God wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle...

This little quote is well said. I have yet to figure out my little 9 year old son. Whoever told me that being a parent is the hardest job you will ever have wasn't kidding. How can one little person fill your whole heart with more love than you ever imagined and at the same time make you so frustrated you feel like...well you can fill in the blank!? There is no way to prepare a new parent for all of the emotions and feelings they will experience when they bring that precious baby home. Maybe that is why so many of us stop riding roller coasters... we are on one too many days of the week. I wouldn't trade this experience of being a mother for anything. I find comfort in knowing that my faith, patience, commitment, love, and happiness blossomed when I became a mother. I thank God first then Davis.

Cao Nguyen

Last night I had the privilege of visiting our Asian market in OKC. Where have I been? The selections were awesome; if you are looking for veggies, meat or seafood. Of course if you have rabbit, goat, or beef hooves on your list you can get those too! It was a wonderful cultural experience for my son. Although he mentioned feeling a bit sick by the time we were leaving. His little 9 year old body is not accustomed to smelling so much fish, clams, oysters, etc...although he did enjoy watching the crabs laying in a box snapping their pincher's! We decided we would return when we actually knew what we would cook with all of our great finds. What I liked best were the prices! Some items in the produce section were less than half of what I have been paying at the grocery store down the street. It helped to have Lily along to point out the better quality items. So for those of you who have access to such a store, check it out! It was an enriching experience to say the least!

Alone

What a relief to sit alone. I even took a nap today. I wouldn't have needed one had I not stayed up until 2am reading other blogs. It can be addicting. I'm not actually alone, my daughter is...was...sleeping. I spoke to soon.

The boys went to see National Treasure. I had no desire. I think I need to watch the first one before I go to the 2nd. I'd rather read blogs.

Sophie beckons...

"Lily"

Here is our wonderful sweet student "Lily", actually Lillian, but I renamed her :) She is studying English at the Edmond Language Institute. She has lived with us since October 15th. We are enjoying her very much! Many of you know we have hosted several students, most from South America. Lily is from Taiwan. She actually plans to stay here and continue at UCO, after she passes the TOEFL! Ugh! Keep her in your prayers. We have a lot of fun visiting and practicing english. She is very sweet with our children and Sophie loves to play in her room! Sophie likes to wear all of her fashionable shoes. So, for those of you who thought we had 4 in our family, we actually have 5!

The Wii has taken over!!!

A good friend often tells me "God rewards good choices". We have tried over the year to make good choices, in particular with our finances...although we could always do better, that's the perfectionist in me;I'm working on that. Anyways, about 6 weeks before Christmas David won a Wii package deal at his work (Dell). He was elated! All our son has asked for this year is this game system, as we responded with explanations about why we could not get that this year. So we were possibly more excited than Davis on Christmas morning...there's nothing better than seeing your child light up with excitement over something! I crave those moments.

Wii will strive to remember that "God does reward good choices" in the coming year, 2008. I must say the Wii was just the icing on the cake...we were rewarded and blessed in soooo many ways in 2007! Have a Happy New Year!!!

The Brown family has been Elfed! Check out this link to see us dancing away!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1735814129

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

Blowing Snow!

It's blowing snow here in the great state of Oklahoma! This morning I watched the weather and didn't bat an eye at the report ...until I walked out of the mall at 2:20 pm this afternoon. Oh, and that's another story in itself! So, needless to say we are experiencing yucky weather, to say the least. My 9 year old has bloodshot eyes from watching TV all morn and playing a video game. He looks forward to Saturday's because we don't have cable, so he doesn't watch TV during the week. He crams it all in on Saturday mornings. Sooo.....I better go talk him in to playing a board game or something...and maybe have some hot chocolate.