Family Photos

Just before Thanksgiving we had a good friend (and great photographer!) take some family photos. Here are just a few of our favorites. It was seriously hard to narrow them down!

Thought bubbles

We highly recommend Jessa!!! Check her out at http://theandersonwayoflife.blogspot.com/

Celebrating Sir Lincoln

This past weekend we had a birthday party for our little man. The first time we placed a helmet on his head, a shield on his arm, and a sword in his hand he came at us swinging. Note: if you ever sword fight Lincoln, be prepared to be on the defense, because he won’t let up! :-) He’s a fighter for sure! Jeremy and I had a blast coming up with a fun party for Lincoln and his friends. Jeremy built a huge cardboard castle. For me, the highlight of the party was standing there watching the kids go crazy yelling, “Storm the castle!” and, “Retreat!” It was so much fun! From the moment each kid came through the door they ran to the castle. It was definitely worth the few hours of assembly to enjoy that much kid fun! We even dressed all the little boys up like knights and the girls like princesses.

We had crafts ready for the kids (and adults) to enjoy, swords for the boys and crowns and wands for the girls. Then at one point I brought in a treasure chest full of chocolate gold coins, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc. It was all worth it to see their faces light up! Jeremy and I are kids at heart… so we basically did what we thought would be tons of fun. But we did agree we are not going to be “those” parents who try to out-do themselves every year. So maybe a small celebration for next year. I’m not sure why… but three just felt like it needed to be big. We hope all our guests had as much fun as we did!

I  still can’t believe we have a three year-old. On one hand we have come so far since 2lbs 14 oz… and on the other hand it feels like I blinked and here we are. I always get a little reminiscent around times like this… his birthday, the anniversary of when we brought him home from the hospital, etc. So be warned!

I have never liked it when a certain season in life defines a person, but let’s just say that time in life grew me and left an impression on my heart. I think I’m a better mommy for spending two months with my baby in the hospital. I’m a more patient person, more sympathetic to hurting people all around me, and more aware of who God is. There is a great piece of art I saw on Pinterest (yes… I have been sucked into the black hole of “show more pins” a time or two) that simply states, “It is well with my soul.” I’m totally making that… but maybe after Christmas :-). The hymn speaks to my heart. “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

Peace and consistency no matter the circumstances is a lesson I learned from long days quietly sitting by an isolette. Rocking back and forth to the constant sound of quiet monitor beeps and air passing through ventilators, then a moment later alarms sounding and nurses rushing to a baby… sometimes my baby… There was peace in the quiet moments where the world seemed right. Peace when his heart rate dropped, the breathing stopped, and I prayed, “God please one more day.” And now there is peace while my three year-old sleeps perfectly healthy, perfectly wonderful, perfectly ours.

Thankful for Cousins

We had a wonderful thanksgiving with all of Jeremy's family in one house. It's been a few years since we were able to get everyone together, so this Thanksgiving was extra special... for all 22 of us (yes... just the immediate family). Unfortunately we didn't get a full group shot... I don't think we all could have stayed still at the same time :-). But we did get everyone's shoes!

One of the best parts for Jeremy and I was watching Lincoln with all of his cousins. This was the first year Lincoln was able to just take off and enjoy time with the cousins. Throughout the weekend we caught glimpses of Lincoln with each one of his cousins having one-on-one play time. There are 12 kiddos in the family from almost 1 to 15. Lincoln is the second youngest, so it was adorable to see the cousins take him under their wing, include him in their play... and give us a status update on where he was. Needless to say Lincoln was loving the independence and space (haha I think we have been a little cooped up lately in the studio).

Seeing Lincoln enjoy his cousins made me think back to all the times the cousins piled into my grandparent's house for holidays, sleepovers, and just because. I remembered the many "performances" where we really only got a few lines out before we were all giggling too hard to continue. Playing in the mud when grandpa irrigated (I don't think I ever think about grandpa without smiling!). Camping trips in the RV. All of our photos are in storage, but I'll try to add a few to reminisce.

My cousins are in most of my favorite childhood memories... and I am so thankful that Lincoln has so many cousins to enjoy (3 on my side and 11 on Jeremy's). Hopefully we will have lots more fun holidays with all the kiddos together to build precious memories like the ones I have (I love you all!!!).

Our Thankful tree - Thanks Jen!

Jeremy's grandpa joined us for thanksgiving

A little sneak attack on the adults...

Jeremy and I love spending time with our nieces and nephews!

We all toured the lighthouse together. Our kid is seriously cute!

Ended the trip with tractor rides on Papa's John Deere

It belonged to Jeremy's Grandpa, now his dad... hmmm.. maybe some day

Had to throw this in. Lincoln consistently eats from the side of the pizza...

he definitely marches to the beat of his own drum

Church and Dedication

We recently returned to what we would consider our "home church"... Jeremy was practically born there :-), we met there, and were married there. Yes... we have the honor of being the very last royal blue wedding (the carpet was ripped up hours after our ceremony)! MCC will always have a special place in our hearts! While we were away MCC has done a lot of changing, including planting a church, and we are excited at all the new people we are meeting (and of course we love the long-time friends!). We feel truly feel blessed that God has led us to a congregation that is loving and supportive and holds so much history for us.

Our church has been going through a message series titled "Got Church?" It has been great to hear the heart of MCC, their core values, and be reminded why being in community at a church is so wonderful. Last week the message was "Loving Community." At one point in the service, Pastor Mark asked us to share with those around us a time when we felt the love of a church body. For us there were two obvious examples: communion and laundry... let me explain.

Our church family in Concord is a special part of our story. They walked through a difficult and yet joyful time with us as Lincoln spent the first two months of his life in the hospital. We will never forget how they supported us in prayer and in practical ways. Youth leaders stepped in and helped fill the gaps with our sudden delivery and shift in focus. They gave us gift cards and a love offering to eat out at places near the hospital so we could spend every moment we could with our sweet baby. And most amazingly Dena did our laundry...for two months... had us over for dinner and hilarious Howell/Brown puppet shows, and sent us home with fresh baked banana bread, cookies, or whatever she had whipped up that day (those of you who know Dena, know we were spoiled well!). Another group of that church family brought us communion when we were between churches, between worlds, and not really sure which end was up. They held us when we cried, carried/encouraged/pushed us through a healing process, and made us laugh until we couldn't breathe. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. You all have left an impression. We only hope to be a blessing to others the way you have blessed us.

Back to the present. Part of the series on Church included a time of child dedication during the service Sunday, and we were able to dedicate Lincoln! We know it is more traditional to dedicate a baby, but now seemed like the best time for us. When Lincoln was a baby we never felt the timing was right... not that we hadn't committed in our hearts to raise him in a loving Christian home where he would learn about God, because of course we had. But now that Lincoln is older we are learning what that commitment really looks like… and the need to be intentional. We are reading the Bible with him, teaching him about God’s character, telling him stories about God’s people, and praying with him. So, when we learned of the opportunity for child dedication in today's service, we couldn't shake the thought and we knew it was the right time. We wanted to stand up and commit to raise Lincoln in the church and ask the church to commit to walk alongside us in that journey.

We keep hearing God echo "community" in our lives... the need for it, the need to provide it, and the need to jump all in and be real. We finally feel like our time of transition... living between worlds... has ended, and we are "all in." We've chosen our church home, at least as long as God wants to keep us here - we won't stop listening just because we feel like we've found an answer. We are committing to raise Lincoln here, to invest into others in this church, and build a community we will do life with. We are committing to be real and authentic, to build meaningful relationships in this moment, and come alongside others with encouragement. For as long as God has us here we are all in... that's the only way we like to "do church.”

It's been a while!

We haven’t posted on the blog for 10 months, so we are doing a bit of catch-up here. Life has been… busy…crazy…had ups and downs and overall flown by so fast. Since we last wrote we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving, Lincoln’s 2^nd birthday, Christmas, New Years, Easter, my 30^th birthday, and 4^th of July. We’ve moved… twice…  We downsized from a 3bd/2ba to a studio in a new town (haha!!! saying that still makes me laugh), but this studio has lots more space than the 10x10 room all 4 of us enjoyed while we were living with our good friends for 2 months (…did I mention they are GREAT friends!!!! Love you guys!). Jeremy has changed jobs, but thankfully I kept mine since I can telecommute from anywhere. So many changes and challenges over the past months, but I am happy to say we are finally feeling more settled and getting in the groove of “normal” life.

 

We have been enjoying being close to family and friends with swim days, play dates, game nights, BBQs, day trips, and all sorts of summer fun! It really is so nice to be close to people we love, but we are missing our Concord “family” so much too. Check out some of our Summer highlights below... as well as Spring, Winter, and Fall. Warning: this is picture overload!!! And it wouldn't be a good Brown post without a quick video... 30 seconds of "Christmas in August" this time :-).

Lincoln has grown so much and is an amazing little person! He cracks us up every day with funny sayings and crazy faces. For example, in this picture Jeremy told him to strike a pose... and this is what he came up with. He really is a funny kid and lives up to the meaning of his middle name - he certainly brings laughter wherever he goes! We are cherishing every moment and trying to take time to enjoy this stage of life.

A day trip to the California Railroad Museum and Old Sac

Fourth of July Lincoln would scream, “Woohoo! Fireworks!” each time

And of course spending time with family and friends!

A trip to the San Francisco Zoo

Spending Easter with some cousins

A trip to Mission Springs and Capitola

All about Lincoln...yup he's an only child :-)

Lincoln's 2nd Birthday

Fall is my favorite time of year... can't believe it is just around the corner again!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com

Tahoe!!!

We got the chance to spend a week in North Lake Tahoe just the three of us. Thanks to a friend we stayed at a condo in a beautiful gated community in King's Beach. We loved being right on the lake and having the chance to be away and just relax. Because we were surrounded by such beauty we spent most of our time enjoying the outdoors, whether it was taking walks in the neighborhood, exploring down by the water, or playing on the grass just feet away from the lake.

As always, Lincoln was the best part of the week. He never stops amazing us. He is always learning new things - in fact while in Tahoe he discovered that he has a shadow and so do we. Once he turned away from us and said, "Hi Mommy! Hi Daddy!" We were confused until we realized he was talking to our shadows :-).

Lincoln also amazes us with how observant he is. While walking in the neighborhood he started growling at one house... we tried asking questions to find out why only this house and why the growling. After passing by a few times we finally clued in to the fact that there was a bear-shaped doormat which could barely be seen from the sidewalk. He is an observer for sure! He sees the smallest details and we are the slow ones trying to figure it out :-).

He also amazed us that week with his new favorite phrase, "Thank you!" He said thank you for almost everything. Much to their surprise he would thank waitors for bringing more water, or he would thank a nice lady for letting him pet her dog, and he would thank us for every small thing we did for him. When we were leaving he even thanked the lake and I (April) am almost certain he said, "Thank you God!" as we walked to our car to leave.

We are grateful for the chance to go. Life goes by so quickly and it was nice to take a few days to slow down and enjoy the life that God has given us together.

A few pics of the condo and the million dollar view!

Literally stopping to smell the flowers.