A Happy Thanksgiving (but few pictures)

This is all the pictures I took on Thanksgiving Day. I was too busy getting the meal on the table and cleaning up afterwards (with lots of help from all the women there). We had Dustin's mom and siblings as well as relatives from both sides of the family--22 people all together. It was a good day.

A joke on Breanna and Matt

On the way home in Kyle's "new" car from a Christmas gathering of Bob's mother's family (a two hour drive), Breanna was talking on Bob's cell phone to her boyfriend, Matt. I called Matt's number on my cell phone from the back seat knowing he has call-waiting. I heard Breanna say, "Okay." I heard Matt say, "Hello," in my cell phone. I said, "Hi, Matt!" and Breanna turned around as she realized who had interrupted her phone call. I was laughing so hard that Matt didn't know who it was on the line at first. We all had a good laugh over that one. It was so fun!

Funny thing happened at church!

Our pastor was talking about being obedient to God even when others are telling us to do something else. He turned to a young man in the congregation and said, "Joe, you don't have to listen to Marla" as an example of this. Bob said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Amen!" You can imagine how much laughter went through the congregation as I hit Bob on the chest!

The ironic thing about the whole situation was that before church I had invited Joe to come to our small group on Wednesday evenings. I told him to pray about it and that he was welcome to join us. Imagine my surprise when the pastor used Joe and me for his illustration! I told Joe afterward that I hadn't told the pastor that we talked. Maybe God was trying to tell him something!

What a fun morning!

Teaching the last of our kids to drive

It's been scary a couple of times but we are teaching Breanna to drive (from scratch). She didn't take any driver's training because it is so expensive and I found out it doesn't change the insurance at all. I let her drive home from the license branch after I drove out of the busy part of town.

The next time she drove, she was to make a right turn. There was a car sitting in the other lane on the road she was turning onto. She took the turn way too fast and didn't turn the wheel far enough. She came really close to hitting the car sitting there. It was an older couple and you should have seen their eyes as this car was coming closer and closer to them! Both Bob and I were screaming and Bob yanked the wheel to make the sharper turn and we missed them.

The next time she drove home from church on a dark rainy night. I was nervous the whole time. When we got home, Bob wanted to take her for a drive around the area and I asked to get out. I had such a hard time not saying anything in the back seat! Jezra was beside me and he and I were looking at each other and whispering what we wanted to say to her aloud! Jezra said, "Now I understand why you were so nervous when I was driving! It's hard not to say anything!" (One of the pleasures of parenting: hearing your child tell you they understand you!)

Breanna's doing much better. I can relax for the most part while she's driving. She still has a bit of trouble negotiating right turns for some reason but she's getting better. I'm so glad this is the last one we have to train. I don't think I could handle another one! I would have totally white hair like Grandma F!

My niece and nephew "home" again!

They live in my town!

Lindsey and Anthony moved to Grandma and Grandpa's house

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.