Green Clean

Good Day to y'all... Well all of you who know me know that I am kind of crazy. LOL... I love green products. I have been making my own green cleaner for a while now. I love it. And YES is it actually works. Oh and did I mention that it is way cheaper than buying any other organinc or natural cleaner and oh yes that I love it. This is super easy and very quick to make. You can use it to clean anything from your kitchen to your bathroom. So without further adue, here it is :) You will need, -2 Cups of warm water (does not need to be boiling) -4 TBSP White Vinegar -1/2 tsp Borax -1/2 tsp Washing Crystals or Washing soda -1/2 tsp Castile soap (Peppermint) -25 drops of tea tree oil -Spray bottle (can be found at your local dollar store) -small funel to make Place your funel on top of the open spray bottle, place your Borax and Washing soda in first (This way it will not get caked together when you place in the wet ingredents) Add all other ingredents and shake well. And Wa La... A wonderful chemical free green cleaner.... note... your most expensive ingredents are going to be your tea tree oil and your castile soap. Howvere pleas know that I have been making this for probably a little under a year and have not re purchased any of the ingredents. It is pennys on the dollar for purchasing cleaning products. Hope you enjoy!!! Happy Cleaning... Because of Christ, Brittany Elizabeth

Hello There....

It has been such a long time since I even looked at our blog. I think I almost forgot it exsisted. Any how. I am back. Life has been busy. We are in our Third year of homeschooling and enjoying it more and more as we chug along. It has been such a blessing to teach our girls to read and to watch them grow, not only physically but intelectually and spirtually. This past August we purchased a house on a very small lake here in North Carolina. It is a well known lake around these parts, however compared to our Minnesota lakes it is a pond. We are so blessed that Joshua will be home this year for the Holidays and that we will not be needing skype for present opening :) I just wanted to drop a quick line and say hello... And that we are back online. I will post again soon. With much love from NC, The Browns

Merry Christmas to All....

Some where today there is laughter and joy. There is that special feeling in the air that Christmas brings. The smells, the sounds of families gathered together and the Love that fills many homes. Yet there is also a child that is lonely there is a mother that is crying, and there is a family that is broken. We all have things that bring us joy during this season for giving and thankfulness and we all have those things that bring us to despair and sadness. Yet through it all God is still good. He is there in the darkness and he is there in the light. I have had plenty of time to reflect on what is truly important this Christmas season as have my precious children.

During a time of separation from a deployment seems to always be the worst thing in the world. However the Bible says that "ALL things work together for good." That means yes, even this deployment was no surprise to the Lord and that yes, he meant it for good for our family. I will be honest. There have been many a times when I have cryed and asked the LORD "How, and why" Yet I am always comforted through the inner peace that he brings. There will be many things that come my way that I will not always understand, yet I must embrace them, good and bad as a blessing from the Lord.

Tatum, Elyssa and Titus have all learned a valuable lesson this year on what it means when we say Christmas is not all about the gifts. To hear a sweet 7 and 6 year old say that all they want for Christmas is to have their Daddy home, and that they would give back all of their gifts just to have that, makes your heart melt and break. They have learned as well as I that us as Americans place so much emphasis on the material. And yes even us as Christians do also. We live in such a fast pace society where we are consistently trying to keep up with everything and everyone.

The Lord has shown me much through this deployment about what it really means to love and to trust and to have strength and faith. He has consistently shown me that even when I want to break down because I feel so alone that He is ever beside me.

I am praying that all of our family and friends have a wonderful Christmas and that no matter where you are look around you and see how blessed you are. There is always something to be thankful for and there is always someone that has things much worse then we think we have them.

Luke 2:1-11
Merry Christmas dear readers.
Love,
Mrs. Brittany Brown

Congrats GYSGT BROWN!!!

Yesterday Joshua was meritoriously promoted to the rank of E7 Gunnery Sergeant! We are so excited for him and this huge achievement. The following are pictures from the promotion ceremony. Happy New Year!

Love,
The Brown Family

Joshua being presented the Promotion certificate and swearing the oath, given by
MAJ GWRONSKI





The pinning on of the new rank! Done by SGTMAJ KIRKLAND AND MSGT ALLEN.




Tatum, Elyssa and Titus sat so nice through the ceremony... They really did not know what to think of what was going on... They were excited because we told them that Daddy won the board. So they thought he was great because he won =) So cute!


Presenting GYSGT BROWN!!!

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