Christmas in the Bridell House

We had a good Christmas. D's first! He loved to play with the paper more then most of the gifts.

D on Christmas Eve.

We spent all day in our PJ's,
it was so nice and relaxing to be expected to do nothing!

D and his stocking suffer, a baby's first hammer.

And to those that gave noisy toys, i will not be replacing some of their batteries... theres alot of new noises in the house, not all of them are pleasant (the lion for example!)

Before Christmas

So, i have yet to get the Christmas pictures on here, but its worth returning to see as D is really cute!!! These pictures are thus result of before Christmas pictures....

D recently started exploring the different tastes of solid food mushed,
this one is plums.

I love this picture of different Apothecary Jars
it was put together for a centerpiece at a church dinner.

The following were taken as we were getting ready for Christmas...

Our Christmas card!

Our tree in full splendor

D and Mom in AZ and CA

D and I took a trip to AZ to visit family then out to San Diego to watch my bro graduate from Marine boot camp. and as i can't find my pictures (lost camera and jump drive!!!!!) you will be seeing pictures my sister took on the trip that I am knifing from her facebook :)

D and the new Marine! such a good picture of all....

We toured a carrier ship and Nana held D alot of the time!
it was nice to have extra hands around

D and me on the Beach in CA.

D and his first sippy cup!

This is my son in a car on his way to California with my wife and in-laws.

A little blurry but the cuteness still comes through.

fall Pictures of D

Here's a few pictures that were recently...

Hes growing up so fast, and already sitting up,

not by himself, but with the help of his highchair.

it's one of his favorite places to be.

D was a pumpkin for Halloween!

he was so cute...

We have big oak trees in our front and back yard.

D was trying to eat the leaves as I was finished taking this picture.

Basketball Baby

Today we found a baby basketball hoop and had to get it,

if just to bring back the memories of when we were kids.

Daddy helps prepare the shot

D gets ready

He aims, shoots....

and he makes it!

Our 2nd Anniversary

J planed a wonderful day out for the two of us on our anniversary.

We went out to see Nights in Rodantha, all by ourselves!
D stayed with a babysiter for the first time that wasn't family!
He seamed to enjoy himself.

After the movie and time away from Mom and Dad,
we went out for supper as a family.

It was a wonderful day of remebering our past few years together
and looking forward to many more years together.

~Mama B

D's Growing Accomplishes

D has started to like siting up.

He still needs to be helped once and a while,

but enjoys looking at the world from a new perspective.

D has also started to grab at things that we are using.
His favorite thing to grab is our coffee cups,
maybe that's because we have them in our hands most?!

Goats,a river,carmeled appels and a Cider MILL!

Last Saturday we went to a Cider mill and took lots of pictures of D.

J then used the pictures of D to advertise the upcoming youth event.

I love this picture, D sits so proper!

D showing off the farm animals.

There was a long trail that was very rough,
so we had to carry D instead of push him in the stroller.

~Mama

The Pastor's Retreat was great!

As my wife "B" said I went on a minister's retreat this week. It was a good opportunity to meet other Pastor's from the denomination and to learn more about becoming the disciple maker that Jesus wants me to be. I drank lots of coffee as I was groggy like a bear most of the retreat. However I did have the chance to go golfing with some fellow workers in Christ and it was a humorous yet fun time. I'll let you guess why it may have been humorous. It probably has nothing to do with my golf game ;)
The Lord is good as were the pastors I met on the retreat. A number of pastors really blessed me in various ways. Whether it was a ride to the retreat center or to the golf course, agreeing to preach at my church or just introducing themselves and genuinely caring who I am and what the Lord has called me to do. We of course took time out to watch the presidential debate and laughed along with the rest of you. If you watched the SNL in prime time last night than you know what I'm talking about. One question... what is up with Tom Brokaw?
That's all for now Pastor J.

J's work life

J had a wonderful time last week on a weekend camp out with the boys of the church. and this week, Monday through Wednesday, J is on a Pastors Retreat through the denomination. It will be a good time for him to meet other pastors in the area and set a focus for the upcoming year.

I pray, and ask you to pray, that this week he will be meeting and building firm relationships with local pastors as we go in to a period without a Senior Pastor. It will be good to have pastors in the area that he can call and get together with.

we are going in to a busy month as J is gone this week and next weekend, our 2nd anneversary, then B the followingweekend for a pastors' wives retreat through the denomination. Ending the month with a fun youth outing to a cider mill!

~B

D's Dedication

D was dedicated to be raised in a Christian home Sunday October 5.

D stared at Daddy the whole time, it was so cute!

Another family also dedicated their two grandchildren,

who they are now raising. Thier little girl loves to play with Duncan so much,

it was nice that they were able to also be dedicated that day.

It was Pastors last week there, so after the service we had a wonderful potluck

in which everyone wore a tie, including D!

~B

Tall boy, like daddy

okay so this is to show how tall he is!

It seams like he is growing overnight... literally.

He is in a 3-6 month sleeper and its almost to short on him as he is so long...

I don't know how big our TV is but he is taller then that, as he is standing in front of the TV.

2 weeks ago he was 25" and I'm sure hes grown another inch or so sense then.... Crazy.

smiles and ZZzz's

D Grows so fast, and has such a vibrant smile!

i can't take enough pictures of that smile...
and hes so cute when hes sleeping...

Detroit Zoo

We took a Saturday morning and visited the Detriot Zoo. D slept through the most of the trip as he was in his stroller and likes to sleep in there. J and I had a great time walking around and seeing all the animals.

One of our favorites was the Polar Bears, one is sleeping next to the rock structure above, you might be able to see a white lump to the right of it.

A family in the church blessed us with a family pass for the year, something that D and I will use alot as they have alot of indoor exibits that are open all year long and allow strollers to walk through.

Babies, fingers and stuffed animals!

My son sucks... ok I mean he sucks his fingers... allot! His fingers are so long that he chokes himself when he sucks his fingers. My son using his 3 month old wisdom has found a solution to this and now puts his fingers along his cheeks and then proceeds to suck like a Hoover on them. He is so very cute though and I thank the Lord for him.
Proud Father J. Bridell

Welcome Potluck

Sunday the church welcomed us with a potluck. We had to sit in front of everyone. It kinda felt like our wedding all over, minus an attendant on each side and no kissing. It was nice to meet everyone that we have been seeing and hearing stories about, but never being able to put a face to those names.

At the table going from the outside in is the head elder and his wife, the pastor and his wife who is holding D, then of course J and B. It was truly a fun time in a place we are truly welcomed at!

Greenfield Village

We went to an Old Car Festival, put on at one of the Ford estates,
Greenfield Village.

It was the hundred year anniversary for the Model T

so it was really big with lots of cool cars.

Really I just loved the architecture there,

so we don't have many pictures of the cars.

The village was pieced together by Ford to hold many historical buildings,

and also to be a learning center.

Many of the skills taught there were designed to educate young men

about the fundamentals of auto making.

for instance: welding, mechanical work, upholstery...

Then there were things brought in to round out the education of the visitors;

hat making, carding wool, printing....

I loved the covered Bridge! and people were still driving on it,

in fact a car from the early 1900's came out after i took the picture.

One of the ladies we went with bought one of the hats
made in the hat place on site.
D loved the feather, especially when it blew in the wind.

They also had a train station with the round circle in the middle
so trains to change tracks!

All in all it was a fun day out and about. We didn't make it to High Tea

(the menu was amazing but the price was a bit high
for a cup of tea and some Crumpets,

which are actually midely sweet, dry English muffin type things.)

D, Growing so fast

Last week D learned how to pick his head up.

This week he... started to sleep through the night.

...roll over, even though i don't think he knows hes doing it.

...use his hands to grab things.

He is just growing up so fast!

Everyone one here loves him so much,

and loves to hold him even more

(which i like with my hand casted)

Henry Ford Estate

On our first Saturday here we decided to do something very Michigan... to visit the Henry Ford Estate. It was so beautiful!


The fireplace of the Estate were what caught my attention. There were so many among the 56 rooms of the estate. The fireplace to the left was one of the biggest. we put D on the steps leading up to it, for a size comparison. Look at how small he is! The fireplace to the right reads on the mantel "Cut your own firewood, and you'll be warmed twice." How appropriate for a fireplace mantel.




Of course there were lots of cars in his 12 car garage. His wife had many flower gardens (and at time of residence 56 Gardners to tend to them all), of which we saw very few of because of time constraints, but the ones we did see were so beautiful and well laid out.

move to Michigan

before we left for Michigan we said goodbye to everone back home.

we had great party with the Bridell side of the family.

this was first time Great Grandma had seen D.

and the proud Uncle, holding him like a china doll...
It was nice to be able to say goodbye to everone.