Family Wall

Our Family Wall is a project I have been wanting to do since we moved in, and I just got it up this weekend! I love the fact that we have a long hallway, so it, of course, has to be filled with family pictures!

Above the pictures is says, Family is forever.

The middle picture is one of our engagement pictures that people signed at our wedding, and on both sides are recent pictures of our families!

We love our wall, and we love seeing the faces of our beautiful family everyday!

We are so blessed with such amazing families! We love you all!

Special Friend, Special Gifts

I am truly blessed with the most amazing girlfriends. I love how each of them have their own wonderful and unique qualities, and each of them bring something different and special to my life.

Jennae blesses me in more ways than one, two, three, or five! We met while serving the junior high group at our church in Clovis in 2004. Since then, even through me moving away, the Lord continues to draw us closer together as friends and sisters. One of the many gifts the Lord has blessed her with is gift giving. Every gift I receive from Jennae has meaning and purpose behind it. Her most recent gifts took the cake.

For my birthday (in September) she gave me 2 things. One was a journal where she wrote the sweetest message to Baby Burns, love Auntie Jennae. The second was a CD full of worship songs. They both were such an incredible blessing, and the Lord sure used them. While I was pregnant, I was so sick that I struggled reading in general, but I was really struggling with my bible reading, and I shared that with her. So she gave me the CD so I could relax and enjoy songs about the Lord while worshiping Him. The journal was so I could record all the events and emotions and thoughts throughout the pregnancy, and that I did.

(photo taken in Forest Falls)

What was really amazing was the way these gifts were used during and after the miscarriage.

I was SO thankful for both. When everything was happening and we could do nothing but cry, the CD brought great peace. One amazing song really hit me. It says, "He gives and takes away, for He knows what's good for us." The Lord knew how we need to grow through this experience, and I know He will will continue to show us His plans for this in the future.

The journal served as a great healing factor. It was really great to be able to write down all my thoughts from the beginning of the pregnancy to the end. I will cherish this journal forever. This baby will always be our first child, and I am thankful that I have these memories.

My dearest friend and sister, I can not thank you enough for all your love, care, prayers, and support. The Lord is using you mightily in my life and many others. I wish we lived closer, but even through distance you continue to be one of my closest friends. You are such a calming factor in my life. Thank you for always being a beautiful example of a woman of God. I love you!

Roots

A couple days after we found out that we lost our baby, Brandon and I were able to get away and enjoy some time alone in the beautiful and fresh mountains of Forest Falls. We found a beautiful and quiet little area by some little waterfalls. Our time there was crucial to our personal healing and grieving. Right when we sat down, I immediately noticed this tree, and this is what I journaled . . .

In front of me is a tree whose roots are completely above ground. As I look at it more closely, I wonder how it is still standing--it must have strong roots underground. This makes me think about the truth and love of the Lord and how deep it runs. I feel like right now I have many roots that are sticking out and visible. Roots of fear, anxiety, doubt. Though, even still, I, we, are still standing, and though weak at times, we are standing strong. Through this sadness, we have not wavered in the truth of Christ and in the knowledge and trust of His goodness. So like this tree, we stand with roots of God's grace deep within our hearts as this tree's roots and deep within this soil, and for that my heart is thankful.

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

Colossians 2:6-7

I know you are using this as a teaching time, Lord, and though right now I have to tell my heart to be grateful, I know I eventually will be. Father, please use this as a time where we may share your name and your goodness in time of sorrow--boldly. May we not waste this sadness.

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Our Star, Our Gift

This is a picture of our Star. Brandon and I found it while we were enjoying some time away in Forest Falls this past Saturday. We decided it would be representative our our first baby.

These past 12 weeks (technically 8 since we have known) have been a beautiful gift from the Lord. Brandon and I have already learned amazing things about having a child, and we are so thankful for this short time.

We experienced the greatest joy when the doctor confirmed we were pregnant. And then even more joy when we got to share the news with our family and friends.

We experienced quite a change of pace in our normal routine of things as I was sick. Though so difficult then, I am so thankful for now. As hard as it was, it was a reminder that the baby was growing and alive, and it comforted me.

We experienced excitement as we started planning and adjusting life to prepare for our little one to come. (I was planning on not finishing the school year and staying home next year with the baby.)

Then we experienced such sadness and sorrow as we found out that the baby was no longer with us. News so unexpected is never easy to handle, especially when it is the loss of a child. You don't know what to do but just cry.

Then we felt uplifted as our church, family, and friends interceded for us and lifted us up in prayer. Constant texts, calls, and cards were beautiful reminders of the amazing people the Lord has blessed us with.

We finally experienced Peace. After several days of grieving, time in the Word, prayer, and time with family, God brought us such an amazing peace that surpasses all understanding. Our God is so good and gracious. Knowing the truth that this baby was not a mistake. Our Father created him/her, and the little one is now with Him in His arms. He knew this would be a trial that would test our faith and streghten us as a couple. What a gift.

Now we experience Hope. Hope for the future in what the Lord's plan for our family is.

The following verse (among MANY others) has calmed our hearts and has focused our minds:

"Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again Rejoice . . . The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7

This has always been one of my favorite verses, and it again has penetrated my heart.

Thank you so much for the many of you who have been praying for us! We ask that you continue to pray as we continue to learn to move forward.

We love you and we thank you.

More to come . . . we look forward to sharing more about what the Lord has taught us through this journey.

Party Weekend . . .

The first weekend of October we had such a great time with a trip up to Clovis for a party weekend--double birthday party for Grandpa and Liz, and then Diana's babies shower!

It started with the birthday party on Saturday night which was a great time!

The babies shower for Diana--twin boys coming soon!--was Sunday afternoon. We had a great time throwing this shower and props to Holly and Mom for their creativity and awesome planning!

Here are some fun details and pic from the shower.

Giants theme was an easy choice!!

We tried to go for a more "classy" baseball theme. Here are the centerpieces.

Holly made the adorable pennant banners as well as the pennants in the centerpieces.

My mom thought to get baseball bats as a way for guests to sign in.

The adorable cake was made by a girl that Kristi lives with. Not only was it super cute, but it tasted amazing as well!

Diana may be the cutest mommy we have ever seen!

Me at 10 weeks & Diana at 27 weeks with twins! lol

We are SO thankful and excited to have our children close together. I grew up very close to David (Diana's husband) and his brother Clint. Our family as a whole is very close, especially all us cousins, and we pray that we will enjoy may fun and sweet times with our own children!

Diana's family

Aunt Debbie and Beth (missing Megan)

Holly, Katie, Aunt Maxine, and Heather

Kristi and Katie enjoying a rootbeer!

Beautiful quilt made by Aunt Maxine!

Amazing bedding hand-made by Holly.

Grandma Boogaard!

Diana and her sweet nieces!

It was truly a great weekend, and we are SO thrilled for you David and Diana!!

The News . . .

Well the news is out and we couldn't be more thrilled!!

Yes, we were planning it! lol Didn't expect it to happen so fast, but we couldn't be more excited for this amazing blessing!


Here Baby Burns and I are at 11 weeks.
This means we are due April 27th!

Baby has already been blessed with many gifts. Here are some cute outfits from Nana and Papa, Auntie Kristin, and Uncle Kevin. :)

Grandma Boo and I went shopping for my birthday and bought some maternity clothes!!

Unfortunately, I've been pretty sick, but this last week was much better! Hopefully the end of this first trimester will continue to bring less sickness!

Brandon and I were able to get some good work done in the apartment this weekend. Fall is here, and we are excited for our new homey home!

We absolutely love our red kitchen!

We are very excited about our new bookshelf!We also a new curtain in our guest bathroom.

I am also taking these pictures with my new Nikon 3100 SLR camera that my amazing husband gave me for my birthday!! It is something we were wanting to have before we have kids, so the timing this year was perfect!!

This blog has taken us through engagement, our wedding and newly married life, 3 overseas trips, and 3 apartment and moves. Now, we will journey through pregnancy and the many experiences of having a child.

Our good Lord continues to teach and mold us through each step of this journey and we couldn't be more thrilled for this next chapter in our lives!

Thank you for journeying with us!!

For You created my innermost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." --Psalm 139:13-14

Blessings

It has been an incredibly busy, but good summer, and we have lots to update!

The biggest news is that Brandon got a new job! He has been hoping to get this job for a couple years now, and the good Lord has provide the perfect time!

He is the new Residence Director for the married and graduate housing at CBU!

This means that we now live on campus again! We are blessed with a great 3 bedroom apartment! I will post some pictures when it is all set up!

Here he is today (Tuesday) on his first day of work! So handsome! I am so proud of him!

Our parking spot :) (The sun was bright, lol)


My wonderful mom and brother came down to help us move! It was so good to have my mom here helping us move in to our new apt this past Saturday. Moms just have that special touch, and we were so thankful to have her here!

We are so excited and thankful for the new adventure!

"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" Psalm 124:8

Leaving . . .

It is 12:15am and we are to be ready at 5am to leave! AHHH!!

I wanted to write so much more tonight, but I just can't. My mind is too clouded and I'm (really the whole team) still trying to process my thoughts from the trip.

Definitely a bitter sweet good-bye. We leave with very heavy hearts for the people and things that we have experienced in the past 3 weeks. We are thankful for having our hands is so many different things and ministries--it allowed us to get a pretty good picture of how things work here in Manila.

The kids though . . . man . . . they sure stole our hearts. We visited the nursery where we got to love on 10 precious children from God. We would pack them all up and take them home with us if we could. It was SO hard to leave.

The 7 older kids have also been hard to leave and in a different way. We have been struggling with how to say good-bye and what this time should look like. Since they are older (around 13-14, and all orphaned) they have to deal with so many teams constantly coming and going, and probably asking them to pour out their hearts just like we did--and they did. The girls really opened up the past could weeks as we were going over all out testimonies. Each one has been a blessing to us girls in so many ways. They have been through more than anyone of us and are so self-efficient and love the Lord. Nikki brought up a great point and encouraged us to encourage them on the impact they made on us. We hope they understood. We hope they continue to share and be open so that they may continue to bless others. And hopefully we were to them as well.

Please pray for us as we are sorting out these feelings and all God has taught us and convicted of us with while we were here. It seems as though we were on emotion overload right now. We and so thankful for God's justice and grace, it's so overwhelming--this has been a daily focus for us.

We love you and can't wait to see you!!

Update-Week 2

So much has happened this past week--great things; I'll try and wrap it up the best I can.

The majority of the week was spent working at the new Josie's Angels house. Us girls got to do a lot of detail painting throughout the house. Each room is a different color and we got to paint different scriptures in each room. We are really excited about the final outcome. The 24 girls movie in tonight (Sunday) and we will be over there shortly to help them settle in!

Chad has done a ton of video stuff and made the awesome pictures that we got to hand out in Tent City. Brandon got sick at the beginning of the week and was out for a couple of days which was a real bummer but we have our leader back and we are thankful for that! Many of us have not been feeling 100% this week, so prayers for strength as we finish this last week would be cherished!

Tent City again was a very impactful thing this week. Friday we went back and handed out the pictures we had taken and that Chad edited with scripture. The people were SO excited to receive them. As we handed out each picture, we explained that we would like to give them this gift because of the gift we have been given through Jesus Christ. The gospel was shared through each picture! On the pictures included contact information for a local pastor. We are praying that these pictures will be hung in their homes and that Christ would reign there.

As we were walking around and passing out pictures, my stomach was hurting because I did not have much of a breakfast. During this visit to Tent City, we were told that many Filipinos hair turns a bleached orangish color because of malnutrition. Knowing this, I noticed this day how many of their hairs have turned this color--I have actually been aware of this throughout the city now. This was just crushing to me, to us. The reality was that I was walking around with a stomach ache that I knew would last about an hour more because when we returned to our homebase lunch would be provided for us. The pain turned into a big knot in my stomach and a pain in my heart that has continued. Chad also made the comment today that he doesn't know how many more homes he can go into and videotape and walk away without doing more. (He has been given a few students of the school to "follow" as a part of the support video he is making.) So many needs here are just so great it's hard to grasp.

Chad also had a great conversation with a K.I.M. worker (a 19 year old guy) as we were outside the Josies Angel house painting a fence purple the other day. Our friend was telling us how he believes that America is such a better place because people aren't hungry. Brandon and Chad tried to explain to him that America is not really a better place--in fact, it can be worse off because people are too full and too rich that they don't have a "need" for anything or anyone, including Christ. Brandon brought up the verse where Jesus warns about the rich man being worse off. Our friend just could not grasp this idea because all he could think about is that most people in America are not hungry because most people in the Philippines are. He is a Christian and loves the Lord, but desires to be in America. We have heard this over and over here. It has been a hard thing to disuade people of. Yes there are great opportunities in America, but the people are not necessarily better off.

Saturday was our last full day with Meghan--so sad! We got to go to a beach with the ladies who work in the kitchen and the 6 of the 7 older orphans that we have spent time with! The beach that was suppose to take about 3 hours to get to turned in to a 5 hour trip! We got there about 1pm. Had a great time! It was absolutely beautiful! We used our experience from last year and made sure we all packed on the sunscreen!! Success!! No burns for the Burns!! :) lol We were also about to take a little boat to another island (just a 15 min boat ride) and that was neat. We left about 6pm, stopped for dinner and got home at midnight!! Long day, but fun!

Today and tomorrow we have more shifts at the nursery. I just love this time. These kids are just too precious. I got to bath and change the 3 one year olds this morning. Lord help me if I have triplets! Their sweet little voices calling us "tita" and "tito" (means like aunt or uncle that all kids call adults, even if they don't know you well) is just so sweet. We were exhausted at the end, but it was worth it!

We are off to see the girls settle in! This week we will be concentrated on them, and making sure they are adjusting well into their new home. Please pray for strength and focus for us! We love you all!!

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures that we passed out at Tent City. Chad made 50!!

Such a beautiful family!