Well hello there

            Hello there, blogging world. Nice to see you again. Back in action. Here we go. I guess I`ll just kinda be filling you in on what`s been going on around here...

As far as I know, I won`t really be posting any pictures, because I don`t have access to them at the moment. So, I guess I`ll just be typing a lot. ;) Anyway, something that is super exciting is that I started taking guitar lessons recently! Soooooo super uber pumped that I get to do this!!! I started playing when I was 13, so 4-ish years ago. But I had mostly taught myself over that period of time, so this is going to be excellent for me, not just as a guitar player, but also as a musician in general. 

           While I`m on the subject of music, I will officially publicly reveal that I am working on an album. Although I think that most of you knew already anyway haha. But yeah, I am really excited about it and I am having a blast recording all of it and experimenting. I hope to put together a collection of 12 songs. I`m up to 7 right now, but those aren`t even quite done yet. I`m sorta hoping to  have it done by the end of the summer, but we`ll see what happens. :) Maybe I`ll just release an EP or something...I don`t know. Anyway, yeah, that`s happening and it`s really fun!

           Summer is almost here! Crazy. And speaking of summer, it is the season of finding a job for many, including me and my bro. We are hoping to work at Family Christian, and we`ve already put in about 10 hours there, but we`re not officially hired yet. Confusing, I know. They needed help moving in to a new location, so we helped out with that. Hopefully, we will get put into the schedule, but we`ll have to wait and see. 

           Also, related to summer, our sister Sunshine is home from school!!!!! Which is just fantastic. 

           Also, not really related to summer, my parents headed for Jamaica in the wee hours of this morning. Which means that we children are home alone for 6 days or so. Hopefully we will hold down the fort adequately. ;) 

           Just a couple nights ago, our little sister Peaches officially graduated kindergarten!! Whoohoo!!! The little program they put on was just great. It was so fun for me, T-bird, and Sunshine to watch, because we had graduated from kindergarten at the same school, and with the same teacher that Peaches had! They did a lot of the same stuff that we did in our graduating program. That was 11 years ago for me and T-bird....weird...I feel really old. 

           Oh, and our youth group just started going through Proverbs. We`re gonna be going through it throughout the summer. It`s been super good!! As we read it, we`re trying to find connections to Christ mainly, but also other New Testament stuff. It`s pretty amazing how much you can find when you`re keeping your mind open to more that just what you`re reading. It`s caused a lot of good discussion as well. I think it`s a really excellent way of edifying and encouraging one another as fellow believers. I`m really excited to continue with it!

          Anyway, there`s probably a whole lot more going on that I missed, but I`ll stop there. Have a fantasmagorical weekend!!!!

--Rye Bread

                 

Vacation(s) Part 2

  Okay, so the title is pretty self-explanatory. Here`s pictures of our family reunion at Johnson Lake!! :)

These two were in the water pretty much right when we got there!!

And, naturally, TUBING!!!!!!!

The sun looked super cool behind this cloud one evening. Made for a pretty legit pic.

Me and Eddie Joe getting ready!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!

Chillin` by the fire

Peaches and Eddie Joe love hanging out with their cousin Lauren!!

Oh and there happened to be a few national sail-boat races while we were there. Crazy!! So if you saw a sail-boat race on ESPN, we were there. Haha :)

  Yeah so there weren`t really that many pics, but it was a really good time!!! Well, thanks for reading!! Have a great rest of the weekend and dude God is awesome!! Find your joy and satisfaction in Him. Cuz that`s where it`s truly at!


--Rye Bread

Vacation(s) Part 1

  Okay, so this year, we kinda sorta had two vacations, but you could probably count them as one too, but, you know, whatever you want. Haha anyway, we went to South Carolina for the first "half" of vacation for a week. Basically, the ocean was in the backyard of the beach house we were staying in. Pretty sweet!! I`ll just post some pics of that. :)

On our way!! Waiting at our gate...

First evening at the beach..the waves and the sky screaming praise and glory to the King!!

Wave jumping!

Eddie Joe - what a stud!!

We found a couple good-sized spiders our first night

We went into Charleston one day. Stopping for lunch...

Sunshine loves lampposts!!

T-bird - swag city!!!

Fort Sumter--where the first shots of the Civil War rang out!

After our little tour, we were pretty pleased with ourselves to find this lovely fountain where we happily dipped our feet until we read the sign below...

Hehe...

We went down to the battery next. Some HUGE cannons!!

There were some pretty cool trees in the area. I wasn`t really feeling well enough to join the climbing though. Oh well. :)

We took some family photos.

Not quite ready for this one...haha

More swimming!!

All in all, a pretty awesome week!! Hope you enjoyed the pics! I will try to post some more of Vacation Part 2 sometime soon. :)


--Rye Bread

Two years??

         So, today, crazily enough, is our 2 year fami-versary!!! Meaning that two years ago today, "Peaches" (6) was brought home from Ethiopia to be part of our family. Officially. And right now all I can think is, "What?!? Two years? Impossible!!" It`s pretty weird. But anyway adoption is super awesome. Knowing where my little sister came from and what she went through at such a young age is pretty incredible. Knowing where she would be now if we hadn`t adopted her. Wow. Praise the Lord that adoption is possible!! And man what an amazing picture of what our heavenly Father has done for us. So yeah. Two years. Still can`t get over it. Peaches is such a blessing in our lives. She keeps us on our toes, that`s for sure. We love you Peaches and we are so thankful that God put you in our family!!!!!

--Rye Bread



Another song...just a cover of a Jon Foreman song this time, if you want to check it out.

House of God, Forever (Cover)

The Plea of a Former Orphan

      Just a couple of days ago we had our re-adoption court hearing for our Peaches. It`s basically the legal process of adoption in the US. As we were in the courtroom, Peaches grew more and more reserved. And as my parents carried her with them up to the witness chairs, she began crying quietly. After the hearing was over, the tears fell more profusely and sobs began to shake her little shoulders. We were wondering, why is she so upset?? Then, snuggled in Sunshine`s arms, she said through her tears, "But--but I wanna stay with you guys." We finally understood. She was scared that this hearing meant that she would be leaving our family. But we explained to her that it was quite the opposite. We continued to console her, saying, "You will always be in our family. We love you. We love you. We love you. You will be in our family forever. That`s why we had to do this." She seemed to understand to some extent and we left the courthouse for some yummy Perkins. Soon, bacon was clenched in her hand, and thus, a smile spread across her face. What an awesome little sister I have. You can read about this in more detail at our family`s blog, here. Have a great weekend!!


--Rye Bread

Colorado and cousins and stuff

     Hello again. Well, Colorado was AWESOME but I`m horrified to say that we did not take a single picture. Not a single one. So, sorry about that. I really wish we would`ve because we had such a grand time, but no. T-bird and I had a crazy, but awesome time with our cousins whom we have been pretty much best friends with since birth. :) Ever since we were little we`ve had the the nickname the Peanuts, and it just kinda stuck. So, even now when almost all of us are in high school (Lauren`s got one more year in middle school), we four cousins are still the Peanuts. Pretty awesome. Haha. Here are a few pics that somewhat capture our weirdness when we`re together.

The Peanuts. And Eddie Joe. From L to R: T-bird, Lauren, me, Abby, and Eddie Joe.

Abby. Haha.

The Peanuts goin` swimming at the legendary Johnson Lake.

In the kiddie pool.

TUBING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D

Our band. The Peanuts.

Yeah. Don`t ask.

Peanuts in the brig.

Us singing some sort of song in one of our "concerts." ;) Not sure why we were wearing toilet paper.

DISNEY WORLD

At the pool. :)

JOHNSON LAKE!!!!

Takin` Lauren down!

Yeah. No comment...

      So, yeah, sorry we didn`t take any pictures while we were there, but I hope you enjoyed looking at all the wacky pics of us from the past several years. They are such awesome cousins!! Anyway so the wedding was great, Eddie Joe and Peaches nailed it (close enough anyway), and we played telephone pictionary. Fantastic game by the way, you should definitely google it and play it sometime. Alright, I will now leave you with a skit that me, T-bird and my cousins did last year. Again, beware the weirdness.           








--Rye Bread