Finally, an update...

 Yep, so I am finally updating.  A LOT has gone on in our lives recently.  I will do a bulleted update, so as not to get too wordy! Ha-ha!  Here we go:

• I am still working my CM business.  I am trying to promote by Feb. 1st, 2008!!!
• My grandma, whom we live with, had back surgery in September and is doing GREAT!
• Jake and I went with Tyler's preschool to the Pumpkin Patch again this year.  What a fun time we had.  He was old enough to really know what was going on & actually pick out his own pumpkin.  Of course, he had to run the entire length of the actual pumpkin patch and pick out like 50 pumpkins before we made him decide on just one!  It was too cute & a whole lot of FUN for everyone!
• For halloween this year, he was an OU basketball player. He was so cute! I don't have pics here - sorry!
• I helped with serving lunch during the Great Day of Service for church.  My dad was a site manager person & they worked on the ladies house across the street.  In one day, they built 3 wheelchair ramps, cleared away brush & helped out around the house a little bit.  It was amazing what they accomplished. WOW!  What a testimony to her.  She was so grateful & blessed.  It was so cool!
• I went to my first ever (and hopefully, annual) Women of Faith conference in OKC, OK.  Saw Kayla Rath there (who drove from Amarillo) and we didn't even know each other was going to be there!  It was so good to see her!  I loved the conference & I really hope I can go again next year.  What a joyous, stress-less weekend!
• Held my Annual CM Open House at a wonderful Consultant friends' house.  She had the space & I had the "knowledge" of doing an Open House.  This was her first & so I was able to train her in trade for using her house.  I think I got the better deal, but it all worked out wonderfully!  I also had my 2 local downline attend on Saturday and did some training with them.  It was a great time.  Fairly low attendance, but good training and great experiences!
• On November 21st, my little niece turned ONE!!!!  That's right, David & Michelle's little girl, Ryleigh Grace is now one year old.  She is so close to walking & it is so darn cute!  She is so tiny, not only in comparison  to Tyler, but to one year olds in general.  Isn't she adorable?  This was just at Thanksgiving!  That is my uncle's hand she is holding.  Those little fingers are so precious!  I love it! (no I am not having another one anytime soon - Kayla) The other picture is at her first birthday party.  She really went to town on that cake!

• In October we put a bid on a house & on Thursday, November 29th at 5:15pm, Jake and I became HOMEOWNERS!!!  Yep, we are super excited to finally have a place of our own.  We are still in the process of painting everything & getting things ready to move in.  So, when all that is done I will post pictures.  My living space (entry, kitchen, dining, living & CM office) is pretty open, so it is all green - in 4 different shades.  I LOVE IT!!!!  Tyler's room is 2 shades of blue - Thomas the Train blue's to be exact.  My dad is going to paint a mural of Thomas the Train & friends on one wall, which I will definitely post pics of after completion. We have an extra bedroom that is going to be "Jake's office" for now & it will no doubt be packed with bookcases of books! The main bathroom has the only shower at the moment & it painted a light grey to just blend with my obsession of Firetrucks.  I have black, white & red decor & thought it might be too much to paint one either black or red (I can't stand white walls - my mother ruined me!).  Our bedroom is a neutral brownish-taupe color & our bedding is dark brown & blue.  So, I think it will look amazing and very soothing.  We pulled up all the carpet in the hall & 3 bedrooms to install wood floors.  They should be done this weekend!  The kitchen, living, dining & CM office are are all slate tile, so that is great. (Okay, enough about the house)
• I will post some pics of Tyler now, since that is the only reason some people still look at blogs.  I love to see updated pictures, so here they are!

Jake and Tyler playing Guitar Hero III!!!  Tyler loves this game!  Aren't they cute? And, Tyler wearing his most favorit pair of sunglasses (they were FREE in a kid's meal!  How cool is that?).

This is my baby brother & his girlfriend, Kelsey.  Aren't they cute? Yes, he is that tall!

The pic above and the ones below are some Jake took of Jonathan's girlfriend.  She is using some for her Senior Pictures!  I thought he did a good job for being his first "real time" to take such pictures. The dog is my grandparents' dog & I just thought it was such a CUTE picture!

How do you think he did?  Well, I hope everyone is doing well.  Email me and let me know how you are doing. I will post pictures of the house when it is done, hopefully before Christmas!  If I don't post before then, have a Wonderful and Blessed Christmas this year!

4th of July Celebrations

Well, everyone else has posted about their celebrations, so I thought I would share about ours.  We met Jacob's family at the country club around 5:30 to swim.  We swam for about an hour and a half, then had the club's dinner (ribs, chicken, burgers), mmmmm....good!  Then, we set out to watch the fireworks.  Nothing real exciting.  I must say, I was a little apprehensive about taking Tyler to watch the fireworks, since it wasn't long ago that he would just scream when the dog barked.  BUT...much to my dismay he LOVED it!  I am posting some pictures of our time too.

Tyler walking to the diving board.  Onery....                    Tyler jumping off the diving board.  Yep, at 2!

     Beautiful clouds & sun rays.  I just liked it!        This is the Tulsa skyline.  Isn't it pretty?  Did you know that the building on the far left is an exact 1:2 replica of one of the Twin Towers?  Interesting.  Jacob told me that.  I have lived here all my life & didn't even know that.  Oh well. Skyline at dusk.  Some lights on.

Tyler & Mommy watching fireworks. Tyler & Daddy watching fireworks. Some of the beginninng fireworks.

More fireworks. This was during the finale.  I just thought it was a cool picture behind the trees & what looks like a rocket shooting up into the stars.  But...that's just me!

Hope you enjoyed our pictures.  Email me if you like.  I love reading your updates!

Tyler's TWO!!!

Yesterday was Tyler's 2nd birthday and I just can't believe how fast it has gone by.  I'm the mother of a toddler now!  OMG!  I will put some pictures in here for you to see.  He is getting so big.  We haven't had his checkup yet, but I know he is more than 40 pounds and 3 feet tall!  Yep...we grow 'em BIG here in Oklahoma!  Since his party isn't until tonight, we just hung out yesterday.  He got his 2 year pictures done, which are most adorable.  When I get them via email, I will post pictures and let you know!  Then, he napped for like 4 hours!  How GREAT is that?  He is in the potty-training stages already and he had a fantastic day yesterday.  No accidents!  He is also talking so "grown-up" now.  Jake and I took him to the mall last night and just walked around and played on the rides and toys.  But, when we were leaving and pulling out, I saw some really purple plants and mentioned to Jake how purple they were and what a strange color.  And from the back seat, Tyler pops off, "take a picture, Mommy!"  We couldn't believe our ears.  I mean, I know I take a ton of pictures, but for him to say it was just too funny.  Oh and he has a new word.  "Dangit!"  Yep, you read correctly.  Jake said it one time and now that's all he says.  I have smacked his face and told him no, but he just says it again.  My mom says he'll grow out of it, but is probably saying now because he knows it makes us mad.  I hope so and I sure hope he doesn't teach the Mother's Day Out kids or church kids.  AAAAHHHHHH!

Anyway, life is crazy and busy and most of the time I am just exhausted.  Jake and I are both on the praise team at church (he sings, I play keyboard, cello & sing - not at once mind you).  I also coordinate the music for our Kids Kingdom (1st-5th grade), which can be a lot at times, since I am also in charge of the youth that sing in those services.  I work 3 1/2 days a week at the insurance office and Jake still works at QuikTrip in the corporate office at the Help Desk for the stores.  For the past 10 days my grandparents have been on an Alaskan cruise, which they say has been wonderful (they've called 4 or 5 times).  I can't wait to see pictures and help her with the album!  What fun!!!

Well, I guess that is all to report for now.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and send me an email or comment to tell me how you are!  Catch ya next time!

Tyler is "cheesing" in the folding chair his Great Aunt gave him.  He loves it!

He loves to cheese.  Can you tell?

This is the horse his great grandparents gave him for his bday.  He loves it too.

Tyler calling my parents dog Sandy, but he calls her "CeCe"

Tyler chasing bubbles on my parents back porch

I love this picture of him.  Isn't it cute?

God at work!

Well, I haven't updated in a while because life is busy!  But, these few stories are too good not to share.  I sure hope it gives you the peace and joy it did me! 

Some of you may know that my parents are now the forwarding agents for some long-time family friends and new missionaries to Mozambique & South Africa.  The work they are going to do is, in short, AWESOME!!  Al has gone over there several times & noticed the need for a mission, so he took the challenge.  Now, keep in mind this man was always one of few, if any, words.  NOW...he won't quit talking!  It's amazing - his passion.  Anyway, he goes into the extreme rural/jungle tribes and helps teach them how to do things for themselves.  He will not give them money to buy what they need, he won't help them problem solve, but he WILL guide them.

For example, last trip he had a tribe that needed something they needed, but the other tribe wanted money.  They came to him and asked for money and he said "No.  You need to figure out how to get it on your own.  Do you have something they might want?"  It took them 24 hours to figure out to trade some cattle & horses to get what they needed.  They have no problem solving skills AT ALL!!  It is unbelievable.  Al wants them to learn to problem solve on their own and develop those skills to learn more about the Bible and be able to teach it to their children.  Another tribe he visited was 4th generation Christians, yet they still had a god they needed to please. After many questions, Al found out they were never taught deductive reasoning that if they worshipped the One True God, there was no other.  Unbelievable.

Anyway, on to my story.  Al & Velma, his wife, left yesterday (Friday) for their summer trip to Africa.  They flew from Denver to DC and had a 3 hour layover.  During the layover, Velma called my Dad to tell him how things were going.  "AWESOME!" she said!  "Really?"  Said my Dad.  She preceeded to tell him about their ticket counter guy in Denver & the extra baggage they had to take over (some missionaries needed some water filter pumps & auto parts to fix things, which were extremely heavy & going to cost about $300 in extra baggage).  He overheard them talking about going to Africa and told them he was a Christian too and asked if they were going on a mission trip.  They said yes, a survey trip for the summer.  He then told them that the extra baggage was on the airlines!  NO CHARGE!!!!  WOW!

Story 2 - Their home church preacher has been against foreign missions for a very long time (long story another time).  When Al talked to him about this particular mission, he thought he really could get through to him.  Well, he told Al the day before they left that he had read their first newsletter and wanted to know if it was really true about the natives not knowing things.  Al said, "Yes!  That's what I've been trying to tell you."  The preacher paused and said, this has changed my life and outlook and I am building a sermon series around your mission statement from the newsletter.  How cool is that?

God is still at work in the US!!!!  WOW!

Story 3 (and last one) - Al has made friends with one of the native missionaries in South Africa and he emailed Al a few weeks ago that he needed to see him when they got there.  Al said sure and made arrangements for that trip too.  The missionary said he had something for him.  Al finally found out that the missionary was given 10,000 ren (sp?) from the South African government for Al to use on his trip this summer!  OMGoodness!!!  God is at work in South Africa too!

I just can't believe all that has taken place in such a short time.  What a Great and Mighty God we serve!  Amen.

Well, it has definitely been too long since I updated!  So sorry!!!   Life has just been so crazy busy lately we don't even know what's going on!  Let's see...since my last update I will give you a quick rundown of what has transpired.

• Oct. 7th went to a Creative Memories convention for the day.  Had a GREAT time, got FREE stuff (always good) and did 32 pages in Tyler's album!!!  Can't beat that!
• Dressed Tyler up as the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz for Halloween.  He was the cutest darn Scarecrow EVER!  He wore it to school & then to the 2 carnivals we went to.  Check it out on my photos!
• November brought in a BUSY month.  My sister-in-law started dilating and we all waited forever to meet our newest family member!  But, first we celebrated my grandpa's 70th birthday on the 4th.
• Jacob had his tonsils out on the 6th of November (they were the size of small walnuts!)
• Tyler finally started saying "MaMa" even when he's not in trouble!
• My boss & his wife had their 2nd girl (they didn't know the sex) and named her Campbell Ruth.
• Tyler started eating with a spoon all by himself!  Trust me, if you're a mom, you understand this accomplishment.
• We celebrated Jacob's grandpa's 80th birthday on the 18th of November with the ENTIRE family.
• Finally we met my new niece on the 21st of November.  She was born at 1:54am & weighed in at 8.8lbs and 19 1/4 inches long!!!  (Keep in mind my sister-in-law did this completely natural, not even ibuprofen, and she's only 5' tall!!!!  What a woman!)
• Celebrated Thanksgiving with lots of family, friends and a NEW niece!  (Good food too!)
• OU beat OSU!!!!  Go Sooners!
• December showed us OU still has it by winning the Big 12 Championship against Nebraska!!!!
• This brings us up-to-date thus far.  Tomorrow starts our last week of rehearsals for our church Christmas production.  Jacob has the lead and it is "interesting," to say the least.  It's not as smooth as we are used to with larger productions.  But, we also realize this is their first production of this magnitude, so their a learning curve, I guess.  We'll see how it goes.  4 hour rehearsal tomorrow should tell ALL!!!
• Our performances are the 15-17 at 7:30pm.  Jacob did get all those days off, thankfully, since he works nights AND watches Tyler while I am at work!
• Future happenings: we are going to Miami, OK to celebrate Jacob's grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary on the 16th and do our HUGE family Christmas too.
• We will celebrate Christmas in about 4 different stages.
• Tyler will be 18 months old on the 29th!  Can you believe it's been that long?  Me either! 
• I will ring in the New Year by myself since Jacob has to work!  Oh well, did it last year too!

Well, I guess that sums up what life has been like in the Breedlove family.  We are making it here in OK.  We love and miss you all.  Hope to have some good job news soon!  I will keep you posted!!  Please be praying for us to make wise decisions and to seek God in everything, as it is easy to look more at the "money side" than trust this is what God has for us!  Thanks!  Talk to you soon.