A Castle for My Birthday

Today is my birthday and I'll have another post about that tomorrow. Yesterday we began the festivities by going to lunch as a family. I wanted to pick a restaurant that would be fun for all of us but some place special too.

This past week, Philip and I have been reading about how the Gospel spread through Europe from 300AD to 1000AD through the teachings of Augustine in Italy, Patrick in Ireland and Boniface in Germany. Strong men of God who sacrificed much in telling others about Jesus. Philip's history book also touched on the fact that at this time, Europe was not made of large nations but rather of kingdoms in which all the town people lived in a castle governed by a lord. The special project actually suggested constructing a castle from Legos (the key to Philip's heart) or other building blocks and surrounding it by a moat if possible.

Here are some pics of what we constructed. What could be more fun than Legos and a bathtub full of water!



Building the Lego castle helped me realize what a great restaurant choice would be... California Dreaming! It would provide a chance to visit the next best thing to a real castle!






Don't fall off the drawbridge!

Randomness of Childhood

A few nights ago, we were putting the kids to bed in our normal fashion. Brushing teeth, reading a Bible story, saying prayers (Braewyn: "Thank you God for Grandma, Nana, Papa, Daddy, Mommy, my brother, my brother in my mommy's tummy" -- does she know something we don't? Philip: "God bless the African children and let them believe in You." Future missionary?), and tucking them into beds. I went to leave Braewyn's room and simply said, "Sleep well, honey. I love you." To that Braewyn says, "I'm telling my doggy that aliens aren't real. She doesn't need to be scared." What?! Too many Ben 10 cartoons with Philip I suppose.

Driving to church for dinner Wednesday night, we passed a strip mall. Philip asked if the moose store had closed (it's a hunting / sporting goods store with a deer head on the sign). I said no, but the school supply / hobby store had closed. He said, "That's where we went to look to buy Andrew (his cool 9-year-old neighbor friend) a birthday present." I replied, "That's right, but then we found him one at a Kmart after the last family reunion." To which he replied, "There's smart and then there's Kmart smart." What?! I vaguely recall seeing a Kmart commercial on tv but that kid is a tag line junkie.

Sweet funny kids. I wonder what kind of things this third baby will say in a few years.

Arts & Crafts

I wouldn't consider myself a very crafty person. I did enjoy scrapbooking before the days of blogging and Facebook. I'd really rather paint a room in my house before trying my hand at oilpainting. All that said, kids like arts and crafts and so I did want to incorporate that into our school year. The best part of helping Philip and Braewyn do crafts is seeing their personalities displayed through their artwork. It's amazing how two kids raised by the same parents in the same circumstances can be so different. Yes there is an age difference to consider but yet there is a difference in color preference and the ways things should be. First here are their scarecrows we made a few weeks ago. They each colored the pieces of the scarecrows themselves, Philip cut his pieces out, I cut Braewyn's, and then they each glued them on construction paper. Very cute finished projects and each unique. Philip likes things to look the way they should. Braewyn goes for eclectic and bold.



Walking through the children's hall of our church, I often get ideas from the preschool art on the walls. I really liked the idea of handprint fall trees so we gave it a try. Philip thought it was a dumb idea but I told him he wouldn't be saying that to an art teacher at public school. Braewyn tried to jump on Philip's bandwagon and whine about it too but then jumped into her work and went overboard. Not sure but I think her painting depicts burning fall leaves on the sides!



After Philip finished his handprint tree, he said, "Now I want to paint a picture from the book." What he was referring to is our Usborne Book of Famous Paintings. Once before I let him look through it, pick a painting and recreate it himself. This time he picked "Sunflowers" by Vincent Van Gogh. Braewyn is still in the modern art stage but thoroughly enjoys the experience. Here are my little artists at work.



Here is Van Gogh's work, Philip's underneath and finally Braewyn's pop art. Not bad for an unexperienced 5-year-old! He said three flowers were enough for his painting.

Philip's Decision for Christ

As a follower of Jesus Christ myself, I've been praying for my children to decide to accept Him as Lord and Savior of their lives since they were born. It's a joy to teach Philip and Braewyn how much Jesus loves them and all that He did while on earth and is still doing today from heaven and in the lives of Christians. I've thought for the last several months that Philip was possibly getting close to making a decision to give his life to Christ based on the questions he was asking and the comments he was making. I thank the Lord that we are blessed with a wonderful Bible-teaching church and have been also able to attend BSF (Philip's been attending every week since his 2nd birhtday).

Three weeks ago we were coming home and in the car. He began asking which of his friends would be going to heaven. He asked about Andrew and Daniel (9- and 6-year old boys next door). I said yes they would as they've asked Jesus to be their savior. He asked about their sister Anna. I said I hope she will make a decision to follow Christ when she's older but she's only 3 right now. Philip then said, "Mommy, in three days I'll ask Jesus into my heart." I said that was fine and whenever he was ready we could talk with Mrs. Ann, our children's ministry director.

Two days later, Philip said he still wanted to see Mrs. Ann the next day. I said that was fine and maybe we could find her at the church (it would be Friday), but that I did want him to know that he could pray to Jesus with me and Daddy. He thought about it for a minute and then said, "Let's just do that now!" It was such a special moment as I prayed with him and he repeated what I said, admitting his sin and asking Jesus for forgiveness. We then called Matthew at work to tell him the good news. I then took Chloe outside to go potty and when I came in, I couldn't find Philip. After looking downstairs and heading upstairs, I found him sitting on his bathroom counter, washing off his feet in the sink. I asked him if his feet were dirty from being outside earlier. He said, "I'm washing off my sin." Just precious the faith of a child. We talked about really being baptized at church and how it was a symbol of his decision to follow Christ. He said he'd like to get baptized when he is 7 (two years from now).

That Sunday, we encouraged him to tell Nana, Papa and Grandma and whomever else he wanted. He told his grandparents and one Sunday School teacher but was bashful about telling others, just pointing at me to tell people. We made an appointment to meet with Mrs. Ann that next Wednesday as I was looking forward to someone other than Matthew and I to talk with Philip and let him express what his decision meant. After our meeting, Ann said she definitely could see that Philip really understood what it meant to be a follower of Christ. She took us up to the baptismal area of the church so he could see where he would change clothes, the view from the baptismal pool, etc. He left there saying maybe when he was 6 he'd do it.

After some more discussion about how great a decision he had made and how excited our church family would be to see him baptized, we did offer the idea that maybe it would be great to schedule his baptism for the Sunday after Thanksgiving when his cousins Hannah and Madeline would be visiting. At first, he became so excited that he wanted to get baptized the soonest Sunday possible but I told him it would only be four weeks until our relatives came for the weekend. He was satisfied with waiting so everyone could be here.

It's such an exciting time in life to see Philip growing in his relationship with Christ and also a little worrisome for me thinking if I'm doing enough. People have told us to just keep doing what we're doing and I suppose they're right. So refreshing to receive a first-hand reminder that the Lord really only requires the faith of a child.

"Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." John 1:12-13

Annual Day at the Apple Farm

For the last 3 years, we've been visiting Niven's Apple Farm on our first free Saturday in October. It's not too far from our house, has plenty of fun activities to burn off some energy and is our Halloween pumpkin-carving pumpkin supplier. There's a huge measuring stick by which to see how much the kids have grown since last year. Here's Braewyn's first appearance by the stick to provide a quick walk down memory lane and a slide show of pics from our visit this year.

20-week Ultrasound, and it's a...

Baby! Yes, we followed through with our plan to not find out the gender of our baby at this morning's ultrasound. However, it was still the most miraculous, comforting experience to see that the Lord has indeed blessed us with a perfectly formed, squirming little new person growing in my body. Although I haven't felt many strong kicks yet, this new little Brooks was wiggling around in there rather well. I've had two ultrasounds of this type before, but yet I was still blown away and amazed by the creative hand of God in creating such an intricately designed human being. My fears of something being wrong and doubting the pregnancy itself have all been settled. In four months, we'll be welcoming the newest member of our family to the world. I cannot wait and it will be especially exciting discovering if it will be another sweet little son or darling little daughter. We love you already!

Relaxing Weekend Getaway

A few weeks ago, I went away for a weekend with the first man I ever loved... my dad! My grandparents (his mom and stepdad; however they married when he was 4 so always my grandparents) passed away over the summer -- Grandma in June and Grandpa in August. They were each cremated and the family decided to have a joint memorial service to remember their lives and 52 years of marriage. The timing worked out perfectly as I am now through the yucky sick early weeks of pregnancy and Maine in September is absolutely wonderful. The 65 degree Maine days were a great change from the 80 degree SC weather I left behind. Dad and I flew up alone because Mom doesn't prefer to fly since her sickness and I was actually thrilled to leave behind the duties of wife and mother for a few days. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

We flew from Charlotte, NC to Boston, MA. From there, we had a 3 1/2 hour drive to Rockland, ME. It was really not a bad trip at all. We came home on the following Monday. Here's a recap in pictures.

Thursday was spent traveling and then enjoying a dinner at Applebee's with my cousin Jeff, his wife Beckie and their sweet daughter Trinity. Friday, our family members were working so Dad and I did the tourist thing and strolled around Camden, Maine. I was glad Dad suggested it as "A Man Without A Face" (a Mel Gibson movie) was filmed there. Yes, I was a HUGE Mel fan before he got crazy. Poor Mel, but I digress. This is the town and harbor of Camden.






My favorite part of our day was eating this enormous lobster roll! All the pleasure of lobster but none of the work!



The memorial service on Saturday was perfect. There was a service at my grandparents' church at which some men spoke about Grandpa's days in the Navy and as a Mason and my dad shared a letter my mom had written about the early years of getting to know the family. A touching, heartbreaking moment. We all then drove to the cemetery at a which a 10-gun salute was given and an American flag presented to the family. The day was especially sweet as longterm bitterness and grudges were amended and the years of separation seemed to melt away.

It was wonderful spending time again with Beckie, Jeff and Trinity. Dad and I both hugged Trinity a lot which helped missing my kids not so bad.

My cousin Hillarie whom I've not seen in 10 plus years.

Dad (second from left) with his siblings.

The blue container held half of my grandparents' ashes. The other half will be sprinkled at a later date into the ocean.

On Sunday, we met Jeff, Beckie and other family members in Port Clyde for church. We were blessed by their church just happening to have planned a "Church on the Dock" service. It was picturesque Maine!

Jeff is one of the captains of this boat. He delivers mail and supplies to an island 10 miles off the coast of Maine three times a week and gives ocean cruises in the summer.


Church was great and very laid back... as most things in Maine are.


People in Maine dress comfortably most all of the time. Nice change of pace.

After church, we drove around the corner to the local beach (no sandy white shorelines here) to witness four church members' baptisms. The pastor spoke about how John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Sea of Galilee.

What a memorable day... to be baptized in 50 degree ocean water!

Before flying home, I tracked down one more lobster roll for my dinner in the Boston airport. Not as good as the other but it'll do.

And the last thing to say about New England... there are Dunkin' Doughnuts EVERYWHERE! Matthew and I have a friendly family feud regarding this because as a yankee (I was born in Massachusetts) I will always prefer DD over Krispy Kreme! The pumpkin spice cake doughnut is awesome.

More Fun with Chloe

So we've had our dog Chloe for 6 weeks now. Things are going well to a point. Yes, she barks a lot when she wants someone to play with her, jumps on the kids and makes them scream (they scream "Ouch!" because that's what the dog training video said to do), still pees in the house if I don't take her out every hour or so, and cried in her crate at night sometimes. (We do begin puppy training classes at Petsmart this Monday night!) However, the kids LOVE her regardless! Braewyn has to be reminded not to be so rough with Chloe but Chloe does a fine job of telling Braewyn to stop. And then Braewyn screams.









A big thank you to Matthew whom I've already thanked many times in person for doing such an awesome job building Chloe's childgate wall. Our staircase has a curved landing which makes a standard childgate impossible to fit. I do not want the dog upstairs for potty accident reasons and a billion choking hazards. The wall works great; Philip can climb over it and Braewyn can push it open and closed. Thanks, sweetie.

Jitterbug Braewyn

Tomorrow night Braewyn begins Ballet and Tap lessons and Philip begins Tumbling lessons. I have thought Braewyn would enjoy dance for a while as she's been dancing around the house for months. We weren't sure which activity Philip would choose this fall but once we toured the dance facility and he saw the tumbling room, he was sold! A place to roll and jump around and maybe even learn how to do flips! The best part is that their lessons are on the same night at the same time! Easy for me! Well, this past Saturday the four of us plus Braewyn's BFF (best friend forever) and next-door neighbor Anna attended our local minor league baseball game. This gives you an idea of how much Braewyn likes to dance... albeit it's not ballet but hopefully she'll learn to pirouette just as well as she can boogie!

My parents are on YouTube!

Just wanted to catch your attention but it's for a really good cause. Mom is a very active member of Colon Cancer Solutions. It is an awareness group in this area working hard to let everyone know that colon cancer is preventable if detected early. Some time ago, groups of people began making "Pink Glove Dances" to promote breast cancer awareness and posting them on YouTube. Mom's group decided it would be good to make a "Blue Glove Dance" (blue is the color of the colon cancer ribbon) and here it is. See if you can spot my mom and dad if you know what they look like! The man who swings his doctor's coat around while dancing is Mom's surgeon, Dr. Dunn. We praise God for him removing her cancer.

Revamping the System

No, I'm not ready to take on the state welfare and foster care systems, although both do need a considerable amount of help. What I do need to do is get my own life back in order. Tomorrow will be the last day of our fourth week of homeschooling this year. I've been tweaking our daily routine almost every day and it's burning me out quickly. On any given Monday, Wednesday or Friday, Philip's assignments include Spelling/Phonics, History and Math. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we cover Spelling/Phonics, Science and Math. Three subjects each day shouldn't last five hours for a kindergarten student, but that's the way things are going these days. It's not that I strap him to a chair for five straight hours but it's that I've tried random variations of busting through the work with Braewyn at a loss of entertaining herself; intermingling school and chores, school and errands, and school and free play time; and threatening Philip with timers, loss of toys, calling Principal Dad, and corporal punishment for active disobedience. With that said, adopting Chloe was a choice I fully participated in but she has thrown a huge wrench in the system with having to go outside to potty every few hours and whining/barking when we try to have school without her or outside with her.

Ok, no one wants to hear me whine (or bark for that matter), so moving on... I've prayed about how our day should run and I'm returning to my original thinking. I'm not a free-spirited time person. I've struggled for years with getting my housework under control and will not let our disorderly school schedule span that long. Therefore this is me putting my new schedule down in writing.

6:00am -- shower (a big one I've struggled with but if I want to feel alive I've got to begin showering every morning)

6:30am -- quiet time with the Lord (ESSENTIAL to the rest of the day going smoothly)

7:00am -- breakfast with Matthew and the kids (they wake up at 7:00am on their own)

7:30am -- get everyone dressed if finished with breakfast

8:00am -- free play (but clearly understood will end at 8:30am)

8:30am -- prayer, song and calendar time (again prayer is a necessity to get us all in the right frame of mind)

9:00am -- Spelling worksheet (it's Philip's most hated item of school so we may as well tackle it first thing); I'm allotting 25 minutes for it because any longer begins driving us both crazy

9:25am -- jump around time (we did the hokey pokey a few times last week when we reached the breaking point)

9:35am -- Phonics worksheet (he balks through it most days but wanted to tell his Wednesday night missions group it was his favorite part of school, just couldn't remember what it was called)

10:00am -- snack break (these days I'm famished by this time of day so even if the kids don't need it, the baby and I do!)

10:15am -- History or Science depending on the day (getting done in 45 minutes will require me to be fully prepared with all needed supplies)

11:00am -- Math (Philip loves it and takes him on average 10 minutes to cover 6 workbook pages)

11:30am -- We're done with school!!!!

This looks like a tight run ship which I usually don't tolerate for long. However, I am grateful for the chance to teach Philip at home and must do my best at making it work. All things of substance are rarely thrown together with little thought. If school is done before lunch, I can begin gaining my strength and determination back to keep the house in order during the afternoon and spend time just playing with my kids.

A few years ago, I was hooked on this TV show about women with life issues who went to live in an LA house, meet with life coaches, and work their problems out through activities and assignments. There have been times in my life at which I thought having a life coach sounded good. That's when I remember I do have one. His name is Jesus, and He has told me,

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

These days, an easy yoke sounds good.

Brooks Family Training Facility

Some of you might remember the BBFF, well I'm pleased to announce we've opened up a new branch of our company entitled Brooks Family Training Facility. Some people joke about having their husbands or wives trained. I don't buy into that and actually think it to be demeaning. I hope Matthew's not plotting my training schedule and I'm surely not doing so to him but instead seeking to become a better wife and helpmate to him. However, the Lord has blessed us with two precious children and another to arrive in the spring. As we believe these little ones to be from Him, I find God's advice most comforting when seeking to raise them to know Him. A particular verse I take to heart is Proverbs 22:6,

"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not go from it."

Training has come to my mind a lot this week as we finished our second week of school. We decided to up the fun level (er, crazy level) and adopt a puppy from the pound this week too. Her name is Chloe and she's a 2 1/2 month old Blue Heeler. Having Chloe has brought back many happy memories of my childhood dog Sparky whom we adopted from the pound when I was 10 and passed away a few years before Matthew and I married. However having a puppy in the house brings about another complete level of training. Here's the list rolling around in my brain of the training which is going on in our home these days.

• Me getting up on time in order to have a quiet time before the house wakes up (failing currently)
• Philip and Braewyn not watching TV before breakfast and school
• Philip staying focused on his school work
• Me trying to find a schedule for his subjects which isn't cumbersome to either of us
• Braewyn being told to play independently or color quietly during school time
• Chloe being housebroken (actually going well; using puppy pads or crate when not able to walk her outside)
• Chloe staying down from jumping and nipping (Braewyn says, "She's eating me!")
• Chloe to stop chewing the fireplace rocks and furniture
• Philip and Braewyn to stop running past Chloe which makes her think they're playing and she begins nipping
• Me at getting my mind around preparing meals for my family when I have no appetite (due to being 11 weeks pregnant)
• Me at finding a desire to fold clothes, wash dishes, clean bathrooms, (fill in the blank with ANY housework)
• Philip and Braewyn at completing chores (unloading the dishwasher, folding towels, cleaning their rooms)
• Me getting enough rest and even remembering that I am pregnant (aside from the appetite and digestion issues)

I suppose that is enough of an exhaustive list for now. And to think we're adding another human in March! However by then Chloe will be at a different behavior level (we pray!) and the baby comes out relatively motionless. I told Ruth Ann today that Chloe is like a crawling toddler who really has the ability to destroy things. Our newborn won't be destroying anything other than diapers at first! I would say my good night's rest too but I'm not finding that very common these days anyway.

Here's our sweet little rambunctious pup.

Back to School

This week has been long but fulfilling at the same time. Monday was Philip's first day of Kindergarten! It wasn't as much of a milestone as for families who send their little ones into the "real world" of public school as we were together all day, but it did help me realize my children are growing and changing more everyday. We began the morning with prayer, a hymn, calendar time and pledges. I decided that we'll say our pledges (to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible) only on Mondays to keep it from becoming too repetitive.

This year, I am not using a integrated curriculum but subjects from different publishers. For writing and reading, we're using the American Language Series workbooks I purchased at Children's Books (a fabulous local home school supply warehouse!). They are colorfully illustrated workbooks which focus on phonics and handwriting. There is also a little reader which accompanies it. Philip has proudly been reading a one-page story (4-6 lines) each day. It's exciting to see him growing in his reading skills without feeling overwhelmed by tackling a whole book. The one problem with this series is that the phonics lesson is 5 pages long (most of which involved him 'x'-ing off the pictures which start with the designated sounds) and the handwriting lesson being a front and back page of copying letter combinations. All week (as we do this each day), I've been trying to run phonics and handwriting back to back, getting it all done in a solid hour. As the week went on and Philip got S-L-O-W-E-R each day with it and after talking to a friend who is a kindergarten teacher about the attention span of average 5-year-olds, I've decided to split these lessons up next week with some form of physical activity.


On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have science which is coming from an Usborne Books Science Activities book. Tuesday we learned some properities of water (i.e. how water takes the form of its container, how it only flows down, how it doesn't change quantity between different shaped containers) and on Thursday we discovered which items float and which things sink. Science is Philip's favorite subject right now as it's all hands on.



We're also studying math using a great program called Math-U-See. There's a workbook but also a DVD with 5 minute lesson introductions and manipulative blocks which are a hit since Philip is a lego fanatic. For history, I found a great program called "History for Little Pilgrims". There's a text book, instruction book and coloring book. The best thing is that it focuses on history from the point of how God's Kingdom has grown through time. The keypoint for this first week was teaching the student that Jesus Christ is the central figure in ALL OF HISTORY! Everything prior to Jesus' birth looked forward to Him and everything since is reflective of His life. What a great truth to begin planting in a 5-year-old mind.

We'll begin attending Bible Study Fellowship later in September. It's a complex Bible study for me, but also the children's program is designed in such a way to teach the little ones the same content in a fashion suited for them. This year we will study through the book of Isaiah. Can't say that I can think of any other children's program which teaches Isaiah. It's surely to be a great experience for all of us.

I pray now for stamina to keep us motivated through the school year. There is much work ahead but much fun too. We'll throw in some field trips and with the school year also comes a renewed love of Saturday mornings and snuggling with Daddy!