More Little Insights

My new nephew, Stefan Michael, was born on Tuesday, November 30! I can't wait to see him and my baby sister in February! Can't come soon enough.

Continuation from previous blog: Other songs sung around the house: Justin Bieber's "Baby", Train's "Soul Sister".

Kai: All animals are referred to as moo, bug, yeow, or doggie; to him, they all fit in one of four groups. On TV this week, we saw a turtle and I said, "Kai, say t-t-t-turtle." He said, "t-t-t-bug". The slow-poke talker is certainly starting to pick up in the vocab department though. He is starting to repeat everything we say. Yea! It isn't all positive developments, however; my son is turning into a couch potato. He has discovered a train cartoon on Disney called Chuggington. As soon as he wakes up in the morning, as soon as he is done with his breakfast, pretty much as soon as he thinks about it, he insistently says, "I want choo choo on. I want choo choo on..." While traveling this week, I received a text from Eric that immediately make me leap into a new realm of reality. The text indicated that Kai had climbed out of his crib for the first time. He has been working on it for a week or so, so we weren't surprised. However, the realization was that I am no longer the mommy of a baby. I am now the mommy of KIDS! At least they all still call me "mommy". The day I am "mom", I will cry.

Madelyn: I have told this story already to several family members because it is typical Madelyn...all the kids in her preschool were in line to get on the field trip bus and their teacher said, "If anyone talks, I am writing your name down." She walked passed Madelyn and Mad said, "Do you need to know how to spell it?" Not sure if I have blogged this one or not, but another day, Eric threatened to spank her butt for something was doing. She sized him up, compared the punishment with the desired activity and asked, "Black and blue?"

Rylie: Ry got her first report card with grades! She got a mix of As, Bs and one C in math. She's been working hard on math, sweet girl. The day before Thanksgiving, she had a minor surgery to remove an extra tooth that was stuck in the roof of her mouth (weird, but common from what we understand). She was nervous and asked a ton of questions, but walked bravely back to the oral surgeon's room, underwent anesthesia, and all went well. Although nervous, she loved the fact that she got milkshakes, sherbert and pudding anytime she wanted! My the next day she was back to normal as long as she received a regular dose of Advil. The tooth fairy brought $10 for that special tooth! The following Sunday, she was able to take communion for the first time. She got so excited when she walked into the worship service and saw the bowl of bread and the containers of juice and wine at the front of the room. Referring to the wine and juice, "Mommy, how will I know which one is for kids? Does it say 'kids' on it for the one that's juice?"

As for me, after a long and tiring week in chilly Chicago at a huge annual medical imaging conference, RSNA, I am resting at Emmy and Matt's house for the weekend. Today, I slept until 10am and am planning to spend a leisurely day of reading, shopping in the cute little downtown of Chesterton, IN and going to the outlet stores with Emmy after she gets home from work. I am updating the blog in my jammies with a cup of coffee while listening to the TV music channel Reality Bites. It is described as...Lilith Fair and Lollapalooza, flannel shirts and Dr. Martens. The reinvention of Alternative music in the 90s that spawned much of the alternative pop culture of the time. On right now is Stone Temple Pilots "Wicked Garden". I remember walking to class at IU with my CD Walkman listening to that! I love where I came from! Wonder what ever happened to my Docs?

Little insights...

As a result of all the Halloween candy in the house, I have learned that all my kids like hard candy. Madelyn always picks sticky candy like Airheads and Laffy Taffy, Kai always picks suckers and makes the biggest mess, and Ry usually picks things like Sweettarts or Dots but occasionally will go for chocolate. All this works out amazingly well for me, the chocolate lover. Eric gets the shaft since he's a hard candy lover too!

Songs being sung in our house: "California Girlz" by Katy Perry, "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland, any Taylor Swift (of course) but the latest is "Mean" on the new CD.

Rylie, Eric and I went tonight to our church office so that the Elders and Pastor Skip could pray for her. Last December, she accepted Jesus as her savior and has expressed a desire to have communion. To her, there is no other option; why wouldn't you have faith and have a relationship with Jesus Christ? A beautiful picture of a claimed Daughter of Zion! After we left, she said, "I thought they were going to ask me easy questions like why He died for us." I am amazed by our valiant child full of grace, Rylie Grace. We talked about what a big job she has as the big sister to help her sister and brother come to Christ as well. God knew what he was doing making her the eldest--she WILL proclaim His love and goodness to them. Another story--last Friday, I came home in a bad mood from work and, unfortunately, proceeded to get the whole family in a bad mood. Rylie suggested, "Maybe we should go upstairs and read the Bible." Rylie, my sister in Christ, I need you to remind me. Thank you.

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

Pictures from the same pumpkin patch that we go to every year. I love looking back at photos and seeing how the kids have grown every year. Kai loved climbing over the rows of pumpkins, row after row.

Back to our roots in Winston-Salem

My mommy

Beautiful window at one of the buildings next to the cemetary

God's Acre cemetary

At the Home Moravian Church

So I thought I was of German Moravian descent on the Bruner side, but as it turns out, the Moravians began in the Czech Republic. I must be Czech! That's exotic! Anyway, my mom and sister came to visit last week and we took a trip to Winston-Salem where our family settled before moving to Hope, Indiana. Winston-Salem was an early settlement for the Moravians; we were proud to learn that they started a college for women in the 1772 believing that women should receive an education equal to that of men (an exceptional view at the time). Salem College is the oldest women's educational institution in the country. We visited Home Moravian Church and received a tour from a lady whose father was a pastor. We mentioned that our great Uncle Jonas was a Moravian pastor and she said, "Sure, Jonas Bruner. I remember him." Our mouths dropped to the floor! Apparently, the Moravian pastor community is quite small! AND, that lady had even visited Hope. That was all really neat. It was great to be able to give mom a chance to see where we came from and interesting that I lived within 2 hours of it for the past 11 years.

Happy Halloween!

Kai quickly got the hang of things--it's amazing how quickly a 2 year old can pick up a long standing tradition of knocking on doors and asking for candy when the pay off is so good! The 2 Taylor Swift's (Rylie and Laine) trick-or-treated together--double vision! Madelyn was a sweet big sis during trick-or-treating with Kai and a pure joy!

Kai's 2nd birthday photos!

Kai was lucky to GET a present to open. His sisters did it for him!

Kai opening his new scooter

Choo choo cake

BFFs--Madelyn and Joey

Baby Evy

Cindy and the kids

Seabrook Island Family Vacation

Eric and the girls

Our first night on the beach

Rylie and Emmy

Practicing her gymnastics on the beach

Sand and PJs go hand-in-hand?

Mad with her Uncle Brian

Kai holding Boppa's hand

Accidentally wearing matching outfits of brown and tan

Kisses to Mama

Learning to blow bubbles!

Love Madelyn's face!

Rylie and Miss Sandi

Emmy and me

Emmy and Kai

I love this picture of the blue eyed beach beauty

Kai and me--sleepy boy with his thumb in his mouth

Handsome baby boy!

Beautiful beach babes

We had another wonderful trip to Seabrook Island this year. This summer, we had a full house including our Titler crew as well as Jan and Leon, Brian and Sandi, and Emmy, down for a special trip to finish out her summer in SC. If Eric went missing on the beach, we knew he had wandered off to hunt for prized shells (a bit obsessed, but it resulted in a wonderful collection for our downstairs bathroom). We found 3 complete sand dollars--a first for me! The girls went crab hunting one afternoon with a few teenagers and filled their sand bucket 3/4 full before releasing them back into their habitat. We enjoyed biking around the island, body boarding, searching for sea creatures, playing cards at night and reading on one of the porches (me--I like to finish a beach book while there--Nights in Rodanthe this year). A highlight/lowlight of the trip was when Brian and Sandi got stuck in an inlet as the tide went out had to get Leon to rescue them! We loved hanging out with the whole family and I'm so glad that it worked out for Emmy to come back so we could share this time together. We look forward to another awesome trip next year!!

Guatemala

Building in very muddy conditions.

The crew

The most snuggly boys--Tomas and Mesaise.

Heading out to a build site--standing up in the back of the truck the whole way--not allowed in the U.S. for sure!

Boys--Miguel and Tomas. The second family we built a house for.

Maria Victoria and her kids--the first family we built a house for.

Jorge, Sergio and Pedro--loved them!

At the feeding program

Washing feet

Wow, did the Lord do some amazing things in Chichicastenango, Guatemala through the work of Pray America! It was such a wonderful opportunity and privilege to serve the Lord's people and carry out His mission in that remote area.

This is a land that has experienced a long civil war in this century and, as a result, there are many widows and orphans. Pray America's mission is to build houses for these widows, feed children in the area and teach them about Jesus. This is a Mayan culture that was conquered at one time by the Spanish; therefore, in general the people practice a twisted religion that's part Catholicm, part Mayan idol worship. It is common still today to conduct sacrifices (both animal and human, though human is rare from what I understand).

Comments and reflections:

• On Sunday, our first day there, we shopped in the largest open air market in Central America. In fact, when we stepped outside the front door of Manos de Jesus, the home where we stayed, we stepped into someone's booth! Kids Rylie's age and younger, were like mobile street vendors, following us around aggressively selling their touristy wares.


• That same day was the finals of the World Cup soccer tournament. As we shopped, we happen to stop in a shop, look up at the TV, and see the one and only score of the game. The Guatemalans were thrilled for Espana.


• From Monday to Wednesday, we built 6 houses. Due to a recent deadly mudslide, many residents lost their homes so in addition to building homes for widows, we built homes for those victims. As we drove along the mountainside, we saw several homes that had been washed out with the owner's belongings strewn all over the washout area.


• It costs about $1400 to build one of these houses and they wouldn't look like more than a backyard 12x12 shed to you and me, but they are pretty nice for the people there and it is a big deal to have a concrete floor rather than dirt and a lock and key.
  
• On Monday night, we participated in a feeding program in which kids from neighboring villages come for an evening to sing and hear a message about Jesus, then are treated to probably the only good meal they will have all week. I was shocked to see that they would only take a few bites of their spaghetti and hotdog, then they'd put the rest into a small plastic bag or container to take home to their family.
  
• On Wednesday, we created a small street festival in the town of Chichi complete with music, a message delivered by a local minister, face painting, balloon animals (I learned how to make a dog!), and coloring. What was striking about this event was how rarely these kids get to experience the simple pleasures of being a kid that our children seem to take for granted. They just wanted to be told that the picture they colored was pretty and have every inch of available skin covered in temporary tattoos and face paints. Some of the kids were shoe shine boys and got in trouble by their boss (an older man) for stopping to hang out with us for a little bit and not trying to sell us a shoe shine.


• On Thursday, we were treated to a break and we went to Lake Atitlan which is a beautiful lake surrounded by volcanoes. We took a boat ride, ate an awesome meal by the water and enjoyed the shopping that seems to be everywhere with locals selling their wares. It is pretty hard to pass up $5 bracelets, $10 necklaces, $10 homemade purses, $5-10 original paintings. It is helping the local economy, right.


• On Friday, I was humbled to participate in one of the most impactful experiences of my life. We visited the families for which we built homes and took them new shoes from Pray America's new shoe factory. But first, we read John 12 where Jesus washes the disciples feet and then we washed their feet and placed new socks and shoes on them. This was important for two reasons in my mind: 1) the kids need the type of shoes we gave them in order to be able to go to school; 2) in this culture, these people are looked down upon and we gave them the opportunity to be served. This was the first time that a mission group had ever done that and it was very special.
  
• There's much more to share, but I will end here. Thank you to all of you who helped financially and with prayer support!
  
  

Slip and Slide Fun

These were added at the specific request of Grammy--she's missing her baby boy! The kids are enjoying Rylie's new Slip N Slide.

Kai finally said "mommy" on June 24 at 21 months. I was working from home in my bedroom and, as he came in through the front door, he shouted, "Mommy!" Music to my ears! He has started saying more and more words--sissy, wa wa, ju (juice), bus (now all things on wheels are busses), Matt (Emmy says he even uses the final "t"), one, two, three, and the end (ee-eh), thank you, pees (please). He likes to walk around and point out the items the belong to either sissy.