Past 3 years ...

One of our first pictures of her when we were waiting for her Spring '06

Don't you just wanna pick her up and hug her!?!?! When we first got her. This is in our hotel Aug. '06

November '06

March '07

Decemer '07

April '08

August '08

May '09

June '09

These past 3 years seem like a whirlwind! When I got up this morning to get Lydia up I remembered it was her 'Gotcha Day' 3 years from today dad, Benjamin and I were in Ethiopia getting our adorable little Lydia from the orphanage. I remember getting on the plane to fly across the Atlantic. I also remember holding her for the first time (Benji and I had a contest to see who hold her first. I won :)) She was like a little angel placed in my arms. I wanted to cry but ... I didn't. As I look at her now, I just want to hold that little 5-month-old baby again! :( I'm so privileged to be able to have watched her grow. It's been amazing to see her crawl, walk, run, climb, talk, sing, etc. just being with her is an adventure! Like I said a couple posts ago, her giggle is one of my top favorite things about her; it's contagious!

Sometimes when I get annoyed with her, I forget about how special she is in my life. I'll see the 'bad' part of her and forget the fun part of her. God has truly blessed me with Lydia and these past 3 years and they will be unforgettable. My biggest memories of her is when she said my name for the first time (bri-bri) and (ofcourse) when I held her for the first time, and when she first walked.

Lydia, I love you so much! More then you'll ever know! I can't wait to see what God will fulfill in you life!

God Bless,

Bri

Comforting Words

Psalm 18: 1-3

'I love You, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies'


These are some of my favorite life verses. They always bring me comfort when I'm distressed/worried, scared/afraid, depressed, lonely, doubtful, hurt etc. I even read them when I'm happy, excited, amazed, etc. b/c they bring not only comfort, but joy.

When I read them I see that God is actually saying these words to me!! When we pray, we are talking with God. The way God talks to us is through His word: The Bible. That's how He communicates with us. Those are His words put down on paper for us to read what He's saying to you and me.

When I got baptized in September '07, these were the verses I said after I gave my testimony. The reason I chose them is b/c they bring comfort and joy and they have helped me in my walk with God. These verses are like an everlasting and eternal stronghold that will never let me down.


God Bless,

Bri

Blessings from God

Lydia, the cute and giggling one.

Braden, the mechanic in our family, a great smart kid!

Benjamin, the family clown and a God-fearing person

Siblings. What do you think when you say/think that word? Me .... ? Well .... I think a bunch of different things!! Intelligent, fun, hilarious, always hungry, gifted, annoying ;), precious, awesome, quirky, pesky, outgoing, oh brother!! etc.

But, besides those, I think (well, I try to :)) of them as blessings from God. Thru the 15 1/2 years of my life I've seen 3 blessings come into it. When I was almost 2, Benjamin John was born and I held him when he was barely a day old. I obviously don't remember that but I will always carry that picture in my head. He is one of my best friends and has a great 13-year-old sense of humor that could make me laugh for hours! 6 years later Braden James Hien flew home with my parents from Vietnam. He was only 3 and now he's almost 11!!! He's very smart and he is always there when we don't know how to fix something that's very complex! Sometimes he just 'knows'. Braden is full of eagerness and determination. 4 years after that God put Lydia Joy Adama into our lives. When we went to get her in Ethiopia she was 5 months old and one night when we were in our hotel room, Benji was making her laugh as hard as she could. Her laugh is always a great sound to my ears! Now she's 3 and still laughs out loud!

I won't be posting for about a week b/c I'm going camping.

God Bless!

Bri

Mathematical formula

This is SO COOL!

101% from a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What' equals 100%? What does it mean to give more than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been in situations where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 100%? What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help answer these questions:

If ...

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z equal ....

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 (you know, A=1, L=12, W=23, get it?)

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%


K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5= 96%


A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5= 100%


THEN, look at how far the love of God will take you:


L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D


12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4= 101%



Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While hard work and knowledge will get you close, attitude will get you there, it's the LOVE OF GOD that will put you over the top!





Pretty cool, eh? Don't ask me if I came up with this cause I (obviously) didn't! Math isn't my best friend :) I got this in an e-mail.

God bless,

Bri

Camp Pictures

The bus ride there (16 hours) we stopped @ a hotel on Sunday night and we went swimming in there pool but they didn't have the right amount of chemicals and I always swim with my eyes open. So .... i was REALLY bloodshot that night! ow! We got to the WILDS after lunch on Monday

My cabin (my cabin was the plankwalkers on the Sapphire Bay Schooners! blue)

3 .... 2.... 1 .... GO!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

This was one of my fav.

This was where we had our lake day!! The jump tower was THE BEST!!! It felt like slow motion when you were in the air.

Me and Erika. It was SO HOT!! We were all miserable until we got to the falls

The looooooooooooooooooooooooooong walk! But it was totally worth it!

WOW!! isn't this just breathtaking??!! When I saw this I thought to myself that nobody but God could've been so creative to make something as gorgeous as a waterfall!! Amen!

I was sliding dow the slippery slope. really fun

me and Allison

you can barely see my head on the bottom left

amazing ...

The reason I'm all sandy is b/c my cabin had a competition with our brother cabin to see who could say all of their verses first. As you can see, we lost. So we had to jump in the river and roll in the sand. It was actually a lot of fun :)

This was where we ate all our delicious meals; but that's only half the building! there's a lot more campers to the left and right!

Like my blue make-up? he he he :) don't worry, i wasn't the only one!

My cabin celebratin' cuz the blue team won!!! yay! (that was only part of our cabin, there's 4 others)

Me and my awesome counselor

(no, she didn't dye her bangs!! lol It's a barret that you can clip in your hair)

Me and Michelle, sad and happy to be home. We already missed camp once we left :(

Ok, so it's been almost a month since camp and I finally have all my pictures loaded (thx dad). The waterfalls were AMAZING! They're always the best part!

God Bless,

Bri