Hello All! Today my sweetheart, Faith turns five. It is hard to believe that five years ago I was holding all 8 pounds 13 oz. of her wrapped in a pink baby blanket with matching pink beanie on her perfectly shaped head. She has been a joy from the beginning, she is a natural encourager. Not a day goes by that she doesn't tell me that I am a good Mommy. She loves the color green, cats, all kinds of fruit, polly pockets, dancing, singing, and even coffee. God willing Faith will do great things for Him. She has a way of asserting herself and she doesn't take much from anyone. Let me put it this way, I don't worry often about her being bullied. She is tough, but tender; a "tom boy", yet she loves to wear dresses any chance she can. She is just plain fun and funny. Happy Birthday my Sweet Fay Mae, we love you soooooooo much!!!!! Happy Birthday as well to Uncle Rick, he and Faith share this special day. Have a good day little brother : )

PS~ No Visa yet for Timothy. Please keep us in your prayers. We know God is in control and working. His timing is perfect. For now we wait as God once again teaches me patience and delayed gratification: ) ( I thought I learned that lesson, I guess not : )

Hello All! Please meet our son, Timothy : ) Please pray he and Daddy will be on a plane back home this Friday. Friday is Faith's birthday, 5 years old. What a great B-day gift, a cute little brother!!!! Hope and Timothy are very close in size as you can see in the picture and so sweet together. I can't wait for them to see each other again soon. Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement!!! In Him~ Crystal

Hello All! I am back from our trip to get little Timothy. He is doing great and my trip went very well. Hope tagged along with Daddy and I. Our trip was to Africa and it was several long flights. Hope did wonderful!!!! She started crawling and cruising just in time to be forced to sit on my lap on the plane for too looong. She was so happy to meet her big little brother. They are both very close in size and loved playing together. Timothy is 1 1/2 years old and a real sweetheart. Hope and I left Kelly and Timothy this past Sunday and flew back home. I will not be able to post many specifics until the adoption is complete. Thanks for the prayers and support from you all. I felt the prayers especially as Hope and I flew the last leg of our journey into Detroit. I knew she was ready to have a Nuclear meltdown, but she held until we were safely in the car driving home. Please continue to pray for Kelly and Timothy. Our hope is they will be home real soon : ) God Bless, Crystal

Hello All! This weekend we celebrated my birthday, 33!! My birthday is later this week, but we will be leaving to go get Timmy so we partied before the big day. We enjoyed Red Lobster, Grandma Briden's carrot cake (that she made especially for me) and one of the best gifts I have ever received. It was a book compiled by Granddad Briden of the first year of "The Briden Bunch". He took on the painstaking task of printing all my posts (pictures included) from December 2006 to December 2007 and bringing it all together into a neat book which he printed for me. What a thoughtful gift!!! Thank you Grandma and Granddad for the special family keepsake. You two are the best, I love you!!! For my birthday this year I am off to bring our fifth baby home. That is Kelly's gift to me as well as of course, God's. He is the only one who adds children to a family. God has had this gift in the works for quite awhile. I am humbled at how he plans his plans are so creative, What a great gift, both my hubby and my God are so good to me : ) So Cheers, I am glad to have had 33 years!!!!

Hello All! Tomorrow is the end to summer for us here in Michigan. School will be back in full swing at 8:15 am in the morning. I had to post these cute photos of the girls and their soccer gear. They are playing soccer this fall and both are very excited!!! The sad part is with our adoption that Daddy will miss much of the action. He will be away for a few weeks and bring baby Timmy home, but will miss the soccer fun. Here they are my big soccer girls. I know, I know I am now a "Soccer Mom" : )