Life According to Kensli

Kensli learned a new version of "Jingle Bells" over the holidays. Her siblings think it is so funny to teach her new things. Here is her version, which she will sing anywhere and anytime:

"Jingle Bells, jingle bells,

Granny's got a gun,

Shot mommy in her underwears,

and now she's got the runs."

Also, she has learned that the letters N and O spell NO. So the other day, she answered her daddy's question with, "Y, S, YES!" Little Miss Smarty Pants!

Over the Christmas holidays, Kensli wanted to make cookies! I was tired of chocolate chip cookies, so I told her we were going to make snicker doodles.

Kensli: "Mommy, when are we going to make cookies?"

Me: "In a little while."

Kensli (while flinging her arms and stamping her foot): "NO, RIGHT NOW!"

Me: "I can't right now, because we have to get the recipe from Mam-ma."

Kensli: "Oh, we're going to see Mam-ma?"

Me: "No, she is going to give it to me over the phone."

Kensli (with eyes big and wide): "Her hand will fit in the phone?"

I had a good laugh, called mom, and made the cookies RIGHT THEN!

Christmas Day Pictures

I took a small break from the computer over Christmas, due to not being able to fit another thing into my very busy merry making! I have quiet a few posts to catch up on!

With my brother and family being in the lower 48, we wanted to spend as much time as we could together! We had such a good time! I love Christmas, if for no other reason than spending time with love ones.

Here are a few pictures that show the highlights of Christmas:

A Christmas Kiss

What is in this thing?

This present can walk!


Look what Santa left me!



A Kensli Jack-in-the-Box.....I mean Bag!



My brother and dad

My nephew wanted to give his sister something from him for Christmas. Since he had no way of buying her a gift, he went out and found the biggest, nicest rock he could and wrapped it for her. You can truly say that it is not the gift, but the thought that counts in this case.

K. and her rock

Nanna trying on Kensli's dress up collection.

D. putting together his new toys.

We ended our day with fireworks!

Thanks Uncle Pey for such fun!

Have a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

from the Brazzel Family!

From the poem

Christmas Bells

by

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

An Ellie Cat Meets a "Chinas" Bird

This is Ellie Cat,

our fierce huntress.

This is Matina,

Kensli's bird on our natural tree in the sun room.

This is what happened to Matina when the two met!

Kensli loves this bird! It was given to her out of last years stock from a local craft store. Kensli named her Matina, because she said she needed a "Chinas" name.

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

Ricky is 11 years old today! It seems like just yesterday he was placed, while in his car seat, on our coffee table. He was 2 weeks old, weighed 6 lbs. 7 ozs., and was 18 in. long. We have loved every minute of our life with him and are so thankful God placed him in our home!

Favorite Foto Friday

I caught her drinking out of the tea pitcher yesterday!

Where did she learn this?

I HAVE ARRIVED

I have reached the peak of parenthood and I feel so honored today! You could not have given me an honor greater than I have achieved. I EMBARRASS MY OLDEST TWO CHILDREN IN PUBLIC!!!! :)

As most of you know we are taking a Spanish class and we really need someone to practice on other than ourselves. Well, the other day while waiting on Toby, an Hispanic family came by, so I thought we might practice a little. I proceed to roll down my window and let my children know of my intent at the same time. You should have heard the exclamations from the back seats! Needless to say, I rolled the window back up and let our opportunity pass on by, while all the while asking them what in the world was the matter. I got some eye rolling and they couldn't wait to tell their dad how embarrassed they were! HEEHEE!!!

Today, while Ricky was reading the paper (Yes, he reads the paper every morning faithfully. During the election you should have heard him discuss the candidates policies!), he came across an article where he thought the parent was about to embarrass her son. He turned to me and said, "Mom, is this what I have to look forward to with you and dad?" I told him it was and his response was, "I figured it was! GREAT!"

HAPPY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Another Person Caught Off Guard

You just never know what Kensli is going to say or ask! Many people have been on the receiving end of her comments or conversations and not known how to respond! I think the conversation I overheard the other day took the cake on humor and embarrassment at the same time. We are an adoptive family, so my younger kids do not realize that families are made in any other way but adoption. Before I continue, let me say that Kensli has a self-appointed boyfriend that is somewhere between 20 & 25 years old and has recently gotten engaged! Thankfully they are sweet people and love Kensli, so no charges have been filed in the 1st ever case of a 3 yr old stalker!

(If anyone reading this knows him, please don't rib him, bless his heart he was really caught off guard! Boyfriend's name has been omitted to protect the truly innocent!)

Kensli: "Boyfriend, can I ask you sumpin'?"
Boyfriend: "Sure!"
Kensli: "When did your momma get you?"
Boyfriend: "What?"
Kensli: "When did your momma get you?"
Boyfriend(with a puzzled tone): "When did my momma get me?"
Kensli: "YEP!"
Boyfriend: "When I was a baby."
Kensli: "OH, so where did you come from?"
Boyfriend: "What?"
Kensli: "Where did you come from?"
Boyfriend: Dead Silence
(I was in another room and I couldn't see his face, but I imagine he was starting to turn a little red! I step in at this point!)
Me: "She is talking about adoption. When were you adopted and where were you born!"
Boyfriend: "Oh!" and then dead silence again.
Kensli: "Where did you come from?!"
Me: "Kensli, he was born from his mommy's tummy at the hospital!"
Boyfriend: "Yes, that's right!"
Kensli: "OH, Boyfriend, can I ask you sumpin' else?"
Boyfriend (weakly): "Yes, Kensli."
Kensli: "What are you doing?"

Toby Takes Off and My Brother Flies In

Toby left for Spain late afternoon on a mission trip. Please remember his safety in your prayers! We all hate when Toby is gone, but this will be the 1st birthday of Ricky's that Toby has ever missed, so Ricky is a little down. I am going to do my best to make it nice for Ricky, and Toby is going to take him to the Sugar Bowl for one of his birthday presents. Ricky already knows, so he is excited to get to spend some time with just Toby! Guess what I get to do with Toby gone..................

Do all the Christmas Shopping by myself!!!!!!

YIKES!!!!!!

Thankfully Kelli is going to help watch the kids one afternoon, so I can get it all done! Thank you, Kelli, more than you will ever know!!!!!

Also, my brother and family are flying in tonight from Alaska! That ought to get Ricky's mind off of his dad for a few days. My brother is a big hyper teddy bear that loves to wrestle with the kids and joke with everyone. They have 2 kids that are 10 and 9, so they all have so much fun playing!

A WEEK to REMEMBER

I am a little under the weather this morning. That time of the year and things are going around I guess! I thought that while I sit here by the fire I would post a little more about my week and some pictures!

Monday:
A normal day! Is there such a thing? Thank God, because I needed a restful day before the storm began!

Tuesday:
1. We had tornadoes touch down here in our little town. So, we were without power for a few hours. It is bad when the Weather Channel names your town and some streets where the tornadoes are heading. Thankfully our street was not one of the ones called.
2. I scratched my car fender on a pole, because I was trying to get the kids some lunch while the lights were off and the weather was so bad. Thankfully it is a small dent and scratch and can be fixed easily.
3. Kensli had her collar bone re-xrayed and all is mending perfectly! I do not see how because you should see how she uses that arm! I was kind of worried!
4. I prepared a gumbo supper for 25 people that was hosted at our house, during the 5 inches per hour flood that was happening right about then! Let me just say that not a drop of the gumbo was left, so I must of overcome and got it right! :)
5: The bad lightening fried our thermostat on the heater, so there was no heat, just cold air blowing in here. Thankfully we have gas logs that heat the kitchen, hearth room and sun room.

Wednesday:
1: Our painter shows up to work on the bathrooms. I had been going to paint the bathrooms myself, but after removing the wall paper I could tell immediately that I needed professional help.
2: ACA arrives and fixes the heat!
3. Violin Lessons
4. Play at church that night.


Thursday:
1. SNOW DAY!!!!!!! Oh, my goodness, we hardly ever see snow, and we still didn't see much, but it snowed. It only stuck to the the plants and houses, and of course all schools, business, and roads were closed. We just don't know how to handle such here in the South.

Our SNOW!

Now don't laugh! New Orleans got a lot more than we did, but it is snow!

2. Painters came anyway, they only live a few blocks from us!
3. Spanish Language Classes were at our house tonight! We are getting fairly comfortable speaking some Spanish and I can understand more than I can speak. Hopefully my mouth will catch up with my ears soon.

Friday:
1. Dr's apt in Houston.
2. Took Kaitlyn ice skating for her birthday! She was so excited! She had never been on skates, but she can in line skate! She took off skating, no wall holding or anything! Toby and Nic, were not so graceful. Ricky didn't want to and Kensli couldn't (arm), so I sat with them and took pictures.

Look at her go! She could even spin around once by the time she was finished.

There are my little wall huggers!!!!!

Saturday:

1. Kaitlyn's birthday and she had a 2 friends over to help her celebrate. I made a cake and we partied. I was tired from the late night, so I am glad I had held it down to 2 friends. She had a great time as you can tell by the pictures.Kensli wanted to dress for Kaitlyn's birthday and this is what she finally decided on! :)

2.Mom and Gran came for her birthday, and dad must have called 6 times. He misses being with us for special events when he is off on a job!

3. Tried to help Toby pack for Spain! He leaves Monday on a mission trip for a few days.

Wow, no wonder I am a little worn out and feeling under the weather! I hope next week will slow down some, but I just looked at my calendar and there is no hope for that to happen! 'TIS THE SEASON.....................

A New Look at Africa

Today, I came across a fellow CHI family's blog. They had adopted from Africa and I was admiring the beauty of her children, when I spotted a little box in the top corner of the blog. Interested I clicked on the box and found this amazing video! I have never seen Africa portrayed in such a light! I have been to Africa and I have seen the poverty, the despair, and the hunger! Yet, I saw people from all over Africa come together and worship the Lord with such happiness, abandonment, and joy in the week that I was there. I was moved to tears at my own greed, unthankfulness, and spoiledness(if there is such a word). I am ashamed that sometimes I gage my happiness on what I have! Help me, Oh, God, to take what I have seen and apply it to my every day life. Circumstances to not dictate my joy or happiness!

Please turn off music player before watching video.

Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!!!

Kaitlyn turns the big 9 today!!!! As my oldest did, she is rejoicing in the idea that this is her last year in the single digits. I am not rejoicing in this idea at all, because my little girl is growing up!!!!!

It is hard to imagine what my life would have been like if 9 years ago today a beautiful girl on the other side of the world had not given life to my daughter. I have looked back at my calendar on this day for 1999, and it must have been just and ordinary day here. I have nothing but a blank, but if I had known who was being born, through the hand of the Lord, I would have been REJOICING. I would have called every one I know shouting, "IT'S A GIRL!" So, today I rejoice with a girl, that I have only seen once, over the birth of "OUR" baby girl!

In the words of a song I have heard on XM KIDS.............

On the day that Kaitlyn was born,

On the day that Kaitlyn was born,

On the day that Kaitlyn was born,

The angels shouted and blew on their horns,

And they danced,

They danced,

They shouted and raised up their hands,

On the day that Kaitlyn was born!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAITLYN!

The Greatest Christmas Pageant EVER

Last night was our church's Children's Christmas Play. The children's department worked so hard and tirelessly to make sure it was an event worth remembering! Anyone that can get that many children to perform and act good for an 1 1/2 to 2hrs has my admiration any day. We attend a church that has around 3000 in attendance, so there was a lot of children in the play! Our 3 oldest kids were in the production and I must say that is was absolutely darling!!!!!!!!

Ricky was in the Air Strikers Band! It was made up of a large group of older boys and they played 5 gal. paint buckets! They did an awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They had a portion of the show that used black lights and performed a song in sign language. The group that was made up of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders did a fabulous job! It is amazing what children this age can do!!!!!!!! The picture turned out a little blurry, due to my problems with taking pictures in the dark, but you can get a good idea what they are doing!

Last was the play, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Kaitlyn and Nic were in this performance. Kaitlyn was Beverly in the angel choir and Nic was a baby angel. The kids did one of the best performances I have ever seen of this play.
Kaitlyn, as Beverly, singing her heart out.

At the very end of the play the baby angels came out on stage and sang along with the choir. Nic was the cutest angel I have ever seen. He had trouble keeping his halo up!

Now, be truthful, isn't he adorable?

The baby angels had been up there a few minutes and Toby asks me what is wrong with Nic's socks. I look and Nic has a hole in his socks and his big toe is sticking out. Every one around us could see his toe clearly and they start laughing! I got so tickled my sides were hurting. It didn't help that he kept wiggling his toe up and down, while standing perfectly still without a smile or singing. When he was dressing for the play that evening he had shown me these "cool socks" that he could poke his toe out of the end. I told him to change them, but obviously he didn't. Yes, we got several tips on where to find socks on sale after the play was over. :)

Toby tried to get a picture of his feet. He is the middle set of feet and there's the toe.


Our adorable, "HOLELY", little angel!

This will probably be the only year he will ever agree to wear such an outfit!

After the play, Kensli and her friend H. were glad to see one another.

The nice part about this friendship is they live a couple of blocks from us and H.'s older sister is really good friends with Kaitlyn.

H.'s older sister A., who was Imogene in the play, and Kaitlyn.

A. is a born actress! She did an AWESOME job in the play.

No wonder they are such good friends!

Oh, Happy, Happy News...A Prayer is Answered

A few weeks ago I requested prayer for 2 very urgent prayer requests. Today I received good news that my 2 request was answered! Our adoption agency, Children's Hope International, received their Hague Accreditation! This means that CHI can continue to place children from other Hague countries! This is truly an answer to prayer!!!!!!!!!!!! A big thank you for all that prayed for this!

We still have not heard from the other request, which is that talks mid-December would lead to the reopening of Vietnam adoptions! Please help us continue praying for this very important need, because many children wait for their forever families!

Happy Wacky Wednesday

Natchitoches Christmas Lights

Friday Night was our church's Christmas Banquet, and due to babysitter issues, we were not able to attend. It gets hard to find someone you trust to keep 4 kids! So, Toby and I packed up the kids and drove to my parents and left the kids with them for a few hours, so we could have date night. It was so much fun to just be able to sit over hot chocolate and talk, about he kids, of course! :)

If you have never been to Natchitoches (said Nack-i-tush), LA, it would be worth it to make the trip around Christmas. The town is actually alive with lights and activities! The 1st full weekend of December they have the annual Natchitoches Christmas Festival. They have parades (usually 2), live music, crafts, good food, and a huge fireworks display. The festival draws around 100,000 people or more from around the world.

Natchitoches is the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase, and just misses being the oldest town in Louisiana by a few years. It's old downtown area reminds you of the French Quarters in New Orleans. It is absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!

I snapped a few pictures of the lights! I am not very good at night photography, but these turned out pretty good!

Some of the light displays on Cane River from the river bank.


A couple of displays across the river from Front St.

Lights down Front St.

Another shot of Front St.

One of our favorite places to eat in Natchitoches. Known worldwide for their Meat Pies.

Of course, no festival in the South would be complete without our deep fried specialties! This is a Louisiana festival, and seems like this vendor puts all these goodies on a stick. How handy is that?

For all those concerned for the health of my body, I passed on the fried anything, and went straight for the hot chocolate! :)