October and the Leaves are Falling

It amazes me at how beautiful the fall weather is!  God planted so many beautiful trees around us, that we get to see so many gorgeous colors in the skyline.  Just got done with the Harvest Moon, it was so bright and full!  Indiana is blooming with colors, can't wait to see the trees in the Mountains as we prepare to go to Georgia in November.

Ron's sister Gloria is getting married Nov. 12 and Ron, Kira, Hunter and I are headed in that direction.  We will be stopping in Savannah, TN to see a friend of Ron's from high school.  Then it will be on to Savannah, GA for Gloria and Ken's wedding.  Taking lots of pictures, because Hunter is going to be the ring bearer.  That should be funny!  Gloria's granddaughter Sarai is going to be the flower girl!  That's another laugh, because both of them are under the age of 4. 



Gloria & Ken




Cecil & Hazel Brownd

 Got the roof done on Ron's parents house.  We had Builder's For Christ do the roof and we helped right along with them.  I had the privilege of feeding all of them.  There were 15 members from our Church and then we had 8 family members helping out! It was cold, but the roof got done in 6 hours.  Ron's parents were so thankful that it was all done and they didn't have to worry about it anymore. They couldn't thank Builders enough for helping them do something that they use to be able to do and now are unable. Cecil did go out and survey the work that was being done, I think just to appease himself that all the noise he was hearing in the house was worth it. He stayed outside just for a few minutes, it was too cold for him to stay out there any longer.   Builder's for Christ is such a serving group of people, they are always ready to assist anyone who is in need.  We are blessed to have so many good friends to come and help out.

As you can see by our family picture we are growing by leaps and bounds.  Sometime next year we will be adding another addition to our family. We are very excited!  Until then I am just going to say we are blessed and will wait until the blessed day happens.  It is all in God's plans!

Looking forward to the holidays coming. We are praying Thomas, Trisha and Conrad get to come home for Christmas. It will be great to have all of them home for a holiday.   Thomas is still stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC and he will be there until he get's deployed again. 

Wow This Year is Going Fast

It is already August and so much has happened in this year.  Lives have changed in our families and everyone is growing up!  The babies are no longer little, they are toddlers running around. And I do mean running! 

We had family pictures taken while Thomas was home.  We included everyone that could make it.  Our oldest son Scott and his wife and two of their children could not make it, but we do have his lovely daughter Sammi in it.

In May Ron & I took his parents down to Kentucky for the family reunion.  What a trip it was, saw family we hadn't seen in years.  Some we get to see on Sunday in Church. It was especially nice for Ron's parents to get to go and see how things have changed down there.  They enjoyed being a way and not having to be in a hospital or nursing home for once.

Today Ron's dad is home and doing quite well.  He has amotorized scooter that he is able to get out on to get some fresh air and to go to the drs. He uses a walker most of the time if it's short distances. 

Ron's sister Gloria came for a visit and we got to meet her new boyfriend. She brought her granddaughter Sarai with her as well.  She came up for the class reunion from Hanover. 

Thomas and Trisha and Conrad came home for a week.  That was nice to see them again. He just completed schooling and passed.  He just made Sargeant in the US Army, so proud of him and the man he is becoming.  Conrad is like the energizer bunny! He is very inquisitive and can eat, when he wants too!  It is amazing to see him run at his age!  He is advanced in some of the things he does - but boy does he love his daddy.  Thomas is so proud of that little man, and Trisha.  She misses being away from family and friends. It's hard being a military spouse and having to do things on your own while they are deployed and then it's even harder to relinquish some of that stuff when your spouse does come back.  I feel for families that don't have the support group of extended family or of other military families to lean on during the rough days. 

The grandkids are getting ready to go back to school. What an expense for the parents!! Can remember those days when we were shelling out money for book rental, supplies, and clothes.  Now there are even greater expenses. Ryan wants a laptop, cell phone, all the electronics anyone can have.  Whatever  happened to papaer & pencil and looking things up the old fashion way?  What about this spelling!  Oh my gosh, we are so dependent on spell check aren't we?  Any one for a dictionary?  In years to come that will be a thing of the past!

Ron and I went with the Builders for Life Church group from First Baptist of Griffith (where we attend) in June to Kansas City, MO.  That was alot of fun! It was hard work, but the rewards are so much more.  We went to help out the Baptist Theological Seminary.  Needed to finish their new Chapel that they had built! Beautiful building, the inside as well as the outside needed some work.  I stained for 5 days!  Never finished the trim in those 5 days!!! There was so much that needed to be done!  Can't wait to see what it looks like when they get it all done.  Our group built walls downstairs and some groups worked out in the scorching heat with trim.  We were with 35 people from our church, we took Connie with us this year and I think she enjoyed herself.  Met some real nice people from other groups and got to see first hand what mission work is all about. 

Well this is just a quick update of what is happening at the Brownds home.  Will keep you all posted of any other major doings in our life.  Until then - Blessings to all.

Life is All About Change

I want to say that this has been an unusal year for us.  We have had alot going on.  We just concluded a visit to Kentucky for the DeWitt Family Reunion.  What a time we had.  We took Ron's parents down there to see family that they haven't seen in a few years as well as meet some family members that they didn't know.  It was a hard trip on them, but they managed for the most part.  We spent sometime with Cecils brother and sisters, as well as traveling back and forth to our hotel.  We did attempt to make it up the road where Hazel was raised and to our disappointment the old homestead is no longer there.  It's all grown up and the buildings are all gone.  It was sad for them to see, but let me say this, I hadn't seen single lane roads in a long time until now.  WOW!!!

We have been blessed even though it may not seem like to some of us, but God has been working on all of us and wanting our hearts pure for His Glory.  Still making strives to finish my classes with the Light University on Enriching the Lives of Women.   I stand amazed at how much God uses us for His glory and for His edification. 

I finished teaching the class "When WallFlowers Dance" by Angela Thomas and I can say that I really enjoyed the study very much.  Will teach another one of her classes when given the opportunity.  What a Godly woman she is and I stand amazed at how God uses her to show women that we must protect our family from the things of this world.  We will stand before God one day and give an account of how we have taken care of those under our household.   I want to be found a woman of Confidence and a woman that has tried to protect her children.  However I have failed at trying to keep satan away from the minds of my children and have allowed him to continue to warp their minds of these things of the world.

New Year for Us

We started this new year by sleeping through the parties!! We have been blessed by so much this past year.  We've added new grandchildren to the family and we have welcomed home our son from Afghanistan.  This year Ron and I look forward to being able to go on Builder's For Christ once again.  We also have taken on a Missionary in Eurasia Region to continue to pray for and minister too. 

I am taking classes with LIGHT University to enhance my ability to mentor young women and to be able to council with women in the near future.  I will be working hard and studying to be able to accomplish these classes.  It also stretches me to be All that God wants me to be.  It's something I have wanted to do for years and never had the opportunity to do it.  So now I have some time to be able to do it and to allow my heart and mind to be focused on God.

We are also getting Ron's Dad ready to come home from the Nursing Home once again.  He has been in there for some time now and he has finally gotten to where he is strong enough to do things on his own.  We are excited and we are praying that he will be able to function at home once again. He has some medical issues that will have to be monitored and he will have to continue with physical therapy in order to get around.  We have also taken into consideration that I will have to be driving them to all of their dr. appointments because of their inability to drive much.  We will continue to give God the glory in where he has taken Cecil this past year and has taught us all the lesson that family works together.

We still have a house full - Kira is home with us now and we are enjoying whatever time she desires to stay here with us.  She was transferred back up here with her job, so she needed a place to live.  Kristy & Hunter stay with us during the week so that we are able to take care of Hunter. On the weekends she goes to Grovertown to stay at their home.  Connie is still with us and is working at Starbucks. 

I don't know whether Ron and I would know how to handle a home that doesn't have children residing in it.  We have been blessed to be able to share in our children's lives and their children's lives.  Sometimes God has to remind us that we need them to make decisions on their own, that we are here to guide and give advice. 

I was able to find a great web site for Trisha and Thomas in order to help with Military life for them.  I hope and pray that it will help them as well as get ideas to deal with another deployment if he has to go.  Thomas is a strong person who loves jumping out of planes and shooting targets.  You might ask why he likes to do this crazy stuff, I can only say it's because he doesn't fear heights and his dad thought he needed to learn how to shoot guns at a tender age.  Ron is a gun enthusiast as well as our oldest son Scott.  Scott bought his two boys pellet guns for Christmas and if Conrad was bigger Thomas would have bought him one.  However, he's not even One so he has time before his dad takes him to the range.

We also had our daughter Stacey open up her house for the holidays and all the family enjoyed Christmas there. She has a beautiful home and she even hosted a day of baking cookies for her sisters and me. Now that was humerous!  I have never seen so many cookies being made at one time in my life.  She is so organized and had everything structured just so that everyone knew what they were suppose to do.  Well some of us knew, others had to be told over and over again.  Mistakes were made but boy was it alot of fun.  We had Kristy's best friend Sarah join us and we laughed so much with her. She doesn't bake much and we know why now!!! 

I failed to mention Christie and Brian and baby Joshua!  Joshua has brought great joy into everyones life. He laughs at everything. He celebrated his first birthday with a great big bash at the Church.  Figured he will grow up and be the class clown or maybe an announcer.  His voice carries so well and so loud.  He loves life to it's fullest. Christie and Brian have invited into their home their best friends to live with them until their home is built.  Did I fail to mention that they are building right behind us!!  It's okay for now, because they aren't blocking our view of Christie and Brians home.  We have teased Christie about when Joshua grows up he will be in our backyard more then in his own.  We will have Jenna and Julia living behind us.  John has promised us the use of his swimming pool when he puts it in.  So we will wait and be very patient and hopefully be very good neighbors.  Welcome to Cedar Lake John & Jessica!  (Thanks Jess for reminding me)....


All in all this was some good times that we had and we are really looking forward to what God has in store for us this coming year.

Will keep you all posted!        Until then ~~~~~ Good night

Thomas's Homecoming

Welcoming Thomas Home from Afghanistan

We have waited a year for Thomas to be home from Afghanistan.  He flew into Ft. Braggs, NC at the end of August and Ron and I flew down to see him arrive.  What an experience that was!.  The ceremony was quick and hurried.  So many people were there to see