Time.... Please slow down.

Well, there is an old saying "time flies when your having fun!."   Well time certainly has flown by since my last post.   Many things have taken place, final grades for Hannah(BIG CHECK) are finally done, college hunt beginning, sold a car, had a birthday for my sweet 87 year old Nana, granduation stuff order, well, isn't that enough.   I thought this time of year would be slow for me, but I am already feeling the heaviness of my responsibilities between now and May 26th when my sweet daughter graduates high school.   I still think back on the day she made me a mom, how she looked, how she cried; and I think back on her toddler years and how funny she was and all the in between time.  It has flown by extremely too fast for me and I want to hold on and savor these last months with her before she steps into adulthood.   I could hardly let her get her driver's license I don't know how I am going to let her go to college.   I know that we are just given our children for a short time to train, love, nuture, but I have loved every second of my time so far being her mom.  She is more beautiful than I can imagine, inside and out.  She has a good grasp of her faith and knows and trusts God.   I know she is uncertain at times of what her future may hold but she is adventurous and bold, and courageous to face it.   This week we ordered her graduation stuff and it has been hard for me since then, just thinking of the end of high school being so real so quickly.   My goal is not to be too busy to savor every step of these last four months before graduation with my sweet girl.   Thank you God for sharing her with me, and yeah,  time....please slow down! 

Welcome 2012

Well, it isn't exactly January 1, but things at the Braun household have been pretty busy and this is my first post of the new year.   Many of you may find yourself like me wanting to start the year out fixing all the things that I felt needed attention to make life not soooo crazy.   Balancing work, school, family, church, and still managing to put meals on the table and provide my family with clean clothes seems at times like a fairy tale.  I am sure I can't be the only one who struggles with keeping up and not feeling guilty all the time when my expectations don't fit with the reality of what my life is.   I don't believe in resolutions but I do believe in reevaluation.   So, the Brauns, all five of us, had a reevaluation meeting this past weekend.   After much heated discussion and a "new" list of household rules and expectations, we are now on day two of the new and improved "Daily Schedule."   Like most changes, we are in the "honeymoon stage," where it all looks great on paper and seemed to be working because everyone is excited and cooperating.   We even have set a goal of all running 3.5 miles within nine weeks (Mom walking).  Everyone has been very nice to each other to this point, but I know the day will come where it is hard to keep up, or something interrupts the schedule, and I pray that we will be gracious enough to encourage each other to continue on and fill in the gaps that others leave behind.   Already Hannah and Franklin have switched meal days as Hannah had a friend over last night for dinner and a movie and she wanted to spend time with her friend instead of her chores so they switched, which was a thing of beauty.   My goal is to develop discipline for myself, in my children, and a sense of peace and harmony within our household so that our home is a haven from the outside world where grace is explemplified to each other and love abounds.   Lofty goals??? I don't think so.   The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid."   I don't want to be stupid nor do I want that for my children.  As much as I hate exercise or how much I love to sleep in, it is for my good and the good of my children to be disciplined in these areas.  God's word is full of promises, lots of which are found in Proverbs, it is one of my standby books to read when I am not doing a formal bible study.   I am trying to encourage my children daily with Proverbs and hoping the end of 2012 will find us better fit physically and just a wee bit more disciplined but more so, a graceful, peaceful , happy household.   Happy New Year!

Friends

It is a beautiful and thankfully cool morning in Charleston and I am so thankful.   I don't like this time of year with warm, muggy, close to 80 degree weather, not during the holidays.   Since I last wrote we had Christmas, and despite it being different than any Christmas in my life, it was blessed and I did enjoy being with my friends and family.   This is the first year without my grandfather who recently passed away, the first year without my parents (visiting in AL), and the first year to have a house full for Christmas dinner.   Despite our small house, we had thirteen adults/teenagers and we had a wonderful meal and a great time of fellowship.   It was never in my plan to have dinner for so many, thinking with my parents gone it would just be our little family, but God had other plans, and it was a blessing.   Those friends are most like family and it made the absence of my grandfather and parents much easier.  It was joyful and fun and I am thankful for God's provision of friends, especially those friends who are like your family.  

Tis the Season

Well, the countdown to Christmas is in full swing at the Braun household.  Everyone has seemed to catch that Christmas "spirit" and are being especially joyful and kind.   Our precious Mr. Buff got a visit to the vet and a good grooming today.  He is looking especially cute with his Santa bandana, all ready for the upcoming holiday.  Our Christmas celebration begin Monday night when we had dinner and presents with my in-laws.  Their house was especially beautiful with decorations and we had a great time.   Mr. Buff received a great gift, a laughing dog that rolls around the floor.  Mr. Buff is quite taken with this little fellow and wines to find him when he is out of sight.  It is quite funny to watch the two of them together.   Tonight our festivities continued with dinner and presents at my house with my parents and grandmother.   They will be celebrating with my brother on Sunday.   It is bitter sweet not to be with them on Christmas day, but we had a wonderful time tonight.   I am hopeful the rest of my week will be a time to enjoy getting ready for Christmas.  I haven't had time to bake yet, so I am hopeful tomorrow will find me doing that, cleaning up my house, and I am especially looking forward to our church's Christmas Eve service.   It is a wonderful family event.  

Hopefully I can get Hannah to help me upload some photos of the happenings this week to share.  

Till later,

Debra

Christmas Spirit

It has been about a week since I posted last, not surprising as I have had a busy week with school, work, and trying to get myself in the "Christmas spirit."   Earlier last week I spent most of my time getting things together for Hannah's transcript.   I managed to finish up 9th grade year and most of 10th.   Organization is something I long for but never quite achieve and the boxes and boxes of papers/books/notebooks was just another indication of well laid plans that never seemed to take flight.   I don't know if it is because of the loss of my grandfather, the impending graduation of my oldest and only daughter, but I seem to have lost my "Christmas Spirit" this year.   On Saturday I had the privilege of accompanying a group of teenagers and parents to work the Convoy of Hope in our community.   I'll have to admit that at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning I had to drag myself out of bed.  I really had to pray about my attitude, but once we arrived and started serving, I realized just how wonderful that experience is.   I wrapped what seemed like 3000 hot dogs, literally, and I don't think I want to see another hot dog for a long time, but it was great to serve the community to share food with them and give them a smile of encouragement.   It was great to be a part of a ministry that brings the HOPE of Jesus to the community.  It was good for me to get out of feeling sorry for myself and focus on others.   Then, on Sunday, guess what my Kick lesson was on????  JOY.  How do I share the JOY when I am less than joyful??  As usual, God graciously worked.   I realized that the joy that I have is not from what material things I have or the people God has placed in my life but from the fact that Jesus came first as my savior and will come again as my king.  For the rest of this Christmas season I want to keep forefront in my mind that my JOYFUL spirit comes from God gracious gift of Jesus and the salvation that He brought to this world.  My hope is that you all will be filled with this JOY and Christmas Spirit as well. 

Joy

Tis the season for Joy, "Joy to the World" always comes to mind when I think of Christmas and the precious gift of Jesus.   At our house we try to focus on Jesus at Christmas but you can't help get excited when you see little ones at Christmas.   We had a great experience last night to kick off our season of celebration at our church.   Hannah and John Henry participated in the Metro North Dance Christmas Program.  It was beautiful and all the dancers were outstanding.    Over the summer our youth group had the opportunity to meet each week before their youth meeting to learn dancing, have dinner, and a devotion.   They learned the waltz and the jitterbug.   Carole, our pastor's wife and Metro Dance Director, included the youth in the dance companies' Christmas fund raiser.   I've included a couple of pictures of Hannah and John Henry with their partners.   It was a great way to start our celebration focusing on God's precious gift of Jesus. 

HOPE and THANKSGIVING

This Sunday at church I have been asked to work in our children's ministry to fill for a teacher out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday.   Our lesson this week is on Hope.   I generally haven't spent much time thinking about the word hope or for that matter what hope really means.  I've seen billboards all around town recently with the word HOPE spelled out.  How many times do I say,  "I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow, I hope my children will get their schoolwork done, I hope that this year will be easier financially for our family," these are all things I "hope for."    I find that I need hope. Hope to me is often a kissing cousin to worry.   I hope something will turn out this way or that, but am I really worrying that the outcome I want to happen is disguised as hope???  

In Romans 8:24 - 25 and 28 the Bible says, "We were saved with this hope in mind.  If we hope for something we already seen, it's not really hope.  Who hopes for what can be seen?  But if we hope for what we don't see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance....We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God -- those whom he has called according to his plan."  I found comfort in these verses this week as we buried my grandfather of 97 years.  I had hoped he might live to be 100 but that was not what God had for him.  I have hope of the promise that I will see my grandfather again because of Jesus' death on the cross and the promise of salvation and eternal life.   I can have hope because I have Jesus.  My grandfather had hope despite his circumstances because he knew Jesus.  Jesus has given us his Holy Spirit which is a reason for continued hope as we experience his presence in our lives today and also in the future.    I am so thankful that I had this lesson on HOPE this week to study.   I had been so discouraged and didn't realize just how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to my grandfather, but God showed me that I can persevere and He is with me.   Thanksgiving will now be a time of HOPE for me as I look back at God's faithfulness to my family and to me this year.