Matthew took vacation days from work and so was home from Christmas Eve afternoon through January 3. It provided several days of lay-around-the-house-and-not-shower rest, but a few days out of town sounded good to me too. We decided to visit Columbia, not too far yet far enough to validate a hotel stay. What better way to use two days out of town on Christmas vacation than to fill them with stuff field trip worthy and get two more school days checked off the calendar! Our agenda included touring the SC State House and visiting EdVenture children's museum. I found a hotel with an indoor pool and hot, continental breakfast. Load the suitcases and the kids, and we were off!
More photos from the trip to come, but this was worth sharing. When you upload photos into the Google Cloud, Google makes these super cool mini-movies ready to share. Better than I could whip together in 10 minutes time! Thanks, Google!
Click here... Columbia mini-movie by Google
Tuesday, January 05, 2016
Backup to Last Fall, Part 1
Uploading photos from my phone last night, I realized there were lots of great ones from last fall that no one ever saw. I enjoyed looking through them again and remembering the great times we shared as a family. Special family memories are a gift from the Lord. Losing my Dad this year has caused me to value my loved family and friends even more. The people in these photos are precious to me. I probably don't tell you enough, but I love each of you so much.
Philip's 1st day of 5th Grade; my phone corrupted the other kids' photos so this is the only one I have.
Running man.
Helping our sweet friends, the Price family, on moving day.
Little buddies, Rylan and Wylie.
Field trip to Roper Mountain Science Center
Glad that frog is not real!
Meredith and baby Noelle
Rylan rode the bus like a big kid
Family night at the fair!
Sully will have to come back when he's older.
Rylan and Matthew rode a fire truck.
Race car driver Juliet.
Cotton candy makes this girl HAPPY!
Annual family day at Niven's Apple Farm
It was a beautiful day!
Pumpkin painting fun!
Little artist Juliet
Little artist Braewyn
Growing so big!
I have a photo of each child at this sign as babies.
We always love having Grandma Ruth Ann with us.
My five bears in the bed
Costume day at Chuck E Cheese; 50 free tokens for arriving in your Halloween costume. Works for us.
Little ones, look out behind you.
Captain America and Anna on Coronation Day
Cinderella ("from the new movie!")
Fancy hair
Kylo Ren. Now that Philip has seen the movie, he wants nothing to do with this nasty guy. However, Rylan likes to wear the mask and we call him Rylo Ren.
Mommy was a slacker and didn't get me a costume!
The foursome with Mater.
And eating the spoils of their labor (is that the phrase?).
As some say around here, Happy Fall Y'all!
Saturday, January 02, 2016
Christmas Letter 2015
Before we get too far into this new year, here's just my little wrap up of 2015... (aka our Christmas card and letter; sorry if you didn't get a hard copy!)
This has most defintely been a year of high's and low's. There is little else which makes life more real than the birth of a precious child or the death of a dear, loved one.
Dear
Family and
Friends,
This has most defintely been a year of high's and low's. There is little else which makes life more real than the birth of a precious child or the death of a dear, loved one.
On
January 5 of this year, Matthew and I welcomed Sullivan James Brooks
to our family. He weighed a healthy 8 pounds. Only the Lord Jesus
knew then how much we would need our little Sully this year. He is
now 11 months old and FULLY loved by his older brothers and sisters.
Philip is 10 years old and enjoys everything related to STAR WARS.
Braewyn is 8 years old and is our super crafty girl. Juliet is 4
years old and enjoys wearing dresses everyday! Rylan is 2 years old
and says the most adorable things. Anything new or exciting is
followed by “How 'bout that?!”
Kim
is thankful to be homeschooling our children again this year and
learning along with them more wonders of God's creation. This year
at Brooks Academy, we have studied the Roman Empire and the human
body. In May of this year, Matthew
celebrated his 17th
year of working for QS/1 Data Systems. He also is a teacher on
Sundays as he co-teaches the high school boys' class at our church.
Life
changed drastically for us in June when Kim's Dad, Rich, passed away
after spending two weeks in the Neuro ICU. We miss our Dad and Papa
terribly. Kim's mom, Patty, is slowing adjusting and grieving for
her own father as well who passed away just 5 days after her husband.
We try to comfort her by letting the older three children take turns
spending the night with Nana. Losing someone that close makes
mortality a reality and not much is taken for granted anymore.
Because
none of us know what each day will bring, we are thankful for Jesus
who came to earth as a baby to bring hope. He wants to tell you this
year, “I Love You.” One day, possibly soon, He will come again to
earth to rule as King. We know Rich has met Jesus but not because of
how great a man he was. Rich lived a life of faith based on beliefs
which he did not create, but which he found in reading the Bible,
God's Holy Word.
in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life. For God
did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save
the world through Him.” John
3:16-17
“Peter replied,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ
The
promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—
for
all whom the Lord our God will call.”” Acts
2:38-39
“For we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep (died) in Him.
According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who
are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will
certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven,
with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1
Thessalonians 4:14-18
We
wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas season and a blessed
2016! You can keep up with what we are doing by checking our family
blog. (When Kim has a chance to update it from time to time!)
www.philipandfamily.blogspot.com
With
love,
Matthew,
Kim, Philip, Braewyn,
Juliet,
Rylan, and Sully Brooks
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