~Happenings while Phillip was gone, Bryan family reunion!~

We are leaving tomorrow for a mission's service at David Spivey's church in VA. 
Please pray for us for safe travels and for our service.  THANK YOU!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MY SWEETHEART is HOME From his 21 day trip to Colombia and Peru!!!!  
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!
I'll post some pics from while he was gone...while I collect all of his and others pics from his trip, and I'll blog those soon.
~I posted this on FB Last Monday...
that this was the "Mondiest Monday that I had ever Monday-ed"... :-) and that I couldn't wait till my man got back home!! ~

 ~My "cuppa" coffee and Jesus helped me as we got ready for Phillip to come home on Tuesday night.~

 ~The night before Phillip came home Kimberly and Sarah decided to wall paper a couple walls on the 3rd floor to Surprise Daddy.  WHEW!  They nearly got it all done.  Kimberly stayed home from the airport to finish the last wall, but then she ran out of glue. :-(  Daddy was surprised and Happy!  It's old plaster, so the pretty design of the white wall paper helps cover up some of the "problems underneath!"~

 ~Phillip's bedside table....Welcoming him home!~

 ~The kids waiting for Daddy to arrive.~

 ~Here he comes (They come...Bro. Becker and Phillip!)~

 ~AND...He's here!!~

 ~Daddy pulling Abigail on his suitcase...just like he used to do little Noah, then little Elijah, then little Mary.  :-) ~

 ~Some fun old cars in the airport that the kids loved.~

 ~Elijah's little gift from Daddy.  When the ball swings around it makes the chickens peck. :-) ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

The first weekend after Phillip left, we had a mini Bryan family reunion.  

I say, "Mini" because Lyn, Keith, Natalie, and Carson, 

along with Heidi, Matt, and Katie all couldn't be with us.  

It was sooo NICE to have Andrew and Vonnie and 4 of their children, 

along with Lincoln and Kelsea, and Gramp and Gram here.

~Me between my 2 WONDERFUL big brothers...Lincoln and Andrew.~

 ~Then just after we snapped this pic, Laura walked in, so we took one of ALL FOUR OF US!!!  Andrew with the beard is the oldest, then Lincoln, then Laura, and I'm the BABY!  :-)
LOVE MY SIBLINGS TO PIECES!!!~

 ~Sooo fun to have Kelsea surprise us and come.~

 ~We were watching Andrew and Vonnie's Grant play basketball.  Little Mary got tired and fell asleep in A. Vonnie's arms.~

 ~Grant was # 32.~

 ~All the boy cousins slept at our house.~

 ~The next morning Kimberly helped me make biscuits (from a box) and soppy chocolate.  Dear Laura made eggs, bacon, sausage gravy, and cinnamon rolls and served us at her house.~

 ~We were noticing that Noah and Tyler look similar to what my Daddy, whom we call Gramp, looked like when he was a boy.~

 ~The men visiting.  (Lincoln had already gone home.) ~

 ~Dear Laura did a lot of work serving us all.~

 ~Cousins...Natasha, Brittany, Kelsea, Abigail and Kimberly.~

 ~Kelsea and Abigail.~

 ~Elijah was flying his drone...and CHASING MARY WITH IT...'cause she's scared of it...AND HE GOT IT CAUGHT IN HER HAIR!!!!! :-(  Poor MARY!!!!
Brittany and Kimberly got to thinking of the irony of it all....and were CRYING they were laughing sooooo HARD...but they were trying to hide their laughter from poor little Mary.~

 ~As you can see Brittany is wiping her eyes and trying to get control of herself.  :-) ~

 ~Poor Mary!!!  All 4 cylinders were WRAPPED in her hair. ~

 ~It took quite some time for them to get it out.~

 ~Cousin time.~

 ~Then we went to Sawyer Point by the Ohio River together.~

 ~Cousins.~

 ~Discussing things around a map.~

 ~Elijah and the Ohio river.~

 ~Fun swings facing the river.~

 ~Gramp pushing Darla, Sarah, and Kimberly.~

 ~Having fun on the exercise park.~

 ~Sarah (like some of the rest of us) wasn't feeling the best that day, so she just came along for fresh air.~

 ~Sarah and Darla.~

 ~Daryl and Laura had some special friends over to help Daryl celebrate his birthday.~

 ~Abigail finally let Drew hold her.~

 ~I made 2 Brown Derby (Choc. Chip/Pecan) Pies.~

 ~Moma made 2 Black Raspberry pies, from the Black raspberries that Daddy grew.~

 ~Daddy and Daryl share a birthday!!~

 ~We made several fun treats to help the kids and I not to miss Daddy sooo much!
Kimberly made us a Colombian "Aromatica" which would be berries, apple slices, some fruit jam, fresh mint leaves in a glass, and you pour boiling water over that. 
It's a fun little drink that "takes us to Colombia."~

 ~After all of us being SICK for 8 LONG days...on Friday Laura and her 2 kids and I and our kids went to Eden Park for some Fresh air, and then to Chick-fil-A to get our free parfait for February.~

 ~Keeping our family hydrated.~

 ~One Sunday we invited RaeQuelle over for dinner.~

 ~My Dear Kimberly made these delicious Macarons.   #whitechocolateinthemiddle.~

 ~Abigail trying to SING out of the hymnal at church. We teach our children young. :-) ~

 ~#Hymnsfeedthesoul!!!  #Not7/11typesongs.  (choruses that have 7 words repeated 11 times. :-) ~

 ~Abigail standing on the back of a chair to get nuts and pumpkin seeds off of our buffet.~

 ~Homemade cornbread to feed my fam...#backtomysouthernroots.~

 ~Trying out my brownie bite pan.~

 ~Sharing with our neighbors...Daryl and Laura.  #Theybakefuntreatsforustoo! #It'sfunbeingneighbors. ~

 ~Fun treats to help my family's hearts while Phillip was gone.~

 ~Abigail ... propping up the hymnal with her knee!!  :-) ~

~Hand Sanitizer ... which Abigail calls "HANITZER."~

 ~Aunt Charlene made me some fun dish clothes.~

 ~Donut Holes from Holtmans.~

 ~Enjoying burning my candle from Kelly S.  When I sent her this picture, she commented how CLEAN my counter top was.  SOOOO....I ZOOMED OUTl....and sent her the pic below!

 ~JUST KEEPING IT REAL, FOLKS!!!  Often when you see a pretty pic on my blog...just OUTSIDE of that pic is probably a little messy.  #wifeandmommyfirst  #homeschoolmom  #livinglifetoit'sfullest! :-D
You see, while Phillip was gone my goal was helping my kids with their schoolwork...and we got a ton done!!  PRAISE THE LORD!!!! So, my counters weren't my main focus that day.  :-) ~

 ~Coolwhip in the kids' mouths.~

 ~Mary tripped and skidded her face on the sidewalk.  OUCH!!~

 ~Sweet little Miss Abigail wearing a blouse that Jimmy and Farly gave her!~

 ~My homemade Sour dough bread...that I added whole wheat to.~

 ~Poor Mary's face.~

 ~The girls helping me make Chocolate covered strawberries.~

 ~The last Friday night that Phillip was gone, I took our kids and Darla and Bryan to Sawyer Point for a picnic.  It was 75 degrees and we were wearing Flip Flops in FEBRUARY!! 
THE NEXT DAY IT SNOWED!!!~

 ~Sand time for Abigail and Mary.~

 ~The boys enjoyed riding bikes.~

 ~And we PRAYED while they WORKED together to get the bikes all hooked up to go home.~

 ~We were shocked to see it snowing the next morning!!~

 

 ~We miss our Chinese friends in Argentine.  Here's a FUN pic of our Dear friend Valen that she sent to Sarah.~

 ~Noah and I had to be out on that Saturday morning so we stopped by Holtman's Donuts (for the first time we have been to that downtown one) and got a donut.~

 ~What a fun donut cutter.~

 ~Yummy!~

 ~Abigail wearing Noah's sock to keep her legs warm.~

 ~ SMILE!~

 ~Elijah...the Chef...helping Mommy make Stew.~

 ~Our neighbor's newspaper accidentally got delivered to our house.  So, when we took it back to them, and put it on their front porch, Elijah left a money tract with it. :-) ~

 ~I sprinkled some instant coffee on our chocolate covered strawberries...#a tad of Heaven on Earth.~

 ~Noah got a hammock...and put it up in his room to sleep one night.~

 ~Sarah's little count-down sign for when Daddy would come home!!~

 ~Due to moving from Argentina to the U.S.A. at Christmas time...

Trying to get settled in...

AND then Mommy having 2 miscarriages...

Elijah was needing to finish 1st grade before he could start 2nd grade.

Soooo, the Lord helped Elijah and I...

AND HE FINISHED FIRST GRADE TO SURPRISE DADDY WHEN HE GOT BACK!!

He finished the NIGHT before Daddy came home!

 ~So, after he finished First grade at 9:00 P.M. on Monday night, we quickly ran to Graeters Ice Cream shop to CELEBRATE!!! 
CONGRATULATIONS, ELIJAH!!! YOU ARE NOW IN 2nd GRADE!!!~

~This was the first time that the boys and Abigail had been to Graeters!!~

 ~Graeters...a Cincinnati based ice cream shop.~

 ~Elijah sleeping with his baby sister...since it was Mary's turn to sleep with Mommy that night.
THE NEXT DAY DADDY WAS COMING HOME!!~

WE ARE SOOOOO HAPPY TO HAVE OUR DADDY HOME!!

I'll post pics of Phillip's trip to Colombia and Peru soon.

Again, We are leaving tomorrow for a mission's service at David Spivey's church in VA.  Please pray for us for safe travels and for our service.  THANK YOU!!

 

~HEATHER~