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 I am sorry for my long absence in bloggerland. We have been very busy preparing for school and life after our return for Texas. I must say we are currently seeking God's direction for our family as far as international service. We had some sad news while at Mercy Ships. The family cabins on the new Ship the Africa Mercy are only equipped for families with four children or less. So we know by the time we hope to be able to serve we will most likely have five children. We made a commitment long ago to God and to whoever he brought into our home that we would at least adopt twice. We feel this will be a huge blessing for us all, but especially for Luke and his future brother. So this is where we are. We are now praying and asking God what his direction is for us. Please pray for us as we seek his will and we look forward to the school year beginning, baby Hope's birth and life as a family of six. September 4th is a big day for all the Briden girls(except maybe Hope), Grace will start kindergarten, Faith will begin three day pre-school and mommy will turn 32 years old : ) What fun we will have! God Bless you all and have a blessed Labor day weekend. Love, Crystal

Hello All! Well summer continues to slip away. It is hard for me to believe we are already in August!! Time flies when you are feeding and caring for little people : ) This next week, Thursday, we are off to Texas. I already hear many of you saying " Texas in August, are you nuts?" First let me reassure ya'll, we are sane. The main reason for our trip is quite exciting for our family. We will be attending a week long "Introduction to Mercy Ships" course at the Mercy Ships international headquarters in Texas. Mercy Ships (http://www.mercyships.org/) is a not for profit Christian mission organization that sends large hospital ships to various countries in the world in great need of medical care. We have long been praying and asking God to show us if this is where we should serve in Mission work. We are thrilled to get to Texas to learn more about the process of life as missionaries on one of these ships. We hope this will give us more clarity as far as where to serve. Will Mercy Ships be a good fit for our family? How does life work on a ship for a family six, possibly seven by the time we are ready to commit to serving ? How do you walk away from life as we know it and trust God to provide even the most basic needs? How do you do your laundry?

We know many things about the ships. The largest and newly renovated "Africa Mercy" has surgical suites and a fully functioning hospital. The ship also has a library, hair salon and school for the children of long term volunteers. But after this week long course we will learn so much more. I can't wait!!

This has been years in coming for us as many of you know. It is the beginning of a dream, a young man's dream to become a Physician to serve God, a wife's dream to respect that dream and support her husband, our dream that our children will learn to self sacrificially love and give of themselves to other's through this experience, but most importantly God's dream to mold us into the people he wants us to be. I hope you know that I do not boast of any of this. This is all God's work in our lives and family. He alone is magnificent and merciful. I am blessed every day by just knowing he would want little old me to be on his team. I see now that when God gives you a dream or a desire you can't assume it will easily fall into your lap. But, just because it doesn't easily happen doesn't mean you should abandon it either. God is so amazing to us!! I ask for your prayers please as we begin this exciting journey. One last request for me, a Northerner for generations, pray that I can withstand the West Texas heat : ) May God Bless you all - Crystal

Hello All! We are all doing much, much better today. I have been so sick since we had Vacation Bible School at our church. I am actually sleeping without coughing as of last night. I am glad to back to almost full strength. Illness is so different when you are pregnant. It feels to me as if the body has so much going on that it takes a long time to heal.

I have posted some fun pictures of assorted family times I wanted to share. First, I attached pictures of Kelly, Grace and I at the ultrasound last week. Grace as the oldest had the opportunity to go with Mommy and Daddy to see her baby sister live and on T.V. She loved it! She was naming Hope's bones as the ultrasound tech. was measuring them. I don't know why but she has quite a grasp of anatomy for a 5 1/2 year old : ) On the way into the ultrasound room she asked quite loudly in from of the Ultrasound tech. "Mommy are you going to push the baby out?" We laughed and I said " No, not today Gracie." She responded with "oh, bummer." So next is the pregnancy is 40 weeks physiology lesson.

The next photos are of the kids at one of our favorite places, the McDonalds Play Place. They are such a sweet trio and they play so well together at the play place. What a cute looking trio.

These are some pictures of us walking out to one of our local lighthouses. The kids had fun as the waves were splashing up on the pier rocks. Daddy actually got quite wet from a big splash. I love walking out by the water as it is always a way to reconnect with the awesome power of God for me. Today was no different. I am truly in awe of the creator of Lake Michigan. His works are truly wonderful and magnificent.

On Saturday we went to a place about 15 miles south of us to pick blueberries. Blueberries grow very well in this area of Michigan as the soil is quite sandy and acidic. So man y people get out to pick their own berries. We had a great time! The kids ate many more then they picked. Luke actually ended up with an empty bucket which was strange as I saw him picking the berries. I mad a pie last night with our blueberries. YUMMY!

I hope to post a pregnancy picture soon, so you can track my increasing girth. God Bless you all! Love, Crystal

Hello all! That is what little girl's are made of right? We are excited to announce we are having a little baby girl!!!! Today we had our 20 week ultrasound and we got to see the baby, so fun!! The ultrasound was even 3D and that is the first pregnancy we have had that available. In the picture you can see her head, face and arm up by her face and forehead. Also on her stomach and chest is her umbilical cord. To the right side of her arm looks like a big lump or pillow. That is the placenta. For those of you who like statistics, here is a little fact for you. The chances of having three girls in a row( biologically, of course) are 1 in 8. But that is from the beginning. Each individual pregnancy is is still 50/50. Kelly's brother Kirk and his wife Suzi have four boys that are all biological. So their odds from the beginning were 1 in 16. So out of 8 families only one would have three daughters in a row. That one is us : ) I can't wait to watch chick flicks, drink tea and shop with my girls. Don't worry about Luke, we are certain God wants us to adopt again. I think I am quite excited now for Luke to have a brother from Liberia. That will be a cool bond for them. So God has worked in his way. Let me introduce you to our third daughter, HOPE. Her middle name is still being debated between Mommy and Daddy. Our hope is in Christ and we thank him for Hope is being Fearfully and Wonderfully made!!! God Bless you all and Please pray for HOPE : ) Love, Crystal

Hello All! Well we are back home after a fun filled time in Traverse City. We had a great time!! We swam all the time, picked cherries from the trees and watched a great fireworks display over The West Bay in T.C. We all throughly enjoyed our trip, but now we are back in the hustle of summer life. This week started vacation bible school at our church. I am teaching Kindergarten. I was a good morning, but I feel like we never stopped : )

The first photo is of our all American kids on the fourth of July. We loved the fireworks! Although, Faith slept through much of it on Mommy's lap.

We had some of the most fun picking cherries at a Cherry farm on Old Mission Penninsula. the National Cherry Festival started on Saturday the 7th of July. We couldn't think of a more appropiate cherry activity. Fresh cherries sure do taste good! Luke is learning about the pits, some he does swallow. Don't worry they all come out in the end.

We hope you all enjoyed the holiday as well!! I am now even more excited now to dream about owning a cherry farm one day. Who knows, we will wait and see what God has in store for the Bridens : ) Love, Crystal

Hello All! We left last Thursday for a camping trip to one of my favorite places in the world. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park was our destination. The weather was perfect!! We enjoyed fun time with our friends the Alsum family and Grandma and Granddad Briden. We went tubing down the Platte River, climbed the Sleeping Bear Dunes and of course enjoyed many smores. A favorite stop of ours also was Cherry Republic. This area of Michigan is known for it's cherry production, it is the top producer of tart cherries in the nation. Tart cherries are used in pies, jam, jelly and juice. I love cherries, especially chocolate covered!! Cherry Republic has become a favorite stop when in Northern Michigan. Their motto is Life, Liberty, Beaches and Pie, couldn't have said it better myself. http://www.cherryrepublic.com/

We thoroughly enjoyed our time together with all. The weather was perfect with no rain to speak of. Which is nice when you are tent camping. We even managed to take a tubing trip down the Platte river which empties into Lake Michigan. (http://www.canoemichigan.com/) The Platte River was very warm and nicely shallow. The perfect combination when tubing with 6 kids under 7 years old : ) The picture at the top of this post is of our family on the top of the Sleeping Bear dune climb. Yahoo, we made it!! It was quite a climb and all three walked up and down all by themselves.

Grandma and Granddad Briden stayed in a cabin. Well, it was more like a wooden storage shed. It was cute and I believe they really enjoyed it. We really enjoyed having them camp with us!!

I am excited to report that I will have my ultrasound for Baby Briden on July 19th. Hopefully we will be able to see if we need newborn baby blue or if we pull out the cute pink clothes again. We are thrilled either way, boy or girl. We are thankful to have another blessing added to our family. God is good to us!!

Next weekend we head to Traverse City for a MAFP (Michigan Academy of Family Physicians) conference Kelly will attend. We will be staying at a hotel right on Traverse City's West Bay. Mommy is excited because we can wake up and go to the beach for the morning after breakfast. We are all excited to see the fireworks on the fourth of July over the Bay. God Bless you all and Happy Independence Day!!!!! Love, Crystal

Hello All! I wanted to quickly update the blog as we are quickly moving from one trip to the next. I arrived home at eight o'clock on Saturday the 16th. I was so glad to hug my family and have a large beverage I could have cried. God Bless the good old U.S.A., there is no place like home. With that being said our time did improve after our initial canceled flights, lost luggage, missed rental car and riding a Hoppa bus from Heathrow to hunt down another rental car. The beginning of the trip was slightly overwhelming. I was so glad we didn't have children with us. Heather and I feel we have learned so many lessons as far as international travel. We are considering writing a book.

The pictures I have attached to this post were special to me. First, an English rose. This particular garden was so fragrant that you could smell the scent of roses long after departing. The garden was on Winston Churchill's birthplace and boyhood home.

The next image is of my sister and I in our little village of Winchcombe. These houses were so quaint with the lovely gardens and climbing roses. I sort of expected Miss Marple to pop out of the door and ask us to tea. If you don't know who Miss Marple is, than you better Google her : )

Sudeley Castle is the stately home in the next photo. It was two mile from the village of Winchcombe. Portions of it were built in the 11th century. It was absolutely beautiful and the grounds were breathtaking. Also of significance is the fact that King Henry the 8th's last wife Katherine Parr (who actually outlived old Henry) is buried in the church on Sudeley grounds. She died after the birth of her one and only daughter.

Lastly, is a picture of Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born and raised. He even later proposed to his fiance on the grounds. It reminded me of Versailles in France. It was very neat to tour. Whole sections were closed to visitors due to the fact that a present day Duke and his family reside there. Heather and I had a great trip!! Best of all we got to spend quality time bonding as sisters should. She is and always will be my hero for many reasons. She was was a great travel companion!! At least much of it even at the time we could laugh about. you know what they say, what happens in Winchcombe stays in Winchcombe : ) I love you Heath!! Cheers!!!

Hello All! I just wanted to tell everyone we made it safely to England. It has been quite the adventure. When I return I will write more about the fiasco that was the beginning of our trip to England. For now, we look forward to tomorrow ! This picture is my sister, Heather behind the wheel of our rental car. All I can say is, she is my hero!! She drove from London to Winchcombe (about two hours) and she was amazing!!! Driving here is quite exciting and scary. Don't worry, we are still alive : )


The next picture is of me in front of our cottage. It is such a quaint and beautiful village. Both Heather and I got separated for our luggage and we have had the same clothes since Friday. So In most pictures of me I am in my red shirt. The good news is Heather's luggage arrived this evening at the cottage and mine is supposed to be arriving at London-Heathrow soon. Please pray that my luggage arrives tomorrow. It is hard to live in the same clothes for days. Don't worry we have been able to wash the clothes. So that has been a big blessing, at least the clothes are clean. It has been a comedy of errors in many ways. But we push on. Life has given us lemons, now we try hard to squeeze out lemonade. This last picture was taken by me of a neighboring home from our backyard. The roses are just so beautiful! Please pray for us : ) Love you all - Crystal

Hello and Goodbye All!! This is going to most likely be my last post for a little while. On Friday my sister, Heather and I are off to the U.K. The picture I have posted is the cottage in the village of Winchcombe we will be calling home during our stay. We will primarily be visiting castles, gardens and of course "Birdland" (http://www.birdland.co.uk/) in an area of England called the Cotswolds. The villages are the picture many people have in their mind's eye of the cozy, slow paced English countryside. God willing we will visit places like Sudeley Castle (http://www.sudeleycastle.co.uk/), Warwick Castle (http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/) and Bath with the famous Roman Baths popularized by the Romans between the 1st and 5th centuries. Both Heather and I are so excited to see all this . Hopefully we will be able to email and maybe even blog while in England. I will blog if at all possible. Please pray for Kelly, his parents and the kids as Mommy has some much needed time away. Kel's parents will watch the kids during the day and Kelly will be on all by himself for the nights and weekends. I am so thankful and blessed to have this time away. Thanks Kelly, Ken and Vera!! So for now Cheerio and please remember us in your prayers : ) Love, Crystal

Hello All! Well I am excited to announce some big news on the blog finally! After viewing the picture accompanying this post I doubt many of you are guessing what the news is : ) I am pregnant : ) I am 14 weeks along at this point. Pregnancy is 40 weeks, so I know I have only begun the marathon of pregnancy. Last week I heard the heartbeat at my appointment with my doctor.

Kelly and I couldn't be more thrilled, we are excited to see who God is designing to fit in our family. The adoption process for us is on hold as we continue to pray seek God's will for our family. For now though we enjoy the excitement of meeting our new little Baby Briden. Please pray for the baby as it continues to grow and develop. We know ultimately God is in control and he is so good to us.

Our second big news is Luke is officially a Citizen of the United States of America!!! We were in Detroit this morning for his last appointment with USCIS (INS). YAHOO!!!! This has been a much harder process than having biological kids, for me. I am glad he is truly an American and more importantly he is our son. One funny story from the appointment today. After our name was called and we arrived at the window to speak to the USCIS officer, I proceeded to inform her "My son, Luke, has received his approval for his N-600 and he is here for his certificate of Citizenship." She looked at Luke and me and then around the room and said " Where is your son?" I looked at her, and pointed to Luke " right here". She shook her head, and said " Oh, yeah". Later I giggled about it, who did she think I was holding? And adoptions are processed like this in Detroit daily. I can't believe every mother that comes in to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship is the same race as her adopted child. Anyway, I got a kick out of it all the same. So Luke is fully a Briden and fully ready to pay taxes now. Thank God for our new little American!!

God Bless you all- Crystal

Hello All! We hope this finds you having a great holiday weekend. We have been planting, playing and just enjoying the beginning of summer. I know it is the unofficial start to summer. But, for us a start all the same. Growing up my grandparents had a cottage (and still have it) on Lake Huron. Memorial day was the start of weekends spent enjoying the beach with family. Every Memorial Day weekend growing up the boat we owned and the hoist that housed it for the summer season went into the water this weekend. It mattered not if it was raining and freezing cold. It had to go in, it was time to enjoy summer. So I laugh when Kelly says when will Lake Michigan be warm enough to swim in? I say for me or everyone else? If water doesn't cool me down than I see no point in swimming. So needless to say I am ready : ) Are you?











Yesterday we did just that, we spent a wonderful day at the Lake Michigan Beach. We had packed everything needed for a safe and fun day at the beach, including a picnic lunch. We made it to the beach by 10:00 am and didn't leave till 3:00pm or so. It took us five minutes to get to the beach from our home. It was the perfect time. I am truly in my element at the beach. Although we are anti-sun worshippers and we avoid sun exposure at all cost. We still enjoy the beach so much!! We had our sun umbrella for much needed shade, we applied and reapplied sunscreen at least three times while visiting the beach. Ironically I was the only one that got a burn on my foot and lower leg because I was a little careless. But that area was only exposed for about 5 minutes at maximum. So the good news is there were no bad burns and tons of fun. We swam, built castles, ate lunch with a few bites of sand, swam some more, practiced our wave jumping, buried Luke in the sand, built a "swimming pool" and swam some more : ) The "swimming pool" was built at the water's edge and we filled it with buckets full of water. The kids would sit in the "swimming pool" and splash, see pictures below.
















We had the perfect day and we were glad for the relaxed family time. We hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day! May God Bless your summertime!!! Love, Crystal


PS. I swam and I loved every minute of it : )

Hello All! A friend I met online in a Liberian adoption group, Becky Avella, has "tagged" me. She and her husband are adopting a little boy from Liberia and it has been such a blessing to keep up with their progress as well. I guess there is a game of Tag going through Blogger and once tagged by someone you must share seven little known facts about yourself. HMMM, let me think. So for my friend Becky, here goes!!!



1. I don't like Celery. I have tried it many times in my life, with peanut butter and raisins and without. It just doesn't sit well with me. I don't like to floss while I eat, I prefer to floss after meals with dental floss. So for all of the celery lovers out there in bloggerland, I am sorry. I must be honest. I will always pass on celery!



2. I have mountains of gray hair on my head. It started when I was 22. My mom tried to tell me it was blond. Yeah right, Mom. Yes, it is true I was beginning to gray way back before I had children. I can't give up the gray fight so soon. Think of all the money my beautician would lose. I try do my part to support our economy. Down with gray!!



3. I dream of being a published author. I am actually currently writing a novel that is historical fiction set in 1870 in Muskegon, Michigan. It has been great fun to research the time period and to see the characters come to life. So we shall see if I can ever finish and get it to publication. If nothing else it has been a fun creative outlet.



4. I am a Certified Lactation Counselor and an R.N. I hope to someday use this to encourage mothers to nurse their babies. I loved nursing our two biological daughters. It helped me to slow down and enjoy my time with each of them. It was our special time and I fiercely guarded it. Some of my earliest childhood memories involve my mom nursing my younger brothers. I hope to use this someday when we do mission work in Africa, where women all breastfeed out of necessity.



5. We hope to serve as missionaries with Mercy Ships (http://www.mercyships.org/) in no more than three years. I am secretly praying for two, but we will see. My husband, Kelly, has dreamed of this for many, many years. After seven years of saving and paying off his medical school loans we are closer and closer to this goal. God has taught me much patience through this process. I have been ready to go for awhile. Or at least that is what I thought. But, I can see now how God has prepared us in many ways while we have been faithful to this dream of serving him.



6. I am the only of my siblings who doesn't have glasses or corrective lens of some type. What can I say I have always seen clearly, they on the other hand have always had the wrong focus. I am also the shortest of my siblings. Everyone else is normally American tall, I only made it to 5'4". So again I have a different viewpoint, Ha! Ha! Just kidding Heather, Rick and Jeff : ) I love you each dearly!!!!



7. My favorite author is Deeanne Gist. Her third novel has just begun hitting the stores, "Courting Trouble". It is a fun and encouraging read about love, loss and redemption. I have also been asked by the author herself to help moderate her new chat room. I have been active on her blog and I love reading about her everyday life. If you are interested in her blog go to http://www.deeannegist.com/ and her chat room should be opening someday soon. Please come on over read her books and chat with us : ) My user name is quite creative and I am sure you would never guess it, it's Crystal. I know, I know, does my creativity have no limits. Kelly wanted me to use "Hot Mama" for my user name, that got voted down.





So that is seven. The flower in the picture is "Forget Me Nots", so now you must remember these little known facts about me. HollyAnn Petree I am tagging you next : ) Those closest to me will already know most of this. Like, my sister Heather. But then she knows most of my big and little secrets. Thankfully she is as silent as the grave and that is why she is my friend and confidant. I hope you learn something new, enjoy- Love, Crystal

Hello All!! I wanted to wish a happy belated Mother's day to all the mother's reading my blog, especially My mom and my mother in law. We are so thankful to you both for your self sacrificial love and support. I am thankful to both my mom and Vera, my mother in law for helping me to become the mother I am. When you first get married the relationship with your mother in law is interesting. They commonly do things differently than the way you were raised doing them. I am so glad I lived near Vera for close to five years. I know how she does things now, I understand her heart. I have enjoyed learning many new things from my mother in law. She is so special to me and our relationship truly feels like mother and daughter. We are friends though as well, maybe because she never had to discipline me : ) That job fell to my mother, who I am sure at times was ready to pull her hair out. My mom and I are friends as well, she will always hold a special place in my heart. Now that I am a mom I see the true sacrifice and love involved in putting someone's needs above your own. I thank God for my Mom and Mom Briden they are truly gifts from God!!!!

-All that I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother.-

Abraham Lincoln

Thanks Moms and may God Bless you!!!! Love, Crystal