Hello All! Today was Kelly's flag ceremony. If you follow me only via our blog than you may not know , but the flag we received was the flag of Kuwait. Those of you who are my friends on Facebook, this is not news to you. But for all of the blogospehere here is the official announcement. Our home for the next couple years will be Kuwait City. We are so excited to see our new home, meet all the Americans we will be in a close community with and to see the Kuwait towers. I have attached a map of the Persian Gulf countries. Kuwait is a small country bordering Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

The second photo is of a large landmark in Kuwait. The Kuwait Towers. They are large water towers in Kuwait City.

Please come and visit, we would love to have you! Washington D.C. has a direct flight from Dulles. For now we learn all we can about our new home and prepare our big move. Cheers~

Hello All! Tomorrow is a momentous occasion. Kelly has his flag ceremony. This is what has been shared with me regarding the Flag ceremony. Tomorrow new hires who do not know where they will spend the next couple years will get assigned to a post officially. We have known for awhile somewhat unofficially where we are headed. Other people have been bidding for different posts. So the country flag on this post is where we are headed. Tomorrow I will share some photos of Kelly and his new flag and the excitement we have in learning about our first post. Have a great night~

Hello All! We have had a busy last week and it has only just begun. Last week the movers came to take all our belongings and move them into storage in Virginia. They will await us there while Kelly has training in D.C. We are now living in Arlington after flying in Saturday afternoon. Our first days have gone great! We live in a high rise apartment building on the 18th floor (which the kids love), we are starting to get the swing of the metro and we are having a little sticker shock as far as the price of well, everything!


I am having problems downloading my photos and my Internet connection is painfully slow, so I am sorry for the lack of photos with this post. The photos will be coming soon. Rest assured we are here safely and we are all enjoying the change of pace. Kelly has had his first orientation day and he is very excited to be starting this new adventure.

Grace, Faith and Luke started their home schooling today and it went well. I am really impressed with all of our children, they have been positive and excited about this move. We have shed some tears, but they are looking forward to many upcoming fun family times. Michigan will always be in our hearts and our minds. We miss you all and wish you could come and visit us! Tomorrow Grandma Briden and I take on the metro with the Briden Bunch, wish us luck : ) Blessings~

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~

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 ~

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~

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~

Hello All! I wanted to share my secret with the blogosphere tomorrow. After discussing sharing our secret with the "world", Kelly asked me again to hold my big announcement one more month. ARRRRGH!!!!! Let me just say this, I have been holding this secret since August of 2007. Yes, family and close friends do know what is going on so please if you know don't comment with ANY specifics. Tell me are you good at keeping a secret? I think after near two years of keeping this from the blogosphere world I deserve a medal for best confidence keeper. So please tell me your secrets ; ) I am as silent as the grave. In the meantime I will just have to sit and wait............................

Hello All! We are so glad that the weather has changed here in Michigan. Recently we had to end of the year programs at the Lutheran school where Grace, Faith and Luke attend. Luke had a wonderful pre school program with singing and receiving a special photo memory book from his awesome teacher, Mrs. J. We love you so much Robin, Thanks for loving our Luke!!!!! Luke is pictured below with Mrs. J on the night of the program.

Faith had her kindergarten graduation as well, she did great!! She and her class sang, read scripture and acted out skits. I am amazed that our second daughter is getting so old, here comes first grade!!! Faith's teacher Mrs. S is also a gift from God, we love you Jean and we thank God for you and your strong Christian witness to our children!! Faith is pictured reciting her scripture and holding her flower after the performance.

Lastly, are things I have spotted up in our trees of late. "The Big Three" loved climbing this tree tonight out in our woods behind our home. They were having a great time in it. They pretended it was a fort, "tree-school" and a ship of some sort. They kept saying "don't you just love nature, Mom?!!" Tomorrow is all planned out already, they will come home from school and head back out to "tree-school" to play. What a blessing warm weather is!!!!

We also have a Cardinal's nest in a large shrub/tree on the side of our house. I was thrilled that Kelly found it!!!! Most of you already know I a huge bird lover and any chance to peek into their world just delights me. This is a picture from the nest this evening. Praise God for his creation, new life springs forth in his time.

Lastly, I have a SECRET : ) It will be revealed in about a month or so until than stick with me, it will be worth the wait!! Just to stop this rumor immediately, no I am NOT pregnant and we are not currently adopting again. Blessings to you all~

Hello All! I have been wanting to post this for quite some time, but I wanted a free moment to compose my thoughts on this before sharing it on our blog. My father in law is my hero! He is a man of many talents, he can read to grandchildren with a comforting Texas drawl, he can redirect an argumentative four year old, he has raised four wonderful children, he has been married for 43 years, he is a talented musician and a gifted author. He has accomplished something I only dream of. He has written two Historical Fiction novels. Both novels are based on the life of the first Briden descendant to come to America from Germany. The novels chronicle the events of Henry (Heinrich) Briden as he leaves Germany the only home he has ever known. I would highly recommend reading these books as they are extremely well written and researched. I have so enjoyed the history of Texas and her people, immigrants from many lands. I am so proud of my father in law, he is amazingly gifted!!! Dad Briden, what can I say you are the best! You will always have my respect and love : ) If you would like information on ordering this series written by Kenneth J. Briden, please email him at kenandvera2@msn.com
Blessings to you all~Crystal

Hello All! They made it safe and sound, PRAISE GOD!!!!! Timmy is fitting so well in our family and we Praise God for adding him!!! God is so good to us, all the time. We thank Him for never leaving us even when we, at times, questioned if this could ever get done. Timothy is from Uganda and that is where he and Daddy have spent the past seven weeks together. Timmy is very strongly bonded to Daddy, but is already reaching for Mommy and giving Mommy kisses : ) He has beautiful eyes and eyelashes most women would die for. He is a handsome little guy and we are so glad to have him home!!!! Enjoy the family photos. Thanks again for praying for us!!!!!! God did indeed work a miracle where we thought there was no hope. Indeed there is NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR GOD!! With excitement and awe~ Crystal

Hello All! I can't believe by next week this time school will be in full swing again. Summer always flies by way to fast. My days were filled with watching all four of our kids, swinging, playing and laughing the long lazy days away. I will not lie I will miss them each so much. But, I am so glad they each love school and learning so much. Grace will be in first grade, Faith a big kindergartner and LL Miniman (as he is known to us- "Ladies Love The Mini Man") is thrilled to become a "BIG" pre-schooler. He has been asking for his backpack for a whole year now. Luke is READY!!!!

Our adoption is progressing and we hope to soon be traveling to get our son. We are not able to blog about the specifics of where, when, or how. Please pray for us as we will go on airplanes and appear in court far away from home. That is very exciting for us all !!! The challenging part is to miss our kids back at home. I will be blogging about the trip and not publishing the posts until our adoption is complete. When our little man is tucked in at his new home with his new family, sharing his new room with his big brother I will publish the saved posts. Please pray specifically for traveling mercies, safety of the kids left behind at home and sanity, energy, and strength for Grandma and Granddad Briden our special live in nannies : ) There may be a time when my posts seem strange or are slow in coming, be patient, please. I will return to the blogosphere.

People have asked me recently "What are you going to do during the three afternoons a week while Luke and the girls are in school?" I answer, "We're adding another child to our family, it will help my job security." Next week I am privileged to get to see our children experience many firsts. The whole family is excited to get to see our son, baby Tim, experience many firsts real soon. I am off to bed after starting to get the house ready to run smoothly while Daddy and I are absent. Please pray for us all!!!!! Blessings to you and yours~

Hello All! I just wanted to announce that we are paper pregnant. Frustratingly for me I can't relay any of the details in the blogosphere. But, we are able to share that we are adopting. We are so excited and can't wait to add our second son to the family. God is so good to us and we praise him for his amazing grace. Our new son's name will be Timothy . We love the name Timothy and who he was in the bible. (I also had a Tim save my life once, but I digress : ) I am sharing all this because we may going away for awhile to bring the little guy home to "The Bunch". I will let you know the moment he is in Michigan in my arms : ) Please be in prayer for us and little baby Tim. God Bless you today- Crystal

PS: If you know how and where we are adopting from and through, please do not mention that on the blog. If you want to chat email me @ thebridenbunch@yahoo.com

Hello All! We had an amazing fun family time at the river. We stayed right on the White River near Hesperia, Michigan at a Cottage that a family from our church owns. We are so thankful to them for the special time away. Bob and Lynn, thanks for the great family getaway : ) We went canoeing, kayaking, trapped Crayfish, ate Crayfish, fished for Bluegill, swam, caught frogs, sat and enjoyed the view and most importantly enjoyed our time together. We also really loved having our nieces Val and Maddi with us for the weekend. We love you girls!!! Enjoy the photos, but as always the photos don't do it justice. We feel in love with the river, God is so good!!!

As far as the news, we are adopting again, but that is all I can say for now : ) I'll keep you posted!!