October Birthday Party

We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's for the October b-days. We missed Cheryl, Anthony, and Lindsey, though, who all had birthdays, too! (Isn't our mom beautiful?)

Kyle's low-key birthday

Just a family birthday with his own ice cream cake on his 19th birthday.

Sweet Sixteen Bonfire Party!

For Breanna's birthday, we went to the farm and had a nice bonfire cookout with a few of Breanna's freinds. She had an ice cream cake from Grandma. It was fun and not too cold out.

Hail storm on Saturday

The boys had a break when it began to hail in the afternoon. We couldn't believe how long it hailed (more than 10 minutes) and how much it hailed. You can see it was a lot. They had so much fun with it.

Evidence my boys do actually work!!

There is the evidence that even our dog gets into working with the boys. The third guy is a friend who comes over a lot so he came out and helped, too.

Disclaimer

I wanted everyone to know that they should NEVER mow the lawn barefooted even though I did. It's very dangerous. Please make sure you have shoes on when you mow the lawn. I don't want to be responsible for someone getting their feet cut off!

Update

Today it's not letting me upload pictures and they were just going to be pictures of our dog because I hadn't taken many pictures lately so I'm sparing you much boredom. (You can thank me later.)

We have an extra person in our household for a few weeks. It's the person we had here for one and a half years. It's only temporary. It's been nice to have him back. It feels like he belongs here in our family.

Bob and I did a sermon on September 10 on Christlikeness. Bob did the introduction and that closing and I did the teaching. It went along with our class we've been taking. For the first time, I felt very relaxed and not nervous at all once I got started. It was actually fun. I could feel the audience with me.

On September 9, ten of us went on a bike ride in the town Amber lives in. My parents went along and all our family except for Jez plus Breanna's friend Matt, Bob's brother Ron, and Amber and Matt. We ended up riding for 28 miles when it was all over. We took an hour lunch break at a reservior. The food mom and I had prepared tasted so good after riding for I think 15 or 20 miles by that time. We were all ready to stop but we all had so much fun. We're ready to do it again. Someone suggest South Haven Michigan. Anyone want to go with us?

A Wonderful "House" Husband

I was sick with the flu and a fever yesterday and still didn't feel well today. My wonderful husband washed and hung out the towels before I woke up this morning. He was taking them in when I snuck these pictures of him. Isn't he wonderful?

Random Pictures #2

The first one is a beautiful pink sunset one summer evening. The second is Bob cutting down the neighbor's dead tree. (They gave us a free pizza for it. Yum!) The last two are my wonderful parents riding away from our house the same day the tree was cut down.

Random Pictures

The first picture is Breanna and Matt shucking the corn one hot summer day. The second is my greenish brown feet after mowing the lawn barefooted one day. The third is the highest stack of corn on record (we're sure of it!). The last picture is our dog staring at the wall wagging her tail!

School's on again

I have two kids in school this year; a senior (Jez) and a sophmore (Brea). It's nice to have a more scheduled life again. I have my Monday's off and it's nice to have some time to myself. I get shopping, banking, and some housework/organization done on my days off. Kyle works nights so he sleeps during the day except that he doesn't work Saturday, Sunday, or Monday nights so sometimes he's up and around in the afternoon while I'm here. I love having one-0n-one conversations with the kids.

We have begun a TV fast. It's been about a month where we haven't watched TV. We let the kids watch in the family room if they want but no TV on the main floor. We did watch a couple of movies after 2 weeks. It's been very nice to be free from my "addiction" to the TV. I get to where I feel the TV is calling me to come and watch...like I can't stop from going in and turning it on. I feel free from that now and don't want to go back to watching just to watch something. Yesterday and Saturday evening we turned it on to watch a movie with the kids and discuss it together.

This week our whole church is participating in a "fast forward." We are all asked to consider changing one thing in our daily lifestyle this week to go forward with God. Since I was already fasting from TV, I decided to give up reading novels this week and also the one computer game that I like to play to pass the time. I choose instead to put on worship music, talk to God, or spend quality time with my husband and family during that time. We will end the fast with communion this Sunday as well as give a "seed" offering to some ministry we'd like to see grow in God.

Our Pastor Dave had a heart attack two weeks from this Thursday. He had 5 bypass surgery on Friday (Aug 11). He's home now recuperating. This is part of the reason our congregation is fasting to pray for his healing and recovery and for us as a congregation (what God wants us to do) during this time. He's doing well but it will be a few weeks before he can come back to work. It was a real shock. We are very thankful our pastor made it through (he's 60) and that he's going to be okay. We're praying that he's "better than ever!"We had to cancel a leadership weekend and had to quickly find a new speaker for that Sunday morning. We chose to ask everyone to seek the Lord and bring something to share that God was laying on their heart. It ended up being a very wonderful time of sharing. We know that God is working through this and it will work together for good for both our congregation and our pastor and his wife. God is so good!

Brenneman Reunion in Michigan July 2006

We played a version of "human" Dutch Blitz. My team won both games! Everyone was upset with me and my team! A neighbor who owns a blueberry farm took orders and then delivered freshly picked blueberries to all of us for $2 a pound! We also were privileged to have a piano concert by some of the kids.

The Tridge in Midland

We visited the tridge which is three bridges that came together over two rivers that converge. The last picture is Bob's Aunt and Uncles family of six boys. All of them came to the reunion.

Games at the Reunion

We had a nice shower in the afternoon on Saturday. They kids kept playing basketball. The other game is string golf. You throw the balls that are tied together on string and try and wrap them around the bars for points. Courtney and Chaney (I hope the name is spelled right) were playing their flutes for us after lunch.

More reunion photos

They had gotten a new trampoline with the safety net around it. The guys were trying to figure out how to begin to get all those parts together to form anything at all! Lydia tried to help them, too. That's when they actually began to get something accomplished! :-)

The awesome Brenneman Reunion in Michigan

This is the couple who hosted it, Bob's cousin and husband. They have a real nice place!
This is their daughter. She's so cute and stole the show.
This is Bob's uncle getting shaved by his granddaughter because he missed a spot!