HSHS Graduation

Last night Daniel, Riley and I attended the Hughes Springs High School graduation. Several of our seniors from church were graduating, so it was important to us to be there to support them. My high school had about 1200 students in it, and there were 365 in our graduating class. The HSHS Class of 2010 consisted of 68 students. :) Another reminder that we are living in a small town! It was such a great ceremony, though. Clay, one of our very active seniors in the youth group, was the Salutatorian, and he gave an incredible speech to welcome everyone. He was very open about his faith and challenged all of the seniors to live for Christ daily and seek His will for their lives. We were so proud of him! After they were official graduates, the whole class walked out to the middle of the football field and threw their hats. The audience was then invited to come down on the field to congratulate the graduates. It was such a neat time, and we were able to see a lot of people from church. Here are some pics from the event...

Sweet Mary - one of our seniors from FBC

Clay giving his speech

HSHS Class of 2010

I found myself wondering during the graduation if maybe one day we'll be sitting there watching Riley graduate from HSHS...only the Lord knows!

Dustin is one of our FBC seniors, and he's headed to BAYLOR in the fall! Sic 'em Bears!

Curly or straight?

Some days his hair is straight as a board on top, and other days it's curly. This particular day it wasn't quite sure which it wanted to be, so it went with a little of both! What a cutie!

Riley at work

Since Riley began crawling, he has discovered all types of things in the living room and kitchen that I didn't realize he would discover! There's the typical lamp cord, window shades, dust bunnies, etc. Then one day he made his way over to the t.v. area and revealed his love for dvd's.

His dad was excited to see his particular fondness for older movies. Thankfully, the dvd stand can be mounted on the wall, so we will be doing just that very soon. Here's a video of Riley proving just how much he enjoyed playing among the dvd's.

Summer Days

I am currently sitting on our back porch (where we do get internet...not inside the house, yet, but one day, I am sure of it!) sweating and watching our son play in his new favorite toy...


Summer has most definitely arrived in East Texas, and I am asking the Lord, again, why he couldn't send us to a cooler climate?! Besides 6 years in Maryland, the other 25 years of my life have been spent in hot, humid places. I'm not asking for Alaska or anything, but a little farther north would be nice! Oh well...since this IS where the Lord has called us, we may as well spend the hot days in cold water! This is the only pool we have, but several church members have larger pools and offered for us to come swim...we definitely plan to take them up on their offers!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some video of the little man playing in his pool...

Baby + Electronics = Love

I'm not sure if this is normal (being that Riley is our first child), but our son has an enormous love for anything electronic. Today, for instance, he was sitting on the couch with me and across from us on the coffee table was 2 remote controls and my cell phone. He was literally drooling as he looked at them! I could see it in his eyes..."If I could just hold all 3 of those at one time, I would be in heaven." Now, I doubt that a 10-month-old knows what heaven is, but in his little mind, holding 3 electronics at once would be pure bliss! Here are a couple examples of his excitement when he's around a cell phone (1st video) and a camera (2nd video).

On the move!

Riley is an official crawler, as of yesterday! We've been thinking he was going to crawl for weeks now, but he decided yesterday was the day! Thankfully, the camera was near by, so I was able to get some video. Oh how the Bramlett household is about to drastically change!!!

Still Alive

We're still here, and Riley's still growing like a weed! He's 9 1/2 months now, and I can hardly believe how quickly he's approaching his first birthday! I could make a ton of excuses as to why it's been so long since I've posted, but really the main reason is because I still don't have regular internet access. We're working on getting it at home, but it's a S L O W process! So, for now I get online about once a week. Unfortunately, the blog has not been at the top of the priority list. But, enough about that...

We absolutely love our church, home, and the people of Hughes Springs! We talk all the time about how it feels like we've lived here forever! The people have completely welcomed us with open arms. The church members are excited about ministry and willing to do any and everything asked of them. Such a breath of fresh air!!! Daniel is definitely in his element, and loving every minute of his job. Riley and I enjoy strolling around town, visiting Daddy at church, playing outside, visiting the closest grocery store in the next town over, and running through Sonic during happy hour. :) I've gotten to speak about my missions experiences at two church events so far, and I'll speak again next month. It's been fun teaching the people about what God is doing in other parts of the world. I'm looking forward to the day when I'll be able to take a group on a mission trip to another part of the world!

We added a member to our family...no, I'm not pregnant, and no, we did not get a dog...

Our newest vehicle is a 1966 Chevrolet truck. In Daniel's short 29 (almost 30, I might add!) years, he has owned 29 or 30 vehicles. We're not sure of the exact count, but this truck is either #29 or #30...when we figure it out, we'll let you know! Either way, that's a lot of vehicles! The camper shell came with the truck, but we will be selling it on Craig's List, so if you're interested, let me know! :) The truck is in wonderful condition and runs great. I'm excited about it because my husband is SO excited about it! And, with any old truck he buys, there's always some sort of project(s) that needs to be done. The first one he tackled on this one was re-doing the wooden bed. The original wood had rotted, so he and Lee (our music minister) replaced the bed.

It's about time for me to head back to the house, but I wanted to leave y'all with something that I hope will make you smile and maybe even laugh a little. :) There is nothing sweeter than a baby's laughter...