Hello, I'm back!! I will be updating my blog again tonight. For those of you praying for my Internet connection to be fixed, THANKS! I am back and ready to share more of our adventures. Thanks for your patience! This is my last sunset over Lake Michigan. What a great parting view. I would be lying if I said I don't miss Michigan. I will always take a part of it with me. Until tonight~

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~

Hello All! Yesterday we went to Lake Michigan and had our family photo taken by Amy Carroll. Amy is an amazing photographer from Grand Rapids, MI. I found her online as I searched the Celebrating Adoption website. Below is the description of a "Celebrating Adoption" photo session taken from there own website. What a blessing to us who have adopted, professional photography can be expensive (especially after commonly spending thousands upon thousands to adopt). I have always wanted a family photo taken on Lake Michigan with all "The Bunch". Yesterday my dream was realized, thank you Amy!!!!!!! Amy is gifted and her photography is absolutely amazing, swing by and check out more of her work on her blog. Sometime soon our Bunch's photos should appear on her blog. I will let you know when so I can brag about my cute kids : ) To all adoptive families out in the Blogosphere Celebrating Adoption is nationwide, so go by and check it out.

**** Update ~Here is the Permalink to Amy's blog post with our photos in it. She just posted it on her blog today. I love the photos : ) Yeah!!!!!! Thanks again, Amy!!

What is a Celebrating Adoption session?
If you are an adoptive family and have adopted your child within the last year, you qualify for a Celebrating Adoption session.
You will receive a complimentary "parent & child" portrait session (session fee is waived) and a small set of proofs. The size and quantity of proofs, as well as whether proofs will be loose or bound into a proof book, has been left to the discretion of each photographer. Each photographer sets his or her own policies. Travel fees and additional subject fees may still apply.
***Our volunteers give 100% of their time, talent and goods to do this work. Please do not abuse the organization by scheduling more than one photographer per child or adoption. Please due not abuse the generosity of CA photographers.
***Due to the requirement of the adoption having taken place within the past twelve months and the charitable contribution of the photographers, you may be asked to show proof of the adoption date.

Thanks again to Amy Carroll and may God bless you~

Check our this Link, HERE. This is our life today, the "Lake Effect is back. The kids are excited to play outside and I love to snuggle up with Coffee and read a book. Oh, who am I kidding I can't seem to finish a book lately let alone a full cup of coffee. Have a great weekend!!! Love, Crystal

Hello All! Today Luke and I went to the beach while Faith was in Pre-school. Faith has only a day of pre-school left. I am sure all of us will be at the beach more and more frequently after summer vacation has officially begun. I took this pictures of Luke sliding down one of his favorite slides. He is such a cutie!!! This is our bonding time, Luke and I, we check out the "big" beach near us almost daily. Today the work crews are putting the finishing touches on one of our main beaches. It is amazing the amount of work to prepare the beach for the crowds. They move large loads of sand here and there. Luke loves to watch all the heavy equipment. Dump trucks and boys just go together, huh? Kel always says he would love to be a heavy equipment operator, like father-like son. Today I am praying for the unofficial start of summer, this weekend, Memorial day. Last year we were on the beach and even swimming it was so nice. God willing we will enjoy that this year as well. God Bless you all!! Love, Crystal

Hello All! I am back, sorry it has been awhile. I was away for the weekend with my sister, Heather and Hope (she is still pretty much attached to her Mommy). We went up to my favorite place, Traverse City, for a Mommy's away weekend. We participated in a wine tasting event put on by the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association. Heather and I just really enjoy driving around Leelanau County looking at the inland lakes and beautiful rolling hills filled with Cherry trees. Our hotel room was on the East arm of the Grand Traverse Bay. Both mornings we watched the sunrise. God's creation is so good!!! "Aunt" Heather, Hope and I had some relaxation and much girl talk time. I am so thankful to Kelly for this time away, you are the best Kel!!!!!! While I was gone the "Big Guy" took the oldest kids to The Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan.

I am also excited to share with you that I have bought my new camera, a Nikon D40. I LOVE it!!!! I am excited to share some of my recent photos with you all. I will post them soon. Enjoy your spring!! Don't forget to smell the Cherry trees and take time to look about you at God's creation. Love, Crystal

Hello All! I am excited to say I submitted a photo to Michigan in Pictures~Photo Blog. I love this blog and all the beautiful pictures of our home state. I told Kelly when I submitted it last night " If they put it on the blog, I am so going to buy the Nikon D40 I have been wanting!" My husband is very frugal and financially wise. He grunted " O.K. " I think he underestimates my ability or at least my subtle manipulation, HA! HA! Click here to see the photo. Have a good day!!!

Hello All! This will be short and sweet as I have little time to type this morning. Our weather has been GREAT!! We have spent so much time at the beach lately. We have had a picnic dinner, hunted for beach treasures and thrown endless rocks and sticks into Lake Michigan. We can't get enough of our time at the beach. The kids were fascinated by the dead duck and fish so I captured them for posterity. I have beach video coming soon : ) God Bless you today!!!

Hello All! Well I have many fun pictures to attach to this post today. First, Luke was dedicated in our church on Augsut 26th 2007. We dedicated him to God and we as parents committed to raising him in a Christian home, and the church commits to help our family in this as well. It was a great ceremony. Luke did excellent and he even let our Pastor hold him. We Love you Lukey!!! May God Bless your life and may you always glorify him.

Labor Day was a day spent at our local Lake Michigan Beach. We can walk to this beach from our house. Today though we drove over a street and parked as we were hiking in with lunch, beach umbrella and of course sunscreen. We had a great time of rest and relaxation. The kids could swim all day if given the chance. Actually so could Mommy, I love the water.

September 4th was a big day in our household as well. I turned 32 and we celebrated with Ken and Vera. They made a great meal for us all and included many of my favorites. Deviled eggs and carrot cake to name a few. My Father-in-law even grated the carrots for the cake. Thanks Mom and Dad Briden!!!!

On the 4th Grace had her first day of kindergarten. Unbelievable, my baby a big kindergartner. I am so happy for her, she is one smart cookie, she will excel. But, Mommy on the other hand misses her baby. I have been home with her since the beginning. She is my sweet spirited child who is always ready with a smile. It is sad without my Gracie around. I know, I know there is a season for everything. She has told me she is not ready to go away for college just yet. I am glad of that. But, I have told her in time she will be : ) Mommy on the other hand will cry I am sure. Happy tears, I assure you!!

Today Faith became a big pre-schooler as well. Another tear filled moment for mommy : ) She was so excited to finally get to go. Rarely now does Faith not get to do things the same as Grace. So to wait a year for school was an eternity for our sweet Faith. When I arrived in the classroom to pick her up she shouted in true Faith style "My Mommy, My best Mommy!"

The picture of the girls by the lighthouse painting is a mural at their school. It reads "Christ Lights the Way." Luke and I had a great morning. He was basking in my undivided attention. He got to ride Sandy the penny pony at Meijer and even got to pick pout a hot wheels car to take home.

Luke is ready though for school, at least in his mind. He kept asking his favorite question " Mom, what about me?" I said don't worry buddy your turn will come. He has also already decided he want s a football backpack. This last picture of Faith is so her, always posing and always making us laugh. Enjoy and may God Bless you all. Love, Crystal

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Hello All! Well tomorrow is a big for Kelly and I. Tomorrow we leave for a weekend away to celebrate our seventh anniversary on the 19th. Our children have not been without us both this long in a long while. It was back before we had three and maybe back before we had two even. So it is a much needed break! Last year we tried to stay one night away, but it was not meant to be. We had a huge ice storm that weekend, lost power and the kids all had an upper respiratory infection of some sort. My mother ended up driving about 3 1/2 hours from the other side of the state to watch the Briden bunch. It ended she helped me out as Kelly got sick with a stomach bug that same weekend. I had prayed for months about that trip. As I have for this trip. My sister, Heather, is coming over from Midland to watch our trio. She is a great aunt to them, they will have a blast. Kelly and I are headed to one of my favorite spots on God's green earth, Traverse City, Michigan. Traverse City is north of us, still in the lower peninsula. We will be touring wineries and we have a fun trip planned through the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association, a snowshoe stomp. We get to hike through the vineyards for about two miles on snowshoes. It should be fun!! Traverse City is located on two large lake Michigan bays facing north. It has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. We are thrilled to be going, but please pray for the kiddos and Aunt Heather. I will let you know how it all turns out : ) If you want to check out the organization we are going to be touring with go to http://www.lpwines.com/ Love, Crystal

I am aware New Mexico and Colorado have been buried in snow lately. It is hard to believe that we live in Michigan though, this week. It has been so warm, today it was 47 degrees. Can you believe that? Nobody in the state is wearing a coat anymore. People have even cracked their















car windows while driving. I thought I had forgotten sunshine until I actually had to wear sunglasses while outside today. I think I would have even attempted to swim in Lake Michigan today if I had my bathing suit with me. : ) I even went to the beach to get some pictures of the rare warm January day. The downhill skiers and snowmobile owners are ready so bring it on. I personally love the snow at this time of year. It coats everything in such a beautiful white as opposed to grey and brown.

Kelly and I are going away for our seventh anniversary the third weekend in February. We are headed "up north" to some of our breathtaking wineries near Traverse City. We are going on a wine tasting tour. Part of the package is a "snowshoe stomp". This will entail walking the grounds of one of the wineries on snowshoes, of course. It is not sounding like too much fun without the snow. But if we have to much snow we may never make it up to the weekend of "Wine, Chocolate and Love" put on by the Leelanau County Vintners Association. So please pray for snow, but not too much!! God Bless- Crystal