Visit With Great Grandma Davis!

This past weekend we had a road trip to visit Dan's Grandma and also some other wonderful family! It was a very long car ride, but the boys were troupers. They spent a total of about 30 hours on the road over the 6 days that we were traveling. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it to see some very special people!

Just Isaac. SO cute :)

At Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Grady, and Grandma's house Davis was so excited to ride and drive the tractor! He had remembered from the last time that we were there that he was able to sit on the tractor. Before we got to their house, he made it very clear that he hoped there would be a tractor "running!" Uncle Grady did not disappoint and Davis received a really fun ride!

Dan with Grandma, Uncle Grady and Aunt Carolyn. We love you and wish we could see you more often!

We have two very active little boys who were very busy during our time there! Thanks SO much for having us!! They LOVE their Great Grandma!

We were also thrilled to spend some time with some of our cousins. Davis and Isaac loved playing with little Brooklyn, who is just 4 months older than Isaac.

Here are two of my boys during one of our breaks during our trip! This was at Marks Melon Patch. While we were there we picked out a pumpkin!

Sister Time!

For the past couple months, Anne and I had been planning for some sister time, which happened this past weekend! Even living just a couple hours apart, it is hard to get together unless it is planned out far in advance. Life gets busy fast!

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Anne has taken up the hobby of sewing adorable little baby/toddler clothes! She made Davis's first birthday outfit and also a couple others for the boys. So, we decided we'd make the boys matching outfits as our project for the weekend.

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Friday we headed to Hobby Lobby to pick out fabric and get started. It was so much fun! I don't think I have the time right now to pick it up as a hobby, but maybe when the kiddos are a little bit older I'll follow in my sister's footsteps!

Davis and Isaac loved having Aunt Annie around, and they both helped out in their own ways. They were both fascinated by the sewing machine and watching the needle go up and down.
Here Isaac is in an outfit Anne made. Davis has a blue striped outfit just like it, so they are now ready for the 4th of July!

It is very hard to get these monkeys to sit still for pictures these days! Here are the finished products of their adorable outfits!
Thanks for coming to visit and for teaching me, Anne!

Passover 2009

One part of Easter that we have always wanted to celebrate is Passover. This year we were honored to be able to celebrate it with some of our closest friends here in Madison. Sharon and Oren graciously invited all of us over to celebrate with their family. We learned so much about Passover, were able to participate in so many traditions, and we ate some of the most delicious food that I have ever tasted!

Sharon and I often get together for playdates with our kids. They have a precious little boy who Davis (and the rest of us too) absolutely adore. She often helps me keep my sanity and is a listening ear when I haven't had any adults to talk to all day. :) I'm so thankful for her friendship!
During dinner, the kids played a lot and did really well. Dinner is a couple hours long and their are a lot of different parts too it, so we weren't sure how they would do! Here are the cuties at their toy area next to the table!

The whole visit was incredibly kid friendly and Oren's parents (our hosts) were so wonderful with the kids.
Fun times around the Passover table!

One tradition that Davis was able to participate in was the finding of the hidden Matzoh at the end of the meal. He also enjoyed sitting with all of us at the table and raising his glass of grape juice during the appropriate parts. :) Really special memories! Thanks so much Sharon and Oren!

Happy Birthday Cory!

Dan and I enjoyed a wonderful date night trip on Saturday for a surprise 30th party for my brother in law Cory! Anne has been planning this special fiesta for months and Cory was truly surprised! He thought he was bringing the guest of honor to his surprise party so it was a shock when he found out the party was actually for him!! We left the boys at home and thoroughly enjoyed our time visiting with family and friends.

The eight of us! With David and Laura getting married in July, our family is now complete! (well, minus future cousins that will someday arrive!)

Merry Christmas 2008

We were thrilled to have Dan's brother Rob and his wife Melody come visit for Christmas! It was an incredibly special time as we celebrated Jesus being born and all the traditions that come along! Here Davis is with them Christmas morning!

Happy Isaac on his first Christmas!

It was so much fun to watch Davis open up his gifts. He became so excited with each one!

Isaac loved spending time with his Aunt Melody!

" Real men grill on an open fire" could be one of the themes from Christmas weekend. Here are our manly men grilling us some delicious steaks!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Card Extras

We recently sent out our annual Thanksgiving card*. Although the card had our favorite family picture, we thought you might like to see some of the other pictures that were taken at the same photo shoot.

*If you didn't get your Thanksgiving card, please let us know. We lost many of the addresses during our move from the Philippines, so if you haven't gotten yours by now, give us your address, and we'll send it out to you as soon as we can!

Geocaching!

OK, so we just got our FREE GPS unit in the mail last week, and as I was researching how to use it, I stumbled upon the concept of "geocahing". This is where someone hides a little container somewhere in the world, and then records the coordinates of where it is located online. Then, it is your job to input the coordinates into your GPS unit, find the container, open it, sign your name in the logbook, and maybe swap out some of the trinkets that you might find inside.

For the Brooks family, this obviously meant that we had an ADVENTURE IN THE MAKING!

Our 1st find--located in our favorite park! As Davis would say, the container (which I'm holding) was "tiny". The logbook was actually a small scroll that we had to unroll to sign.

Our 2nd find--Isaac wasn't too interested, but Davis and I found it quickly. A little bigger this time, and there was a calling card left by a penguin inside, which Davis liked.

Our 3rd find...Daddy proves that you CAN get lost while holding onto a GPS. When we pulled into the parking lot, the GPS unit said that we were "2 feet away from destination". After searching a bit, we were actually .1 miles away. Mommy the photographer thought it would be best to take care of her other adventurers while I found this one.

What do we learn from Mommy and Daddy?

Like most people, I think that it is important that kids have both a mother and father who are involved in their lives. This is because kids tend to learn practical stuff from Mommy, and cool stuff from Daddy.

Cheesy transitions courtesy of Windows Movie Maker.

4.5 months?

Two things really hit me hard this morning. As I was walking from our house to the office where I coordinate short-term teams, I thought, "Are we really going to be back in the United States in only five months?! Only five months?!" Although our official arrival date is November 12, we are actually departing the one week before that so that we can properly "unpack" this time in the Philippines before restarting our lives in the States. (That'll happen in Washington State.)Therefore, we'll actually be leaving here in a shade over 4.5 months!

The second relevation came as I opened up my email and saw a message from our Personnel department. It was sent to all 200+ of my fellow co-workers in the Philippines, and the subject read, "Critical Needs". Number 2 in the list:

"Short-term Team Coordinator—Dan leaves the position vacant in November, 2007"

Both revelations can really humble a guy. To realize that the last three years of training and service has now come down to 4.5 months makes you reconsider your effectiveness. Can we really "finish well" here in a way that glorifies Him? If no one is found to take the mantle of leading short-term teams to the Philippines, then what will happen?

It's not that we aren't excited about coming home. We are. Definitely. But there's a bunch of things that this family needs to do before before we can get to that stage! Time's a-wasting!

See you soon!

Plaque for Dad at Beulah Church

There have been a couple of big events that happened right before Davis was born that we'd like to share. This fall, the congregation at Beulah Baptist Church, where my Dad was associate pastor, recently put up a plaque in his memory. It reads:

Joe Brooks

He was loved by all that had the privilege of

knowing him. His love for Jesus was evident

in his work of missions and healing ministry.

He was always there to listen and gave coveted

counsel. He will be greatly missed.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous

man availeth much.

James 5:16