Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas from the Browns!

2010 is nearly over, and it's time to sum up the years' events. Here's what's been happening with us.

Josh still holds the job of Student Ministries Pastor at LifeSpring Church. He spends his weeks preparing sermons, attending meetings, meeting with students and parents, teaching Bible studies, planning events, and attending students’ various activities. This keeps him really busy, but he was glad to welcome on a second full-time student pastor in April to share the load. (The previous second pastor moved on to church planting in September of ‘09, so Josh had been on his own for several months.) His major events this year were a mission trip to Mexico in February, being the speaker for a middle school retreat in May, and three weeks of camp in July. He’s continued to take seminary classes, starting in on Greek this fall.

Josh also had the privilege of performing his first wedding this summer. His brother, Matt, married our new sister, Courtney. Josh officiated, I sang, and Micah was the ring bearer. It was a really special experience for all of us.

The biggest major event for us this year was the birth of our second child, Elijah Malcolm, born April 9th. Eli has been a very good baby, and it’s hard to believe that it was just this year he joined our family. We’ve already seen him learn to smile, roll over, sit up, crawl, and eat snacks. The phrase that best describes him is “Mama’s boy.” He’s a super happy guy, as long as someone’s holding him and he has someone to watch. And he’s huge—consistently in the 90th percentiles at his well-baby checkups.

In January, Micah was just learning to run around and had only begun to say a few words. Now, he’s 35 pounds of constant energy. His favorite things to do are wrestling with Daddy, running, jumping, and spinning in circles. He’s a very sweet big brother (most of the time!), and he talks all the time. He loves to point out letters, numbers, shapes, and colors when he sees them. He tries my patience sometimes, as any good two-year-old will do, but it’s a joy to be his mom and to watch him grow and develop. As a bonus, he’s very entertaining, constantly cracking us up.

As for me, I spent January and part of February finishing up a long-term sub job for a little Christian school. Since then I've been kept busy just figuring out how to be a mother of two while still keeping a home running. I also teach a small group of Jr. High girls and help out the youth group however I can.

2011 looks to be another busy but rewarding year. We look forward to another wedding in June (Josh’s sister, Kayla), and to more ministry and family fun as we live out God’s calling on our lives.

Much love,
Josh, Brie, Micah, and Eli

Thanksgiving!

Hi friends! I'm way late in posting this, as usual, but I thought you might like to hear about our Thanksgiving with the Headlee side.

We were blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with all but one member of the Headlee family. We all made our way up to the farm in Bancroft for a 36-hour Thanksgiving/Christmas whirlwind. As our family gets bigger (adding a girlfriend and more grandkids to the mix), it's harder and harder to get everyone together, and it's even harder for all of us to get any sleep while we're there (five grandkids under five is tough!). But it's so worth it!

Here's Mom and Dad with their "granddarlings," as Mom calls them. We bribed them all to be still with candy canes (and a carrot for Eli). Micah went to town on that candy cane. In the two or three minutes that we were taking pictures, he ate it down to the U-shape. Sheesh. L to R: Cady (age 4--Kellen's), Natalie (Age 3--Eric's), Micah (2), Kenny (1--Eric's), and Eli (7 months).

Kellen decided that we all needed to go to a Husker game together, so we bought our tickets, put on our red (and our layers), and went to Lincoln for the UNL-C.U. game on Friday after Thanksgiving. Of course, we had to go watch the band warm up in front of Westbrook. Here's my dad the Band-Man watching and loving it:

And some pics from the game. Love Kenna's hat!

This random old guy behind us gave Josh a hard time for wearing a Broncos hat. Like the Huskers and the Broncos are rivals or something, geesh. It was COLD. Hats of any kind were necessary.

And not one day, but two of the days we were together, Kenna and I dressed very similarly. So we took a pic. Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.....

Ahh, I love my family. Can't wait for the holidays in 2014 or so when the stars might align so we can all be together again.....

P.S. In April and May, we'll get two more grandbabies. Jenny and Elizabeth are both pregnant! Woo-hoo!