Family Shots by the all famous photographer Christopher DeWitt!!!

Chris does such a great job and as you look closely at the pics you realize not only is he a good photographer he is a magician!! If you click on the pictures they will come up full size. I don't know who that old woman is, but he sure got some good shots! He captured some special moments in time for all of us! I am so proud of him - and he truly loves what he is doing - to see more of his stuff go to his website, there is a link on the right.

Christmas at the Braleys

We had a great day - Happy Birthday Jesus!

Get ready for the big day!

Reading books with Aunt Terry Playing, shopping, cooking and cookie decorating busy busy busy! Alot of activity - all in preparation of the day! Tonight we will go to the Xmas eve service at church - come home to eating and watching favorite Christmas movies and tomorrow morning we will start the day reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke and remember the real reason for the season - our Savior is born!!!! Thank you Lord for family, friends, and the babe in the manger!

Frosting on the cake

Some would say this is "adding insult to injury" with the ice still on the trees , but I love snow, so to me it is the frosting on the cake. It is beginning to look alot like Christmas - Lord help us to focus on the true meaning of Christmas - the birth of Your Son - our Saviour and Lord if there any reading this who do not have a personal relationship with you, I pray they would come to know you personally during this season.

Family pics from Louisville

Here are some shots from Louisville, Christopher did the family portrait of Dans family as well as the picture of Nick (he did not get his picture taken at school - so this is a much better option!!). The rest are random shots - we had the best time - I love being with my family !! Thank you Lord that they love being with us too!!!

Ice Storm Dec 2007

This is what we came home to on Monday!! The pictures tell the story - the bottom 4 pictures are looking in different directions off our front porch - what a mess! We thank God our home was not damaged and no one was hurt!!

Dans Graduation

What a great day!! Dec 7th will go down in history for a very good reason in our family! After a bachelors degree from bible college, a Masters of Divinity from Southern Theological Seminary, being ordained as a minister of the gospel, and a Doctorate of Education from Southern Theological Seminary - he's done. Please note the great pictures taken by the photographer and older accomplished brother Chris! My what talented sons I have!!! Thank you Lord for working in my childrens lives, they have all 3 grown up to love you and serve you and lead their families to know you too! You have been soo good to us - Thank YOU.

Christmas is coming!

The navity set is out, but the tree is not up. We are headed to Louisville tomorrow for Dan's graduation, so we will put our tree up when we get back. We are so excited to see everyone.. Chris, Jen, Jordan and Caylee are going to be there, we have not seen them since February! It will be a whirlwind weekend - Dan graduates Friday, April is making Lasagna and there will be others there to celebrate, Saturday is Caylees 6th birthday, so we will have a party - Sunday we'll go to church and then just relax (or shop) the rest of the day. I decorated a bit outside and if you look close you will see it was snowing this morning!!! Not enough to accumulate, but enough to see it was white. Hope all is well in your world, we are coming into a season of celebration. First and foremost the birth of our Savior, a more costly gift was never given! A time to enjoy family and friends. Both the boys and their families will be here for Christmas - we are looking forward to a good long visit then. Hope your season is merry and bright!

Burning bushes.

Our fall color was late in coming , but when it arrived it was beautiful, as seen in here in our row of burning bushes , you'll notice the dead grass, still reminders that we need moisture so badly. I took this picture yesterday, and I think the paper said we are about 9 inches below average moisture for the year - it would be great if we would make it up over the winter - in snow! People down here hate that word, but us displaced yoopers don't!

Cappucino!

Here is the quilt - don't look to close at the points, I had a terrible time getting it all to come together, I never did figure out the point square, but did the best I could. I like the way it turned out and then decided to quilt the coffee mugs in the snowball square centers.

Wall of pictures

I repainted the entry way and so changed the wall art. I found this plaque in a store here in town and it was just perfect to place in the center of all the family pics. Our stories do begin at home, none of us have the same story, but our own unique story. That is our beginning, we can't change that, but what we do after that is up to us. I thank God He touched me, changed my heart, made me a child of His and changed the course of my life. And so it is with each of you - how's your story going? I pray wonderfully!!!!!

Beautiful Fairies!!

Aren't they gorgeous - I would love to have them come and knock at my door for candy tonight!!

Haircuts, baseball cakes and presents!!!

Isaiah and Micah have completed their first year and it was celebrated by a their first haircut, Baseball birthday cakes - created by mom, lots of presents and their first taste of cake! It was a great day and a fitting celebration that included grandparents, aunts and friends!

In the pumpkin patch.

Jordan and Caylee in the pumpkin patch - don't you love the pumpkin earrings!! Jordan is looking too grown up - getting closer to being a teenager - time is going too fast! They both did OUTSTANDING on their report cards - I am so proud of them.

Thank you Lord for my family - my children who love You and are raising their children to love You. Thank You for special times together and sweet memories! There is no more special time than a family together enjoying the day and each other.

I hope I never get over the joy of seeing my children grow into amazing adults raising their kids wisely. Ok - they are not perfect. Neither was I, I think back over all the mistakes I made and I am amazed they turned out as they did, but God gives grace and works through good and bad. All the trials give us the strength we need and turn us toward Him on our knees begging for help. Thank You Lord for ALWAYS being there and being patient with me and working in my kids lives in spite of me! You are so good to us - I love you.

There's a Doctor in the house!!

By george - he's done it! Dan defended his dissertation yesterday and was SUCCESSFUL- he has completed his Doctorate and is now Dr. Daniel DeWitt. He received his Doctor of Education and will go through graduation on December 7th at Southern Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Woo Hoo!! We are so proud of him and his wife April for her support of him through all these years and hours of study. Dan is 30 and has been in school since he was 5 years old! Way to go Dan!

Chris and Family

We are looking forward to seeing you guys in December - just 2 more months!! Love you guys!

Happy 1st Birthday Daphne!

I am so jealous - I would love to be able to dive into a whole cake! Isn't she a doll - Happy Birthday Daphne!

Sink mates!

Aren't they too cute!

Nick and his Oldest Sister

Kim Boydstun is 13 years old and they have not seen each other in about 4 years! They used to see each other once a year, but that has not happened in the past 4 years - so they are going to make up for lost time. She is going to come down for the weekend so they can catch up!

2 peas in a pod.

Ok - not 2 peas in a pod, but 2 boys in a basket. We are headed off to the Zoo today. There is a small zoo in Springfield that will probably be just perfect for their age.

The boys are in the house!

We spent the day playing inside and out - they keep looking for mom and dad, but are not throwing a fit about it - they are too busy exploring the new surroundings.

Fall is here.

Here is my new fall look!

Isn't it a lovely day.

Here is a close up of those lovely nasturtiums I told you about. The weather has taken a sudden and drastic change - it has been in the low 50's at night and only in the low 70's today.......so that put me in the mood for fall. I went down the basement and dug out my fall decor and changed out all my silk flower arrangements, of course I had to go to the store for some new ones for a pottery vase I got at Cambridge Wisconsin at the Rowe pottery store. I got it off the clearance shelf, it has spots on the color, which I rather like, but they said it was a mistake. Oh well - my gain. I will post a picture of it next. I have covered the outlets with child safety covers, moved all breakables and or dangerous objects from little hands reach and we are ready for the boys. We will be going to St Louis right after Wendell gets home at 3:30 to meet up with them and whisk them away so their parents can have an outing just to themselves. We are excited to see them and see how they are grown. I will up date with pictures soon.

Scenes from my yard ...too!

This time of year is a wonderful time, the days are getting shorter and a little bit cooler and my garden really likes it. There are butterflies everywhere and the hummingbirds are fighting over the feeder as they prepare to head south for the winter. This plant is English Lavender that I bought in England at the Lavender fields when visiting Chris, Jen, Jordan and Caylee. I sent 3 small plants back in the mail, this is the only one that survived - it is doing well - I am so pleased! This little angel is resting in a bed of nasturtiums - I love nasturtiums - they are just a beautiful flower and they smell like a rose. I grow them from seed and they do ok in the summer if I water them well, but when the weather cools off they go crazy. I always plant the vining type and they fill my well spent gardens with large round leaves and beautiful multicolor flowers - their scent is wonderful - the little angel enjoys them too! This is my Autumn clematis - and it just grows like crazy. I cut it to the ground in lat fall and it grows to cover the fence like this every year. It does not flower until late August and the scent is so sweet it is unbelievable! You can see my asters in front of it, it has not done well in all the heat we have had this summer, but it is still flowering heavily. The butterflies, just cover it during the day. We are heading out to visit a friend who just had a baby, that is not doing well, he is on a respirator and are not sure what the problem is. Please pray for him, his name is Alexander John Prewitt.

Scenes from my yard.

We still have not had any rain - they keep promising, but it passes us by!

School has begun - Nick is into the swing of it, and looking for a job - a 16 year old with dreams of his own car!

I am loving my part time job and having time at home just to do the things I love - quilting, gardening, reading and of course the usual chores.

We are still enjoying tomatoes and zuchinni and several herbs from the garden, but so much of the landscape is getting burned up. I water the flower beds, but the 95 - 100 degree heat wave we have had for a month has still overcome a lot of them. I have 3 hydrangea plants that I have watered alot and the plants are beautiful, but no blooms due to the late freeze we had - next year I will be diligent to cover them if there is a threat.

We are looking forward to the middle of September, we are going to babysit the twins while Dan and April go to Florida for 5 days. Wendell and I are both taking vacation, they are crawling, pulling up and generally getting into everything! We are really looking forward to it!

It's a beautiful day today, a cold front has passed through and it just a perfect morning! I don't think it is even going to get out of the 90's - that is a real change!

Have a great day!

Beach shots

Some more shots of the beach it was so nice to be at a hotel right on the water - I got a great tan in just a few days, even though I kept covered with SPF 30 sunblock. I can't imagine if we had not. The pier in the picture is a fishing pier and it is open all night, $4 per person to fish and just $1 per person to walk out on it, we walked out twice at night - the wind was warm and the waves were crashing - kind've surreal for us midwesterners.

Birthday party on the beach

We had an early birthday party for Cassie (her birthday is Aug 31st) - Johns parents, sister-in-law and her two girls, and some family friends came. It was a windy but beautiful day. That is Tanias husband talking to Wendell - it was a very nice day.

August in Florida

These are some shots from the week - the weather was great. The sea was calm the first 2 days and then the waves got bigger and bigger - I am assuming due to Hurricaine Dean. We had alot of fun playing with the kids - even Wendell swam everyday. Don't you just love my swimming dress - that's what happens when you keep getting bigger and bigger. There were parrots in the trees, coconuts and exotic flowers - we ate breakfast at the open air cafe on the beach near our hotel everyday after our morning walk - if it weren't for the hurricaines it would be a good life on the ocean.

Happiness is...

....enjoying your grandkids - we will be with Tania's family next week and, if not before, we will be with Chris and family the first week of December.

Buddies!

Is this sweet or what! We took the boys outside to feel the grass and rocks in their toes. They sat on the step and within 2 seconds wanted to get down in the rocks! I sure wish we lived closer - next month they are coming to our house for a few days while mom and dad take a trip - we can't wait!

The boys!

As you can see they are growing fast! they are both pulling up to their feet and I am sure Micah is going to walk soon - he will let go and just stand there! Boy are they in trouble, they are only 9 months old!