Some people just don't get it.

I saw this "Demotivator" as they're called and it made me laugh. Partly because of the self-esteem and individuality kick our country has been on the past few decades we don't accurately see our place. It's just like the sinful nature we each harbour inside. We tend to think that we are more important than we really are.

Romans 12:3 says ... "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."(NIV)

I wish all Christians lived this out, and that goes for me too. I often find myself needing a large dose of humility from the Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving!

J.

3rd Wedding Anniversary Getaway!

My wife and I were able to get a babysitter for D and get away to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary at a quaint Bed & Breakfast in the rural lands of Michigan. The house we stayed in was built in 1834 and was quite lavish but updated with modern amenities. It was a blessing to be able to go on this short trip. Becky & I enjoyed it greatly and D did well away from us. So everybody won.

J never home!

For the next month J is on the go...with pastors retreats, Quizzing starting up and training sessions hes out for a month so if you think of it, D and i would love a phone call or an excuse to get out of the house!

I had to add a picture of D, but this was taken on the lake in MN, July 09.

Woodward Cruise

We were able to participate in our first

Woodward Cruise at the Phoenix Center in Pontiac

An overview of all the cars in the lot!
a SS Chervil for Monk

Isn't he so cute...

another car for Monk

Minnesota Vacation, Part Two

We went to the cities following part one.

On our way down we went to one of J's favorite lakes,
It was nice to be back in lake country

D with Grandma

the Cousins



a beautiful wedding we went to

D and Grandpa

and finally in the car for the ride home!!!

~Mama B

Mandles Candles for Manly Men!

$1.99 Downloadable Video Illustrations – Mandles (HD Available) at Bluefish TV

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Minnesota Vacation, Part One

We first drove 20 hours straight through to

moms wonderful home town and

here are a few of the activities we have relaxed to over the past (almost) week

D Sleeping in the car

Boating for Grandmas Birthday

Visiting Great-Grandma

First Bobcat Ride!


D and the Puppy

More coming next week!
~Mama

D walking to Daddy!

This is Duncan yesterday in my office walking to Daddy for allot longer than I had seen him walk before. For a long time he would take a few steps and then crawl, but now he is prefering to walk and I am just blown away by how much he's changed in a year!!!

J. Daddy

Play time with all my presents

D received many more fun gifts for his birthday,
we just haven't taken pictures of them
with the camera he also was given!

D got this adorable summer out fit from a neighbor

a Jeep truck (Grandpa E. do you love it?)

Some adorable wood blocks that came is a wood wagon/tray

D all grown up and 1 year old

D waiting patiently for the guests to arrive to the party


The cake

Enjoying time with mom, that's few and far between now!

Two good friends enjoying lunch

Chirping Prairie Dogs at the Detroit Zoo!

My wife, son and I were at the Detroit Zoo and the Prairie Dogs were especially talkative. The dog directly in the center was the noisy one. The other Prairie Dog on the left was the mobile one. I just couldn't resist taking out my mobile phone and recording a short video. This video would have been longer but I ran out of memory on my phone.

Grandparents Visit

J's parents visited the other day 

(okay so almost a month ago but 

the camera got stolen so this is taking much longer to update, 

especially with a baby!)

here are a few pictures from our phones...

D and Grandma walking at the Henry Ford Estate

D enjoying standing on cold rocks when it was close to 90 degrees outside.

D with Dad and Grandpa at the Ford Museum looking at Aviation stuff.

D looks just as interested as me and his Grandma were.

~Moma B

Family Day at the Detroit Zoo

On Monday we all went to the Detoit Zoo because a family in our church was kind enough to give my family a membership. God is good.

D. & Daddy shopping,30 Hr. Famine & maybe pies in my face!

This is a picture that I just couldn't resist

adding to the blog. Mostly because of how funny

D. looks with his Babe the blue Ox. B., D. & I were

shopping for stuff to make a display for church so I can eventually get a pie in my face. Well the

real reason is that 3 church's our's being one of

them are competing to see who can collect the

most toiletry items for a local shelter/rehab

ministry. The winning church wins the right for

their students to throw 2 pies in their youth pastors face.

So far I hear that my church is in

the lead, but we'll find out this Friday at the

30 Hour Famine event my church and the other

2 church's are participating in.

B. was so kind to put together an amazing

display for the toiletry items drive and I believe

it really helped inform the church and get more of

the congregation involved in helping the shelter.

All praise to Jesus who works in ways I could never.

Growing like a weed

Every baby needs a picture of bath time!

He's already in my purse!

D loves to help with laundrey, or at least go along for the ride

D trying to flee the crime scene

Yes its hard to belive that he is already standing on his own.

It was only yesterday that

we moved here with a little baby who could barly lift his head...

Pinewood Derby

The church held their annual Pinewood Derby the other day.

D really enjoyed himself while we were there!

The track was rather impressive...
it was computerized and hooked to a laptop which
projected each races results on a screen in MPH
and it was really long!

Ministers Licensing process

I had my ministerial licensing interview on Tuesday and it went very well. I was nervous at first in a way that I hadn't been in a number of years. However the Lord answered my prayers and calmed my nerves and the interview was encouraging as my wife & I shared our stories and I answered theological questions.

On Wednesday I received an email that confirmed my suspicion as it said the C.O.O.L committee decided to recommend me to the executive board for licensing as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am pleased to have this next step in ministry started and near completion. This was really a great affirmation of God's call on our live's.

The Lord is good that He would choose to use a messed up person like myself to reach people for Jesus.

J. Bridell

Blogging... does anyone really read this?

I saw this picture awhile back and it made me laught and think about why we blog and what the impact of our blogging really is compared with what we would like to imagine it is. Anyway I'm mainly posting this humorous picture about blogging for humor's sake.

J. Bridell

Ministerial Licensing Interview

Yesterday I had my Ministerial licensing interview with the Michigan district of the Missionary Church. My wife came with me and was interviewed some as well. The meeting went well and was encouraging. I recieved an email today stating that the C.O.O.L committee reccomended to the district executive board that I be licensed as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have a couple of loose ends to complete and then in March the Executive board meets and I'll know then if i'm going to be licensed. I'm excited to move forward in ministry and this is a significant affirmation of the ministry the Lord has called me to.

J. Bridell

D learning to pull himself up

D recently started to pull himself up.

Here he is digging in his toy tub.

Grandparents Visit

Last week my parents came to visit. It was so much fun to have some of MN with us here. While they were here we visited the International Car Show at the Cobo Center.

Autie, B and D in a car,
I'm sure it was a cool car cause we waited a long time to get in it....

D sizing out a crossover Toyota

J really happy to be showing D all the new cars

When it was time for them to leave, Grandpa tried to take the baby with him....

~Mama Bridell

Annual Youth Conference

3 on 3 Basketball fun... and ridiculously short shorts.

Impressive play I know. Not many people can miss two shots in under a minute and look good while doing it. Anyway the conference was well done and I believe impactful on the students. This type of event always makes me feel like I did when I first started ministering to teenagers when I was twenty. My energy is always abundant and I ride the wave from activity to activity till it's over. Then when I get home I make nice with my bed for at least ten hours. After this Youth Conference it was more like twelve hours of sleep. J. Bridell