our life lately.

I really have been intending to update this for some time now. Also, I do intend to do a much better job once we move- hold me to it! Maybe I'll break this one apart into what's been going on since my last post:

Moving:
Yes, we are moving to Little Rock ( I know, old news :)). We were originally planning on moving today. However we've pushed our move date to July 8th when we officially become southerners for a year! It's actually one month minus 2 days from right now! We are currently living with our parents and all of our belongings are stuffed in two trailers (generously provided to us to keep our things in until we move!). Time just keeps flying by- right when I think I have toooons of time to do all my projects/see friends/etc, I realize I actually don't & better get moving on my huge to-do list :). However, I must admit that I love having a few lazy days while I can :). Currently we are both still working- seth is working full time with the exception of one day or so a week & I am very part time- usually 1-2 days per week. We are trying to spend as much time as possible with our family & friends before we leave :). We are realizing how much we are going to miss everyone & how blessed we've been to live where we have & close to who we have for our whole lives. We are excited, too, to meet wonderful people in Little Rock.

Us:
First of all, God is faithful & good. We've been reminded of that LOTS lately as satan continues to attack us (as previously mentioned in another blog post). God has told us to be open & honest with the hard times. And hard it has been lately. We are realizing just how tricky emotions can be, how stinkin' pride can lead to destruction, how walls are no good, how blame only causes more blame, how arguing can lead to weariness, and how in the midst of all the attacks & the destruction satan is trying to create- God has been refining us in a way we have never known before. We have Jesus fighting for us & during the battle He is molding us to better reflect Him & His love. We are very very very imperfect people who are in need of their Redeemer. Truly honest thought: We often wonder why God is sending us to ministry when we have so much work of our own to do? Honestly, We don't fully understand but God has placed an unwavering peace & confidence in our hearts this is exactly where He wants us for such a time as this. He has grown our desire & passion for FamilyLife's mission so much during the last 6 months. We are much better beginning to understand the battle that wages against the family & the marriage.  It's a powerful & beautiful thing- the family is. So am I trying to wrap this up in a bow? Nope. Honestly- we are crawling sometimes. Sometimes we are running hand in hand. Sometimes we are standing on the uncertain ground.  God is doing some re-modeling right now. But who doesn't love the finished product of a re-model? Something new & fresh & exciting....it's just the process that can be a little nerve-wracking at times :). With all this said- we are so thankful for eachother & to be on the journey together! We are so excited for what is ahead!

Life & everything else:
Below are some pictures of what we have been up to this spring/early summer :)

                              Mother's day- Bets & Maggy :)



 Dayners- what a little stud :)

 Maggy moo- what a sweet heart!

 Mom B & Maggy :)- precious!

 Me, BEBO NORMAN, & Seth. We went to a concent in the chicago area & were able to do a meet & greet with Bebo & Christ August. Also, we had FRONT ROW seats :). He's my favorite musician. God is mightly in his music & his heart. God has healed me & spoken to me alot through his lyrics :).

 This is us & Christ August. He is an awesome musician & great guy!! 

 

Us, in our front row seats :)!!! 

 Braker girls took a shopping day to chicago and of course ate at PF Changs :)!!

Picture of the hostesses at one of Jackie's baby showers :)



To wrap it up:

Sorry this was such a long post! I'll try not to wait so long next time! To wrap it up- we are moving soon, we love eachother & we love Jesus. We are continuing to walk this journey step by step & hand in hand.

P.S.

Some of my favorite tunes lately (can't get through a blog post without some new music, right?):

1. What a Savior- Laura Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSXpFsjSc-4

2. Your Name- Phil Wickham & Paul Baloche http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqCkRl26JbY

3. Faithful God- Laura Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiTH7NGWzxA

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)

Thank you, Jesus!

I suppose it makes perfect sense that the cross is on my heart this morning. I mean this is the day our Savior died on the cross. For us. Last night Seth & I watched “The Passion of the Christ”. He had never seen it & I told him I thought it was a great idea. Oh man, I forgot how vividly powerful that movie is. At many points I had to close my eyes because it was “too much” for me to watch. Too much for me to simply watch on a TV screen?!  Jesus had to actually endure it & I didn’t even have the strength to watch a video that portrayed the beating & torture He endured.  Wow. What a Savior we have- to endure unbelievable, relentless & unthinkable torment & mockery. And the crazy thing is He died for us….we weren’t even to be born for hundreds & hundreds of years but He personally knew we needed His salvation & He loved us that much. Not only that, but He carried the weight of our sin on His shoulders looong long before we were born. Not only ours, but everyone’s...ever. I cannot even begin to fathom the passion of His love for us & for His Father. Never has there been a greater example of obedience. Never has there been such a pure, true, passionate Love. When I was watching the movie I was just hit hard by how easy I forget the sacrifice He made. He left the most perfect place in Heaven & came here, not living for Himself but His heart beating for us sinners. He was fully man too. He had parents & friends. It really hurt Him. Just because He was God doesn’t mean He didn’t feel every whip, every mocking, every spit, every aching pain searing through His body. How could we not worship such a Love? Who are we to think we are sufficient on our own? Without Jesus we would be done for & doomed forever. The reoccurring  theme that continues to play in my mind is how He loves us like crazy, with such a passion & understanding, that He died for us.  There’s a song that I’ve been hearing a lot lately, and I absolutely love it. It’s a beautiful worship song. “To the Cross” by Paul Baloche.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO_V4bRIxvM

Lyrics:

Where can I go
But to the cross to the cross
For there my shame
You have washed away

Where can I go
But to the cross to the cross
For there You gave
Up Your life for me
You gave Your life for me

You stretched Your arms out wide
I lift my hands up high to my Savior
You stretched Your arms out wide
I lift my hands up high to my Savior

So Lord I run
To the cross to the cross
Surrender all to my Savior King
Be my everything

Chains are broken
Shame has fallen
All my sins are gone

What a Savior. He came to free us & save us. We don’t have to live in fear, in bondage, in complacency, in worries, in doubts, in anger, in addictions, in torment, in uncertainty, in loneliness, in the past, in unforgiveness, in pain, in shame, etc. He alone has the power to free us from such things. And to redeem us & make all things new. And He keeps inviting us to lay down at the foot of the cross because there is more power & strength there than anywhere else. Let’s just praise our Jesus for His magnificent & beautiful Love.

We give you so much praise & thanks Jesus!

Into the heart of the South!

Whew, it's been awhile since an update!! We just got back from a road trip to Texas & Little Rock! We went on the trip with the motivation to search out our future apartment in Little Rock. And since Texas is only 6 short hours deeper south, we couldn't pass up the chance to go visit our favorite Texans! We headed to Texas first to spend friday evening, saturday & sunday with Jake, Jen, & Kylie Jo. As always we had so much fun with them. Jake and Seth worked on a backyard patio bar (pictures below) & it turned out very nicely. I managed to get BURNT in just 1 hour of sitting outside without sunscreen (yes, I was warned to wear it). The sun is a lot hotter in Texas 92 degree weather! We spent a lot of the time just lovin' up that sweet girl & playing some long-awaited hand & foot card game with Jake & Jen. We are excited to live closer to them in a couple months! Seth & Jake are already dreaming up the projects they will build together. Below are some pictures from our Texas trip:

 She was trying to crawl on my lap & grab the camera strap, so it made for some hilarious pictures!

 Ahh, so stinkin cute!!

 Uncle Seth & Kylie Jo

 Aunt Ang & Kylie Jo

 Their neighbor took a group shot for us :)

 Dad & his girl

 Mom & her girl

 Beautiful Family

 This is one of my favorite pictures...Kylie Jo is lovin her Uncle Seth!

 Jake & Seth working on the patio bar

The finished project!

Sadly our time with the Weber's was short, but we packed up & we headed to Little Rock, AR on Monday morning. We arrived about 230 in the afternoon & had a meeting at FamilyLife @ 3. We met with the head of global department (which we will be working in) and talked for a while. Afterwards we went to the Blunier's home (FamilyLife Staff), where we would be staying that week. We had a great night of eating, talking & catching up. Tuesday morning starts our apartment hunt. I should preface this hunt with a few things: 1. From looking online & talking to people we pretty much thought we knew where we would live but thought it wise to still look at as many apartments as possible during our short stay 2. Goodfield, IL cost of living is not a good comparison to city living (aka, we underbudgeted :)). We searched really vigorously for 2.5 days. We looked at at least 13 apartments & a couple of them twice. Everytime we thought we had seen a great one, we found another great one. This makes for a difficult decision when we can both tend to be indecisive at times. We saw some beautiful, some not so great, some smelly, some in good areas, some in bad areas. We learned that EVERY apartment in the south includes a swimming pool, woohoo! Also we learned that Little Rock is an apartment metropolis. It seems that every corner we turned there stood another huge complex. We finally narrowed our search down to 4 apartments which we were going to look at thursday am before we headed back home. Before we ventured out on our last tour of the apts, we looked up reviews online & let's just say that crossed out two options very easily. So the search narrowed to 2 options. We visited both of them one last time & kept going back & forth and back & forth & back & forth. The 9 hour drive home we kept going back & forth. All friday we kept going back & forth. Both were very comparable in most all ways. We made lists, talked to friends, family, staff. We would have been very happy at either, so through some obvious provisions from God, we committed to our future apartment on saturday. Seth was getting ready to call & tell them we would like to live at their apartments & I started bawling. A little baffled, he asks "Are you okay?" I told him "I don't think i'm ready for this! I don't want to move away from our family & friends & familiar, It's all hitting me super hard, this makes it very official & the reality of moving away is not in the far off future any more". So I expect the next 2 months to be much of the same...ups & downs emotionally. But the one thing that stays the same is the peace that is passing my understanding. The unwavering knowing that this is where we are supposed to go regardless of the waves that may crash in the process. Someone told us this sunday at church...this is where faith gets wings & takes flight. As of right now our rent in goodfield expires at the end of may & our rent in little rock begins in june. We are trusting the All-knowing God who has led us this far to continue His perfect provision. One of my all time favorite lyrics comes from a Bebo Norman song....."This task before me may seem unclear, but it, my maker holds". 

documents of a snow day.

I love anticipation for things. Such as the impending blizzard that we started hearing about monday. At work, I had many patients tell me the projected inches of snow we were to be slammed with. Of course I had a lot of resistance to believing we were going to get up to 20" of snow due to the simple fact this is central IL and our weather changes hourly. However, deep inside I was thrilled at the thought of a blizzard. Just this weekend Seth & I were discussing how we thought it would be great to have one last big snow storm before spring came. So patient after patient warned me to "be careful" & "stock up". I just smiled and said "you too", though secretly hoping this was the real deal!! As I got home from work and turned on the news I found out that these rumors I'd been hearing were true! We were about to be under a BLIZZARD warning. So from the moment I got home, that's all that the radio, news, internet was talking about. Cancelations started being announced and schools were canceled the night before. Seth came home from work early on tuesday, after it started snowing, and we spent the day literally starring out the window at the tremendously powerful storm playing forth in front of our eyes. It was beautiful, powerful, unbelievable. The winds were raging and the snow was diving to earth in large increments & accumulations. I think the anticipation of what was going to result of this storm was almost as fun as the storm itself! We had so much fun being "snowed in" and watching the furiousity of this brilliant storm. It just shows us a glimpse of the enormous might & power of our God.

Please enjoy the documentary of our snow day(s) below!!

 Seth & I decided to "see how the roads were" in goodfield on tuesday evening around 5:30ish.

We bundled up in all our snow garb & headed out into the blizzard! (obviously not the smartest idea, we realize, but the inner kid in us wanted to see it)

                                                              Seth all bundled up!

    Here's what 117 looked like around 5:30pm tuesday evening. We went over the interstate and it was empty. It was very strange because normally i'm coming home from work at this time on I-74 and it's packed!

     This morning my fabulous in house chef made up some delicious omlettes to start our official snow day.

Seth went out to attempt scooping our driveway. The end of our driveway consisted of snow at least 30" deep & would have taken at least a few hours to clear....however a super nice snow plow'er from the village of goodfield came and with a few scoops of his huge tractor, cleared our drive! What an awesome blessing!

           We actually have a covered front porch, not that this pictures draws you to think so though.

 We made some banana bread....for some reason I feel all betty crocker during snow days and feel this compulsion to bake. so I made cookies too.

 I can't tell you the last time I scrapbooked...but it's on my list of "things to do before we move". So I set up camp and started on our hawaii album from over a year ago...oh how it makes us wish we were there!



                                     Mid-afternoon snack.....a snow day MUST....Hot Chocolate!

                                                     Just a view of our front walk/porch.

 I still can't get over this. This is our across the street neighbors. I'm not sure if this picture does it justice, but their door is literally snowed shut in at least 4' of snow. There is no way in the world that door is opening any time soon!

Seth had to keep checking the furnace exhaust to make sure our furnace would stay running & to calm my fear of somehow getting carbon monoxide poisoning (though he assured me at least 15 times we are going to get killed by poison monoxide). It was actually behind this huge drift of snow. This pile was so big, he was taller than the roof!

This afternoon we were getting a little "stir crazy" so we decided to take a treacherous drive through the path of the storm. We decided it would be a great idea to try out the "country" roads. This is what we came upon. Yes this is a "T" in the road, meaning that there is supposed to be a road going right as well. 

                                 Another view...yes this is supposed to be a road straight ahead!!

We tried to go to the park to actually play in the snow but not 2 minutes after we took this picture we were right back in the truck....the wind was freeeeezing.

                                                           Picnic tables at the park, it's crazy!!

Seth was my workout buddy today. We did a workout video...i'm not sure if we got more exercise from laughing at eachother or actually attempting the aerobics!

We also had some much needed time with Jesus.

So to sum it up- I love snow days. I think it's great how sometimes God just gives us a huge blizzard so we're able to spend quality time with Him or with precious people or just relaxing. Think of it as a surprise present in the middle of a cold winter.

oh and p.s. Gertie the groundhog did not see her shadow, so the news is that spring is on the way :).

absolutely blessed (birthday!).

Okay, so not going to lie, I love birthdays. I love the anticipation and the "specialness" feeling of the day. I love that it is a day to celebrate the life of an individual that God created. I love celebrating birthdays!! I hope I always have this feeling & don't dread "getting older" (you can ask me about this as the years go on!)(though 24 means i'm now in my mid 20's!!). Also, thanks to facebook, you get lots more messages of love & blessings. I had the best birthday this year!! Seth took the day off (it was last wednesday) and I also had off work. It was an absolute blast & I was completely pampered :)! Here's the agenda of events:

Tuesday night:
- I come home from work to find a letter mailed to me with an itinerary of the "Braker Bed & Breakfast" :).
- A vase of flowers on the table ( I love flowers, esp in the cold dreary winter )
-A delicious meal of salmon & veggies
-movie of my choice (yes he was very willing to watch a chick flick for me).

Wednesday:
-breakfast in bed (veggie omlette, fruit, piping hot coffee)
-lazy morning (actually we decided to look at ordered wedding pictures---yes 2.5 years later we still have no wedding pictures ordered)
-get ready & head to bloomington
-go to a state park & play a tony cd he made for me
-head to starbucks and spend quality time talking & sipping delicious drinks
-he took me shopping & said I could pick out whatever I wanted (within reason :)). We actually got killer sales...$2 shirts, $10 jeans.....I love a good deal!
-head back home to freshen up & head to One World (one of my most favorite restaurants!!)
-come back for presents! (he got us tickets to a Bebo Norman dinner concert in Kentucky!)

All in all, I was amazingly blessed & soaked in every moment! It was just a reminder to me of how God delights in us. He loves us tremendously & deeply & is delighted to bless us with joy & truly fun times. I can just picture him smiling down on his children when they are giddy with joy that  comes from Him!!

Here's a few pictures of the evening:

                                           The fresh flowers from my boy!                                   

The unbelievably amazing beautiful delicious carmel walnut apple pie al la mode. oh yum!

Little Delights!

I had the absolute pleasure of taking Dayne & Maggy's 2 year old pictures :)!
We decided to take them on Christmas Eve when we were celebrating Christmas.
Fortunately there was a bunch of beautiful fresh snow on the ground which made for
an absolutely fun & beautiful photo shoot! Just imagine two almost two year olds bundling
up in all their winter garb: hats, gloves, coats, boats (which they were thrilled to show off! :)).
They were dressed & ready to go play in some snow!!
Dayne was infatuated with catching snow flakes on his tongue like his uncle sethy.
Maggy was captivated by the footprints she could make in fresh snow.
We had a blast and they defintely had some darling poses for the camera!
Here's a few of what I got, enjoy :)

{Jesus speaking}"'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.' And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them"

 (Mark 10:14-16)

""A child can always teach an adult three things:
to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something,
and to know how to demand with all his might
that which he desires."- Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain

 

Community.

Another “new favorite song” to share with you all! I’ve been listening to this song over & over & over again. This may not surprise some of you…I have a tendency to “wear songs out”. One of my roommates in college told me that I was going to “wear the song out” because I would listen to it over & over again…old habits die hard I guess. You are going to like this one, at least I hope, but either way…I LOVE IT. It’s called “Shelter” by Jars of Clay. I bought the CD for Seth for Christmas, not really expecting my new favorite song to be on this CD.

So one evening we were getting ready to go to the gym and I asked Seth if he would add that new CD to my IPOD. I decided to try it out and sorta skipped through all the songs once, so I could get a “feel” for it. Then I listened to this song and my adrenaline started pumping (aka my heart was “clicking” with it) and for the rest of the workout, on the way home, and when we were home, onto the next day, and so on I played this song…A LOT. Now I know this is just a song and, yes, in a few weeks I’ll probably have a new favorite I’m convincing you to love...

However, this song has been really special to us at this point in our journey. We are three months away from our “predicted” move and we’re (especially me) starting to “mourn” what we’re leaving….I mean we have the MOST AMAZING family & friends here. But we’ve also been hit with an INCREDIBLE thankfulness and amazement at what God has given us. This body of family/friends we are in has been amazing. God has been impressing on our hearts the beauty of each relationship we hold and how astounding it is that we get to be blessed by you. We know we will never walk alone, we know a lot more about the love of Christ because of the love you’ve shown us. We are so unimaginably blessed. And you know what’s so great? God knew that. He delights in the fact we have each other. He knew that we would need a physical shoulder to cry on, an audible voice to speak to, someone we can call by dialing 7 simple #s on a phone, someone to laugh with, someone to hug, someone to encourage us, someone to go on trips with. This was God’s design- to give us a community. To give us these relationships. We know Jesus so much better because of you. We know His love so much greater because of the way we’ve been loved. We get to cry together, we get to mourn together, we get to laugh together, we get to worship together, we get to take each new chapter together. We weather the storms & rejoice in the happiest moments. Sometimes we’re just still together & sometimes we talk for 5 hours straight. And if we think this community is unbelievable & awesome down here…just imagine what our community in heaven will be!!! We will be communing face to face with our Jesus!! We think we know worship & joy now…let’s just let our imaginations go wild at the thought of Heavenly community.

But while we tread this earth & journey onward, “in the shelter of each other, the people live”, let’s celebrate our victories together, inspire each other to real true Jesus love,  give hope to the hopeless, & care for each other.

We love you & we thank you for being our shelter. Your arms have held us & grown us.

Here’s a link to the song: (if you can't click on it, just copy & paste the link)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcgj-Jbl2RY&feature=related

Here’s the lyrics:

 To all who are looking down
Holding on to hearts still wounding
For those who've yet to find it
The place is near where love is moving
Cast off the robes you're wearing
Set aside the names that you've been given
May this place of rest in the fold of your journey
Bind you to hope
You will never walk alone
(Chorus)
In the shelter of each other
We will live
We will live (Never walk alone)
In the shelter of each other
We will live
We will live (Your arms are all around us)

If our hearts are turned to stone
There is hope we know the rocks will cry out
And the tears aren't ours alone
Let them fall into the hands that hold us
Come away from where you're hiding
Set aside the lies that you've been living
May this place of rest in the fold of your journey
Bind you to hope
We will never walk alone

(Chorus)

If there is any peace
If there is any war
We must all believe
Our lives are not our own
We all belong

God has given us each other
And we will never walk alone

(Chorus)