We always try...

We always try to get a picture of all the Brinkley cousins together! It used to be easy with just the girls.

The girls took some pretty good pictures.

And then in 2005 we added three boys to the bunch and it became a little bit more complicated.
This one actually isn't that bad considering there's seven kids under the age of five in this picture.
Then everyone became mobile and it became almost impossible to get everyone to cooperate.

This was our attempt this past weekend. Our first attempt with all eight!
They have their hands up because all of the adults were cheering and clapping and trying to get them all to look at the camera at the same time. It didn't really work out that well.

Notice McKenna in this one!

Retirement Party

My mom and my cousin Debbie both retired from teaching this year, so we had a big family picnic to celebrate. I took over 130 pictures because I was given strict instructions to take a picture of everyone and everything. I ended up doing a decent job, I only missed getting pictures of 3 people (Christi how on earth did I miss getting your picture? I even have one of Carl for heaven's sake, but not you. I guess I was too busy talking to you instead of taking your picture). I made a slide show of some of the pictures but for some reason I can't get it to post here. So if you want to see pictures of my extended family, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and check out the slide show. Sorry to be complicated about it :0)

"A little child shall lead them"

I've got to blog about this because it's something that I really want to remember, something that I want to sink into my heart.

Christian's faith in God amazes me! And trust me, it's not because he has super spiritual parents or anything like that. I have made it my prayer since before he was born that God will be real to him and that he would grow up to be a man of faith and integrity. Here's a few examples of how that prayer is being answered:


1. When Christian was sick with pneumonia a few weeks ago we were riding in the car and he started coughing really hard. I looked in the rearview mirror and he just look miserable. I told him that I was sorry that he felt bad and his response was; "Mommy, you pray for me to be better. It will work."

2. Today we were riding in the car and McKenna was having a fit. She was screaming her head off and there wasn't much I could do about it. This went on for about 10 minutes and finally Christian says; "Mommy, she's too loud. You pray for her to stop it. God will make her happy." So I prayed (not with much faith that it would change the situation) and lo and behold she stopped crying.

3. Tonight McKenna was having a rough time again. She cried for about 40 minutes while I was putting her to bed. This is not like her at all. She had applesauce for the first time today so I'm wondering if it didn't bother her belly. Anyway, I was in McKenna's room rocking her, bouncing her, pacing the floor with her, trying anything to get her calmmed down and Christian sticks his head in the door. I glare at him, as if to say "you had better be quiet and not make this worse and don't you dare ask me for a snack right now." And Christian whispers; "Mommy you pray for her yet?"

The Zip Line

I'm dedicating an entire post to Emma going down the zip line because it was such a big deal. If you read my previous post about swimming lessons you know that this girl has overcome a lot of fear to be able to do this!

This video (above) is of the first time Emma went down the zip line. All of us were so excited. We had no idea that she would do it about 15 more times. Her arms are going to be sore today.

A visit to the bay

My Aunt Betty lives on the Chesapeake Bay, so all eight of the cousins got to spend some time together there yesterday. It was a little cloudy but they had a blast swimming, sliding, going down the zip line and playing in the sand. The picture above is of Emma and the twins.
Christian had a great time getting bucket after bucket full of water.
I was on the shore when I took this picture. That's Nate standing at the top of the slide. Notice the water pouring off the slide... there is a hose hooked up to it so you can really get some speed. Nate ended up being rescued by PopPop. He changed his mind once he got up there and saw how high he was.

Grandmom and Adam
Elizabeth trying to warm up. It was a cloudy day, so once the kids got out of the water it was rather chilly.
Auntie Erin and the twins
This trio just liked the sand.
Isn't Abby hysterical in her goggles, life jacket and water shoes?


Nate just liked playing in the sand.
My brother Tim's kids; Adam, Hannah and Elizabeth
My dad and Uncle John
My mom's sister, Aunt Betty, and my mom.
Emma, the ever present big sister, and Nate walking out to the slide.



It was so fun to be together with all the Brinkley cousins. We had a great afternoon and made lots of wonderful memories! Thanks Aunt Betty and Uncle John. We'll be back!!!

Happy Birthday Amy!!

Amy and I making Christmas cookies!
Playing with Dad in our playroom.


Happy Birthday Amy!! I just thought I would honor you with a few retro pictures! I know that your 32nd year of life is going to be one of your best. Continue to honor God in everything you do and I know that His blessings will continue to be poured out on you and your children. It's an honor to call you my sister! Love you!

"O LORD, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come." Genesis 24:42

Swimming Lessons

Emma has been taking swimming lessons for a week now. She's been staying with my parents so they can take her to her lessons everyday (If I had to do this you know the circus that I would be dragging along with me, so it's been great that my parents are keeping Emma for 2 weeks, taking her to lessons and giving her lots of special attention). Anyway, Emma is the girl who hates to have her hair washed because she doesn't like water in her face. She's the girl that wore a swim ring in my pool when I first set it up, even though the water was barely up to her waist. Water makes Emma nervous, but her dad has been working with her at the hotel pool when he comes to visit and the real break through has been these lesson. I was utterly in shock at the stuff she was going. I'm including some videos on here because her mom and dad have got to see her awesome new skills and the lack of fear she now has. Keep in mind that I was trying to take these pictures and video from a balcony so they're not that great(that's where parents have to sit).

I can't believe that she's swimming for real with her face in the water!!!

As we were walking across the parking lot when we first got to swimmiming lessons, Christian tripped and skinned both of his knees pretty badly. Then I had to carry him, all 35.6 pounds of him and his bloody knees up two flights of stairs to the balcony. He continued to cry and whine about his knees for the next 30 min. He finally stopped and started paying attention to Emma when she started making the "train" you see in this video. You know Christian loves anything that involves trains. His knees were quickly forgotten and all of a sudden he really wanted to take swimming lessons too.

Family Night at the Library

Amy and I took Abby, Nate, Christian and McKenna to family night at the library this week (Emma's with her grandparents for 2 weeks so she can go to swimming lessons everyday). As you can tell from the above picture, Christian loved the puppet show.
The theme of the night was bugs. The kids had a blast making bug snacks and singing bug songs.
Christian loved this craft but he wouldn't eat it. Nate and Abby inhaled theirs.
Inside the fort at the library.

I love it that the library is such an exciting place to them right now. They loved seeing all the books and picking one out to read.

Our library has lots of great programs and story hours all summer long. Make sure you see what your local library has to offer this summer. Christian can't wait to go back to our library. Abby and Emma have both signed up for a great reading program.

Drum roll please.....

We can now add rolling over to the list of McKenna's tricks. She has reached such a fun age. I love it that she's starting to play and do things.

McKenna loves squash and bananas!

McKenna has her first boo boo right under her eye. She scratched herself because her mommy let her fingernails get too long. Oops!
Somebody does not like tummy time :(
Abby is thrilled that McKenna now owns a pair of Crocs. Abby is so into McKenna's clothes and accessories. She's always looking through McKenna's drawers and oohing and ahhing over everything. When McKenna wore these shoes Abby was showing them to everyone. What is Amy going to do when Abby's a teenager??

HUGE Answer to Prayer!

I'm so glad that God cares about the little stuff of life! I'm sharing this because it's such a testimony to the grace of God in our lives. When the Marshall kids first moved here last August Christian and Nate did not get along. Really not at all! Christian had an extremely hard time giving up his status as an only child. He cried all the time, was in time out all the time. He didn't share, He hit, He pushed. He was way too aggressive towards Nate and Nate cried about it all the time too. Nate was scared of Christian which pretty much egged Christian on. It got to the point where Christian could point at Nate and Nate would cry. To put it bluntly - it was miserable. I was pregnant and dealing with three little extremely emotional people EVERYDAY. Abby and Nate had their own behavior issues, but I felt that their issues were understandable. They were going through a lot emotionally, but Christian was a different story. I really felt like I was failing as a mother because there was so much unhappiness in my home. I cried, and prayed and cried some more (remember I was pregnant). Everyone kept telling me that it was just a time of adjustment and that things would get better soon...two months later I wasn't buying it. I started reading all kinds of books: Bringing Up Boys, Dare to Discipline, Shepherding a Child's Heart and Don't Make Me Count to Three. All of those are great books by the way, but none of them had the answer to our issues. They all contained great ideas but what I really needed was wisdom. I prayed for wisdom from God. That's all I could do! I didn't go into great detail about our issues in my blog because I was trying to be positive, hoping our relationship issues would improve. I think I was also embarrassed by my son's behavior. He had never had behavior issues at any time before, so this was completely unexpected. Whenever we went to a friend's house he was fine. He was fine at playgroup and church too. He just felt very threatened by having other kids his age in his home, sitting in his mommy's lap, playing with his stuff.

It's been 10 months now. We've all been together for 10 very long months and my prayers have been answered. My home is at peace now! My boy is happy again and he has a new best friend. This whole experience has been a little like carrying a baby around for 9 months. You hope, you pray, it's uncomfortable, there's sleepless nights, you beg God for grace, there are tears, but the end result is the birth of something eternal and beautiful. Just take a look at this beautiful thing that has happened to my two boys (yes, Nate is my boy too! He fills my heart almost as much as my own son does and I know that Amy feels that way about my son too).

Christian rubbing Nate's back as he wakes up from a nap.
The boys choosing to play together at Mikie's.
Wrestling with no one getting hurt.
More wrestling and just for the record Nate is NOT crying.
Off exploring while the girls go strawberry picking.
Racing each other.

When ever these guys are together they always choose to be with each other. Last Sunday Christian cried when I dropped him off at his Sunday School class. He was upset that Nate wasn't there yet. He wanted Nate to go with him.

My heart is full.

Lord you are good!

Thank you God that your mercies are new every morning!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

My dear childhood friend, Sarah, had a birthday a few days ago. I finally had some time today to dig out some old photo albums and pick out some pictures of us from the 90s. Sarah lives in North Carolina now with her husband and three boys, but her blog makes me feel like she's my neighbor. I love seeing pictures of her everyday life and I love seeing her boys grow up. I'll never forget the privilege I had of going to her ultrasound with her when she was pregnant for the first time with her son Riley. Over the decades we have shared so many special and memorable moments. Our friendship has endured tragedies and triumphs, years and miles. I know that Sarah influence has helped to shape the person that I am today.
Sarah, when I think about our teenage years I always think of: California Pizza Kitchen, Car trip to Nashville, Place in the Son, St. Louis Arch, Four Heart Harmony, Prayer Calendars, Hanging out at the Millers, tons of concerts, Powerhouse, beach trips, countless retreats, singing and a million conversations about the real stuff of life! Us with our favorite singing group (at the time) Point of Grace. Mandy, Judy, Katie, Sarah
Oh my...I can't even believe I'm posting this. It's all in the honor of Sarah's birthday.

So Happy Birthday precious friend. Sorry it's taken me a little while to get around to this. Unfortunately I don't think anyone has gotten a birthday, Mother's Day or Father's Day card on time since McKenna was born. I'm just a little slow these days, but I was thinking about you on your birthday. And I love you and miss you always!

Firsts

It's been a busy week so far for McKenna. She started eating bananas and she LOVES them. She figured out how to scoot across the floor (I guess that makes up for the fact that she hasn't rolled over yet) and she found her feet. Yesterday she actually got her foot in her mouth and she was quite happy about it. Those little piggies have been keeping her very entertained.