Nov/Dec 2017 wrap up

Lots of fun in November and December that it was hard to keep up...but pictures will tell it! Here's some of our November happenings: Highlights include getting to visit American Village with the Green Valley 2nd Graders and getting to see Joel step up and sing with the PreSchoolers at the Thanksgiving Service at our church. Lots of other fun with family and friends. November Highlights Thanksgiving was in Baton Rouge and lots of fun memories made especially at the new Knock Know Museuem!! Happy Thanksdgiving 2017!! December moved quickly with lots of activity and things to learn and just taking time to be a kid! Memories included the best 5" of powder snow we got in one day! So fun! Learning some home skills and having to spend some time in the "Get Along" shirt when things got a bit fussy! My favorite was the mudhole we found after a big rain...conditions were perfect for a good ol' fashion puddle jumping and getting dirty! It was awesome! Take that Ipads! Enjoy - December Fun Then there was Christmas! We celebrated the coming of Christ the Lord with family and fun and food no doubt. The kid were ready for service at the Jimmie Hale Mission and ready to give to others..But it was truly us that were like the kids at Christmas as we had held in the secret long enough (6 months to be exact!)...Claire and Joel found out the would be leaving in 12 days for a trip to Disney World with Grandmommy and Granddaddy , Uncle Bobby and Uncle Bob meeting us there. As we wrap up 2017 "Jesus is Better than anything or anyone...so we wont' give up, we won't give out and we won't give in!" (Buddy Gray) Christmas 2017

October blur

HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OCTOBER Full on month! "Come Roll With Me" continues and we had Bryan Kirkland (Paralympian) come speak to the homeschoolers. Claire continues with piano lessons and wrapped up her first softball season with a great team that never won a game but sure learned a lot! Thanks Coach Congleton! We enjoyed a visit to Baton Rouge. Somewhere in there I gave 4 presentations, had pneumonia and had my first "car wreck". No one hurt but thankful for insurance! Fall brings the annual visit to the Pumpkin patch and soon after Halloween - more than 15 kids in our neighborhood now..the candy abundance is crazy! Joel made major breakthrough with separation anxiety and we are looking up! My dad took another step of obedience in his faith and was baptized at Pinelake Church in Starkville. What a honor to be there! He never stops growing in the Lord! Sure seems the push for Christmas is on...but let's trick or treat and have some turkey first. Bring on the Thanksgiving season no matter how short it is!

2017 September

Click on the RED hyperlinks to see our highlights of Sept: HIGHLIGHTS OF SEPT...highlights included trying to help out those impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurrican Irma in Florida, bowling on Labor Day and squeezing in a last swim with the Brelands, Softball games started, Claire lost tooth #5 and we enjoyed a celebrating a friend's birthday! A highlight was taking Claire and Joel to their first wedding to celebrate Lea Graves and Jerry Ingram! What fun! The major highlight was a quick but fun trip to the beach: sweet memories made! AND BEACH Trip Here's a few videos from this month too: Joel learns the books of the Bible Joel's first steps on the beach Joel's first time to to the ocean

August

click on the red hyperlinks to see pictures and vidoes: Joel SwimsNot bad for a boy would would not put his feet in the water in April! Claire Swims Making great progress with Miss Jessica!! Joel's funStarting 4k, taking care of the ladies, fun at the train tracks, follow up on getting tube in his ear this summer, seeing the solar eclipse..he discovered Chick Fil A ice cream - FINALLY! Claire Turns 7!Big day of fun doing her choice things on her birthday like finishing music camp, lunch at Moe's southwest, Dinner at Full Moon! Party day w/ family and friends at "Build A Bear" in the Galleria. Fun gifts of Barbie stuff and getting softball gear with first season on the horizon and school starting soon! What a huge blessing this little girl is! Energetic, creative, strong, colorful, and willing to try new things! She's up for a challenge! Claire's highlightsWe got prepared to start the 2nd grade with a fun day before school with shopping and fun at the mall. We met the teacher and had a fun night at Sky Zone with the school She/We love her teacher Miss Angstadt. She is off to a great start! She started the 8u Season meeting Coach Congleton and enjoyed a clinic lead by the White Lightning Travel team girls! So fun! She also lost tooth #4 the night before the first day of school! Finally got to celebrate birthdays with Jack with some pool time! We have had lots of rain and decided we'd join it one day: Fun to be a kid! August brought lots of transition but lots of fun too!!

July was fun!

July was fun! Click HEREfor highlights! We shared the 4th of July with YaYa and Jim; Joel got to visit girlfriend and favorite teachers from "baby school" at SHCDC. We enjoyed a visit from Little Rock Cousins and continued with the "Come Roll With Me" Program. We spent time with neighbors getting Mr Zach ready for his move to Assisted Living and we learned to serve others at Serving Youwith our small group. Lots of swimming with friends and we had to say goodbye to a great 3k teacher, Ms. Caitlyn! :( Our wheelchair clinic (Gayle and Heidi and I) got to teach a course together too! Much to Enjoy! The 2 big highlights were my 4th annual Mother Daughter Trip with Claire and my trip to Cooperstown, NY with my dad, brother (Robert), and nephew (Brodie). Claire and I have a theme each year and this year was "trust" based on Proverbs 3:5,6. We got to see and do some fun things (Space center, Botanical Gardens, Water slide and see my friend, Wendy) in Huntsville while making time to focus on what it means to trust the Lord. I so want her to know Him and his goodness and for her to trust Him especially when the craziness of life hits and she doesn't understand things. To say Claire is a great joy is an understatement. She and I can both be stubborn but silly too! Cooperstown was great with these guys! Learned a lot and laughed at Robert asking for sweet tea in Albany, NY! Good for all cousins to visit briefly once we got home. August is coming with Claire's birthday and school starting. Buckle up!

June Jam

HEREare photos to show you our month of June. It started with a visit from a dear college friend, Anna and her son Bryant. We had a blast at VBS/Space Quest at Hunter Street. Jeff and I celebrated 9 years of marriage too! Thankful!! We celebrated what a great daddy Jeff is and followed by a week of Tennis Camp for Claire. Thanks HSBC for hosting it and doing a great job introducing tennis! Claire received a book published by her 1st grade class and that was exciting. She lost tooth #4 and Joel had a tube put in his left ear successfully! Probably the highlight was our mystery trip to Charlotte, NC where we took the kids to a Firetruck Festival in Spencer, NC. Great day and great visit with Uncle Bob. But the pinnacle was the real fire that happened at our hotel that night not 30 min after kids were asleep! No one was hurt and only out of the room 1.5 hours but some excitement nonetheless. Lots of fun at the Discovery Center the next day. We also did another "Come Roll with Me" class at the end of the month. That program is really growing! Other photos included of random summer fun. Lots of memories made this month!

Buckle up for May Happenings!

Click HERE for May photos: May was packed with all sorts of activities...We had Vision Gymnastics Vision Games with YaYa and Jim to cheer on Claire; we saw the Lady Bulldogs lose a heartbreaker last home game, GVES Talent show had Claire singing "AB - C u later" in sign language with her class...then we were off to Baton Rouge for Mother's Day weekend, Claire and Joel helped me prep for a wheelchair course lead by Mrs Barbara and Mrs Stacey, and Claire officially wrapped up the first grade (Thanks to Ms Smith for a great year!); Claire got her certificate for Bible verse memory; Joel wrapped up a year of gymnastics with Coach Blair...and we kicked off summer welcoming daddy home from a week in Argentina and heading to the pool and SEC baseball tournament (Big Daddy was here and did a little strumming with Joel before heading to the Hoover Met!). The kids have grown up a lot this school year. WOW! The Lord is at work in their hearts and it's so great to see Him answering our prayers for them! Bring on summer!

April happenings

HERE is a photo album of our April fun. Highlights included all things Easter - Celebrating Resurrection Day at Hunter Street and dying and hunting eggs with all the neighborhood kids after naptime on Easter. Claire saw a good friend from School (Maddie) at the near by community Easter Egg Hunt. Tball has been a blast! Claire has had a few in the park homers and chased a kid down before he touched home. We hosed the (almost) annual Carver Crawfish Boil with neighbors and our small group from church. We had a fun day hiking at Moss Rock and found some water!!Joel's best bud Sam, turned 4 and we had a little cake at his party :) You'll see a picture of one of my patient's/friends Tim. He has helped me with a community wheelchair accessibility project with home-schooled kids. We ended the month with our church picnic and snagged a photo with Pastor Buddy. How grateful we are for his faithfulness to teach/preach and live out the gospel of Jesus Christ and hold true to God's word. Spring has sprung! new skills by Claire:

Our own March Madness

March was a big month. Professionally it was a big deal for me. I presented at the International Seating Symposium which means nothing to most people but a lot to people who do my type of physical therapy - Seating and Wheeled Mobility Clinic. I evaluate, fit and train people with long term various disabilities to use custom wheelchairs of all kinds so they can be as independent as possible! It is SO fun! Meet Allison Fracchia. She's the first person I saw doing this work when I was in Jackson, MS working and she got me hooked! God used her mightily to get me going in this direction and I have not looked back for the last 14 years! My first presentation was with Penny Powers from Vanderbilt and she is my hero! She is fiesty and true and thorough and I love her for always fighting for her patients! I added her to my top role models in many ways! She is a true mentor to me! After a quick recovery of that intense week of work, The Brelands and Carvers embarked on the 2nd annual mom/kid trip and this years destination was Nashville! Our activities included a park, a play place, the mall, The Adventure Science Center, bowling and the Nashville Zoo before heading home. Even getting to go was touch as go since Claire had pneumonia just days before we left! Yay for meds! Enjoy the rest of our pics that show you we live out our own March Madness (yes, we celebrated Miss. State's lady bulldogs basketball team breaking U.Conn's 111 game winning streak)...It's fun to have kids and let them be kids!

2017 March - Kizoa Movie - Video - Slideshow Maker

Fireman Joel Turns 4

Well - Our boy is 4! Wow! We have been visiting firestations around Hoover for probably a year now and even in 2 other states. So it was an easy theme to have. The special event weekend included being surrounded by family and friends, a visit to Birmingham Station 10, a visit to a warehouse that has over 40 vintage trucks from all over the USA, and the party! They party was at our house decorated by a mom with an underdeveloped Right brain that was easily taught by You Tube how to paint a fire on paper! Thanks to our neighborhood fireman for all the authentic decor, to Joel's favorite fireman (David!) for making a surprise entrance to the party on one of Hoover's small trucks with lights going, and to Mayor Brocato (retired Hoover Fire Chief) for making Joel and honorary fireman! Needless to say it was a big day and Claire was an awesome big sis! It took a village to love on our boy but we nailed it! So proud of you son!~ We are blessed!!

2017 Mar Joel 4 - Kizoa Movie - Video - Slideshow Maker

Feb 2017...what a variety

Feb was full of all kinds of things...Joel has been helping me with teaching a class to homeschoolers about wheelchair accessiblity. We enjoyed some of the Bama Gymnastics meets; We found fireworks left over from New Years and decided we can always think of a reason to celebrate even on a cold/drizzly Sunday night in Feb!; Valentines came and we got to celebrate with each kid in a special way. Mrs. Patsy and her husband Mr. Jim were/are our marriage mentors from church and they love on our kids like they are one of their own grandkids. Claire got some Chacos and thought I should have some too and we decided we'd walk together through life doing our best to follow the Lord! Here's some fun pics!

2017 Feb - Kizoa Movie - Video - Slideshow Maker

January highlights

We had a good bit of fun this month! Slow start back to school with a sheet of ice across our area. We seized what we could to put together toddler ice man! MLK weekend was the 2nd annual Henderson/Carver trip to Wilderness in the Smokies in Sevierville! Thanks Big Daddy for making it happen! Part of the trip included a visit to one of the Seveirville Fire Stations! Saw a truck from the 1930s! Joel is STILL obsessed with all things fire station! Jeff and I celebrated our birthdays and enjoyed treats from the kids, dinner out, and I enjoyed a night with 2 very dear friends - Heather and Alisa --had to welcome them in to their 40s! We wrapped up the month wiht a surprise trip to the circus...last once since it is dissolving. Claire loved it...Joel not so much "too loud!" Thankful for good times with my people!

2017 Jan - Kizoa Movie - Video - Slideshow Maker