Gunnison, Colorado

The boys loved yelling out and hearing their "elmo" or echo...You could tell Benjamin was floored that Elmo yelled back everytime. Have we mentioned these boys bring us so much joy?
Payton realized alot of things on this trip...One night as I was putting his pajamas on he said, "Mom, I am a man, that means I sleep in underwear, only girls and babies wear pajamas." What could I say? So I have a 3 year old man now... The other thing He realized is he loves jumping off of things...We have however put a limit on this new ability after we watched him climb to the top of the slide and get in his jumping stance. Even men do not make 20 feet leaps.
Anything his brother does, Benjamin wants to try as well...He is more into the Nestea plunge then a full out jump...

Love that Benjamin! Those eyes melt our heart!

Vacation!

Payton loved this llama until he got up close and realized it was alive!
that sun is bright off of the snow, in case you could not tell...
This is the home we were in for the week...We loved that deck...the mountains surrounding it, the peace, the time to reconnect away from home, email, phones, etc...Tony and I had the best talks...so fun to share every moment of the day with Tony, rather than just telling him about it.
These boys could pick up rocks and throw them in the water for hours. I have a great story from this little excursion best told in person...The basic point though is Payton has an unbelivable sidearm throw...How do I know? Because he hit me in the side of the head with a 2 lb. rock...literally knocked me to my knees....We saw the humor in it after I remembered who I was...
I know this picture is tiny but about halfway through the trip we realized that Benjamin has somehow come to the conclusion that "load up" means run at a full sprint away from your parents...

Someday there will be a picture taken where everyone is lookingat the camera....Until then, we think these heads are cute at every angle .

Tori's Tour-The Lincoln Memorial

Finally!!!

The Lincoln Memorial is Great! If you look at the map of the National Mall you can see that it is all laid out in the shape of a cross. At the four ends of the cross are the White House, the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. The Washington Memorial is at the center. The Lincoln Memorial was built in Honor of Abraham (Abe) Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States. Abe Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. He was Christian that attended the local Baptist church. He went to school with his sister and was always know as a hard worker. “Honest Abe” Lincoln did not come from a wealthy family and so when he decided he wanted to be a lawyer he could not afford to go to an expensive law school and so he taught himself the law and soon became a successful lawyer. He married Mary Todd and had four children: Robert, Eddie, Willie and Tad. Sadly, only Tad lived past the age of twenty.

After serving for a short time in the military during the Black Hawk War, Lincoln became a practicing lawyer and soon made a name for himself. He ran for the Illinois state legislature in 1832 and lost. Many people told Abe that he should give up, but he would not. He ran again and won. He won the seat four consecutive times. He ran for the US House of Representatives in 1846 and won. After his two year term was over he returned home and started practicing law again. He really had no interest in returning to politics after this but one issue kept coming up. Slavery was a very sad reality for blacks living in the United States. Even though the Founding Fathers had said that “All men were created equal,” many people did not feel that that included black people. Abe did not agree. From the earliest parts of his life Abe had believed that God loved everyone and so he should too. When he was seven his parents switched churches to attend one that disagreed with slavery, and all these years later Abe still felt that slavery was wrong. This made him decide to run for President of the United States and in November of 1860, He won.

Lincoln Presidency was to be the only presidency in the history of the United States that was defined by war. Even before Abe was really President people started trying to break up the United States so that they could keep their slaves. But President Abe wanted everyone to be free. This began what is known as the “United States Civil War.” A “Civil” war means a war between two different groups of people in the same country. Lots of countries have had civil wars but the United States Civil war was really bad. Basically, a lot of people in the South wanted to keep slaves to run their farms and businesses and the people in the North wanted to set everybody free and so a fight broke out between the North and the South. . The Army from the North was led by a man named Ulysses S. Grant and the Army from the South was led by a man Named Robert E. Lee (We will learn more about these men when we visit the Capitol Building and Arlington National Cemetery). This fight lasted for over four years and many people died. In the end, the South gave up and the North won. Near the end of the war, President Lincoln wrote a letter, known as the Emancipation Proclamation, which set all of the slaves free.

But not everyone was happy with how the war ended. Soon after it was over President Lincoln was killed by people who had wanted to the South to win. Many people were so sad that he was gone and yet thankful for what he had done that they decided to build a memorial to him in Washington DC.

The Lincoln memorial was finished in 1922.

These are the steps leading up to the MemorialThis is the Marble statue of President Lincoln that is in the center of the memorial

On the wall to the right of Lincoln's statue is his Second Inaugural Speech.

To the left of the Statue is a copy of President Lincoln's most famous speech, The Gettysburg Address

This is the view looking out from the memorial, You can see the Washington monument in the distance

I love you so much and can't wait see you.

Loving the Seersucker!

Happy Easter from the Brooks family! May His goodness, His very power to bring life from death continue to be at work in your life!
Uncle Andy journeyed with us into the Garden of Prayer. Our boys could not love him more. They scream, clap, and show so much joy anytime we get to spend time with him!
Is there anyway to express how much I love these three guys?
We are crazy about these kids...and putting them in seersucker just sends us over the top!
Payton loved this cross sticker. He put it onthe second we walked into church and pointed it out to everyone .

Easter!

I love this picture. I was wishing we had our video camera when Payton walked in and said, "It really is empty!" You could see he was thrilled. The next shot is when Benajmin took a turn at trying to roll the stone away.




Payton quickly figured out he could grab more using something other than his basket!

Benjamin was a focused hunter and did quite well considering his brother was on wheels!

Easter Memories

One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting in the car with my sister Kelly and singing at the top of our lungs Sandi Patti's "Was it a morning like this?" As a child I loved the song, as an adult I love the man who inspired it.

As we got ready this morning I was humming this before I even realized what I was humming. As we rushed around, as Benjamin got squash all over the carpet, as we realized we might have thrown away Benjamin's shoes, As Payton protested wearing pants to church, I couldn't help but think...it was a morning just like this...Life was being lived at full throttle by so many who had no idea the greatest thing in the world had just occurred. HE HAD RISEN! ...and nothing would ever be the same again!

May The Giver of Life bless you and yours today!

"Was it a morning like this:
When the Son still hid from Jerusalem:
And Mary rose from her bed:
To tend the Lord she thought was dead.

Was it a morning like this: When Mary walked down from Jerusalem:
And two angels stood at the tomb:
Bearers of news she would hear soon

Did the grass sing?
Did the earth rejoice to feel You again?
Over and over like a trumpet underground,
Did the earth seem to pound he is risen?
Over and over in a never ending round,
He is risen hallelujah hallelujah

Was it a morning like this?
When Peter and John ran from Jerusalem,
And as they raced toward the tomb,
Beneath their feet was there a tune

Was it a morning like this?
When my Lord looked out on Jerusalem He is risen Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Fun with Chuck E.

Here is a fact that many people do not know. Chuck E. Cheeses opens at 9 Am every morning. On days like this when it is cold we have found that the boys and I can go and have the place to ourselves for a good hour and a half. They do all the mazes, ride all the toys, and in general burn off a ton of energy.

I love laughing with these boys. We have a great time crawling through those tubes (I have got to get knee pads) and watching Chuck E. sing. All of the things you can enjoy for free :)! It is also so fun to pull in the parking lot and hear Benjamin yell, "Chunky" and clap his hands.

I love this stage where they are so happy to play with each other. Last night as I was dressing them for bed Payton said, "Hey Benj- you're my best friend right? " Benjamin smiled and shook his head yes. I soak up days like this praying the Lord will allow me to absorb every moment.





















This a machine where you put a token in dial a number and then Chuck E. Cheese answers the phone. Now obviously Chuck E. is not really on the phone. He has pre-recorded answers that he just goes through I am sure thinking most kids will never figure out he is not really talking to them. I took this picture because Payton was really giving it to Chuck E. saying in a respectful tone, "Chucky, you are not answering my questions. What are you saying? Listen to me and then answer...Chucky, Come on!" He makes us laugh.

Benjamin loves this Bob the Builder ride. I love watching him laugh at loud while he is on it!


Payton and Benjamin love riding on this ride/game. I love this one because they think they are riding it even without putting any tokens in. They will sit on this thing and rock back forth for ever yelling "yahoo" at the top of their lungs.

The Boys at Baird

The boys were mesmerized by Tony walking around in the water in these boots. So was I, He's cute!

Benjamin loves his union suit. He wears this thing everywhere when we are at the ranch. Its hard not to smile when he walks by in it.


This is Andy and Tony in Baird lifting up the Trot line in Baird. Supposedly there are some 50 pound catfish in this tank. They spent awhile baiting this thing and then we left it overnight. We were all excited to see it in the morning...we did the big countdown to picking it up expecting there to be some massive catfish dangling off of it...no such luck. We laughed when there was nothing and went on with the excitement of the morning. Tony and Andy had caught 4 rattlesnakes the day before and wanted the boys and I to go see them in the cage. Payton would yell "make em rattle dad!!" and loved it when they would. Benjamin wanted down to look closer. There are certain "Wild at heart" experiences that moms should not be included in.

Brothers

Payton has become obsessed with his hair. I took this picture to document for him that his hair looks great. He was not convinced. I have had to in the last week tell him we will only use gel once a day. I think this might be one of the hazards of being told how cute you are all the time. I finally told him sometimes a solution when you don't like your hair is to wear a hat. He said, " I love my hair, I just need it to look right." He then went and got a baseball hat that he wore when he was Benjamin's age...It did not fit back then. Payton got the Jeffrey head...needless to say, He will follow in his mothers (and uncles) footsteps and be special ordering his graduation cap.
Benjamin loves this car. This is where he has his daily quiet time. He will sit there for 30 minute watching the
dog, looking for planes, Singing "joy, joy, joy" (those are the only words he has so far but he does have the tune and it is precious) and just enjoying life. He is happy in this car...then we let Payton outside.
Anything that Benjamin enjoys Payton feels as if he can enhance it by ripping his shirt off, poking him, or just in general roughing him up.This is of course something we continue to work on...meanwhile Benjamin's pain tolerance continues to grow...as well as his ability to count it all joy.
This hat is making me smile...Perhaps Payton can single handedly bring back the beanie...
Here are the boys at their "goldfish picnic" They love eating outside...Don't worry they had all their servings of fruits and vegetables prior to this picture being taken! :)

Why I love Google!

This past Monday a gel-ink pen made its way into our dryer...The accused shall remain nameless (I think it was me.) Anyway- the entire load of clothes was completely dalmation. I washed it all again but to no avail. I then googled "remove ink stains from dryer pen burst" . There I learned that if you boil your clothes for 45 minutes in powdered Biz the ink will come out...I knew I needed to get a massive stock pot so that I could boil all of Tony's jeans. We are now the owners of a 30 gallon pot, that says on the side, "Excellent for Menudo, Make it for the entire Family." However, all of our clothes look great and are once again ink-free! I am thrilled.

Come on over for some Menudo...Once I get the recipe I should be able to feed you and 400 others.

Love these boys!

I spent the weekend in Fairfax with my brother Sam and his family. I loved every minute of it and feel like I could share a list a mile long of the differences between boys and girls. My nieces, Bailey and Brylee, could not be more precious or more feminine. They are living dolls. They are the type of children that challenge my vocabulary...there are only so many complimentary words in the English language...yet these two will have anyone searching for more. Payton and Benjamin are equally as delightful...in a more jump off the couch, throw a ball at you, don't turn your back or we will take the lid off the baby powder, climb up on the counter, eat dog food kind of way. It has been fun to return home.

The weather is beautiful here so we are having a week where playing outside is great...The last picture is of Payton who in his independence and wanting to do everything himself stage sometimes makes a mistake and gets his leg holes in his underwear mixed up...transforming his boxer briefs into more of a mini skirt. He asked me to help him because he was having a hard time running. So much joy fills these days!

Words

I have been writing and studying alot lately in my ususal blog reading/blog writing time. Hence the lack of new posts. I assure you it has not been for lack of material. In writing and studying I find myself trying to convey with words...what must be experienced.

There are certain things that words cannot adequately describe...

The love I feel when I hear our boys laughing so hard they cannot stand up anymore. (they are both laughers that collapse)
The confidence I feel in my husband and His love for me.
The feeling I get when Tony walks in the door after work. He truly is the highlight of our day. All 3 of us stop what we are doing and literally rejoice in His arrival.
The feeling of blessing at the friends I interact with weekly.
The grace our Lord pours over me daily.
The anxiety and deep love I feel for those I love who have chosen hard paths that have taken them away from relationship with Him.
The joy of friendships that I am separated from by time and distance, yet the love in my heart for these gifts from the Lord remains. I rejoice when I hear good news about them and cry when the news is not good.
The ache in my heart of missing my sister and her children in Benin (and Randy of course).
The joy of watching my dad laugh.
The blessing of watching my mom serve and bless others.
The delight of knowing I will be with my brother and his family next weekend!
The anticipation for all that the Lord has in store for my brother Andy.
The wonder of the Body of Christ in human form.
The awe of holding a new baby.
The angst I feel for those who have sick children/family members.
The peace of knowing He is the Lord and He is faithful.

All of these things fill my heart...All of these things fill my prayers...

Rodeo!

We spent yesterday at the Fort Worth Rodeo. We laughed a lot. All the pictures of Benjamin are a blur. He loved it and could not sit still. He sat in Andy's lap and every time the bronc or bull would come out of the chute Andy would bounce him until the buzzer went off... He was sad when it was over.













Payton told us when we got to the rodeo that he would wait in the car. Seems his memories from last year were not the best. He told us it was loud, dark, and he did not like the motorcycle that jumped. After much coercing, a couple of cokes,a basket of fries and a snow cone he made it in and enjoyed the show sitting in my moms lap. Needless to say, her hands were tired after 2 hours.

ETC...

The other day Payton asked if he could be in charge of getting he and Benjamin dressed. A few minutes later they came to the back door and asked to be let out. Payton said, "We are wearing boots and skin today." They had a blast rolling around in the leaves like this... and Tony and I had a blast watching them.







Payton fell last Friday night and sliced his head "to the bone" as he likes to say. He asked me the other day, "Is God healing my head?" "Yes" I told him..."well, I wish he wouldn't" he replied, "People love it."





Benjamin has responded to Payton's accident by choosing to wear this helmet everywhere we go. He keeps it beside his car seat and puts it on when we get in the car.

Thoughts...

If I could give a list of the top ten thoughts rolling around in my head as drive down the road you would most of the time find me pondering one of these:

1. I am desperate for Jesus. My marriage is great, my kids wonderful, my friends are a gift...and yet in the midst of every blessing I have received I am that much more convicted of the sin, really the ugliness, that still resides in my heart. I need Him in the most real sense of the word.

2. I really miss my grandmother. She went to be with the Lord on August 10th. She was ready to be with Him and we all knew it was time. Yet I ache over the loss of her friendship here on earth. The boys and I would go by nearly every other day and show off all their new tricks. She thrilled at watching them. I listen to Benjamin's little talking voice and choke up sometimes...she would of loved it. That thought is always followed up by the knowledge of knowing her heart is thrilled at being in the presence of the Lord...she had longed for that. I miss her deeply.

3. Sometimes I am in too big a hurry. I am a "stay-at-home" mom and yet I look around and I am doing alot that does not involve staying at home. I will never have these years back with our 2 boys. I am concentrating more on making the priorities priorities...I listened to a song the other day that said, "love to me is when you put down that "just one more thing" and say nothing will come between me and you, not even one thing." I will always have just "one more thing", I will not always have them in this home. Lord, let me cherish every moment.

4. My posture is terrible. Terrible.

5. There are alot of things that make me cry out to the Lord. I long for Ira Hays to grow up strong and healthy. I long for marriages of people I love to be healed. I long for my sister and Randy's work in Benin to continue to bring the most amazing harvest. I long for many who ache for a baby to be able to have one of their own. I long for the heartaches of those I know and some that I don't to be healed. Most of all, I long for more of Him in every situation...even when I do not understand what that means I know that I want it.

6. The people at Sonic know what we want when we pull up. Payton rolls down his window and yells out our order from the back seat. Lately I have been driving past Sonic...We eat too many grilled cheese and I drink too many diet cokes and frankly its embaressing to be the "Norm" of the neighborhood Sonic.

7. Our boys are boys in the truest sense of the word...and we have the stitches to prove it. I think about their personalities and marvel at what makes them, as well as Tony tick. I am mesmorized by all of their thoughts and actions. They intrigue me.

8. Will I ever get organized? My husband is disciplined and in order in almost every aspect of his life. I long for more of that. It does not come natural for me but I want to make it happen...at least enough that you can sit down in our office and not have bills fall into your coffee.

9. Sometimes I will say out loud, "I am tired." People are always quick to say all the reasons why I would be... and I agree those are tiring. But honestly, the most exhausting part of being a parent to me is the sheer vulnerability of having your heart be on the outside of your body at all times in the form of your children. I want the best for our 2, the 8 other nieces and nephews I have, all the children that have knit their way into my heart...and I am struck with the reality that sometimes watching the best unfold, even just growing up, is painful.

10. I need to literally learn to "love my neighbor as myself" and that means getting out there and meeting more of them than I know now.

The Boys

These guys love each other and being outdoors. They walk the perimeter of our backyard constantly, play on the swingset, dig, make leave piles, jump in them and basically do all manner of things to get dirty (I feel like I have accomplished a great deal when we only have to take 2 baths each day.) They ask to be let outside early and then scratch on the back door like little dogs when they get thirsty. I love being their mom!

You will notice Benjamin has learned to try to attempt a mean face. My dad always (lovingly) growls at the boys when he sees them. Benjamin has picked up this trait and is running with it.