Christa's Blog

Seeing God's lessons while raising a son- PATIENCE

2010-05-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

Seeing God's lessons while raising a son.

Patience

There is not a whole lot of discipline that goes into a young boy at 6 months old.

Pretty much they can do no wrong. :D (as I'm typing this jeremiah is banging his hands onto his high chair tray while grunting. Is this a sign of things to come?!) ha

ok back to, "pretty much they can do no wrong!" They are just sweet and cute. And probably the only temper they are going to throw around right now is the one saying I'm starving mom why are you not feeding me this very second! ha

The only thing so far that I have had to "correct" with jeremiah is patience!!! Isnt it funny how a lack of patience already shines through my son of only 6 months. Eph. 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

I have been teaching him to stay calm in those times. I try and always use a calm voice and to make sure no angry faces shine at him! (i'm learning patience as I'm teaching him patience) funny cycle! Jeremiah knows that I will not stop feeing him, he's become full for the past 6 months. But for some reason he doubts me still! How many times have we doubted God that he would not take care of us and "feed" our needs that we have. He has followed through every time!! Maybe not always in the way we have wanted. But every time he has taken care of us when we were in need. In the same way Jeremiah is learning to trust me that I will not let him go hungry just because i'm switching jars of food or switching a side to nurse him on.

In this new season of life I'm always trying to find new verses that you don't usually hear come out of christians mouths. Now I know obviously there are many verses that christians don't say. But i'm talking some throw down verses. And my goal is to proclaim them with all that I am! So for Patience instead of the common 1 Corinthians 13:4 I'm going to share 1 Thessalonians 5:14, And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

So with this verse. I encourage you, to encourage those around you that seem idle in there faith and in the purpose & passion that God has given them. I encourage you to uplift your friends & speak positively into their hearts so that fear will be gone from them and they will be filled with the same passion of speaking to people that God had when he walked on this earth. I encourage everyone to help the weak!! Wether that means going down town and serving food to the homeless. Teaching refugees english so they can become more comfortable in their new home in the U.S., or helping someone close to you through a tough time. There are ALWAYS people who are feeling weak and are in need of some uplifting hands. All you have to do is look around or ask. Trust me, God will bring someone to you if you just ask! And of course Patience. Be patient with everyone. Nothing is worth getting upset, angry, frustrated, or hurting someone over.

I have prayed over this message so know as you're reading this you have been prayed over!

Here is a photo of Jeremiah. He was 6 1/2 months when this was taken. My, oh my, how my son has great personality! I adore him! I am sooo blessed to be his motherly guidance on earth.

9 weeks left

2009-09-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

This week marks the single digit weeks we have left till the little guy gets here!

He is beginning to lose room in the ol' belly as he becomes larger & I become stretched to my limits. Litterly! :)

He should weigh somewhere around 4 lbs. & is about 18 in. long. We have a couple more lbs to pack on him and just 2 or so inches until birth.

Were so excited to have him here! 9 weeks seems SO far away!

Well I have discovered something amazing. SHUTTERFLY!!! :)

My mom was telling me about shutterfly being a great tool that we could use as a family to get pictures to her easier. Seeing as how we live ruffly 8 hrs. apart it's not so easy for her to make it to see us on a regular basis or visa versa! So I got on & started an account thinking. "This is not going to work." Mainly cause i HATE technology. Yes. that's right. I hate it! Life would be so much more simple without it. (that's my view, now ask my husband and he would say i'm crazy) I guess you could call me "old school" Even my mom is more technology savvy then me! haha

So once I got started. After some help from my mom (haha) i figured out how to share the pictures with her. Well that led me to the shutterfly web page that they create for you once you set up an account to share photos with friends & family. I selected to have a private account where you have to be a shutterfly member & must be invited by me to see any of the pictures. I don't want just anyone seeing those bare belly pics of me! Due to how they set it up it's an actual web page. i.e. example.shutterfly.com It's SSOO cool.

So now I have this awesome webpage that is private that my family & friends can see & even get pictures printed from & shipped to their home! It's just amazing! So i guess you could say I'm kind of liking technology right now!! :)

Post #1 for a second time. :)

2009-09-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Why the Jungle?

Well the biggest change going on in the Briney's life is our son that will be here in November!
We are so excited, blessed & honored to be given one of God's children to take care of & shepard here on this earth. The responsibility & weight of bringing up a christian boy is very heavy & I know we will have our work cut out for us with the world weighing so heavy against us. But we are so excited about this!
This is just a silly little thing to talk about but I wanted to share how we got the jungle theme idea for his room. This is actually a VERY sentimental experience to me and it all branches from this lady and her family. While I was in Uganda a year ago next month. I met this widowed lady & 3 of her 5 children.

What you see of this room is their house. No bathroom, no kitchen, just simply a room that holds this 3 story bunk bed & 1 twin size bed. Her 4 boys sleep on the bunk beds and her and her daughter sleep on the full size bed.
In the pic on the right they are standing outside of their door & window. The curtain to the right of them is someone elses house. The boys go to school during the day and her daughter sales these amazing mobiles that her mother makes by hand in the busy streets of Uganda. (girls are last priority in schooling so the majority of the time in big families girls will never be educated)
At the time of meeting this family the girl was not able to sale the mobiles in the streets due to an injury. Her foot had been ran over by a Boda Boda (this is a dirt bike that many use as transportation around the city, it's like a taxi to them) This lady had 2 mobiles that she had made but had no way to sale. She gave me a bag and explained to my translator that it was a gift for coming all the way there to visit them. Tears filled my eyes knowing that she was giving me a gift that she was going to sale & make $ on so she could feed her family but instead gave to me for nothing. One thing I learned in Uganda is that they will give you whatever they have cause you are their special guest when visiting. I got eggs & avocados just for visiting people at church. And yes they were tasty! :)

anyways.. I am hanging this mobile & a picture of the lady & her family in my sons room so he will look back at pictures one day and wonder why there is a african family on his wall & maybe wonder why his mobile doesn't match. (which i bought used from a church consignment sale for $2! SCORE!) (oh, and the turny music thing is not on yet. I just hung it from the base to take a picture of it) I then can tell him why his dad & I went to africa. It was to help the widows & the orphaned cause this is what God calls us to do in James 1:27 & Isaiah 1:17.
I told the mother I could not take this for free when I knew that her & her children had no money for food until they sold another mobile. So i asked how many she had. She had only 2 put together so I told her I would pay her 3 times the worth of them and hopefully that would give them enough money to get by until her daughters foot could heal.

thus... how we came up with the jungle theme for our sons room.

i'm back in the game!

2009-09-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

So I have really had a passion lately to begin blogging again.
I have wanted to share my heart & thoughts for some time now it's just so hard for me to get on the internet to do so cause i hate being on the computer. :)
So i'm trying to get motivated to start writing again. I have plenty of thoughts & ideas to write about. It's just a matter of doing it!

So here I go. my first post on my blog in a LONG time! wish me luck. Hopefully when you come back and check out the blog you'll get to read something new! :)

poor ipod.

2008-10-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well ipod is having his manhood taken away from him today! :-(

I feel really bad, but have been reassured that this is a normal procedure and if it does not happen then he could become a happy humping dog. so for the sake of everyone in the world that could ever meet ipod we are getting him neutered. :)

you can thank me later. haha jk

well i woke up at 8:30am this moring. That's better!!!

I have decided that I was just either completely exhausted from work yesterday or i'm back on my regular sleeping schedule. Lets hope for the second one otherwise i'm a pansy! :-)

4:40am

2008-10-06T04:19:00.000-07:00

oh my. oh my.

Well i accidently fell asleep at 6:30pm last night. haha

paul says he tried to wake me up a couple of times last night, but.... i don't remember any of them.

So this morning I woke up at 4:40am rip roaring ready to go and hungry as could be!!!! ha

But....no macaroni this morning, i've decided to keep all my eating habits to myself cause paul likes to announce it in church apparently! oh my!!

So i've been reading, surfing the web. Paul just woke up for the day, came into the living room walking like an old man. I was laughing SO hard!!!! Then he thought it was to bright in the house so he decided to turn off every light that i had turned on. It was SO funny!!!! He cracks me up.

There is never a dull moment in the briney house!

by the way, you can see some of my africa pics i took on paul's blog.

Up at 2am

2008-10-04T02:06:00.000-07:00

I accidently woke paul up while i was grabbing some socks out of the dresser. He said I was crazy and that I should blog about this...So here i go! :-)

At 2am this morning I woke up. Wide eyed & bushy tailed. I apparently fell asleep at 6pm yesterday. (don't remember that) but woke up at 2am rip roaring & ready to go.

Around 3:30 hunger came over me like a storm so I decided to make mac & cheese, the only thing in the house since we have not been grocery shopping since we've been back. So now i'm eating my "breakfast(USA)/lunch(africa)" watching Sneakers, one of my favorite movies ever. Man this time change is really getting to me this time around, but at least I'm sleeping properly, even if it is at the wrong time of the day. :-)

Up once again for another sunrise.

Africa Update

2008-09-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

Well. Day 8 of our Uganda trip has come and almost gone.
We will be leaving the beautiful country of Uganda on the 2nd.
Being in Africa has been indescribable. I have met some of the most amazing people in my life and they are the people who live with no electricity, no running water, to medicine, no connection with the outside world, no bible, no money to buy food, no money to get tested for HIV/AIDS, no money to buy ARV’s if they are infected, and no money to send there children to school. All they have is their HOPE in GOD, and that alone gets them from day to day. WOW!!!!

Being here has spurred me on in new ways, to do the right thing, the thing the bible speaks of. Take care of those who are orphaned & widowed, to be a voice for those who have none, and to spread His name to the Nations. God has placed new vision and passion in paul & I. We have SO many things we will begin planning for once we are back in the states. New partnerships, new focuses, new ways of thinking, new trips to plan, new ways to spread God’s word, new ways to share God’s love with those who have nothing, & new ways to restore their hope.

Here are a few pictures from the trip so far. Of course paul has updated his site a couple of times (furthermoreproject.com) We just got REAL internet yesterday. The first week we had literally had nothing! And then once we made it to watoto we finally found reliable internet that is comparatively quick to anything else in Africa. (this would be a snails pace in America… literally!!!)

We will be packing up here in Kampala soon, 3 of our team members drove over to Rwanda (8hrs.) for the next day or so to speak at a conference there and then will be coming back to grab me & jerrod, we are staying at the conference to continue on learning how they run the watoto project. Then we will head on west to visit a couple of other villages and an orphanage.

So goodbye from this masungo for now, (that means white person) we hear this A LOT from the children. They yell this at their friends to get them to come and wave at us as we pass by them. It’s pretty funny!! And I would just like to point out that as I have typed all of this out I have said everything in my mind with an accent. Well technically not an accent I just keep ending my sentences going up like it’s an exclamation… It bugged me at first but now I’m constantly talking that way & literally can’t stop. It’s pretty funny. It’s like we were made to speak this way or something. Haha

Blessings from Uganda Africa, & may your light shine so bright for all the world to see!
~c.b.

My 4 essentials for Africa.

2008-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Here I am less than 7 hours away from leaving for our flight to africa.
I'm afraid I will forget something. But then I realized that I only need 4 things.
If I only had these 4 things. I think my trip would be the same no matter if I lost my luggage or not, or if I forgot..... my underwear... haha just kidding.
anyways. Here are my 4 essentials for my africa trip. Everything else I can go without.
of course i need my bible. And this one is small enough to fit into my camera backpack. Cool. huh!!
So here is my camera bag. You can't see 2 compartments which are holding another lens and some other random things. I sure do love my new backpack. Which my bible fits perfectly in!!

My 3rd thing that is an essential for this trip would be....
my new mp3 player. I don't like the fact that I have a mp3 player. I feel like I'm cheating on mac right now. But it was the best i could do for the money i had. I'm just blessed to have something to listen to while i'm on the plane!!
The last thing is my new shirt i just made. Sorry it's backwards i took the picture with the computer and it turns everything around.

So here it is... my 4 essentials for Africa. This is really all I need.
My Bible to spread the joy of my Savior.
My Camera to document all the faces of Africa that need our help.
My mp3 player for my sanity! and maybe even sharing some good tunes with an African.
And lastly my LOVE t-shirt.

Were hoping to have internet while we are there. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get it at least a couple of times.
Please pray for the 5 of us (Duke, Paul, Jerrod, Mike & me) and also in a week my old pastor from oklahoma (Nick) & his daughter (Amy, who is the wife of my youth pastor growing up) will be going to kenya (just next door to uganda)
May we take each step with the Lord's guidance. And I pray our hearts and voices will be filled with His words & songs.

Lord may there be more of you and less of me!

1 relaxing day!

2008-09-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

well. today have been non-eventful and lazy so far. It's now 12:20pm I'm still in my P.J's and ipod is apparently still sleepy! Surprised? didn't think so..

this was after i woke ipod up and took him outside.

this is me bored. why? you might ask. well.................

......this would be why i'm bored. Cause ipod fell asleep on my stomach while i was checking my e-mail.. how is that even comfortable??!! I don't know. but i feel so bad about moving that i'm now just sitting here waiting for something to wake him up. ha

Well were gearing up for our trip to africa. We leave in 7 days. We are SO excited! Ipod is excited cause he is going to go stay with grammy!! I'm going to be blogging about getting ready for the trip. So be prepared to be bored. haha just kidding!

Calling all Avocado lovers!!

2008-08-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Ok. So this is one AMAZING dish!
It was introduced to us by some friends from church. And since we were having dinner with them again last night. I BEGGED for her to make this dish again. I think her husband and I downed it in about 3 min. haha!

So i had to share it with all you avocado lovers!
So here is the recipe, ENJOY!!!

Fresh Mozzarella Salad with Avocado, Roasted Corn, and Grape Tomatoes:

Serves 4 to 6

4 ears sweet corn, in the husk
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, cut in to 1/4 in cubes, or bocconcini
2 ripe avocados, halved, peeled, and cut into 1/4 in cubes
1/2 pint grape or other small tomato varieties, halved
8 to 10 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 dressing (recipe follows)
several handfuls of young arugula or baby greens

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Soak the corn in the sink or a bowl filled with cold water for 10-15 minutes. Place on a baking sheet with sides and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until the kernels are tender. Cool to room temperature, then pull off and discard husks and silks. Cut the kernels off the cob into a large bowl.

3. Add the mozzarella, avocados, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper to the bowl with the corn. Drizzle 1/2 cup of the dressing over the salad and toss gently. Be careful not to over-mix or mash the avocados. Season with more salt, pepper, or dressing to taste. Serve on a bed of arugula or baby greens.

Dressing:
2/3 c. oil
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 c. sugar
2 T lemon
1 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp finely diced onion
(can triple this and keep in frig for several weeks)

Michigan update 3

2008-07-06T13:33:00.001-07:00

hello from the great state of michigan!
Yesterday we didnt do much of anything.
I went with mom2 and aunt ann to the art festival in the downtown area. We had lots of fun looking at the arts and crafts. Then we went and laid out on the beach and swam for about 2 hrs. And no mom I'm not to sunburnt. hahaha (I know you were thinking if I ware my sunscreen or not!)
Then we went back to the cottage and hung out for the rest of the night. I played that game again with the kids. We enjoyed ourselves. I took more pictures of them than anything.
Here is sierra playing the guys. Being silly.
And sassy sawing some down trees from the forest behind the cottage so she could keep the fire going. And then she started making like a wall of branches. It was like she was on survivor. it was pretty funny. I don't know if she will finish it today or not. I'll see when I get back.

Last night we shot off fireworks in the backyard. We had some smaller ones then we shot off some REALLY big ones. They went really high and they were really big.

Well. I'm going to go pick up mom2 and go to the grocery store to get steaks for dinner tonight.

Michigan update 2

2008-07-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Good morning from the cafe, again!
I'm so happy they have at least one place in this little town that has internet for the technology people in the world! My cell phone does not work until we drive up into another town. So this is my form of communication to the outside world! haha
So yesterday was a great, fun, and relaxing day. I spent all morning (from 10am-1:30) at the cafe and the kniting market. I went in frustrated that I couldn't go the next row on the blanket and I just got completely frustrated so went in and the for about 2 hrs i would say i sat with the owner and she taught me everything I needed to know to make this blanket. AMAZING!!! She was SO sweet and a great teacher. So now the blanket is coming along. It's actually looking like something! It's pretty exciting.
So this morning I came to the cafe around 10am michigan time to talk to paul on ichat. He is doing well! He was a little frustrated with some stuff in peru but other than that it sounds like he is having a great time!
So yesterday we had hot dogs in the park, watched the parade,

watched kids climb the money pole,
(this is a pole that has been litterly greesed up with lard for like the past 30 yrs. and this old man puts money on the pole and kids try and shimmy there way up to the top of the pole. It was pretty funny. Some kids would move up and then just slide down and just do that for 5 min. and NEVER get anywhere. It was pretty funny! COOL beulah tradition.
I laid out with carol (mom 2) and aunt ann (carols sister) on the beach and swam a little. And then we just hung out until fireworks. I plaid with sierra and her friends a little in the back yard with this birdy/tennis game. (no idea what it's called)
(this is sierra and I talking smack to the boys. haha)

Albert (sierra's boyfriend and I were playing against each other and I was beating him a little bit.) ha

Have I said lately how much I LOVE my camera!!!!!!

Here is another fireworks picture. see the people at the bottom.

Well i gotta go.
Until tomorrow's blog!

oh dear!

2008-07-04T08:13:00.001-07:00

I forgot to say happy 4th of july.
I didnt make the 8:45 train. but the 10:15.
The beach picture is not the drive-in or the hungry tummy. Just a random pic.
And I'm very distracted in the coffee shop so I'm trying to tie up loose ends on the blog after re-reading it posted.
:-)
SORRY!!
Hope it makes since to everyone.

Michigan update 1

2008-07-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well I made it to michigan!!!
Here was my stop in chicago. I only got 3 pictures and they were all of the inside of the train station. haha!
I got off the bus with a hurd of people standing outside the bus trying to get on for there next trip all while were trying to get off the bus and the bus driver is freaking out about people stealing our bags. Oh my..... Well I had to go to the bathroom SOOOOOO bad but didnt want to go on the bus (it smells HORIABLE!!) So. I was going to wait we made it to chicago and I was thinking oooo i could make the 8:45 train to michigan city (where the fam will be to pick me up) and I could possibly make it early. So i hurry off the bus (as quickly as possible being at the back of it) to get my bag and then thinking we would be in a bus station where a bathroom would be....No, No, No... we were completly outside on the corner in chicago with only business office around. So i walk up to the corner of the block cross the street and walk into a deli "acting" like i'm going to buy something and slip into the bathroom. WooHoo so I'm thinking I might possibly still be able to make it! With any luck. So i'm trying to "hail" a cab. hahahahaha What southerner knows how to hail a cab... Not any I know!!!
So I walk to a cluster of cabs thinking I wont have to hail so much but just have to walk up and tell them where i'm needing to go. So this cab mumbles something to me and drives up a little ways. Not sure what's happening with other cabs honking behind him to move up the next guy sticks his head out the window and asks me where I'm going. I tell him millennium station and he says get in. Well the guy from the other cab that mumbled at me got out of his cab and starts yelling at my now cab driver that he stole me and how could he do that. And a few other things..... Oh dear!!! This southerner is now scared out of her mind. I'm thinking at this point. I can just walk.. I'll be fine!! hahaha Well I end up getting in the cab knowing that it could be close to impossible to walk 10 blocks with a 50 pound suitcase and a VERY heavy backpack. So I put my suitcase in the trunk, let me say that again, I, yes I put my suitcase in the trunk. "they need some southern hospitality in chicago (help a girl get her suitcase in the trunk) nope not a bit of help! geesh.
so finally were off to the train station. So after about a 5 -7min. drive I'm at the station.
Heres the pic I took of a little TINY bit of the waiting area. Many people came and left so I have a few moments where there was no one around me (in between trains). It was nice and quiet at times. Very enjoyable!

Well so far we have not done much.
Yesterday was the first full day here.
I walked downtown yesterday morning and took pics of stuff. "i'll post some later"
We had breakfast and lunch at the cottage "picture to come"
Sassy and I walked to the yarn market!!! Yes any old ladies or sassy & I's favorite place.. haha
After being in there I have decided to take up knitting. So i buy a book and pick something to make... Here I am on the beach knitting.. Who does that??? ME!!!!!! hahahahaha. Laying in front of me is sierra (my sister-in-law, and her boyfriend) there cute! Oh young love... :-)

So last night we went to the local "apparently only northern" driv-in. We saw Wall.E and about 30 min. of the new narnia movie. All the kids were so tired they were getting giddy and the windows were fogging up cause it was to cold outside to sit and watch in lawn chairs "50 degrees" so we came back to the cabin and everyone went right to sleep.

"this picture was taken after we ate at the "hungry tummy" cool name but nasty food. Apparently they have some amazing pizza. But i'll take their word for it!
Here is a pic of sierra and I. I have one of sassy too but it's on sierra camera. I'll figure out how to get it.

Sierra also brought another girl friend and another guy friend.
Someday I might get them all together to get a pic. :-)
Michigan update 1. over & out! :-)
p.s. paul's not in michigan right now cause he is in peru, you can keep updated through his blog.
www.furthermoreproject.com

no new pics. just old ones and a few thoughts.

2008-06-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

So... I don't have any pics from our oklahoma trip yet.
All the pics are on my mom's computer or paul's computer.
So here is my blog update until I can get them off.
:-)

Not my last trip to oklahoma but the one before that, I had the great opportunity of going out to dinner with some girl friends from college. I was in a bible study with them when we lived in oklahoma recently so we got to catch up during that time. I have to say that I miss them dearly. It's hard to find good friends and let me tell you these are those friends.

I have really been going through some withdrawals lately from family. I'm getting to the point where the only people I want to be around is family. Not that I don't love my friends cause I cherish them. But there is nothing like family. It makes me sad thinking about how far away we are from them. But I have to trust in God and find my strength in Him when I become sad, knowing that this is where he has us and it is for great reasons.
"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." Psalm 34:8

This blog seems to be a bit depressing. Sorry...
I'm just in a missing everyone I'm not around mood, I guess.?!
I will have pictures from my recent trip to oklahoma up soon. I hope...

love to all.

new challenge!

2008-05-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

So my mom e-mailed me and gave me a challenge. It is to put at least one new pic up a week. I don't always have to use words but maybe allow the picture to speak for it's self.
So here it is. I'm up for the challenge and hopefully I can keep up. Just one picture. That shouldn't be to hard. right?
So here are a few. One of ipod. OF COURSE!!!

And here are a few from church today. I just LOVE my church. My God is amazing. Our pastor is amazing. The people are amazing! It's just ALL AMAZING!

"our congregation"

"my favorite kid EVER!!"

"one sleepy girl"

and of course "my handsome hubby!"

So there you go. My first challenge. Let's see if I can keep this going.

snow fall & all

2008-03-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

HI!!!!!
Well here are a couple of pics.
I have been super busy since paul is in africa.
I moved us into our new place all on my own with the help of 5 great people, 2 trailors, and 2 trucks! And all in 1 move I might add! How do you think i did? haha
As stressfull as it was things are begining to calm down for me emotionally. I have only been to the house 3 times and could not go over 2 hours of being there. There's just something not right within me about moving in somewhere and unpacking things when my husband has not even seen the place. But it had to happen and I made it happen. :-)
I have been working in the mornings at my job and then going to the church to catch up on some stuff while it's quiet there. (well... except for ipods chicken squeaking 5 million times a minute.) gotta love him!
So that's this weeks story.
Here are some pics for your enjoyment!
so....ENJOY! :-)

Here is ipod running through our HUGE snowfall that of course only stayed a day. Why? cause this is Tn. ahhh. But it was really fun while it lasted!

Here is me and my lovely friend marybeth. We were suppose to work that morning. So we show up to work and no one is there and no one calls us. So we decided after waiting 30 min. that we were going to go play in the snow. So we did!!!

Ok...so... if ipod could talk I'm guessing he would be saying. "Mom if you don't stop taking my picture and yelling at me to look at you while I'm eating this amazing cornbread I'm going to come over there and fart in your direction so you have to run away just so I can play and eat cornbread in peace. GAWWWW mom! Why can't you be cool like all the other mom's" hahahahahahaha!

ok. so this is one of my favorite pics. Because..... I always tell ipod to go give daddy kisses. (So he know what it means when I say that and runs to paul EVERY time to lick him.) Well ipod was almost asleep while laying on top of his crate. Yes NOT "INSIDE" his crate but on TOP of... crazy dog! Anyways so paul was mad cause he had tried to take a nap earlier in the day and ipod had kept him awake by squeaking his chicken (of course!). So paul got up and layed on this chair to his guitar. Well of course ipod is falling asleep cause anytime paul plays his guitar it puts ipod in a sleepy daze. Weird I know. so.....(here comes the funny part) So paul puts his head up and whispers to me "watch this" (with that evil smirk on his face.) When all of a sudden paul makes this load beep noise while strumming a HORID chord on the guitar. So ipod JUMPS up and runs over to paul. And just looks at him so I yell at ipod to kiss daddy and ipod decided instead of loving on daddy that this was how he was going to get him back. Not kidding the licking lasted like 5 min. it was AWESOME! I was laughing SO hard and paul was soaked by the end of it. ha It was great!!!

ok well I stayed up till 1am to see if i could talk with paul cause they just woke up in africa. So I'm going to bed now.

March Update

2008-03-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

Snow + Memphis Drivers = DANGER!!!!!! Warning all memphis drivers. If you have any smart cell in your head you will NOT leave where you are. Cause well. your in memphis and it's snowing! Drive at your own risk!!! That's all I'm saying

Mom. This is for you!!! The snow is falling so thick the whole back ground of the pic is white. Pretty fun if it would actually stick. oh well!

We made it back to memphis safely! ipod is still traumatized. poor baby.
I will be updating with the new house pics new work pics new office pics. And more ipod pics of course!!! I know that's what everyone really wants to see! ha
Also paul is leaving for Africa for 10 days on tuesday. So I will be moving in to our new home all by myself so I'm hoping I will have the help of some great strong men on thur. Wish me luck!!!

The life of the most rotten dog you'll ever know.

2007-12-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

Oh the life of our spoiled little podster.

Doing one of his favorite things. Sleeping in the sun with the front door open.

Another one of his favorite things is laying next to us while we play music. When we first got ipod we would take him every where we went. We would even have him at band practice and ipod would sit on my lap and just sleep through the whole thing. He LOVES music! We play it when were not home. And when we do play music as home ipod is always laying next to us. More than likely sleeping. I know that if he knew what we were singing he would be singing along with us.

Well here we are putting lights on the christmas tree. ipod is really afraid of our new house cause it's so much bigger than anything we have ever lived in. He is really scared to be separated from us so of course he was sitting on the lights while I was trying to put them on the tree. He's such a cutie!

So ipod and I were minding our own business tonight in the living room when all of a sudden we hear this weird animal like sound coming from the music room. So of course ipod starts barking like there is something in the house that is going to kill us all. So I walk in there to see what is happening and I see this look on pauls face and ipod with his head crooked (he usually cock's his head when you talk to him or ask him if he likes cats. haha!) Needless to say ipod did NOT like the noises coming from that amp. I do have to say it was pretty funny to watch him bark at this box not knowing what's in it and then attack it like whatever it was, was going to jump out at us.

And now he's in attack mode. He was barking and then jumped over to the amp and started sniffing when it would get quiet and then paul would play something else and he would begin to go crazy again.

Oh my 2 crazy boys!

p.s. sorry those pics are sideways. I have no idea how to fix that.. hope your neck doesn't hurt now. :-)

Thanksgiving was GREAT!

2007-11-30T09:18:00.000-08:00

We traveled to Gatlinburg to meet up with paul's family for the week! We had such a great time walking around town with siblings and cousins and going to all the shops with aunt sue and uncle tino aunt ann, mom2 and even paul!! AMAZING time and a few fun things to bring home.

Here are some pics of our week there. We froze but had a great time! Also i would advise you to check out our interesting video paul made of our rainy slip sliding day.
~ furthermoreproject.com ~ You'll have to click on the older posts it's titled "only our family" and really that's SSSOOO true!! Us briney's don't have much good luck! haha

On our way to Gatlinburg we had some major car trouble. This is a picture of ipod in his cute winter sweater while were waiting on the van to be fixed.

Paul & I in front of my favorite shop in Gatlinburg!!

I was in the kitchen one day and all of a sudden heard a bunch of laughs coming from downstairs in the cabin. And to my surprise saw ipod on the pool table. They were laughing cause they would roll the balls on the table and he would push them into the holes. I do have to say at that moment I started cracking up as well!!

This is the guy who owns a pottery shop. They make beautiful pottery that you can have for show or actually use. I got a vase but I'm going to use it as a utensil holder in the kitchen! Thanks aunt sue!

So that was our thanksgiving!! I hope everyone enjoyed there time together with family!
Love you all!

The meme game?!

2007-10-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Meme game is what I think it's called. hahaha NeeNee sent this to me so I'm going to do this!!
You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. At the end of your post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Got it? Good!

I'll give a brief sum-up of my middle name. It's Tamreece. My mom's middle name is shareece and her first name is tamara so she combinded the two and made my middle name tamreece. I plan on doing the same for my first daughter. :-) I LOVE my middle name!!

T- Task oriented
A- Always right.... at least that's what i always tell my husband. haha!
M-Multi-talented
R- Rocken the victoria becham hair cut
E- Eeeee listener to good music (haha I crack myself up!!!!!)
E- Extravagent worshipper
C- Can't stop reading books
E- E'm head over heels about my husband.. I couldnt think of any E words...sorry. :-)

I tag
Mom, Priya, Cindi, Carol, Andrea, Kristen (i'm short 2 people but that's because I only have a few people signed up on here.)
Good luck. Hope your more creative than i was. haha

2007-10-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

We are moving to Oklahoma. Surprise!!! Get all the details at our new blog.. http://www.furthermoreproject.com/
You can also keep updated by that site as well..

Love you guys!
c.b.

back from N.Y.

2007-08-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well we made it to Michigan.

Made it to Niagra Falls

Camp was amazing! God moved in HUGE ways! Not only in the kids lives but also with the leadership! We had around 40 kids accept Christ this past week. I defently have to say that God was busy this past week. ha
During my quiet time today God showed me the first Galatians 6:9-10 says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. This was huge for God to show me and for me to share to the rest of the leadership that went to N.Y. with us. We had so much going against us with the camp directors and they didnt want us there cause we played "rock" music. And had drums and didnt preach the turn or burn method. So many things were being thrown at us in negative ways and then at the same time we had youth pastors continually coming up to us speaking positive words over us before, during, & after every event. Then seeing the kids worship God in ways they never thought possible. Well with all that it was all worth going through the crap we went through with the older leadership hating us. So when God showed me this verse I knew for a fact that we had been taken there for a reason and a purpose. And God was completly in control the whole time. And after my quiet time God just said to me I'm so proud of you guys! Wow God I'm so humbled to be helping you!!

Here's a pic of me & my sis. We had such a great time at camp together! I LOVE HER!!!

made it to Mi.

2007-08-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

hey just wanted to send an update. We have made it to michigan. yeah!
We rold in around 9ish a.m. this morning all went to sleep till about 1ish then had home made mostichole (sp?) you can only have this cooked for you if you go to a briney household (even mine) then we have been taking people around st. joe since. We went and played lana schism then played in the lake then went to the pier and watched the sunset. (BEAUTIFUL!!)
We are planning on leaving in the morning around 5a.m driving to detroit and attempting to get into canada. More posts to come (i hope) I don't know if we will have internet once we get there. (more than likely not) But I will call my mom and she can post an update on her site.

Hope everyone had a great week!
A blessing... My friend amy from church had her baby last night. They said she pushed 3 times and the baby was here... I pray it's that easy for me some day!

water day!

2007-08-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

So we had water wars with the K-2nd graders this past week. We had a blast. As you can see they ganged up on paul and I. I think I was only dry for about 2 sec. before everyone ganged up on me and was super soaking me. Then paul came out and we all ganged up on him cause he was just way to dry for us. haha
We had lots of fun.
we had the amazing race today. We had 90 people and 25 teams compete. It was so much fun!!! I will have to show you the video once paul is done with it. We had SO much fun!!

Well. T-minus 5 days before we leave for N.Y. the final plans are coming together nicely. We have a 15 passenger van we are taking. We also have a trailer that another band is letting us barrow. (praise the Lord for that one!!) So now we are just waiting on the check to arrive so we can pay for everything.
I have also started a new website for my photos. I have just a few up. furthermoredesign.com. I will be adding many more pics on there it's just a matter of time cause I have to get them off of paul's hard-drive and that means he has to stop working. haha so it might be a while.

just a side note. ipod is SO funny. we bring him up to the church with us all the time and he LOVES to play fetch. So when I throw his toy he runs so fast to go get it that he ends up sliding past his toy cause he can't stop on the tile. I'm going to record it one and cause it is so funny!!

that's all for now.

N.Y. camp

2007-08-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Fish Swim. Birds Fly. I Worship. (that's what I am created to do!)

Well were getting ready for N.Y. Camp. We leave on the 9th and will be gone till the 19th.
Be praying for us as we are in the final stages of preperation and getting things together.

Mark 13:10 says, And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. (so here we go!)

2007-07-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here's my hair in a mowhawk. Paul & I had just gotten back from our water day with the kids from church and he had to shower first cause he had to be at work soon after so I was waiting on him to get out and I was thinking.... I should do my hair in a mowhawk... yeah!! So expiermenting I went. And ended up with this. (see above pics!) I was so excited about it I ended up not washing my hair. (grose I know but it really wasnt that bad cause the water was clean) but i just loved my mowhawk so I kept it. So then a group of us went to eat at red robins and I now know why dav always hates people stare at him for his hair. Cause tonight I was walking to our table late cause a friend came to pic up her cd of wedding pictures I did for her. So i walked in late and there was this man sitting at his table and looked at me like i was satan himself walking by. Let me tell you i wanted to give him a piece of my mind for stareing at me. But i just controlled myself and continued to walk by. There's my story. haha hope you enjoyed it. i just had to tell the story with the hair.

So the last picture with paul in it... well i tried to take this picture like 20 times but he kept doing stupid stuff in the back ground so finally i gave up and this is the picture we ended with. paul just cracks me up.

update 1

2007-07-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well I said that I was going to post everyday and then I left for houston to go to lakewood church (joel osteens church) A-MAZING!! But the real reason why I went to houston was to see United Live. again A-MAZING!!! Here are some pics!! I will explain why in the world I am looking at all those people....well we got to the church around 2:00pm and walk around a little bit and try and find the band. So we finally decide to all sit outsite of these side doors (the ones closest to the stage) so we all sit down and start talking to these other 2 people who came last year and they were telling us how they were going to let us in and all that they would be doing while they were getting ready for people to enter into the sanctuary. So at around 5:30 this guy comes out the doors we are sitting in front of. (by the way we are the 1st people in line at this door.) So me and another guy walk up to this guy and see that he is holding yellow wrist bands (which we learned through out the day that colored wrist bands get you the closest to the stage) and he had some cd's with him as well. So we start to tell this guy that we came all the way from memphis and have been sitting in line since 2pm. So he says well all I have is the choir loft seats which means that you will be on camera and have to be energized during the whole concert. Sooooo needless to say we were "on stage" with united during the concert! Oh man let me tell you it was one of the most amazing expierences I have ever been through.

I also have a new hair cut. I wanted it to look like victoria bechams hair cut. I just love her hair. I'm not into famous people but her hair ROCKS!!!

UMM... more to come. We are actually at a friends house and it's time to leave. We usually have internet at home but the guy we bumbed it off of just moved so now I have to go to the church if I need to check my e-mail or do anything else. So it's been kind of a hassle. But were working on that.
:-)

Blessings!!

First Post

2007-07-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first post on my new Blog. Woo Hoo!
I have really been wanting to start a blog so people who always ask questions can keep up with me and cause it's easier to type than write so I can get all my thoughts out this way. And I HATE myspace!! We will see how this goes. Hopefully I can keep up with it and not forget to post stuff. :-)
I'm currently trying to entertain my puppy. And waiting on my friend to get off work so we can go get some dinner. Paul is doing some video work tonight for a church that is needing some singles meeting to be sent to one of the tv stations so he is getting PAID yes i said PAID to do that. Praise Jesus. ha
M-beth and I are going to get some sushi from the most heavenly sushi resturant EVER and then maybe painting some stuff on the kids room walls. by the way we are currently in the process of re-modeling all the upstairs rooms at church. The old youth room is getting turned into a coffee/ music/ everything room. The youth will have the main reign over it but the kids will get to use it sunday morning when all the youth are in big church and the adult ministries will get to use it when they have get togethers for stuff. It's going to be an awesome room once it gets done it's just a matter of getting there. The kids room we are making a jungle room. Right now we only have painted the walls and ceiling. So now we have to do the final touches of "grass painting" on the lower wall. We have to finish putting up all the track lighting. We have to build a few trees & a cave out of chicken wire and decorate that. We have to paint the floor, build a stage and well there might be a few minor things but for the big things I think that is about it. We have so much to do. We were the last room to get started remodeling so we have alot to do before the dead line.
Well it's about to pour down rain here and I need to take ipod home. So this is all for now. More to come....