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!

Back to School

This is an article I wrote in our church newsletter telling about the In Christ Image Training we took online. I would encourage anyone to take the course. Go to www.frangipane.org and click on the ICIT button.

Bob and I went “back to school” six months ago. We enrolled in the In Christ’s Image Training course online taught by Francis Frangipane. We had two chapters to read and two audio sermons to listen to each week. At the end of each chapter there was a practice test with two essays and eight multiple choice questions for us to complete. At the end of each lesson, we had a real test to send in online and have it graded. The tests showed how much I could retain from what I read but the real learning took place in everyday life.

The first six weeks were about Christlikeness and having the unoffendable nature of Christ. Situations came up where I could have easily been offended instead of becoming like Jesus. I had to choose not to take up the offense but to forgive, and pray the mercy prayer in each situation. The mercy prayer is saying, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” I had to let them off my “hook” and not hold them responsible for the hurt they caused me. At the same time, I needed to show Christ’s love to those who hurt me and pray for God’s mercy in their lives. As each situation came, the things I learned came to mind. I know God put each situation in my life as a test. Would I respond like Christ or would I become offended and angry?

The next six weeks were about humility. I had to look at my motives for what I do. Am I doing things for God’s glory or for man’s? Do I try to please others or am I trying to please God? It was humiliating for me to really see myself as I am and find that I have a lot of pride. Pride is the greatest enemy we have. Francis likes to ask people, “Do you know the name of the most powerful spirit opposing most Christians?” It is Yahweh. God opposes the proud. (See James 4:6.) When we have pride, the Spirit that stands to resist our endeavors is not demonic, it’s God.

Francis taught us that the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) are progressive. We need to become poor in spirit, be mournful about how poor we really are, and become meek before we can truly hunger and thirst for righteousness. If we know how poor we are without Christ, we will be at the place where God can use us. When we think we are “something” then God won’t let us be “anything!” If we have pride, God will bring situations into our lives where we will become humble. He has a way of breaking our pride and allowing us to come to the place where we know that we can’t accomplish anything of value without Him. I want to be able to let God have the glory for all I do.

The third lesson was about prayer. I learned that God is looking for people who will see situations as opportunities to pray instead of a time to be critical. Why did God tell Abraham what He was going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah? He wanted Abraham to ask for mercy for the people. Abraham didn’t look at Sodom and say, “God, it’s about time you killed the perverts!” He wasn’t angry. He asked God for mercy. A quote from the manual, “God works with man to establish the future and, in the process of determining reality, He always prepares a merciful alternative. Urgent, merciful, redemptive prayer shoots right through the mercy door and enters God’s heart.”

In Psalm 53:2 it says, “God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God.” I want to be the one who understands what God is doing in any given situation and to seek God in and through it. Lord, help me to see through your eyes and to pray Your word and Your will in every situation. “While humility opens our eyes to perceive our need, prayer enables us to appropriate God’s answer. Redemptive intercession, allied with divine intervention, can transform the world around us.”

The final lesson was about unity. Unity is vital in the body of Christ. In Psalm 133 it tells us that where brethren dwell together in unity, God commands His eternal blessing. In the book of Acts (1:14 NKJV), the disciples were “with one accord” and then the power of the Holy Spirit came (Acts 2:1). Unity precedes power. If we want the power of the Holy Spirit, we must work for unity. We must be unified in our warfare and fight as “one man” for our cities and our nation. “Whenever we pray against the spiritual forces of wickedness over a region, our first line of offense is praying for churches to be united in their worship and their warfare. It takes a citywide church to win the citywide war.”

I would encourage anyone to take this course. Bob and I will be certified to facilitate a group by the first of the year. It is more cost effective to take it this way than individually online like we did. The Lord willing, we hope to begin a group in our home in 2007.