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Is my son a liberal?

T just informed me that when he grows up, he wants to be a sailor that looks for sunken treasure. When he finds a huge treasure, he will have enough money to become president. When he is president, he is going to make a law that his Dad and I don't have to pay taxes. In addition, we will get a paycheck from the government for at least $1 million dollars per year.

He might be on to something. I think I might actually be able to better spend the bail-out money, and keep track of where it went.

Snow day...

As you can see, it actually snowed some today. I know that you can't tell, but the kids were so excited! I'm sure some of you are snickering at the "snow", well, that or the fact that my children are wearing cotton gloves and crocs ;) We aim to be very prepared in the Bryan home.

Ah! Yes, these are the first pics of our home! Welcome!!!

We have so many tall twisted oak trees it makes for a great imaginary land for the kids to play in. Our yard backs up to land that has been posted as a wild life refuge - plenty of romping/exploring space. I hope to do a complete thrifty makeover of the little playhouse for Lacy in the spring.






Honestly, we've done so much renovation work lately that I sometimes have to remind myself of what I love about our little piece of the American Dream. We have finished a ton of projects and I can't wait to post pictures, but for now, I will leave you with... drum roll, please... the hallway!

Now, don't knock the hallway. When we first started, this baby was covered in layers (yes, layers) of wall paper and paint. I spent over 18 hours scraping the walls after I found out that neither the steamer nor chemicals would remove the hallway's second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh skin. It was about the most frazzling job I've ever undertaken. Millimeter by millimeter, centimeter by agonizing centimeter... Over and over in my mind I repeated, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at.. a... time." Yes, with all of the mind-frying scraping, I actually started answering myself.

After the layers of "pain-in-the-wazoo" were removed, I washed down, sanded, wiped down, skimmed, sanded, wiped down, primed, and painted the walls in a latte brown. We were replacing the hollow core doors with solid wood sound-muffling doors when I decided that I didn't want the hall to look like Alice in Wonderland anymore. Alice in Wonderland creeps me out a bit :) Our little hall has 9 doors: 3 bedroom, 4 closets and a bathroom. I made 3 curtains out of drop cloths and stitch witchery, and Michael hung a regular curtain rod over the two closet doors on the right. Linen closet doors, lovin' it!

A much needed reminder...


I don't know why, but the ceiling looks crooked in these pictures. Thankfully, it's not :) I'll post more pictures when I finally put away all of the Christmas decorations. T.T.F.N.

Sightings...

In the summer of 1992, I went on my first Choir Tour. We went to Chicago and did Backyard Bible Classes with underprivileged inner-city children. It was an amazing, eye-opening experience for a spoiled 14 year old.

Before we were sent off on our tour bus, our pastor gave the 40-something of us a challenge he called "Sightings of the King." We each kept a journal and were asked to write about times when we saw the Lord working. It could be as little as a small act of kindness being performed, to something as life-changing as someone receiving Christ. It was a way for us to be continually reminded that God is at work all around us. It is, after all, so easy to get caught up in what is going on around us (life) that we "forget" that He is here, He is real, He IS...

This whole after-law-school-life has not been at all what I imagined. I have had to fight disappointment, loneliness and the ever-present feeling of being completely and utterly overwhelmed. At times (more often than I would care to admit), I have given into these feelings and cried and complained and acted out in anger and frustration. I know, I know, pathetic, huh? Thankfully, I have a merciful Father and He has graciously let me pitch my fits (sometimes with painful consequences) and yet still He loves me and shows me time and again that He hasn't forgotten us and that He has a perfect plan for our lives.

Sighting of the King... Just yesterday morning on the way to church, Michael commented that he needs to visit a dermatologist. My first response was fear. How much is that going to cost? Our deductible is $250 and that's A LOT of money for us right now. Miracle of miracles, instead of freaking out, I just took a deep breath and said, "O.K. I'll call about it tomorrow." We got to church, took the children to their classes and went to our class. Long story short, we sat right behind none other than a dermatologist PA (Coincidence? I don't think so!). He told Michael to call his office and tell the nurse that he wanted to see Michael A.S.A.P. - otherwise, he would have to wait 2 months to be seen. Now, I don't know how much this whole thing is going to be, but I do know that God ordered our steps so that we would meet this Dr. in our Sunday School class on the very morning Michael mentioned the need. I saw the Lord's hand in our lives yesterday morning and I'm not afraid (oh wonderful feeling!) because I know that He is going to take care of the rest. Praise the Lord for His peace!

To some, this may not be a big deal, but to me I heard loud and clear that I am not forgotten and that it really is going to be o.k. It was just enough encouragement for me to look forward to today and keep my eyes open for the next sighting of the King.

Still playing with pictures...

Well, what do you know... it worked!

Here's my first attempt to upload pictures... I hope this works. It's really late and I was playing around with effects on I-Photo, too. I noticed that when you enlarge the picture, we appear to be disintegrating. Not a pleasant thought. It's way too late! This was too many new things to be trying at once... :)

Toothy Perspective

The children were snuggled down watching a movie when Lacy crept into the kitchen with her right hand over her mouth. I knew something was wrong when I saw the tears dancing on the edges of her eyelids. She blinked, and opening her eyes as wide as she could, she whispered, "Mama, I think I have a loose tooth." I knelt down and wiggled the little white rectangle. "Yep, it's loose alright." I smiled, and she screamed - not exactly the reaction I was expecting. Thomas came in the room and said, "Lacy, that's cool! When you lose your teeth, you can do this." He stuck his bottom lip behind his two new front teeth - the teeth on either side missing at the current time - and made a rabbit face at her. She screamed louder and tears flowing she wailed, "I don't want it to go away! I don't want it to be lost forever!" I knelt down and held my sobbing "little bug". In true Isaac fashion, Isaac hunched his shoulders over and stomped down the hallway yelling, "It's not fair! I want to lose one of my teeth!!!" Lacy is now looking in the mirror, wiggling her tooth, and crying still.

I love you...

One of my favorite children's books is "Guess How Much I Love You". Not wanting to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, it is about a baby rabbit and mother rabbit expressing just how big their love is for one another. In our home, we've used a quote from one of our favorite movies, "I love you to infinity and beyond." When Thomas was about 4, he began to say, "I love you to infinity and beyond and back again." When he got a little older, he added, "I love you to infinity and beyond and back again for infinity." Just yesterday, I scooped up Isaac (all 51 pounds of him) and cradled him like a baby. I twirled around and kissed his cheek and said, "I love you, Isaac." He smiled up at me (showing his dimples) and said, "I love you to infinity..." he stopped, "I love you a million..." he stopped again, "I love you all the numbers in the world." He kissed me and finished, "And all the letters, too."