Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas to all! We pray that your Holiday was as splendid as ours. We were able to spend much time with family this year. We were with Joshua's side on Christmas Eve at his Brother and Sister-in-laws home. It was a wonderful time with a great meal. And so much fun with our niece and nephew. Elyssa found a new buddy in her cousin Gavin, The kids really enjoyed the evening as did Joshua and I. Many thanks to them for hosting such a wonderful evening. Christmas day we were with my Mom and family. It was so much fun and the kids were very spoiled as were Joshua and I. There was so much food, and yummy food at that. I think if I did not eat for the rest of the month that I would still be fine. LOL. Also many thanks to them for hosting Christmas Day! It was so nice to spend this Christmas with so much family. We are truly blessed beyond measure!

This Christmas was extra special to us because on December 20Th Tatum accepted the LORD Jesus Christ as her personal savior. No words can express the Joy that our family has shared through this Christmas and how much more dear the birth of our Saviour has been to us!

We found out that Joshua will be meritoriously promoted to Gunny on Jan 2, 2011. He was up on a board for 9Th Marine Corp District and was selected. Congrats to him and this huge accomplishment! We were suprised and so excited to hear this news!

We have received our move dates and will be leaving North Dakota on the 18Th of February to start our journey to Jacksonville, North Carolina! We will officially be leaving the mid~west on the 25Th of February after we spend a few days with friends and family. It is coming upon us so quickly. I can not believe that our tour of duty here is almost to it's end. It has been an amazing experience and a real blessing to be so close to our family for the few years that we have been in Fargo.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Y'all!!!!!!

Love, In Christ
Brittany and the family
ps. YAY!!! I finally got some pictures to load =) The pictures of the Girl's with the sweet little blonde girls, those are my dear friend Beth's girl's, they were taken after the Christmas program at our Church.

News From North Dakota...

Hey to all our Family and Friends,
Winter is quickly approaching. We have had some flurries yet nothing has stayed on the ground. We have been very blessed to have a beautiful and long fall this year. Our move is vastly coming on our heals. Joshua is at Staff Academy and has 4 weeks left. Yeah! We are so excited he is almost done =) We leave here sometime in February for our next tour of duty.
Today as the light snow was sprinkling I was excited. Christmas will be here in no time. Hard to believe that we are coming to the close of another year. And what a great one it has been.
I wanted to get some new photos up of the children. These are the ones that we had taken for school this year. I love how they turned out. Many Thanks to our dear friend Bethy for volunteering her talents for merly pennies to our home school group. I know that we are all truly thankful. I hope you enjoy and that your holiday season is going well.

With Love in Christ,
Brittany

I am having a problem up loading the pictures so they are to the Left of this post...

A Mothers Heart...

(We just finished our second week of school today. Sorry, I wrote this last week. Just now have the time to getting it up =) This week was just as amazing as the first... YEAH!!!)

This week we have successfully finished our first week of school! YEAH!!! I can not even began to express how thankful I am that the LORD has afforded me the opportunity to teach our children at home. This week was so much fun. And to see Tatum and Elyssa grasp new concepts was amazing. I think of how much the Bible has to say about motherhood. It is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. I know that these little lives have been given to Joshua and I to teach and to train and ultimately, serve the LORD. I think of the story in the Bible of the widow, whose husband had passed away. Her husband had left behind much debt. And the debt collectors were demanding to be payed. All she had were her children. The debt collectors were going to take away her children, and place them into slavery to wipe away the debt that was owed. (They were not messing around in those days!) The LORD sent to her the prophet who told her to borrow all th pots and vessels that she could from her friends and neighbors. For all she had left, was one small pot of oil. He told her that she was going to fill all the vessels that she had with oil and sell them to pay the debts. She never questioned. She did as she was told and as she poured out the oil it never stop ed. It kept poring and overflowing, that she had so much oil and not enough vessels to fill. Abigail Miller wrote an amazing song about this story and how it relates to being a mother. As I sat listening to it and the noise of the children was filling the air. I could not help of think of how true this is. Each one of our precious children are an individual vessel that we are to fill with love, morals, wisdom, and so forth. And as a mother how sometimes we look at what we have to give and wonder "how will it ever be enough." By the grace of God he fills us up. He gives us the strength to make it through another day and blesses us with all the tools that we could ever need. So many times I have been asked questions by our children that floor me, and I have to be honest and say "let me think about that for a while and I will get back to you." And they remember that you said that you would get back to them. There are days when you can not see the end. Especially on recruiting duty. But I put my constant trust in God and that he already is at the end. He already knows what will be. I have complete faith in this and I know that I will make it to the end. I love being a mother. It is an overwhelming task. That presents itself with new adventures every day. That is why each day must be taken one day at a time. I can not look to tomorrow. I have no idea what tommorrow will hold. Besides I have enough cares for the day that are at hand. Each little vessel requires so much time poured into it. Love that is overflowing. Joy that is unstoppable. Adventure, security, faith, courage, and on and on. I do not think it an accident that women are better at multi-tasking then men. The LORD knew that as a mother we would have to know how to accomplish many tasks at once. =)And I know this to be true in every area of our life. Sometimes people will ask me what did you do today. I can usually say a few things but then I really have to think. My days are usually so full that I could not tell you exactly what I did. But I know that when I lay down at night I love the feel of my cozy sheets and my nice fluffy pillow =)

Joshua and I have often been told to enjoy the children because the time goes so fast. I know this is true. Reality has really set in. Tatum is in kindergarten. I can not believe it. However I am determined to not have a favorite stage. I want to enjoy them all. A pastor once said "The greatest mistake you can make with your children is having a favorite stage and trying to hold on to it. That every stage should be enjoyed, because each new stage has something new to offer." He was saying that he always heard the teen years were the worst and that he was determined to make them some of the best years. And he noted that they were. I can not honestly say right now that I am looking forward to those years. I am just enjoying life as it is right now.

My heart is so filled with joy, peace and a delight in our children... I must admit that I was a little nervous on how I was going to schedule everything in a day, with chores, cooking and school. But the schedule that I have I think will work great. It did last week any how. I may have to sacrifice a few hours of sleep. I must say that I do not mind. In fact I found it to be much of a blessing to have about 3 hours in the morning to my self before the rush of life set in! There is joy in everything if we just look beyond what we can see. I love being a mother and I am really enjoying the stage of life that we are in with our sweet little gifts from God. What a blessing they truly are. I could not think of anyway that I would rather live my life, then the way I am now. Serving the LORD through service to my family. What an amazing plan our God has made for us to follow. There is no greater purpose in a mothers life then to see those lives that she has an influence over, to serve the LORD and come into his presence. AMEN!!!

I just wanted to share with you what was on my heart. And let you know that Tatum and Elyssa are loving school. Hey, and I am loving school too. And little Titus, well I do not know if you can call him little anymore. He is also enjoying the school day. He sits at the table with markers and copies everything that is going on. If this keeps up he will be a genius! LOL... I also wanted to up-date and put some pictures up. but, For some reason the pictures are not loading. Check back later. I will try again soon!

With Love,
Brittany

Re-enlistment and Orders...

Hello to all...
After much prayer Joshua has re-enlisted. He officially re upped for another four years on Wed August 4th. We are both really excited to see what God has in this next tour of duty and are trusting Him to lead the way. We also have received our new orders. Hard to believe that we have been in Fargo for close to two and a half years now. The time has gone so fast. It has been a real blessing to be closer to family. We both know that we are going to miss that. And know that we will realize once we are gone and pinching pennies for airline tickets how nice we had it =) Any how our orders are for Camp Lejuine, North Carolina. It is located in Jacksonville right on the coast. We will be about two hours from Myrtle Beach and I think something like four hours from Virgina Beach. If that gives you an idea. We are so excited. We have been praying for months and we know that the Lord has worked everything according to His perfect will and purpose. I know our friends in Fargo want to know if we are sad to leave this wonderful, snowy place =) To them yes we are. We have been so amazingly blessed with the friendships that we have made and with the community that we have been able to be part of. You know the winters have always been rough. But Joshua and I have both agreed that Fargo North Dakota is a wonderful place to raise a family and call home. We will miss it more than any of you will know. But Lord willing we will someday, be able to visit again. There is something special that God gives you though when you know that you are following Him. That inner peace that passes all understanding. I can truly say that we will miss Fargo but that we are so excited to go to North Carolina and see what is a waiting us. It is as always bitter, sweet. We ask that you please pray now as Joshua prepares to put in a package for a warrant officer. The package has to be in sometime after the first of the year. He feels that he should put in the package and request to be a range officer. This is a huge deal. A very big selection process and a very big honor if selected. Also he would be non-deploy able. I know that may sound a little selfish. But hey,I am human =) Oh yes I almost forgot our Transfer will be sometime between mid January, to early February time frame. We love and miss y'all... Thanks for your prayers.

Love,
The Brown Family

It's Been a While...

It has been a while since our last post. This summer has been so busy and has just flown by. We have spent lots of time outside. I can not believe that the summer is already coming to a close. Yes we have a few weeks left. But fall is right around the corner. The falls are beautiful here and I am sure will bring lots of fun new activities. Tatum will officially start Kindergarten =) Yay. We are really looking forward to it!
Joshua re-enlisted into the Marine Corp on Wed August 4th for another four year tour. It came after much prayer and we are looking forward to what this next tour may hold. We will be leaving sometime in the early winter months to our next duty station. They are telling us right now some time early January. But any of you who know the military know that this is very tentative until we have our official orders. We are expecting them sometime this month or next. As of right now the only openings they have for his rank and position are 29palms and North Carolina. So we shall see. We are looking at the East Coast. Still praying about it though.
Tatum's eye has been getting better at every appointment. Her last check she was seeing at 20/30 a huge improvement from 20/100...Praise the Lord and thank you to all of you whom were praying we really do appreciate them. She has lost seven teeth already. Right now she has four missing with none that have come to re-place them =) She looks cute!
Elyssa is doing Great! She is very excited about school starting and is really looking forward to roller-skating Fridays. Every time we pass by the roller rink she asks when school will be starting so that we can go back.. I think this is an activity that both of the girl's are really looking forward to starting back up.
Titus, well he is almost as big as Elyssa. He is growing so fast and is just a big boy. I think he will be tall like his uncles. Only time will tell. But as of right now he is catching up quick with his big sisters. And he lets them know it...LOL...
Everything is amazing here in Fargo. Just starting to clean out closest and do what pre-paring we can for our transfer. I know that it will sneak up on us quick. They always do. I am sad to leave Fargo. But I am super excited to see what God has in store for our family next. He is so good and faithful I can not help but look forward to what he has prepared for us!

With Love,
Brittany, Joshua, Tatum, Elyssa and Titus





Joshua had to work the Red River Valley fair for the Marine Corp. We went and spent the morning so we could spend a little bit of extra time with Daddy and have some fun. Tatum, Elyssa and Titus all wanted to ride the ponies. Who would have ever thought that you would have to pay $5 a child to ride for 2 minutes. But iot was worth it. They loved it!



Pictures from the fourth of July.


Just a few random pics taken after breakfast. I thought Elyssa looked so cute she had been walking around with the necklace on her head like that all morning. She reminded me of a little hippy =)

Family up-date...

Things are going amazing up here in the North. Our summer has been so packed with fun filled adventures. After all we only have two seasons they say up here. It is winter and construction. LOL... I always laugh when I hear someone say that. When we first moved here I had no idea what they were talking about. But you bet, now I do. I love the community up here. They have so much for families to do in the summer and it is so affordable. In fact I think most of the stuff we have done so far has been free. Any how, this week is vacation Bible school. I am teaching a fours and fives class and Joshua has been out of town for work a few days. The girls are really enjoying their class. They are sooooo excited for tomorrow. The game is the final Friday water fight and then the Ferguson's do ice cream. They bring in this big old fashioned bike that has the old school ice cream carrier on the front. Every year it is a huge hit. We are all really looking forward to this. Although the girls have been counting every day that they have left. It is cute to see that this year they understand that as the days get less that means it is almost over. Today I heard Tatum and Elyssa talking at the table. Tatum was telling her that they only had tonight and tomorrow night left. So when we got in the van to go. They were talking about how excited they were but how sad they were that it was almost over. I explained to them that we should just really think about enjoying the time that we have left and that like many things it must come to an end. But that they will have next summer to look forward to. Other than that, nothing new in our neck of the woods. I will post some pictures soon. We miss y'all. Hope all is well where ever you may be.

Love,
Brittany and the Family

Titus Birthday Pictures...

So yesterday was our little mans second Birthday. I can not believe it. The time has just flown by. We had a low key birthday for him, but much fun. He is becoming such a little man. He is getting bigger by the week and smarter as the days go by. He is putting more and more words together and is just amazing. He absolutely adores his two big sisters. And I have to admit they play very well together. Of course they are siblings so they have their occasional spat. But really all in all they are so sweet and kind to each other. I could not ask for more precious children. I absolutely adore them. We had ice cream cake and then opened gifts. He was so funny when Joshua lit the candles he was so excited to blow them out. The funny part was he kept saying "again, again..." Joshua must have let him blow the candle out like five times or so. He just wanted them re-lit and to blow them out again. I thought it was so cute. I had never seen a kid do that before. For his birthday he got some match box planes and a starter Thomas the Train set, a little football, some candy from the girls, and his very own little New Testament, since he moved up to the big boy class. I know that he didn't really know what was going on. But he enjoyed singing Happy Birthday, the cake and the presents. Oh and Tatum and Elyssa treated him like a King all day. They were so funny. They kept saying that it was his birthday and they wanted everything to be perfect for him... They are so thoughtful.. I love it. Here are some pictures from Bubba's Birthday...

Love,
Brittany

Happy Birthday Titus!!!

Titus is two today!!! I can not believe how fast the past two years have gone. Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my sweet little prince on his special day =) I will post more pictures from today at a later time....

Love,
Brittany

Memorial Day Weekend...

You know as many of us were around barbeque's and on the lakes there were thousands of families across our land with tears and open photo books remembering those that they love that paid the price for us to enjoy our hamburgers and hot dogs. I was humbled by this thought as Monday morning came. The dewy smell in the air and around me were my beautiful Children and my wonderful husband Joshua. I was honored at that moment to be married to a military man. It really made me think what a selfless man I have married. One who has signed away his rights to the US government and has taken an oath to protect this country from foreign and domestic enemies. I must admit going into the weekend all I could think about was how excited I was for Joshua to have a three day weekend. But after the message that we heard on Sunday Morning I was reminded to remember. To stop and be thankful that someone else probably very young paid the price for the freedoms that you and I share. That it was someones husband, someones son, someones brother and someones father who shed their blood so that I could have freedom. And most importantly Christ who shed his blood so that we could have eternal life. I was truly blessed this memorial day. With a new look on it. Sure we may often observe what it is about by if we were honest many of us just see it as a three day weekend. My prayer is that when holidays such as this come around we pause and pray for the men and women over seas and here on the home front and that we would thank God that he has given them such courage.


Over the past months we have been getting a lot of advice on re-enlisting mostly on not to. I maybe have not encouraged my Joshua like I should=( But I have made up my mind that this is our life unless the LORD shows him other wise. The preacher we heard in Park Rapids made me so me know how blessed I am to be married to such a man. I am so grateful that we spent the weekend there and were able to sit under the preaching. It was defiantly a Divine appointment from God =)

We had a blast. We went up Friday night and came back Monday afternoon. The kids played in the sand box, however most of their precious time was spent in the lake. Tatum went tubing for the first time. I have to admit I was quiet shocked that she got on it. But wouldn't you know she loved it! Elyssa had a blast on the boat. She was not fond of the tubing idea, especially after she saw her cousin Katherine fall off. But she sure loved the boat ride and watching her big sister. Titus I think the only words we heard all weekend was boat and Juice. For some reason he was calling the lake Juice. He apparently thought it was we could not get him to stop drinking that nasty water...LOL...
Joshua went out for a night of fishing with Uncle Mike and I spent my days on the dock watching the little angles and getting some sun. It was a gorgeous weekend. We are going to miss our little get away spot when we move. It has been so much fun taking little trips to the cabin nestled away in the woods. Joshua and I both have said that we need to make the most of this summer. For who knows it may be our last one here. Hope you enjoy the pictures....

Love,
Brittany and the Family





Out on the boat and on the dock =)






Tatum and her cosins Moirah and Nora on Uncle Steve'ss boat tubing!

Fargo Marathon Weekend!

Last weekend was filled with much fun and excitement. It was the Fargo Marathon weekend. It was three days of events and running. Here it is a huge thing. The whole town comes together to support runners that come from all over. Many runners choose this marathon because it is a Boston qualifier. And you probably guessed it, what an easier place to qualify. It is so flat here. Any how. The girls took part in the youth run on Thursday evening. They had a blast. They ran the 1mile. They had the course set up just as they would for the bigger races. Tatum and Elyssa thought it was pretty neat. Titus enjoyed watching all of the children. Afterwards Joshua and I though we should have put him in. He probably could have ran laps around the girls. LOL... He has so much energy. He makes me laugh everyday and is such a joy. He was cheering on his two big sisters with Daddy. I ran the mile with the girls. It was so much fun... They both received little medals that had Hebrews 12:1 inscribed on the back. They thought that was awesome. That was one of the first things Tatum said to me when she was showing it. "LOOK MOMMY, there is a Bible verse on the back!"
On Saturday morning Joshua and the children dropped me off to run the half marathon. Yay... I finished. 13.1 miles. I finished right on my goal time. 2hrs and 30mins. We had so much fun.
Our little ladies are still talking about how much fun they had and are contemplating next years run =) I was telling them that we may not be here. This made them a little sad they were concerned if they could come back to run or not. I thought that was sweet. We explained that we will look for another youth run wherever the LORD may send us. It may not be as big as the one here. The youth run in Fargo is the biggest youth run in the world. Crazy huh... In Fargo North Dakota. We are so going to miss this quaint little community when it is time to say our good byes. But for now we will enjoy every minute that we have left. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

Love,
Brittany