wanted to support me as much as he could as my husband.

Bob spoke on Joshua 3 about crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land. Then he talked about us taking up the sword of the spirit and being ready to follow the Lord across our Jordans. I had a lot of people say that they were impacted by his sermon. I'm looking forward to what God has for us and for our church in 2006. I feel like we are on the brink of entering the Promised Land of rest and work.

Bob is going to New Orleans the end of January for a week with a group of men from our church to gut out 5 houses, put a drop ceiling in a church there, and possibly re-roof the pastor's church. It will be a good experience for him. Everyone who has gone says how they are impacted by the devastation there.

Christmas Celebration (5)

Amber got an exercise ball from Matt and we all had to try it out. It was a great Christmas celebration!

On Christmas Eve, we went as a family (except for Kyle because he had to work) to our church for their service. Christmas Day we spent with the Brenneman side. It was a great weekend.

I pray that your Christmas celebrations were great!

Christmas Celebration (4)

We read all the scriptures that were about Jesus' birth between the first course and the main course because we had to wait until the chicken was done. After the meal, we all helped clean up.

Christmas Celebration (3)

After opening presents while the meal was baking, we ate with our china and enjoyed a great meal.

Christmas Celebration (2)

Our family Christmas was Friday evening, Dec. 23. It began with us cooking a meal together. Everyone had a part in making the meal (except Dad because he had to work. He set the table when he came home). We had an Irish themed meal, with potato soup and Irish soda bread for appetizer, chicken breasts stuffed with cheese and vegetable coleslaw for the main meal and Shamrock jello for dessert. Sooo good!

Christmas Celebration (1)

It began on Thursday evening when we had Grandma and Grandpa G. over as well as Breanna's friend, Matt, and Matt and Amber. We played "Beyond Balderdash" until almost 10:30 and the Grandparents stayed until the end. It was so fun!

Brenneman 2005 Christmas Letter

Dustin is the basketball player on the left by the coach.

Hi everyone! I wanted to do an easy Christmas letter so that it would actually get done.

Merry Christmas from the Brenneman household! It has been a year of changes, some were big and some were little. In January, we took in Dustin, a then 13 year old boy who needed a place to stay. In June, we became his legal guardians. It's been a good thing and yet a challenging thing having this extra teen in our home. God has taught us a lot and is still teaching us a lot through this.

In April, Breanna had another MRI and we found out that her tumor had shrunk just a little bit. (She has a tumor at the brain stem that hasn't changed for 4 years until now.) The doctor was so surprised. "This never happens with this type of tumor," she kept saying. It only shrunk a fraction of a centimeter but it's a real miracle and we are so thankful to God! One of the pictures above is of Breanna and her doctor.

This was a year of "sabbatical" for Bob and I since we had stopped being Elders at our church in January. We had been Elders for over 7 years. We took the year to say no to ministry at our church and made sure we had time to rest. During the summer months, I only worked two days a week at work, too. I had worked at my job over 6 years and truly needed a break from the responsibilities. When the summer was over, I was ready to step back into the job as Administrative Assistant at our church again. I think if I wouldn't have had the clean break from all leadership responsibilities, I would have had to find a new job. Sometimes it can be very stressful and takes a toll on me. I've enjoyed it since, coming back refreshed and ready to move forward.

Amber and Matt are doing well. You can read her blog to catch up with her at http://amberandmattinnrg.blogspot.com/ She is a good writer and you will get a sense of what they are up to as a newlywed couple.

Kyle is a senior in high school. I think "senior-itis" has really gotten to him. He doesn't enjoy school and I think he's going to take a year off before deciding to go to college. His picture is at the top of the page where he's getting ready to present his "business idea" to real bankers for Econ class.

Jezra is a junior. He's driving but doesn't have his license yet since we say he can't get it until he has a job so he can pay his insurance. He's doing well in school staying on the regular honor roll. After his middle school years where he wouldn't do any homework and got such bad grades, I enjoy this guy who gets his stuff done without my prompting him and gets good grades. It feels to me like a real miracle. Jezra is in the picture above putting a puzzle together at Jenny and Dwight's house over thankgiving.

Breanna is a freshman. She loves school and has always gotten straight A's. She loves playing the violin and is very good at it. She is the typical modern teen who loves to IM all her friends. We sit in the living room and hear the computer make the noise it makes when someone sends you a message all the time! She giggles outloud a lot while she's typing and reading the messages. It's kind of fun to hear her.

Bob is still working in construction. It's a good paying job and has great benefits although it can be so hot during the summer and so cold during the winter working out in the weather. He's been at his job for over 9 years.

Bob and I are taking the online course called, Believing God, by Beth Moore. We watch a hour long video online every week and then do the weekly study to go along with what we are learning. It is very helpful and I'd recommend it to anyone. It's under $25 for all ten sessions. There is no time limit to getting it finished. WE learn to believe that 1) God is who he says he is; 2) God can do what he says he can do; 3) I am who God says I am; 4) I can do all things through Christ; and 5) God's word is alive and active in me. I'm believing God! You can find out more by going to: https://www.lifeway.com/.

We are both planning on taking a course called the In Christ's Image Training course from Francis Frangipane who wrote a lot of books including, "The Three Battlegrounds." This is a 6 months online course with the possibility of 2 more levels of training. During the third level, we would be facilitating this teaching in our local church. It will train us to become more like Christ and have the "unoffendable nature of Christ" in us. You can learn more about this training by going to: http://frangipane.org/ and clicking on the ICIT link.

We are thankful that God is moving in our lives to bring us into the fulness of whatever he's called us to.

I pray God's blessing on each of your households. May you find God to be everything you could ever ask or imagine. "We praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blod of his Son, and our sins are forgiven! He has showered us with all wisdom and understanding." (Eph 1:6-8 NLT)

Chronicles of Narnia Movie

Just a quick note to let you all know that the new Chronicles of Narnia movie is worth seeing. It was great from beginning to end. Aslan was fierce and lovable/cuddly all at the same time. You had to fall in love with him. It's great! It's true to the book. A very well done movie. Bob and I saw it Saturday with our kids and the church youth group. Before we went, the youth were part of an outdoor Christmas outreach to a local mobile home park. The younger kids did a short reader's theatre, "How God Came to Us" and then we served a hot meal of soup and sandwiches and helped the park kids make crafts. You can see that Jezra and Breanna were really reaching out!!

I want to read the books again before the next one comes out.

Believing I can do all things through Christ!

I watched the 5th session of the Believing God videos and something has really stood out to me. Beth Moore talked about us becoming mighty warriors. God is in the process of raising mighty warriors among His people. They will take up the sheild of faith, use the sword of the Spirit, and communicate with their Commander (prayer).

She says, "There are two big obstacles that keep us from fulling God's personal promises for us: fear and discouragement (taken from Joshua 1.) The root word for discouragement is hatat, to be discouraged, shattered; be afraid, be dismayed... The meaning of the term ranges from a literal breaking to military destruction to demoralization. Demoralization occurs when Satan figures out who we fear most that we are and he sets out to confirm it."

That last sentence has been mulling around in my mind all week. This is what has happened in my life time and again. I try to accomplish something and it fails so Satan lies to me and says, "See, you can never be anything but a failure. You'll never succeed." The one thing I fear the most that I am is a failure. So he confirms that in me whenever he can.

BUT thanks be to God who has not given me a spirit of fear but of love, power, and a sound mind! Just because I made a mistake doesn't mean I am a mistake! Yeah! I am not who I feel that I am, I am who God says I am. I am more than a conquerer; I am strong and courageous, I am a child of God; I can do all things through Christ!

I don't want to give Satan the opportunity to bring me down again. I am strong and courageous. Beth goes on to say that God will NEVER fail us. The word fail means, "to be slack, be remiss, be idle, be weak, etc. The basic idea is relaxing the hand. God will never relax His hand. He will never let me go!!

Our responsibility is to be strong and courageous. Strong means, to be bound fast, be attached, to make firm... be valiant. Our success will be holding tight to the One who has us in His grip!! It's like holding someone arm to hand (like you were pulling them out of the river). God holds our arm and we can have a limp hand but He will still be gripping us. Our job is to grab hold of His arm and "be strong and courageous."

This lesson really hit me where I need it most. I'm so thankful that it's not up to me to keep me from failing! It's in holding on to God that brings my success and that is easy to do but even if I let go for a time, He's still gripping me and leading me on toward healing! Thank you, Jesus!

Cracker Eating Contest

A friend of Dustin's told us it is impossible to eat 7 soda crackers in one minute. (It is, try it.) Kyle and Dustin's friends had to try it along with Bob and Dustin. I got pictures of some of them trying it. They are looking at the clock on the wall and hoping they can do it. Some tried to put all of them in their mouth at once and some tried one at a time. It was so funny. No one could do it! There is always so much fun at the Brenneman house!!

Christmas Decorating

It helps to get into the Christmas spirit to begin to decorate. Breanna and I did on Saturday. We have pretty simple decorations but it does help me feel more like Christmas is on the way.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!