BRALEY MAMA

Science

2012-02-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

Source: easiepeasie.blogspot.com via Summur on Pinterest

Good Morning!

3 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 cup of cornstarch

2 cups of water

Heat until Thickens, then thin to the texture you prefer

RED

GREEN

Stir

We did it!

And no we are not dressed yet :O)

Peace in Jesus,

Bed

2012-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

Today has been crazy.

Matt is home sick, and I am tired but feel like nesting.

With the last two pregnancies I would go crazy and rearrange everything 3 or 4 times before baby arrived.

This round is proving no different.

Papa K and Grandma K sent us some Christmas money.

So I begged Matt to let me use it on new bedding, there are great sales in Jan. for bedding.

The last few days I have looked online for the perfect comforter/ quilt, and for the perfect price.

I found this one at Target ............

I really liked it, but it is a quilt and wanted something with a little more weight.

Then I found this one on Overstock.com.........

This one was a real contender, it even got a bunch of repins in Pinterest :O)

Finally I loved this one from Macy's.............

It was beautiful, and had a bit of Indian flare( which I have always wanted for our room).

For 80 bucks not to bad, originally 200.

But today I got the girls out of the house and went to Ross.

I enjoyed sitting in front of their wall of comforters for a while because I was dizzy and had tachycardia.

But after that nice little break,

I found one!

For 34$!!!

Well I got a throw pillow for 8, but still saved a lot of money!

Here is the before.......

I put the bed together, and my makeshift headboard didn't match anymore, so I ripped apart some drapes I had and re-wrapped it.

The bed is almost done, when Matt feels better I need to get him to help me with the bedskirt (that is why the white one is still on).

Here is my super-duper deal.........

Now I am very tired.

Let me know what you think.

Peace in Jesus,

January Newsletter

2012-01-25T14:53:00.001-08:00

Braleys January (1)

Peace in Jesus,

I Enjoy Being a Girl

2012-01-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yes we are having our third girl and I am so super excited.

I would be happy with 10 girls.

I am so thankful for what God gives me that I never think to want any specific sex.

Not like I am a super perfect faithful woman or anything, I fail in other areas.

It is just that I don't understand how some people get their thoughts turned on to a specific child that they haven't even seen yet.

I guess we all have a vision for our children and when they don't meet up to that we are disappointed.

The best thing about child raising I have ever heard was from Pastor Damian at Calvary Chapel Modesto(if you hadn't heard him speak you must leave this blog at this instance and go here); He said that "a child is never more yours then when you first give birth to them. Everyday after that they are separating themselves from you and we need to in trust them to the Lord." Pray for them and train them in the ways of the Lord.

That is what we are here for as parents, not to want a certain thing from them.

Like I would love it if Sinclair was an rock star for the Lord, and if Rie was her college mascot.

But those my friends are my dreams not my children's.

Anyway my prayer for us as Christian parents is that we may Trust the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding.

He will take far better care of our kids then we will.

Also our little sweet girl has a name, actually I make Matt pin a name (for each sex) down before we even dream of having another child. When we were engaged I told him that my first girls name was Sinclair, and if he didn't like it thought it could be a deal breaker for us :O)

Seriously, we love family names; so her name is

Daisy Fay

google image

Daisys are my favorite flower and also a name from one of my favorite books, and Fay is Matt's grandmother's name.

So there it is friends.

Please pray for a healthy baby and that she arrives before it gets to hot, LOL.

Peace in Jesus!

It's A.................................

2012-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

So excited for a healthy baby!

Peace in Jesus,

Lord Can I Have an Escalade?

2012-01-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

God repeatedly promises that when we approach Him confidently with our prayer requests, He will grant them.

This has always troubled me.

Okay Lord I want a corvette, no a escalade.

Am I asking it with my heart, keeping my eyes on Heaven or on the world?

What tends to happen with Matt and I , maybe with everyone not just us, is people find out we are pregnant and say...... How will you? What will you do? Where is the room?

We have always lived in a small space, which I happen to love it keeps us close.

But most people, to no fault of their own, do not understand how we will make it work.

Right now we are in a 2 bedroom apartment and baby number three is on its way.

For most parts of the world this is not a big deal, but in the U.S. it is.

Both Matt and I have had our freak out moments. Moments where we didn't trust that the Lord would provide. But guess what? We have never gone without anything we didn't need.

He has used all sorts of Avenues to provide for us.

In the last two weeks we have experienced these little miracles.

We needed a new dresser for the girls, the changing table we were using will stay in the closet for baby.

I posted this on our GFA online info board and that day we were offered not just a dresser but a big beautiful Armoire.

We were figuring that the girls would go into a daybed or a loft bed.

We just assumed we would look on craigslist or Ikea for these.

Yesterday I went back to our gfa boards and there was a loft bed and a day bed someone had to get rid of, I prayed about this right before I went on.

Then last night my sister messaged me that someone was giving away a practically new leather sofa bed, this is something we have dreamed of having to host guests.

Wow I am again blown away by God's goodness!

Any way, I don't deserve these things. My Father in Heaven wants to provide for me and my family, and for you too.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6.26

Keep your heart and eyes on the Lord and doing His work and He will take care of all the rest!

This is how we will make it work......

This week we will be getting the loft bed and getting rid of the toddler bed....

and moving the crib into the closet, for a small baby nursery........

Baby will be in here for some naps at first when he or she is older, and then eventually out of our room and in here at 3 or 4 months.......(she said hopefully)

Peace in Jesus,

Why are We In Texas?

2012-01-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

Here is the answer in this short video........

Peace in Jesus,

Home Is School

2012-01-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

This last week we have been working on staying home more and spending some more time on "School".

On Pinterest I found these Science Discovery Bottles

and we made some of those, too cool.

I highly recommend them for any family of preschoolers.

Today we read the bible, read some A.A. Milne Poems, had tea time, made some Snickerdoodles, and now the girls are stringing beads.

(This is a very productive day, most days aren't like this)

Right now for us learning is all about knowing Jesus, loving others by learning how to speak kindly and have a Godly character, and never losing that sense of curiosity and wonder.

I feel that when children go to school they are told to sit down and stop asking questions.

And of course I agree that for the teacher to be able to teach 30 kids this needs to happen.

But I am so thankful I can take my kids in the office and serve, and also serve them at home.

I know many people aren't blessed to have that.

Who knows what the future will bring, but today I am blessed to keep my girls home with me.

Here are some recent home school pics.

playing with hair gel.

glitter art from Gaga.

cool bird book, with puzzles from grandma and grandpa Sinclair

There is such a stigma with homeschooling, and I find it so odd because that is what most people did 100 years ago. In fact school use to be looked down upon and private tutors were what most high society folk did for their children.

Lately a few people have been questioning the girls to see if they know their abc's and 123's.

I think it is funny that we judge a 3 year old's education by the memorization of a silly song that makes no sense to them what so ever.

But I digress......

for us knowing the Lord is number one.

And I know that is not what the schools are teaching, including most Christian.

If you send your kids to school, that is great.

I do not judge you or your choice, I am just glad I have the choice.

Here is a pic I took of my belly this morning.

Peace in Jesus,

Christmas-ness

2011-12-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

Here is the run-down of our Christmas day for our family in CA who I am sure want to know what the kids did every minute :O)

Woke up, well Matt and I had to wake them up, then opened stockings.

Which were full of underwear and socks.

This is why they will be in their underwear in the next few pics.

Then we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and had some birthday cake.

Matt read to us the Christmas story.

Then we opened more presents.

The girls got lots of books, and I am very excited because they got all of their required reading for school this year!

Here is Sinclair's favorite book.

We got the girls a playmat with some cars because every time we play at a boys house they love the cars and trains, Matt likes it too.

Then we got our gifts for missionaries at GFA.org from the Christmas catalog.

This year we bought tracks and explained to the girls how tracks tell people that God loves him and Jesus died for them.

Sinclair said "The same Jesus who shared his birthday cake with us."

Then we went to Kori's for some brunch.

And more presents from Gaga and Gpa, and Grandpa Jack and Grandma Cindy.

New coats!

Can you tell my girls are sick?

Matt got new pants, HA!

Then we played dress-up, ate some more, and went home to spend the rest of the day together.

What did you do for Christmas?

Peace in Jesus,

Ethiopian Princess

2011-12-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

Today is my little sisters birthday.

And she is old.

But that makes me older, yikes.

When we were kids I use to call her the Ethiopian princess because she was so skinny.

Boy did she love that.

Don't worry she has many names for me too.

We have been through everything together, we are very much alike and yet so very different.

She is the person who knows my past and present and still loves me for it.

Although we still can bicker like children, she is one of my best friends.

And I am so thankful to have her in my life!

Happy Birthday Kori!

Love you so very much!

Peace in Jesus,

Come Let Us Adore Him

2011-12-24T18:54:00.000-08:00

I was just reading A.W. Towzer's 'That Incredible Christian' in the bath tub, and got a bit convicted.

For your information I can now read this in the bathtub, because I have already dropped it in the bath before.

So now this old library book from GFA, which yes I am replacing, is my bathtub devotional.

Any who, I wanted to share a passage out of it with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

It comes from a little section in the book called.........

The Art Of True Worship

"For whatever we can say of modern Bible-believing Christians, it can hardly be denied that we are not remarkable for our spirit of worship.The gospel as preached by good men in our times may save souls, but it does not create worshipers.

Our meetings are characterized by cordiality, humor, affability, zeal and high animal spirits; but hardly anywhere do we find gatherings marked by the overshadowing presence of God. We manage to get along on correct doctrine, fast tunes, pleasing personalities, and religious amusements.

How few, how pitifully few are the enraptured souls who languish for love of Christ...................

If Bible Christianity is to survive the present world upheaval, we shall need to recapture the spirit of worship. We shall need to have a fresh revelation of the greatness of God and the beauty of Jesus. We shall need to put away our phobias and our prejudices against the deeper life and seek again to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He alone can raise our cold hearts to rapture and restore again the art of true worship."

google image

Happy Birthday Jesus,

Things

2011-12-21T08:31:00.000-08:00

THINGSby John Wesley Brown

Things upon the mantle, things on every shelf,
Things that others gave me, things I gave myself.
Things I’ve stored in boxes that don’t mean much anymore . . .
Old magazines and memories behind the attic door . . .
. . Things.

Things on hooks and hangers, things on ropes and rings,
Things I guard that blind me to the pettiness of things.
Am I like the rich young ruler, ruled by all I own?
If Jesus came and asked me, could I leave it all alone?

Oh Lord, I look to heaven beyond the veil of time,
To gain eternal insight that “nothing’s really mine,”
And to only ask for daily bread and all contentment brings,
To find freedom as your servant in the midst of all these things.

For discarded in the junkyard and rusted in the rain
Lie things that took the finest years of lifetimes to obtain.
And whistling through these tombstones, the hollow breezes sing
A song of dreams surrendered to the tyranny of things.

On Christmas morning my family is spending part of our Christmas money on gifts to help reach the lost.

It is a great way to show your child what really matters.

Peace in Jesus,

Keeping Christ in Christmas

2011-12-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am so over "christmas" already.

Not the celebration of Jesus' birth, but the adds, the stores and the amount of gifts my children are getting.

I am afraid I can get caught up in it to.

I want my girls to grow up knowing that it is not about gifts and it even isn't about family, it is about loving God and showing His love to others.

Well there is my rant.

I am so glad that our church had such a beautiful Christ honoring play for the kiddos to do.

It gives the kids a special way to serve at Christmas.

Rie was suppose to be a sheep with the other 2 and three year olds, but sister wasn't a sheep so I think that influenced Rie.

Rie was happy to run back and forth on stage, in between Sinclair the sheep and myself. I was on the floor in front of the stage.

We let the little ones take a baby on stage to keep them happy, and Rie thought that would be a good thing for her baby to meet baby Jesus.

Sinclair stood in her place and sang boldly.

I was very proud of her.

She was given a line and said it in practice.

But when it came time to deliver she looked like a dear in headlights.

I don't blame her there was a huge group of moms right in front of her with video cameras.

But the show went on and it was such a joy to watch.

I love a small church!

We did a pre-show photo shoot.

And we weren't very shy this time.

And here is a song the girls sang.

Well Sinclair sang.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Now & Then

2011-12-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

Now

Then

A Best friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway.
- Elbert Hubbard

Today is my very bestest friend's birthday.

She has seen me thru the hardest times in my life and the best.

She is my friend and my sister, and has even been my mother.

She is beautiful inside and out.

She is so very smart kind and loving.

She has been given many hard trials in her life, yet perseveres.

I thank God for all of the wonderful family he has given me, but I don't know what I would have done without Missy in my life.

God places certain people in your life for a reason &

I am so thankful for that!

Happy Birthday Miss!

Jesus is the Reason,

Cheri Baby

2011-12-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Sweet Cheri!

We love you and miss you so very mucho!

XOXOXO

Isn't my sister-in-luv beautiful?

Peace in Jesus,

Happy Birthday Jesus

2011-12-13T13:23:00.001-08:00

The last few months I have been planning and preparing for our Christmas Party at GFA.

With having morning sickness that was a bit of a trial.

But the Lord was so faithful and He carried me through it all!

The Theme was Happy Birthday Jesus, with the colors Red and Aqua.

Here are a few pics.

During our party the kids put on a Christmas play.

Sinclair stayed on the Narrator's lap, Heather, the whole time and said the lines a few minutes after the other kids.

But that made it priceless.

I am so thankful it came together.

I had the best team in the world who made the vision come to life!

We got a family pic in too.

Peace in Jesus,

Super Secret Photo Shoot

2011-12-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

When we had our family pictures taken last month it was no ordinary photo shoot.

We were hoping to reveal something in a fun way.

So my sister found some ideas off of pinterest, and the lovely Ellie put them into play with her amazing photography skills.

So here is what we wanted our Christmas cards to convey, hopefully you got yours already..........

That's the secret we are expecting baby number 3 the first week of June.

Also another excuse as to why I have not been blogging, or facebooking, or much of anything the last few months.

We are super excited and so happy to share this with everyone now!

God is so good!

Peace in Jesus,

Planes & Talking Heads

2011-11-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

We have been sick since last Wednesday, but we did manage to have Thanksgiving at our house. Thanks to Kori cooking most of the sides, and Matt's awesome turkey carving skills and dish washing skills. We also managed to make it out of the house for Lanes Birthday Party on Saturday. It was a pretty cool party because it was at a flight museum.

Here is a picture of Lane blowing out his candle.

My camera did not take good pictures in this place so Sinclair has scary eyes in almost every pic, BEWARE!

Here are the talking heads.

I am off to bed to get some rest, good night!

Peace in Jesus,

Happy Happy

2011-11-23T17:18:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for God's many promises and blessings He gives us freely.

I am thankful for my husband and beautiful children.

I am thankful for my family and friends.

I am thankful for GFA and the blessing to be here and serve.

I am thankful,

I am thankful!

And my sweet nephew Lane is turning three on Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

We love you!

Peace in Jesus,

Too Early?

2011-11-21T06:57:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I had to go out and get some decor for out work Christmas party.

While I was out I found a tree for us.

In CA we had an artificial tree that was a little over 6 feet.

But It got left in CA because I thought "when we are missionaries we wont need a tree". Lame I know, but you really think all kinds of odd things about this lifestyle before you are actually in it.

Any way, on Sat I got our Turkey and found some great stuff for the Christmas party and then I spotted her...................

Yes a white tree.

I am over the whole green, trying to look real, fake tree.

Don't get me wrong some people have some really nice fake trees.

But we are not about to shell out 300 bucks for one of those.

I really wanted a pink, or tinsel fake tree like from the 50's.

But when I saw this 4ft white one, I fell in love.

Perfect for storing in an appt., 25 bucks and pre lit. I thought white would look vintage yet be versatile.

When I got home the girls saw it and got super excited.

So we put it up right away.

Every year our parents got us an ornament for Christmas, so the kids love all of the comic book and Disney characters we have.

So following tradition I got them one this year.

Rie got two puppies, and Sinclair got a sparkly pink purse.

The finished product.

We usually wait till the day after Thanksgiving to decorate, when do you put up your tree?

I will wait for the rest of the decor after Thanksgiving.

It is just too much fun to wait with little ones around.

Peace in Jesus,

More Cal

2011-11-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

Instead of Nor Cal, here is More Cal.

We did get an early morning to see my best buddy Missy.

And her sweet babies.

These "babies" are younger then my kids, but much taller.

I wonder how long my kids will be mini?

The beautiful, inside and out, Missy and her baby Gianna.

Sinclair and Luca.

We had a relaxed night, I think it was the only one from the whole trip where we just hung out at the house.

At one point Rie comes out naked.

She looked like a little Ewok next to her almost grown-up cousins.

I took some beauty shots of my beautiful sister-in-laws.

Aren't they pretty?

We got to see Grandma GiGi one morning.

It was so special to get to spend time with her.

Rie feeding Natalie.

Too much fun.

Peace in Jesus,

CA

2011-11-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a little trip to CA.
It was an unexpected trip we did not plan this year, but Matt's bros flew us out and we couldn't resist.
It was unfortunate we didn't get to see a lot of people, and next time we come out we hope to do it for a lot longer to get some more time in with precious friends and family.

It was so much fun to get out one night and have dinner with my sister in laws, Aunt CoCo, and cuz Kerri.

For the first weekend we were hosted by Mark and Lala and it was so much fun to hang out there.
Of course Rie was united with her long lost brother, Patches.
Here they are sharing an apple.

We got to see the grandparents.
Of course they just want to see the kids.
It is so neat to see how much our kids love their grandparents.

(Sorry these pics are all sticking together)

The rest of the pictures are some of the time we got to spend with the cousins.
It was short but sweet.

Hopefully we will make it back to CA early fall.

Thanks Mark, Lala, Paul, and Cheri for giving us this wonderful gift!

This Christmas Will Be.........

2011-11-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

A very special Christmas.

At Gospel For Asia we offer gifts to send to the field each Christmas.

It is an awesome chance given to us as rich Americans to take part of the money we are spending on gifts for relatives who truthfully don't need what we are giving them.

Each year our family will buy something off of the catalog for everyone we buy gifts for, and then give them something to match it. Like last year we bought bunnies and chickens for everyone and matched it with a bunny or chicken Chochkie.

I have heard the arguement, "well who wants that, who wants a goat?"

I say "Who wants another bowl, or another ill fitted sweater?"

When you look back on your life where did you spend your money?

On things, or on people?

On your favorite people, or on people unlike you who are dying of hunger without knowing the love of Jesus??????

Peace in Jesus,

Happy Birthday Uncle Paul

2011-11-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

We love you so very much and hope you had an amazing day today!

Peace in Jesus,

GaGa Gone

2011-10-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

This is GaGa, my mom, and she was just here spoiling us all for 9 days.

We went to the zoo, because her Christmas present to us is a family pass.

So we will be learning a lot about animals this next year.

The girls have found a new way to pose for pics.

We had lunch at this little cafe that has a huge window connected to the lions.

Then we saw my favorite, barn owls.

the girls fav is the goats.

Peace in Jesus,