If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

James 5:17 says that Elijah was a man just like us. . .just like me.  Really?  Elijah, the confident prophet, who in I Kings 18 took on 850 false prophets and proved that his God was the One True God.  He was so confident (cocky?) that he dumped 12 buckets of water on the logs before he called down fire from heaven to burn them up in front of these false prophets.  (And his God, my God came through.)  Elijah, the man who prayed for no rain and it didn't rain for three and a half years and then prayed for rain and it rained. . .how could I have anything in common with this man? Well, in I Kings 19. . .immediately after he took on these 850 false prophets with such confidence and God proved Himself to be I AM. . .something weird happens to Elijah (something weird that makes me able to relate to him).  He runs (from a scary woman even).  In a "fight or flight" situation, I am a flighter.  I would much rather run than fight.  I run from confron...

Yipee!  It is March!  We have been looking forward to March for a while!  As you can see, we have some really fun days in store for Braner Party of 7!!!!  On Saturday we will head to Orlando for time with GoGo and Pops and Brady and Jen.  We will get to go to some of the Disney parks and we will get to spend five days on the new Disney Dream.  WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!  I cannot wait for the fun and fellowship and relaxation!  Then the Pierson family is coming to Durango to stay with us for their Spring Break!  It will be good to have our families together again under one roof!  We are praying for snow so that we can spend the week on the mountain!!!  Then Pops is coming back for a couple of days again!  On top of the "fun" we have planned, we have real life going on with a snowboarding competition and a vocabulary dress up day and whatever else life throws at our family!  Another highlight is that Andy will only be gone f...

Today was a great day at the mountain!  It wasn't beautiful and sunny but the fresh powder was much needed and much appreciated!  My dad flew in last night and we love being with him.  Andy also flew home last night and it was nice to have our family back together again!

. . .we will be in Orlando. . .where the magic happens!  I just got this great picture of another fun princess I am very excited to meet!  Oh my!  The surprises just keep coming!  I cannot wait to relax on the Disney Dream!  But I am equally as excited to meet Auora or maybe Belle or maybe even Cinderella!  The excitement and the anticipation is killing me!  I feel like a kid headed to Disney for my very first time!

Yesterday was parent teacher conferences at the elementary school and I was very excited for them!  I knew Maggie would be doing well--I just wanted to make sure she wasn't being too silly in class.  And thankfully, she is behaving and learning at a great pace.  She has fallen in love with reading and that makes me and her teacher very happy! I really wanted to talk to Dax's teacher about him getting bullied every day by this girl.  Sounds crazy that a girl is beating my son up, but there is blood or bruises nearly every day.  So, I brought it to the teacher's attention and hopefully it will be taken care of starting today.  Academically, Dax is doing very well and the teacher is doing great things to keep him challenged and interested! I knew that Tiki's teacher and I would have a lot to talk about.  He is coming a long way academically, but still has a long way to go in order to catch up.  He is pushing boundaries in class with behavior an...

You'll notice my new header!  What's with the Walt Disney font you are asking?  Well, the days until Disney countdown is so very on!  In ten days Braner Party of 7 will be on an airplane (or two) headed to sunny Florida to meet GoGo and Pops and Brady and Jennafer for a fun week of Disney adventures!  We get to cruise on the brand new Disney Dream for five days and we get to enjoy the parks of Walt Disney World for a few days!  We are hoping to meet a very special princess, too!  We absolutely cannot wait!  We don't know what we're more excited about: the family time or the new boat or the sun or meeting our favorite princess or the rides?  ALL OF IT!!!  Ten days and super counting!