Family Photos!

Since I left in such a hurry that I wasn't able to blog the promised pictures they are a little late in coming, but here they are at last.

The whole entire family! If we would have known, we could have waited a couple hours and stuck Rhoda in too.


Siblings (in age order if you go from right to left)
Leah, Peter, Anna, Christa, Michael, Melody, Wesley, Merry and Harmony


Dan, Leah, Kirsten and Daniel

Peter and Leah

Mike, Anna and Jordan

Vern, Christa, Alex, Cami and Cole

Michael and Rhoda

And here you have the left-overs. At least they love each other. :)

Family photos taken by Seth Haley, Photo of Michael and Rhoda taken by Motz Weaver

Alex and Cami Quotes

Last night while I was babysitting Vern and Christa's children I was reading their book of funny things the children have said and decided that some of them were too good not to post. Here they are as Christa wrote them.

We were playing Rook (Alex too). As we ended a game Vern was counting up the points, and was looking for the "kitty." He said "Where's the kitty?" Alex shuffled through all of his cards and saw the same old crow on the back of each one. "I don't have the kitty, Daddy. They're gist all peacocks." age 3 1/2

Vern was putting Alex to bed. Alex pulled his pants legs up past his knees, and Vern asked him what he was doing. "I'm just letting these long legs get some fresh air." age 3



Yesterday (Sunday) was an especially nice Spring day, and after lunch Vern and Alex played bat and ball in the parking lot at church. Today Alex was talking about it and I asked if he had fun playing ball. Says he: "The balling was a blast but the churchin' wasn't." almost 4

Cami wandered into Alex's room this morning and proceeded to wake him up by climbing into his bed and pulling on him. He woke up all groggy and protested "Get her down; she'll mess up my dreams!" almost 4

Alex scraped his knee upstairs, causing it to bleed. On our way downstairs to get a band-aid and salve he stumbled on the steps. "Whoa!" He exclaimed. "I almost bumped my other essential knee parts!" age 4 1/2

"When I get big I will have a son named Peter. My wife and I will have 3 boys and 3 girls - 6 children. My 1st boy will be named Alex. My 2nd boy will be named Peter. My 3rd boy will be named Samuel. "What will you name your girls?" I asked. "My first girl will be named Tammy. My 2nd girl will be named Cami Jo. My 3rd girl will be named Christa. Yep! My wife and I will have LOTS of children when we get married. (chuckling) I guess we'll just be pregnant all the time! Happy and pregnant!!" Alex age 4 1/2

Cami snuggled up to me and said "This is my Mommy."
Alex: "It's my Mommy too!"
Cami: "No it's not. You have a Daddy." ages 3 and 6



Cami and Alex jumped up from drinking their tea.
Cami: "Alex, I want you to put me in jail."
Alex: "Okay!" "Did you murder?"
Mommy, shocked: "Alex! Do you know what that means?"

Alex, confidently: "Yeah, it's when you're driving down the road and you throw something out the window, and the Police sees you and he stops you."

Mommy, relieved, explains the difference between "murder" and "litter." ages 6 1/2 and 3 1/2

We went into the handicapped stall of a public restroom and Cami asked "Why is this one so big?" So I hurriedly explained. As she went about her business I heard her remark "Well I don't need a wheelbarrow!" age 5

Cami came out with Mommy's hat and gloves on, and her pj top on backwards. Alex took one look at her and chuckled. "You look like a marriage counsellor!" ages 5 and 8

So, we were on our way to church, and stopped for fuel. I turned around and looked at the kids in the backseat. "You guys are some pretty good-looking kids, you know that?" I said. Alex shrugged and said "huh!" and acted like he had no idea till now. Cami said smugly: "I looked in the mirror before we left." ages 7 and 4

Home again!

Well, my trip is over and I'm back in cold and snowy Michigan! I was in 11 states and 3 countries (counting the USA) over the last 2 months and it does feel good to be home again.

Here you have my brother making waffles and scrambled eggs the morning I got home. Trust me, they were very good!

Here you have little Daniel, who by the way isn't so little anymore.

And, last but not least the two youngest nephews. People are starting to think that Cole is a girl. :)

Antigua!

At the end of our stay in Guatemala we met 4 friends that are living in Honduras right now and spent 4 wonderful days in Antigua! It was so much fun.

Our Valentine's Day party! We bought a cake, container of ice cream and some spoons and all dug in. :)

Sunday afternoon we took a tour van and climbed pacaya, an active volcano. We weren't allowed to go all the way to the top but we did go to the lava bed.

Eating lunch while we waited for our van to show up.

Monday we had someone rent a van and take us to the ocean about 2 hours away. It was a wonderfully relaxing day and I think we all got sunburnt. :)

We had to take a ferry the last little ways.

A random Antigua picture.

One of our breakfasts in a coffee shop.

Anna and Lyn. Anna is the daughter of the directors of Fundaninos.

Anna straightened all the boys hair one evening. :)

Wednesday afternoon Merry and Harmony went to Honduras with our friends (Michael is there right now too) and then the rest of us went back to Fundaninos. Lyn and I ended up missing our flight and staying an extra day. :)

After they left we took these Tuc Tuc's up to the cross overlooking Antigua.

That's Antigua!

Jo, Lyn, Alex and I wearing our skirts we bought.

That's the whole group of us!

All photos that don't say "Melody Brubaker" on them were taken by Josh Grizzard.

Picnic with the boys!

A couple nights ago we took 6 of the older boys up the hill that we climbed last week. We took along hot dogs from Pollo Campero, chips, cookies and pop and had a little picnic while we watched the sunset. It was really fun and I think they enjoyed it.

Omar earned his supper by insisting to carry a backpack all the way up and down even though he was out of breath and it caused him a tumble on the way down. He is the sweetest little boy.

Climbing Hill Difficulty. Thankfully by the time you get to it you know you are almost at the top. :)

At the top!

The hot dogs were great even if they were cold. :)