March Events

Since March was so busy I didn't have much time for blogging. But there have been some very important events I want to post about. So here's a rundown........

1) We celebrated Kaitlyn's first birthday Friday night, March 14 with family and friends. All the grandparents were in town and our friends the Shrums came over.

We ate yummy ice cream cakes, which I actually made. I am no Martha Stewart, so I was quite proud of myself! One of our students' moms gave me a mini cake mold - aren't they cute?!














Here's a sweet sister moment














Kaitlyn beginning to destroy the cake and enjoying every minute of it!















2) Then the following evening we hosted a Couples Shower for our young friends Sarah and Keith who are getting married in July. It was a blast! Their wedding will be our first excuse to come back to Nashville after the move. :)

Don't they make a great couple!















3) Kaitlyn was dedicated the next day at church. She did so well! Here she is with Kevin














Us and the grandparents...














Such a sweet picture of Kaitlyn with my dad!















4) That night there was an Easter egg hunt for all the kids, including Kaitlyn. Although she was not very interested in finding eggs. She had some help putting eggs in her basket.

Hannah and the Easter Bunny















5) Our Easter was great. My sister, Tara, was able to visit for about a week, which was great. We had lots of fun with Auntie Tara!

Here are the girls before going to church.














Our beloved Auntie.. . :)














As has been our Easter tradition since moving to Nashville, we ate lunch and spent the day with the Shrum's. Here's a great picture of Hannah w/ Janet.














I couldn't resist posting the picture of our chocolate bunny massacre! Interesting things are always happening at the Shrum's. :)

Goodbyes

Yesterday we ended 5 1/2 years at Inglewood Baptist Church. And it was actually an entire weekend event. It's really hard to believe. When you've been a part of something for that long it's hard to imagine not being a part of it. And we absolutely loved being a part of this church. The students we've been able to get to know have been incredible, so many of them being called into the ministry over the years. We are so proud of them and humbled that God would allow us to walk alongside them during these years. The church body has been like a family to us as they've walked with us through difficult times, supported us, encouraged us, loved on our family. We are SO incredibly spoiled with an array of baby sitters, who have never allowed us to pay them! The friends God has brought into our lives here are amazing and will be lifelong. We've never had a better pastor than Kevin Shrum....

So, the weekend of "goodbyes" was rough on my heart, but very full of good and meaningful moments. It began Friday night with a benefit concert for Connect Church, featuring our friends No Other Name, Stacy Beam, and other local artists. What an incredible night! The music was awesome and if the night hadn't raised a dime I would have gone away encouraged. But, God used it in a big way to help provide for us financially. These artists, some of which we just met Friday night, raised about $5,300 for us! We are so thankful!

Saturday night, my sweet friend Tricia hosted a party just for me to get together with the other women in the church. It was so nice to be able to leave the kids with Daddy for awhile and hang out, eat some great food, have good adult conversation... :)

Here's Tricia and me














A group picture of some of us.....














Sunday was a full day. That morning we had a special time with our students who were so sweet to us. Our youth praise band and His Hands did an incredible job of leading worship during the church service. We gathered together again that evening as Kevin spoke some meaningful words to us, the church prayed over us and gave us an awesome reception. We were so humbled by the many words of encouragement and all the great gift cards we received!

I can't resist posting this picture. Ethan, of his own volition, went to the microphone and said, "Hannah, I'm going to miss you a lot and I love you!" It was just too sweet. And look how cute he is! Can we bring back arranged marriages? :)














I couldn't have imagined ending any better than this. Although it hurts... If the intensity of the pain involved in parting signifies the intensity of love, then we have loved to the depths. And that is really a blessing and a gift. So, I guess I'd rather go through this than leave feeling empty. Instead I get to leave filled to overflowing with wonderful memories and relationships and with the goodness of God.

So, we say goodbye to Inglewood. But we do not say goodbye to the people who have come into our lives and changed us forever.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

I can't believe my baby is a year old today! She was born at 9:00 p.m., March 14, 2007. She was little and long, weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz. and measuring 19.5 inches long. Here are some early pictures...










































She's been such a good baby. She is so happy and well-mannered, unless she's hungry! The girl can eat! Now that she's eating people food, she can't get enough it seems. I think she'd eat dirt if we put it before her! She's an expert traveler, having flown to Seattle and back 3 times in her young life. She is laid back and just goes with the flow. She absolutely loves her sister, even amidst Hannah's not-so-gentle ways at times. Her face always lights up when she sees Hannah. She's very cute when she gets excited. Well, she's cute all the time! But, when she's excited she gets a huge smile on her face, starts bouncing, and wiggles her arms and legs. This is the kind of reception the Cheerios box receives! Again, food! She can say words like, ma ma, da da, goo (for book), bye, hi......... She loves to wave hello and bye-bye, clap, and sway to music.

She's got 2 teeth and still very little hair. We thought Hannah was a baldy! But we could actually clip a bow in her hair by the time she was 1 - not so with Kaitlyn! She is an expert walker now - crawling is so last month! Her new nickname from Paw Paw is "wobble bottom". She is so cute and lovable we just don't know what we'd do without her!

Here are some pictures taken just this week.





























We love you, Kaitlyn Vanessa!

A new generation of family entertainment

We are avid American Idol fans - as avid as you can be with our crazy schedule. And it's a whole family affair. Hannah loves it. And now Kaitlyn even gets into it by swaying and clapping to the music. It hit me last night as we were watching the guys perform... when I was Hannah's age, this was my family, except we were sitting around watching Hee Haw and Barbara Mandrell! Wow!

Speaking of Idol..... I have failed to make note on my blog of a very important sighting when we were last in Seattle. For those of you who have followed previous seasons, we saw Blake Lewis at a restaurant. He walked right by me while we were waiting to be seated. I must confess that I had a crazed fan moment, which I'm really not inclined to. But it sounded something like this: "Is that Blake Lewis? That's Blake Lewis! Oh my gosh, it's Blake Lewis! Ya'll, he's coming this way!" I really tried not to be a gawker. Deep inside I was wishing I had the guts to see if he'd take a picture with us. Oh well.

Weekend

Friday night, Dale and I made plans to go out for his birthday. We are grateful to have family that provide us a continual supply of gift cards. This has really saved the dating aspect of our relationship! So, we decided to head to P.F. Changs (yum!!) and the movies to see Vantage Point. What an interesting movie! Kevin and Janet were able to accompany us, so it made it doubly fun!




























I do have to make note of a funny story about the evening. Our waitress was a super nice and very attentive Chinese woman. At one point during the meal I splattered some sauce on the front of my white sweater - down in the belly button region. She happened to be at our table when it occurred and offered to go get some "soda water". How thoughtful. When she returned she dipped a napkin in the Club Soda and, rather then handing the cloth to me, she began to eagerly blot my sweater herself. After two such blottings, she looked at me and said, "One more time!" The good news after this awkward experience was that most of my stain was gone.

Sunday night we had Home Bible Study at the Lancaster's. Before Bible study everyone had a great time playing DDR and Rockband.

They even let Hannah have a turn. I also have some great pictures of Janet & Beth getting down, but I've decided to be nice and not post those pictures for the sake of our friendships. :)














Here's Dale having fun behind the drumset.

Happy Birthday Dale!

In honor of my sweetie's 32nd birthday, I want to take a minute to share what I love about him...

* He is passionate - about a few things - but mainly about the Lord.
* He is quite handsome.
* He is a kid at heart.
* He is very smart.
* He is an awesome Daddy to Hannah and Kaitlyn.
* He says corny things like "Cool Beans" not knowing that people don't say that anymore.
* He KNOWS God's Word and desires for others to know it.
* He is an amazing teacher and communicator.
* He makes me laugh.
* He is a hard worker.
* He is one of the most honest people I have ever met.
* Thanks to him, Hannah refers to boys as "dudes".
* He can carry on a conversation with just about anyone.
* He challenges me.
* He loves a good debate.
* He lives with integrity.
* He seeks God.
* He influences others to seek God more.
* He is truly my best friend.
* He is spontaneous.
* He can't remember where he left his keys, but he can remember what I was wearing the first time he noticed me.
* He seeks to lift up Christ and not himself.
* He had a car named, "Hot Rod", after the Transformer character.
* He serves me by helping me around the house. He even does the laundry!
* He is a great drummer.
* He dreams big.
* He knows that God's even bigger.
* He has a soft spot for animals.
* He loves the great outdoors.
* He can wing just about anything - it's amazing!
* He is friendly.
* He is wise.
* He is committed to me and to our family.
* He has a great smile.
* He is someone I can admire and be proud of...

This morning we celebrated over breakfast. Hannah was so excited to give him her handmade card, she actually gave it to him last night. It was fun to do it all over again this morning! Happy Birthday Dale!

Update of the Week

Last Wednesday we had enough snow to play in for a little while. Hannah had a blast! She had her heart set on making a snowman though and there just wasn't enough snow for it. Although it was quite entertaining trying to make one!














Valentine's has been fun for the girls. Here they are opening cards and gifts from Grandma, Grammie & Pawpaw and us.










































Kaitlyn really liked the kitty we got her, but we've had a case of confused ownership. Or maybe I should say stolen ownership. Hannah has claimed it as her own passing it off as "Kaitlyn is sharing with me.".....














...Watch out Sleeping Beauty! When Kaitlyn realizes what's going on she'll be after her sister's prized new doll!














Dale began a Valentine's date tradition with Hannah this year and took her to Chili's for lunch. She said she was going to make sure Daddy was a gentleman and was looking forward to giving the waitress her order herself, like a big girl. And they were good to me to bring me back some of that awesome chips and queso!

Read This!

This will make you think!

Seattle Trip

First things first....We have a contract on a house! Our main mission for our trip was accomplished and we are so thankful. Before our trip, an unanticipated obstacle to getting into a house had arisen and we went not really knowing what was going to happen. But once again, God has absolutely amazed us by His timing. He went above and beyond to provide for us during the trip. He continues to show us that He is with us and is in control of every detail.

So, we thank each of you who prayed while we were gone! Kaitlyn got better, and other than a miserable landing into Seattle, she did great! We got to see some snow, but the weather never hindered our plans. It was an exhausting week, but in light of what we put the girls through, they were amazing. As we walked through the first few homes, Hannah kept saying, "But there aren't any toys!" as if to say, "Nope, we can't get this house." We finally got her to realize that she'd be bringing her toys to put in the new house. Hannah also had a lot of fun getting to play with some new friends - children of other church planters in the area. We are thankful she has made some connections that will help in her transition. Right now she thinks all of her Nashville friends are going to be with her in Seattle.....

Here are a few pictures of our house. It is framed, but there is still about 2 months worth of work to be done before it will be complete. We are hoping this means we get to pick out tile, colors, etc. Now, look at these pictures and wrap your mind around the fact that this house was listed for $439,000 and we were excited because that is CHEAP! And actually it was originally listed in the $460's, so we really got a deal!





























One reason the real estate is so expensive is because the land is very valuable, so therefore most houses in the Seattle area have little or no yard.















Although I was sad to give up having a yard, this community has a playground for its residents. This will actually work to our advantage for church-planting purposes as people will naturally be drawn out of their homes.















Here are some finished homes down the street from us. We really like the Northwest architecture. The newer homes are all very Eddie Bauerish. Families have already moved into a few of the homes and we are guessing by the time we move about half of the homes will be occupied. So we'll have plenty of new neighbors to meet and more to greet as homes continue to be filled.















Here are some pictures I took while we were driving around. Seattle sits between the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges. We're excited about the fact that ski slopes are as close as a 45-minute drive!




























Here are some pictures of downtown taken from a local park. The body of water is Puget Sound.




























Finally, here's a picture from our July trip, taken from the Space Needle. On clear days Mt. Rainier "hovers" in the distance. It's absolutely beautiful.

Heading Out

We head out to Seattle tomorrow afternoon to hunt for a house. And I've decided to make use of my blog to request prayer......

First - Kaitlyn has Croup. I'm thankful at least she's not developed an ear infection, as had been my concern, for her sake on the flight. But please pray that her condition does not worsen and that she will be a good traveler and house-hunter despite not feeling her best. Pray also that her weakened immune system would not allow her to pick up any other sickness on the flight.

Second - Snow is in the forecast 3 out of the 6 days we'll be in Seattle, one of which is tomorrow our day of travel. I really don't know what that means there - if it will accumulate or just flurry a little. So, please pray that whatever the case, it will not hinder our travel or our ability to look for a house.

And very importantly - we need to find a house. This is our one shot to do so!

I won't take the time to outline our other requests. Most of you will receive those through our newsletter. If you don't already receive it though you can sign up for it on the left side of this blog if you want. Thanks so much!!

What do we treaure?

There is a song that has captured my attention over the last few weeks. It's a Stephen Curtis Chapman song that I never really even noticed before, but I happened to pull an old CD out and there it was. Here are the lyrics to "The Treasure of Jesus":

What can I do? How can I live to show my world the treasure of Jesus?
What will it take? What could I give so they can know the treasure He is?

If I can sing, let my songs be full of His glory.
If I can speak, let all my words be full of His grace.
And if I should live or die may I be found pursuing this prize,
the One that alone satisfies......
the treasure of Jesus.

I just can't get this song out of my mind. It's SO convicting, yet inspiring. It's made me think about how I live and how I see other Christians living. Do we live in such a way that it is evident that Jesus is THE most valuable thing to us? I think many times it appears that other things are worth more to us.... time, money, security, comfort, the approval of others, our reputations, our pride, possessions, our ministries, our dreams, our opinions, the way we look, our health, relationships with others, having our way, our very lives.

The truth is absolutely nothing can compare to the immense treasure that Christ is and the complete satisfaction He gives. And He is so gracious to give us the gifts of time, money, our dreams, friendships, etc. But these things, while they may satisfy for a time, eventually leave us empty apart from Christ.

So the questions I've been asking myself......When we take an honest evaluation of what we really value above all else, is it Jesus? The world will know by the way we live. And if it's not Christ, then why would they want Him? Are we seeking to spread our names or the name of Christ? There are so many who don't know what a treasure Christ is. But if I am seeking after the same things they are or just trying to make my name great, then how are they going to find the only true Treasure?

Fun at the Braswells

We've had the joy of having our youth over for the past 3 nights for our January Bible Study. It was a blast! And a much-needed break for me from prepping the house to sell and packing! Although I've had enough chips and cookies to last me a few months!

Here are some of our awesome kids!














This is Hannah showing some of the kids her photo album with her baby pictures in it, narrating page by page. I happened to walk in as she was saying, "When I was little I was naked a lot."














Smash Brothers was a nightly activity.














Some of our faithful youth volunteers and friends!














Some more of the kids....














Hannah grabbed her Bible and sat down with her "big kid friends" for Bible Q & A. She lasted all of about 10 minutes.














Gotcha Moses!














Kaitlyn had fun being passed around. She loves all that attention!





























Here's our little walker showing off....














...and our big girl being silly with her story-time buddy.

Recent News

I'm realizing my posts are going to be fewer and farther between the closer we get to moving. So here are a few bits of news.......

..... We have been working HARD to get our house ready to put on the market. We should have had it up the first week of Jan, according to our realtor. Well, that was just too high of an expectation with all we've had to do, so we're shooting for this coming Tue. You'd think we'd be able to work more quickly with an extra little helper. ;) Hannah loves to get out her tools and "work" alongside Daddy or get a damp cloth and wipe down anything within reach. I was in another room the other day when she came in and informed me that she had cleaned the windows (on our french doors), which she had. If her desire to help matched her ability to do so, I'm sure we would already have a sign in our yard!

..... Kaitlyn took NINE consecutive steps tonight! After taking her first steps Monday she went for a few days without taking any. Then a few here and there.... and tonight off she went. We really aren't trying to encourage this - as if she needs any more help getting into everything! And it just makes it feel like she's already growing out of the baby stage - it's so early!

..... Dale added a great addition to the blog for me - a sign-up box for our Connect Church online newsletter. If you aren't already receiving it and would like to, just enter your e-mail and click "Join" and it's done. Receiving our newsletter is the best way to get all the details about what is happening in our journey to Seattle and how you can be praying. And we need all of that we can get!

Steps.....

Kaitlyn is 10 months old today and took her first steps! All 4 of us were hanging out in the living room this evening when Kaitlyn took 2 tiny steps towards big sis. I immediately jumped up to grab the video camera and was able to catch a few more. It was exciting that we were all there for the big moment! She's quite wobbly of course, but clearly on her way to more independence. My it happens fast!

Below are a few recent pictures that make me smile!

2007 Reflections

2007 was a year marked by major change for us. It began with a lot of questions about our future. Dale and I felt that change was coming in regards to ministry and were wondering if God was leading us to start a new church. It was an idea. But were we even cut out to do something like that? Seattle was a thought, but nothing more. Now we're about to put our house in Nashville on the market and are planning to purchase a home in Seattle at the end of the month. We still wonder if we're really cut out to do this, but now we have more than a year's worth of God's direction and confirmation...so on we go.

About the same time Connect Church was being born in our hearts and minds, Kaitlyn entered our world. March 14 at 9:00 p.m. on the dot. (Does that mean she'll always be punctual?) Becoming the parents of two proved to be quite an adjustment! But we wouldn't change it for anything. Kaitlyn is so much fun. She is a laid-back, good-natured, sweet little girl who has a very big giggle box. She's fairly quiet with occasional bursts of loud babbling or screaming, most of which are currently happening any time after 9 p.m. We're hoping her night owl phase will end soon! Her favorite words right now are ma ma :), ba ba, la la and something that sounds like yum, yum. She absolutely loves Hannah and wants to be wherever she is and doing whatever she is doing. For this reason we think walking will happen any day now. She already will stand freely for several seconds at a time and is cruising around easily. Her first tooth appeared just before Christmas. And she's now a member of the Braswell Christmas road trip club. We put 2200 miles on our vehicle in a 10 day period and she did quite well. Although now we can't get her in her car seat without violent protests!

OK, I realize I've gone from reflecting on the past year to reflecting on Kaitlyn....

So, as I think about '07 I am thankful. It has been intense. But I'm thankful because we've been able to experience God more intensely. Through all of our searching and changes in our family He has proven once again that He is with us... He is good. He is a faithful provider. He is an encourager. He is the giver of all good gifts. He is peace. He is powerful. He is a friend. He is our strength. He is a God who clearly speaks to us and will lovingly go to great lengths to make sure we hear Him. He gently leads us down the right path and covers us with grace when we often and continually miss the mark. He understands. He works out every circumstance for our good. He comforts, sustains and energizes.... and so much more.

Because of the intensity of His presence in 2007 I know He'll be with us in amazing ways through all that 2008 will bring.