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Monday, July 27, 2009

The Beach


Hello All! I have not been participating with I Heart Faces as often as I would like lately. This weeks theme is The Beach. I have thousands of photos just a the beach here locally. This is my choice for my favorite and I probably with get disqualified as there is no face in the picture technically, but I love this shot! Swing by I ♥ Faces and check out all the fun Beach themed faces. Happy Summer~







Friday, July 24, 2009

THE REAL SECRET........... truthfully!

Hello All! The time has finally arrived and not too soon in my mind. I will share the secret in a series of posts, but the main bulk of what is happening will be contained in this post. Kelly has accepted a position with the U.S. Department of State as a Regional Medical Officer (RMO). In a nutshell, he will be providing medical care for US Embassy employees and their eligible family members living abroad. Kelly is entering the Foreign Service. We are in the process of becoming expatriates or expats. You may ask, "I have heard that term before, what is an expat?"


EXPATRIATE


One who lives outside one’s own or home country.




In September, Kelly will go to orientation in Washington DC. He will be at orientation for about six weeks. After that time he will be assigned to a post. The children and I will follow along at that point as he reports for duty. We have no idea where we are going as of this blog post. It could be almost any location in the world. A few examples being, Bogota, Cairo, Lima, Frankfurt, Nairobi, Dhaka, Accra, Kuwait City or Washington DC. Our first assignment will be for a two year duration. This transition will be more difficult as we still are unsure of what country we will spend the next two years living in. In the future we will know in advance through the State Department bidding process.

Kelly applied for this position in April of 2008. In August of 2008 he flew to DC to interview. It has taken so much patience to go through this process. As we have gotten closer to being offered the position we have had EXTENSIVE medical clearances, a comprehensive security clearance and poured over as much information as we can to ascertain what our new life will look like. This is truly Kelly's dream job and he is beside himself with excitement! Kelly loves international travel and has done much of it while going on short term mission trips over the past 20 years. I am not near as well traveled as my husband, but I love travel equally as much and I am always ready for adventure!


We are both excited for our children to have this experience. We know this life will have it's unique challenges, but we have always wanted our children to see what the world is and how blessed they are to be Americans. We are thrilled for them to have friends from all over our great country and this wonderful world. They most likely will attend school in one of these "international schools". We will live in housing provided by the Department of State. I am excited to see the world through my children''s eyes and perspective. They are all so excited!! They have the normal concerns of starting a new school and making new friends, but overall they are ready to "try all the new food" and see "Disney world in Europe".

We are excited to see what God has in store as far as this next chapter. For now we are getting rid of piles of junk that we haven't really ever needed and deciding what we need to have in our new location. We have had our home listed for sale since March. Michigan is really hurting right now. For those of you who aren't living in Michigan, our statewide unemployment is 15.1 %. Needless to say we have no offers on our home, please if you would remember that in your prayers we would appreciate it. I am excited to share with you all the thoughts that go through my mind on a daily basis about this move. But, I have taken up enough of your time tonight. Thanks for sharing in our secret and being patient with me!!!!! Have a blessed weekend~

Thursday, July 23, 2009

drum roll please...........

The Big secret is ........................................ we are going to be joining the CIRCUS, touring the country and living in our new Monster Truck!!!!! Isn't she just perfect for our family! We have become quite a variety act over these seven years since Grace's birth, we have added a new performer every few years. Here are the kids in our new Monster Truck : ) We realize this life may not be for everyone, but it is well suited for us. To see the Circus we our touring with scroll down and read the end of the post. Please come and see our act with~






































Are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You didn't believe we would do that, did you? No, we are not hitting the road with Circus! Got ya!!! You will just have to wait until tonight to find out THE TRUTH~ I'll back at about 7:00pm ~


Tomorrow




Hello All! Tomorrow, at about 7:00pm Eastern Time, I get to share our secret!!!! This process began for us many, many, many months ago and I am so excited for our new adventure!! God sometimes throws us curve balls and this was a pitch we didn't even see coming. Finally, I get to blab about this exciting part of our life. I hope it is not anticlimactic for some of you readers our there who I have shared it with previously. Once again just to clarify, I am NOT expecting and we are NOT adopting again currently. Please be patient one more day as I write my post for tomorrow evening : ) Blessings to you all~





Monday, July 20, 2009

Skype






Hello All! Have you tried Skype, yet? If you haven't you should. Kelly's parents live in New Mexico and we have recently enjoyed chatting with them via Skype. It is free to make computer to computer calls via the Internet. The kids love the video calling and getting to see Grandma and Granddad Briden. We love that it is free! My brother Rick has gotten an account so we hope to chat with he and Aunt Kristin more often via Skype as well. If you have family living even a few hours away it is fun to get to see them via a virtual play date.


Here is a funny Skype story. We have been using it quite often lately. One afternoon I was watching a video clip of Secretary Of State Clinton at a news conference. Timmy upon hearing her voice runs into the kitchen and starts waving madly at my computer screen and shouts "HI". He now assumes all video I watch on the Internet is a two way conversation like Skype. Boy was he miffed that Hillary wouldn't return his "Hi", he continued to yell louder getting closer to the screen. Needless to say there was no response. Poor Timmy, snubbed by the former First Lady our esteemed Secretary of State. I just hope if he ever meets her face to face he can forgive her rudeness : ) Ha!Ha!



Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Peasall Sisters



Hello All! Last night we were blessed to be able to go and see the The Peasall Sisters in concert in Ludington, MI. What a great time we had! If you love Bluegrass and have the opportunity to see them, don't hesitate. We went up to Ludington with our friends the Kendzieras and our second daughter, Faith. She had her heart set on seeing them in concert. We listen to them in our "bus" almost every day. I enjoy hearing my kids sing with such heart and trying to learn to harmonize. Faith was so sweet after the concert as she went down the line hugging each of The Peasall Sisters. She was even able to get a photo with them that I took on my camera phone. I will try to post that if I can figure out how to get it on here. In the meantime here is a picture of The Peasall Sisters from a Bluegrass website.

How has everyone out there enjoyed their summer so far? I hope it has been filled wonderful family memories. In other news my secret will be posted on the blog on July 24th, 2009. I can't wait to be able to share it with you all. I think much of my blog will become clearer after the reveal :)Have a blessed weekend~




Monday, July 13, 2009

Two Dates in one week.....yes, both are with my husband!

Hello All! Can you believe it, two date nights with my cute husband in one week. It could not have happened at a better time as we have one major thing right now that is consuming most of our free waking time. This "thing" is our BIG secret and it has to stay that way for now. But you can read about the secret in my previous posts here and here.

Moving on, back to the two dates. We went with our friends Saskia and Dean Kendziera to dinner and a concert last Friday night. Saskia has become one of my best friends and I am so glad God brought us together!!! She is blessed with an amazing sense of humor and I dearly love to laugh, so we became fast friends : )

We actually had a sitter, THANKS MARY, come and babysit for our wild bunch. It was a fun time and we are so thankful for time together to laugh with our friends. We also learned some amazing dance moves that we will have to share on youtube on a later date. Or maybe not!!!

On Wednesday night we will be going "Up North" to Ludington, MI to hear my favorite Bluegrass sisters perform, The Peasall Sisters. I have loved their music for years and they are coming to Michigan, YAHOO! It is so nice to have time away, to recharge and think about how blessed I truly am. On Wednesday we have a close friend coming over to babysit. They adore "Mrs. Ambrose", she works with Kelly in his clinic, she is his nurse. She has been a blessing to our family for all the years Kelly has worked with her. Thank you so much, Barb!!!!!

I am glad summer is here, time to listen to good music, laugh with good friends and spend time with the love of my life. On July 17th Kelly and I met eleven years ago in an exam room in Lansing, MI. Eleven years later I am still praising God for that "chance" meeting and for the amazing man he blessed me with in my husband. Who knew that eleven years later we would be blessed to celebrate twice in one week!!!! I love you Kelly, my best friend~



Friday, July 10, 2009

Washing The Baby











Hello All! This post is especially for Grandma Briden. She is the founding member of the "washing babies society". The first I had heard of this is when she let Grace wash a plastic baby doll in her kitchen sink. Grace stood there on a kitchen chair with a towel under her feet for probably close to the whole play date with Grandma. Over the years "washing the babies" became a HUGE hit with the "Big Three". They would always request this when arriving at Grandma and Granddad's home for a visit. Grandma even let them apply paint to the baby so it looked dirty like it needing a good scrubbing. I cannot wait for Mom and Dad Briden to arrive in Michigan in August! I am so excited for Grandma to watch her grand babies washing their baby dolls. Here is a little preview, Vera. Needless to say, Hope loved washing the babies. We cannot wait for August and all the fun times soon to come!!!
Ten tiny little fingers that always want to play,That never stop exploring the wonder of today.Ten tiny little fingers that from the very start,Will reach out for tomorrow yet always hold your heart.-- Author Unknown
God Bless your weekend~

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Happy Independence Day ~ 2009

Hello All! We hope you had a great Independence Day Holiday. We enjoyed visiting family in Freeland, Midland and Saginaw, Michigan. Here are some shots I snapped over our fun weekend. Thanks to all the family that opened their homes to "The Bunch" and treated us with amazing hospitality and love. God Bless you all and May he continue to lead the good old United States Of America!








































































































































How did you celebrate Independence Day? I hope you had a wonderful time reflecting on the great freedoms we enjoy in our country~