Boys will be boys

There are days where I look at our two little boys and see someone so different. They are growing and changing so much. Joseph has learned so many new words and is beginning to make some sentences. They aren't always coherent, but he at least knows what he is talking about. He did have some minor surgery on his tongue. He was born tongue tied and December of '07 he had a small flap removed from under his tongue. This has helped so much with his speech.
Joseph's favorite thing to do is throw rocks in a river just down the road from us. He loves being outside and going for rides in the truck. He still has his beautiful stubborn streak and is certainly strong willed. The terrible twos kicked in around 18 months and is still going strong. Brannon and I are keeping our sanity for the most part. It can be taxing to deal with, but we do what we can to tame that strong will. He is such a lively, outgoing little boy.

Carston is doing great. We have nicknamed him chubs because he's quite a beef cake. I think he will be able to take on his big brother in no time. He loves to follow Joseph around and do the things that he does. He isn't walking on his own yet, but with how much Joseph runs around, I think he will want to walk soon to keep up. Carston loves to smile and laugh. He loves being outside. It's been so neat to start to see his personality come out. He seems to be totally fearless and would do just about anything if we let him. We were at the river just the other day and he was sitting on the ground just a few feet from the edge of the river. Once he saw daddy walk in the water, he had to go too and took off for the water. It didn't exactly occur to him that he can't swim yet or that he even needs to swim to go in water. It's amazing to think that in one more month Carston will be a year old.

So far we haven't had any trips to the hospital. The boys play fairly well together although Joseph is still pretty possessive of toys that he thinks are still his only, but we can tell he loves his little brother and likes to help him with things. I think they will be great friends.

It's been a while...a long while

Well, it has been a year since we have updated our page and it's about time we did just that. So much can happen in a year and so much has. Let's start back in November of '07. We had planned on moving back to the mid-west area and we became aware of a church in need of a pastor in Greeley, IA. We visited a couple times and decided that this looked like a great opportunity to start a new ministry.
We practically had both feet in before it was brought to our attention that maybe this was not the right decision. I (Mandie) had felt quite uneasy about things, but couldn't exactly pinpoint why and didn't see the reasons of hesitancy as being enough to not move. Both Brannon and I, after meeting with some very close and loving friends, decided that Greeley, IA was not where God wanted us. There are many things that we both need to work on individually as well as together. You could be praying for us about that as we seek to grow and mature. We have decided to stay in Brighton, CO for another year and continue to be in ministry at Living Stones Community Church. We do not know where God will take us come July of 2009, but in the meantime, we are excited to see what will happen in our marriage and in our family.
Please keep us in your prayers.