Celebration of Life

A service to celebrate Brie's life and service to her Lord will be held Wednesday, December 29, 2:00 p.m.  It will be held at Hillside Church, 6100 Soncy Rd, Amarillo, TX.  Please dress casually and come to worship and celebrate the Life and Love of Brie's life.

Forever Reign

Forever Reign lyrics

You are good, you are good
When there's nothing good in me
You are love, you are love
On display for all to see
You are light, you are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, you are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, you are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true, you are true
Even in my wondering
You are joy, you are joy
You're the reason that I sing
You are life, you are life
In you death has lost its sting

Chorus:
Oh, I'm running to your arms
I'm running to your arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, you are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, you are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, you are here
In your prescence I'm made whole
You are God, you are God
Of all else I'm letting go

Chorus:
Oh, I'm running to your arms
I'm running to your arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing comares to your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

Chorus:
I'm running to your arms
I'm running to your arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus

Chorus:
Oh, I'm running to your arms
I'm running to your arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

Chorus:
I'm running to your arms
I'm running to your arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

Where oh where has my baby gone?

In the last few weeks, Eleri has taken huge steps right out of babyhood! She is doing great at potty training and has very few accidents. Eleri is wearing big girl panties during the day and is pretty good at telling us when she needs to go to the bathroom. Then on top of that last Tuesday night, she threw away her "boppy" when Mali sweetly told her you can throw away your boppy if you want. I freaked out and grabbed it out of the trash and washed it in boiling water and gave it to her. Then on Mali's birthday, we came home from walking her to school and sat down to drink our morning tea together. Eleri got down from the table and went and threw her boppy in the trash. This time I let it stay in there. I have been praying that she would give it up herself so I knew that this was the answer to prayer, although not the timing I would've chosen since we were about to travel for Thanksgiving. After discussing it with Eric, I again washed the boppy and packed it with us "just in case". We made it the whole Thanksgiving without using it. Eleri napped and slept just fine without it. I think the issue may have been me and that if she got fussy I quickly gave it to her because I knew it make her un-fussy!:) She has asked for it only a handful of times, and I just tell her "we don't have boppy, you threw it away." I'm pretty amazed at how well she has transitioned. Also while we were at the cabin, Eleri slept in a big girl twin bed for a nap and two bedtimes. She is really growing up and just in time, although I don't want her to have to grow up too fast.

T

6 year Birthday Letter

 Dear Mali, I can't believe that you are six years old!  We have really seen you grown and change this year.  You have spent this year learning how to be a big sister.  That has had its ups and downs, but the best moments are watching you be sweet and attentive to your sister.  I know you really love her and she really loves and adores you.  Eleri wants to be just like you in every way!  You are a strong leader in our home and at school. Mrs. Von Netzer, your kindergarten teacher, has told us how much she enjoys you in the classroom. At first, it was hard adjusting to school and the new routine of it all.  You missed running errands with me and Eleri, but you've found new things to enjoy.  You are doing great at reading and I'm so proud of you.  It makes me so happy to see you "write" out what you want to say using only consonants.  You are really sounding things out and starting the beginning stages of reading and it is so exciting for me.  I love reading and hope you will love it too.  It will make your brain stretch and grow and your world too. You have made several new friends too! Even with the start of school you are still Mali.  We continue to have our battles.  Your strong leadership skills show up here at home...with your mommy...quite a bit.  You definitely want to be the leader over me.  It is a struggle to always be patient and kind with you with your "leaderships skills" and I'm not always the mommy I want to be for you...but I'm trying and I'm praying and I hope that each day I improve as your mommy.  Because you absolutely deserve it!   Your heart is tender and open beneath those "looks" and that "attitude".  You are a sweet sweet girl.  You have also become a huge helper.  You are doing chores that are required of you; unloading the dishwasher and making your bed.  You really enjoy helping and like to ask me what more chores you can do.  Of course, it is usually because you want to "earn back" a toy. But I don't mind and love seeing you become responsible and capable of helping.  And truth be told, I enjoy the help!  You are GREAT at unloading the dishwasher!  This year has also been huge as I've watched you grow spiritually.  IT was such a joyful day when you decided to be baptized.  Just like life, each day is a journey. I pray and hope that I'm guiding you in the right way and teaching you that loving Jesus isn't about perfection its about turning to His perfection. I love our moments of cuddling and laughing together. You have such a beautiful smile that lights up my life!  I'm so thankful for six years with you!

24 weeks

I had my 24 week appointment today. 6 months...I can't believe it. It can certainly slow down too, I'm in no rush for this baby to be out of the womb quite yet! My appointment was great and uneventful besides waiting for an extra long time with a fun little toddler. Baby boy's heart beat was 167 and I'm measuring right on target. I am actually just now back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. I can't believe it and am beyond thankful and greatful to be out of the throwing up stage. I did talk with my OB about my gallbladder issues. He does think that it is probably my fucntioing but there is just nothing we can do right now as far as tests go. I'm taking supposed to be taking an acid blocker to help each day.  The pain is still manageable though. And of course avoiding spicy and greasy foods!  Which don't seem to matter.  In fact, cereal with milk seems to be my biggest culprit.  Guess that means I can hopefully indulge in Judy's flat enchiladas that I've been craving.  I also discussed more in depth my concerns over a tubal ligation during my c-section.  I'm really thinking it is just going to be the way to go,although I really don't think its fair that I will have had three c-sections and a d&C all while Eric has nothing!;)  Just kidding, sort of.  It just makes sense when it comes to already being opened up and already having met my deductible.  Baby Boy is moving really good and I love it!  It doesn't seem as if he is as active as constantly as the girls, but who knows.  Nothing is really predictable with babies!  I'm really feeling great and couldn't be more thankful!   I have actually had cravings and these are just reminders that I CAN EAT again and not get sick!  We are getting more and more excited about baby boy's arrival.  I just feel such peace with how our family will be.  I'm still pretty nervous and not sure about the whole boy thing, but God knows what he is doing SO MUCH more than I do!

What's in a name?

Here we go again with the name game!  We still aren't 100% sure that we have baby boy's name...so we won't be referring to him as anything other than #3
a. until we are certain and
b. probably until football season is over.
But we did discuss that maybe asking for spelling suggestions on our blog would help us.  If you read our blog when I was pregnant with Eleri, you may remember that her alternative name was Curi.  This was our "boy" name if she happened to be a boy and also we thought it was fairly gender neutral and stuck around as a girl name other than Eleri.  This time around we've tossed a few back and forth like Easton (our boy name alternative with Mali, but too popular now) and Hyde (my first choice after The Hideaway Marriage Intensive where he was conceived but its been scratched off the list).  After a few discussions we are back to Curry.  We like Curry because it has the same "I" ending sound as both of our girls' names and just seems to flow well.  What put both of us on board with this name was doing a little search on the meaning recently when we came across this:

Curry - Meaning of the name

[ 2 syll. cur-ry, cu-rry ] The boy name Curry is pronounced as KAHRiy or KERiy †.
Curry is an English and Irish name of Irish Gaelic origin.
Curry is a pet form of the name Curran (English).Curry is rare as a baby boy name. It is not listed in the top 1000.

Baby names that sound like Curry include
Currey(English), Currie (English), Kerey (English),Kurrey (English), Kurrie (English), Kurry(English),
Carey (English and Irish), Cary(English), Casar (Slavic), Cäsar (German),Chirayu (Indian), Coree (English),
Corey(English), Cori (English), Corie (English), Corrie(English), Corry (English),
 Cory (English), Craye, and Curro (Spanish).

† Pronunciation for Curry: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ;
K as in "key (K.IY)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"

Who could pass up naming their son a name that means HERO or CHAMPION? Especially a father that is a football coach. We just aren't sure how to spell it.   I'm just fine with the Curry spelling but then you run into the problem that Brandon and Liza pointed out and that is the major association of the name curry with CURRY...okay now I'm hungry and really want some of Liza's good Nepali cooking!  They have a legitimate argument that in a global world a great percentage of people with any sort of familiarity with Asian cuisine or even an occasional trip to Pei Wei may associate his possible name with.... Curry and there may be some teasing or laughter or shouts of "Don't Worry Chicken Curry". But we just have to weigh everything else about the name because every name can be made fun of.  In fact, several people made comments about Eleri's name (Eleri Celery) and Mali's name being chosen after a baby Asian elephant. My argument with this is that my name is Brie.  Anyone mildly familiar with French cuisine or in fact gourmet cuisine knows Brie is a cheese.  I've often even explained to people that my name is "spelled like the cheese".  I survived, and I like my name teasing included. Brandon's suggestion is that we go with the actual from of Curran.  Eric then suggested we could just call him Curry.  But here we go back to my name.  On this topic, it has not been fun at all to have a real name Brianna and then a name I go by Brie. It wasn't that difficult really when I lived in a small town and everyone knew my name was Brie, but when I went to college it was easier to just allow my professors to call out Brianna with the role call then to say, "well I go by Brie, and you spell it B-R-I-E.  This is also now the case with the doctor.  So my OB, OB staff, anyone in the hospital with I have babies calls me Brianna.  I can definitely deal with it but, just don't want my children to really deal with it. Not that I don't like Brianna but it just doesn't feel like my name.  Also, from our "research", Curry is a very popular last name and has some other references other than as a mix of spices. So all of this post to ask for you to PLEASE PLEASE comment with your suggestion on how to spell the name.  There are several listed above of course.  We could always add an "I" to the end like we have the girls' names but I worry that feminizes the name Curry. So any suggestions would be great!
On the same line as the first name of our son to be, is the middle name.  I really really wanted Hyde but if Curry is the first name I just can't go with Curry [your] Hyde so I do draw the line some where!  But I LOVE the tradition of using the mother's maiden name as their son's first name.  However, you just can't name your son "White".  Then the other day I had the thought that maybe a name that meant White could be used. So I started looking them up on all the baby name sites.  I had a huge list but we narrowed it down to Blaec which means "black or white" so for our purposes it can mean White! This is a way to carry on a piece of me into our son and my last name was always just huge in my identity.  I came from a VERY small school/class and there was another Brie, so I was always Brie White, and there was the Brie White Defense and then even funny college friends that got a kick out of calling me Brie White Gomez. The White Family has lots of strong characteristics, so we often say "that's a White thing" or something along those lines.  (I'm sure lots of families do that, but maybe not saying "The White Family Temper"). It just feels like I get to include part of my former identity and I just think its a cool way to name your son.


I had LOTS of issues with editing and publishing so just ignore it and comment anyway!:)

Pure Religion

I really miss having the time or effort to write a blog post with some substance or spiritual application.  I love sharing what God is doing in my life but this pregnancy has really taken me down in many ways so I'm lucky to get our memories on the blog.  I've had several posts written in my head all about what God is doing and teaching me.  This one has been there for a while, in my head.  We are studying Isaiah in BSF this year and one our first lessons was about caring for the orphan and oppressed.  James 1:27 says it like this "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  It is put pretty simply.  My heart cries out for this orphans I want to help as much as I can.  I'm convicted when I splurge on a $3.00 coffee from Starbucks at how much food that could give a family.  I share with Mali that the whole bag of lentils we cooked to make lentil tacos is all that some children get to eat. When I worked at Buckner, I was "covered" because I was daily helping orphans and getting paid to do it.  Now that I'm in my stay at home mom bubble, it is much harder, and I still don't know what I'm needing to do.  We sponsor a girl from India through Project Asha at our church.  I talk with Mali a lot about orphans in other countries.  And, I read blogs like these that really convict me and haunt me and change my heart completely.  I feel like I really have to share these links with anyone out there that may come across my blog.  Please take the time to read them and please do something.


Rage Against the Minivan-This family has two adopted children. One from Haiti and one from the foster care system. This post is specifically about what you CAN DO!!!


Baby Bangs-This is Beth Moore's daughter's blog.  She was just a blogger on a Compassion International trip and all of these posts are amazing and eye opening to our world.  I encourage you to read all of her posts about Guatemala.


A Holy Experience-This is one of my favorite bloggers to read.  She was also on the Compassion Trip.


Let us live a life that is not a bubble and that is that of pure and faultless religion!
Here is another tangible way to help. The girls and I are going to do this. This is one of my brother's friends that is heading to Kathmandu, Nepal and these things would go to the Kathmandu Children's Home.
KTM Children's Home Toy Ideas
Think of things that can be shared and used over and over. The kids are all pretty young, with the oldest being around 8. Gently used is ok!

Ship to
Crowd Favorite (care of Gordon Brander)
1435 Wazee St.
Suite 103
Denver, CO, 80202
Soccer Ball (deflated + pump)
Marbles
Jacks
Jump Ropes
Bouncing Balls
Kiddie Scissors (rounded tip)
Cool Picture Books (lots of pictures, they may not speak english - DK makes good ones)
Construction Paper
Coloring Books
Crayons
Glue Sticks (glitter glue is always fun)
Yo-yos