Here are some photos to catch you up on our Holiday Season... I didn't have much time to work on this so it's just one big album. Here's what you will see...

Putting together the tree. We've always had a real tree and it was sad not to this year. However, moving Thanksgiving weekend and not wanting to spend the money we just didn't know how to make it happen. The people Jared stayed with his last couple weeks alone here (that we met in Bellingham :) ) were getting a new tree and gave us this one. They even bought lights for us! I must say it was quite convenient this year and looks great!

Visiting Santa. We have never done this before. We don't do the Santa thing but haven't talked about it really. The boys have randomly decided this year that he is real so we will figure out what we want to do with all that. Anyway, our friends, the Nordykes invited us to their neighborhood Santa thing so we went and took pictures. I didn't even think of dressing up since we hadn't done this before but it all worked out. jaden was all about it and Kylie was ok with the elves. Jackson was miserable and terrified. We did bribe him with a cookie however and he got a photo.

We went and saw a gingerbread house competition...

We went to the Charlotte motor speedway for their Christmas lights. It wasn't really worth it for the lights. But we got to drive on the race track which the boys thought was cool but they were very disappointed we weren't going fast. Then at the end of it they have a petting zoo, rides, and several other things (that cost money of course). We told the boys they could each pick one ride and then Kylie wanted to go on one so we put her on a basic train and told the boys they could ride with her so she wouldn't freak out. Jackson rode the race cars. It was hard to get him to enjoy anything else beforehand because he was so excited about riding on them. Jaden chose the carousel. When Jared went to help him get on he had Kylie and the guy told him Kylie could stay on for free. From past posts you may know of her issues with movement, though all of those issues seem to have gone away except that she won't actually sit on a swing. However, she had alot of fun. I think she got dizzy toward the end though and Jared had to pick her up. She loved the train though of course she just copied all the enthusiasm the boys had.

we went to see the lights at the Billy Graham Library with my brother and his family. We had a good time but it was smaller and different than we were all expecting. There was over an hour wait for the tour so we didn't do that.

Thanksgiving - We went to my brothers house and Emily's parents were there as well. However, Ben was very sick and we didn't see him the whole day. Emily had a cute project for the kids - they made turkeys out of rice krispy treat balls, candy corns, and a few other items. The kids loved it but those pictures are on my phone and I haven't gotten them off yet.

Something you will not see pictures of... McAddenville Christmastown lights. There was really nothing worth taking a picture of. Seriously. It was pretty and all but it was a long drive and the kids were bored out of their minds. You could get out if you wanted to but there really wasn't a reason to so the kids didn't like that either.



Enjoy the pictures!

Merry Christmas From the Bryants

2011 Has been a crazy year for us as I'm sure it has been for many people. Though we have had alot of stress and uncertainty, we have also learned alot about faith, trust, and God's provision. No matter what happens we are commanded to trust God and He has always been faithful to us. This is not always easy to do but it is incredibly enriching to your relationship with God to push forward and continue pursuing Him. There is always much to be thankful for.

Here's a little recap of the past year - in bullet form because writing about it would take FOREVER....

Oct 2010 -
Jared lost his job. We were glad to be moving on but that does not diminish the stress it caused our family. We were very uncertain about our future.

Nov 2010 - Jan 2011 -
Jared picked up some odds and ends contract work as well as worship leading to bring in some cash.

Feb 2011 -
Jackson and Jaden turned FOUR!
We had to put our dog, Bob, to sleep. SOOOO hard but we knew it was the right thing to do.
We made the decision to move across the country to North Carolina (where Rachel grew up and where we met) but had no idea how or when that would happen.
In order to make the move possible we began selling off a HUGE amount of our stuff
We listed our house for sale

April 2011 -
We decided we needed to just go ahead and move and the date would be May 9
Packing, Packing, Packing, researching moving companies, getting details together, and trying to figure out where we would live

May -
Moved to NC (our house in Washington still had not sold)
Renting out our house in Washington became a possibility. Not really what we wanted to do but it seemed like the best option given our current situation.

June -
Visited my brother and his family in Charlotte, NC (a few hours from where we were living)
I (Rachel) got a job working from home part time that is PERFECT for my life and schedule. It does create a little stress for me and makes it harder to balance my schedule and get things done - but it very much needed and helpful in our current situation

July - Aug -
Really struggled with what God wants us to be doing and how we needed to best proceed in life
Jared was in Atlanta for a week pursuing an income possibility in ministry (that didn't really pan out the way we needed it to)
Our renters stopped paying us (due to a job loss supposedly)and made a plan for repayment all due at the end of Sept. We didn't feel like we had any other option.

Sept -
Jared's brother and sister came to visit for a week. We did lots of fun things including going to the beach (a REAL beach ;) )
Kylie turned TWO!
Jared starting working selling a form of insurance. Which he hated but everyone kept trying to get him to sell insurance so he thought he should try to give it a go. This lasted a couple weeks maybe and then....
Jared is offered a job in Charlotte (3 hours from where we were currently living). Seems to be a good job with benefits for our whole family. But we really didn't want to move. Then a couple days later...
Through a series of strange circumstances Jared is offered a job in Raleigh, NC (where we were living). It was a week of negotiations and in the end we knew that job probably wasn't right for him. So 2 days later....

Oct - Nov
Jared started work in Charlotte. We have one car so he would leave Sunday night and take our only car down, stay with a variety of wonderful people and come back Friday night leaving me with no car all week by myself with the kids. It was hard but went alot more smoothly than it could have. We could walk to the store if needed. My parents were available to help if we needed and get the kids to Awana as well as usually getting us out of the house once a week.
We thought we would never get to move. Our landlord wanted a huge amount of money to break the lease (which we had 7 months left on) plus, of course moving expenses.
We were blessed with an AMAZING gift that would allow our family to move and in God's perfect timing we found a GREAT house to rent that was far more wonderful than anything we hoped or asked God for - for a great price.
Our renters told us they filed bankruptcy (which they were lying about) and basically communicated they had no intention of leaving our home but wanted to pay us about half rent and wouldn't be paying us what they already owed. We gave them a pay or vacate and they did not comply. I will spare you all the ridiculous details but we ended up having to hire a lawyer to get them out. They were out mid-Nov without TOO much damage to our home and THEN they filed bankruptcy - so they don't have to pay us the thousands they owe us.
Our house goes up for sale AGAIN (with the help of many wonderful people)
Thanksgiving weekend we came and spent the day with my brother and his family as well as Rachel's parents and my brother's in-laws. Then we came back to Raleigh and loaded a truck - mostly by ourselves which was super hard - but we DID get some help with heavy things and last minute details which we are SO thankful for.
We move to our new place and get a bunch of help moving in (all these people we had met in Bellingham too - how weird is that?)

December -
We get completely settled in to our house
We prepare for Christmas
Rachel and the kids get a very strange sickness that knocks us out for a week. Thankfully Jared never got it and we are all better now.
We will spend Christmas ourselves here at home and Rachel's parents will come for a couple days immediately after.


There you have it. Jared's job is going just fine. It's not a good time of year for sales so it is hard to judge. He is at the top of his group that got hired together and already met his quota through Feb. However, the pressure is still on because he needs to make quite a bit more income - which he should be able to do - we just have to be patient and continue to trust God to provide.

The kids are doing well but we can see the struggle they've had with all the insanity this year. We are praying they feel settled soon and to make some friends - I'm so thankful they have each other.

We have been so incredibly blessed by so many people this year and there is no way we can ever thank them enough. It is humbling to watch people minister to us out of their love for God and us as well.

When Jared lost his job I would have told you in just a few weeks time we would no longer be able to pay our long list of bills. Then something would happen and we would realize we could probably make it through January. Then it was April...then June... Then August... and so on and so on. God has been so faithful to provide for us and it is so amazing to see!

In 2012 we will have 2 kindergardeners and start the world of school!

Some prayer needs for us would be that our house sells quickly, we will continue to trust God for our needs and obligations, for Jared to feel settled in his current job, for us to find a GREAT church and for all of us to make some friends!

We love you all and would love to hear from you and any prayer needs you may have.

You can keep up with us here at the blog to see what we are up to throughout the year - 2011 was a little hard to keep up with it all but I will hopefully do better in 2012!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love, Rachel, Jared, Jackson, Jaden, and Kylie

Lunch in our finally unpacked kitchen

Jackson on the moving truck

a Little Update

I am still trying to fix posting to the blog from my phone. It keeps messing up and I don't know why.
Here's a quick update...
Jared started his new job at the beginning of October, trained for a month and is now in the full swing of regular work. He's doing well but this is a harder time of year to reach people on the phone. We are hoping it all starts coming together to be more consistant after the holidays. Please pray the sales start rolling in :)for 2 months Jared has left us home for the week with no car while he traveled to Charlotte and stayed with a variety of wonderful people. My parents helped with transportation to Awana and usually got us out of the house once a week or so.
We were feeling like we would not be able to afford to move to Charlotte to join him for a number of reasons - the main one being the fee for breaking our rental contract here. We were incredibly blessed with a wonderful, undeserved gift that is allowing us to make this happen. We a so thankful! We found a GREAT place not too far from Jared's work and got a great deal. It is very spacious with a huge fenced yard that even has little play set in it! When we were asking the boys a while back what they were hoping for they said a fenced yard and a play set. This made me sad because fewer yards are fenced here and finding something with these specifications and something we could afford was unlikely. It touches my heart that God cared about the things my kids cared about and we feel so blessed! We are moving the weekend of Thanksgiving and are looking forward to getting started with our new life.
I have mentioned before that we rented out our house in WA. Not our top choice but it presented itself at the last minute and we were feeling stuck. They moved in June 1, paid their deposit, June, July, and part of August and then we never saw another dime despite many promises. We gave them a pay or vacate notice which they did not comply with then telling us they had filed bankruptcy - but they had not. We ended up having to pay a lawyer who went through the process to the point where the sheriff posted a notice on their door to get out in 3 days or he would physically remove them. They got out quickly - moving just down the street.... They did end up filing bankruptcy which means they won't have to pay us the thousands of dollars they owe us - but we are just glad at this point that they are out. There is definitely some damage inside but it could have been much worse. Some wonderful people went over and cleaned it and took care of the yard (which included picking up literally 5gallons of dog poop). The house should go on the market this week. What a whirlwind!
Some things to pray for...
That Jared will be making sales so we can get our lives back together
That our house will sell fast. I mean SUPER fast! Not sure what the future holds as far as making payments, etc
That our transition will be smooth moving to Charlotte
That we will find a good church quickly
That God will continue to provide for us
That we will have peace and trust God with whatever happens
Thanks for your prayers and we will keep you posted!

come back and physically remove them. They got out in the nick of time and moved right down the stt

A little Update

Jared just finished training at his job and is begining regular work this week. Pray that he will make sales and will not be discouraged. The close rate in this type of work is WAY different than anything he's used to.
Our renters have decided not to pay us and not to move out. We were forced to hire a lawyer and begun a legal eviction process. It is ridiculous. Though we aren't responding to them our renters continue to contact us and treat us like we are being "unchristian" in not allowing them to still live there and requesting they continue to live there while paying us a significantly reduced rent. Yet even when the law has told them to get out - they don't. They told us they filed bankruptcy - but they did not (it's public record). We will see if they do before their court date this Friday. I can't believe people think it's ok to do that. I feel like my house is being stolen from me.
God continues to take care of us. We have been blessed with unexpected blessings that are getting us through.
Our van is holding out which is good. We are getting a couple repairs done.
We are hoping to move to Charlotte in the next month but we will see. We went down to Charlotte with Jared last week and got a feel for the area and were able to figure out where we do and don't want to live and what the costs are. We haven't found a place yet but can now more effectively search. The boys were able to play with several kids their age there and I could tell that was huge for them. It's been a long time...
Please pray that we will be encouraged and be able to get through the next few months and keep our sanity :) We will be listing our house for sale very soon. We wish it was listed now but having renters you can't get out of your house causes major problems so we want to get through the hearing this Friday first. So please pray it sells soon and that the renters can get out ASAP without the police having to be involved (which creates additional hassle for us)
I just discovered my mobile posting was disabled so hopefully now that that is fixed we can get to posting more regularly :)

Halloween

This was actually the first time we have done Halloween. We arent a big fan of it in general but think the little kids dressing up to get candy is super cute. We intended to go to a festival on sat but didn't make it. Since I'm here today with no car I decided to walk the kids to CVS and get a cheap bag of candy. Then we came home and made outfits. Jaden wanted to be a blue monster, Jackson insisted on being a frog and I had a princess dress Kylie could wear. They were very excited and then it started pouring rain. But out we went. Only 2 places opened the door on our street and the kids were soaked and discouraged. Then we went down one other street and they got a good load :) the boys were so excited and Kylie was adorable. Too cute and totally worth it. They are now watching Charlie Brown and the great pumpkin and eating popcorn. Still no knocks on our door....

At Long Last

First of all, I have to apologize for not getting many posts up here. I have really been having trouble with my blogger account and am considering making a change. I'll let you know if that happens.
The big announcement of this post is to say Jared has a job! It has been quite a year. He's picked up a few odds and end things here and there. I will spare you all the details of the insanity of trying some things that he has stepped forward in and haven't turned out to be what he expected.
He was offered a job at AT&T Advertising Solutions last Friday. The problem: It's in Charlotte - 3 hours from here. The following week was quite a rollercoaster. Another job presented itself in the city we are living in now and was pretty comparable. In the end we decided the AT&T job seemed best for us despite having to move. (again, I will spare you the details) We don't want to move but on the plus side my brother and his family live in Charlotte and we have several friends there as well. It's also more of a city and I think Jared will like that. So if we needed to move - I'm glad it's to Charlotte!
The job started today, Oct 3rd! So Jared went down last night and is staying with friends for the week which we are so thankful for.
You would think we would feel the pressures begin to melt away after Jared getting job, but we are actually still in quite a tough spot. At least we know it is temporary.
He will have paid training in Oct and we are glad about that - but obviously it is training and will not pay as much as he will be making in commissions. It may be a few months before many commissions come in. We shall see. I'm not quite sure how all that will work.
Here's our current situation in a nutshell so you know how to pray for us....
1) Our renters have also found themselves in a bad spot and are WAY behind on rent. (thousands of dollars) We have covered for them (this may not make sense to you without the full story) but gave them a deadline of Oct 1 to pay us which they haven't. This week we have to post a pay or vacate notice and list out house. (unless they miraculously pay us). Problem is we need the money they owe us. Right now. AND we can't continue to pay for the house with non-paying renters or with no renters and it listed for sale. We need either for them to catch up and continue to pay on time or for them to pay what they owe and then get our house sold by November. Please pray their situation comes through for them and we are paid - and quickly.
2) We can't get out of our current lease (which has 7 months left) for less than $3000 at this point. We may be able to get that lowered but it is still going to cost us money we don't have. Whatever happens we need to get it figured out because Jared leaving every week all week is not really going to work, not to mention not really affordable either.
3) We only have one car. Jared is driving it to Charlotte leaving me with no car. Not ideal. Fortunately, my parents live nearby and can help if I need something. I can also walk to the store. We do need another car though and as you can tell, can't afford it. In addition to this we are having some problems with the van and are just praying it holds together because it's all we've got :)
I could write pages and pages about everything going on in my mind and additional details of our lives right now but to be honest, I don't have the energy.
In addition to the things above please pray for our sanity and for us to trust God. He has provided for us so far and I hate that I struggle with trusting him to continue to do so.
More to come...

Hanging out With Jackson

Kylie's Birthday

Part two

Watching veggie tales

Off to our Birthday Coffee Date!

Waiting for Kylie to wake up so we can join the others on the beach

On our way to the beach!

Jared and evan leading worship

Summitrdu.com Durham Campus

Cubbies. Year 2

Mommy Daughter Date

Kylie....

Fell off the ottoman and hurt her arm. Waiting to hear back from the dr....

Rainy day

We only are experiencing mild effects of the hurricane and decided to make cookies while dad is out for the day....

Kylie Reading her Bible to her Kitty

New shirts from Uncle Evans Camp

Waiting for dad at the airport

Hard at Work

Kylie is helping me get work done this morning

Movie Night

Fun Saturday

This Saturday our friends, Luke and Rockie invited us to go to the Science Museum with them downtown. Not only was the museum free, but there was lots of parking available - all of which was free - we could not believe this!
It was so fun! The boys were SO excited about everything - I was kindof surprised. They especially loved the dinosaur bones. From the outside of the building you could look up high and see a skeleton through the windows. They thought that was great. I'm sure I came here as a kid on field trips - but I think they have redone it all. We didn't get a chance to see everything so I'm sure we'll go back.
Then we went outside (into the 100+ degrees!) to eat our picnic lunch. and THEN we got to eat ice cream at McDonalds in the air conditioning :)
Such a fun day!

Getting Over Our Fears

My boys are not typically afraid of things (not more than a typical kid anyway) since moving here they developed a few fears. Bugs and water. Now these are not surprising since in WA there are not very many bugs and swimming is not as common an activity. At this point they don't love bugs but they are not terrified and it's easy to walk them through a bug situation without them panicking. As for the water I'm fine with them having a healthy fear of water but they need to not be terrified. We got a large pool that is around a foot deep for the back yard and they LOVE it. I think it is a helpful transition to a real pool. We still need to have life jackets or something which are kind of scary on their own. I'll hopefully be able to do swimming lessons for them next summer.
Kylie is a different story. She's got some crazy fears (all relating to movement) and I have no idea where they came from. She's doing MUCH better though. Some have gone away completely. For instance, the sweeper - she even helps me now. Some things now we can just talk her through and she's willing to calm down. The swing is still a little iffy but she's willing to "let" others swing if we talk her through it. I'm fine with her not wanting to swing. The black chair at our house was the first thing and it looks like it will be the last. We've gotten her fine with us sitting in it but no rocking! Just tonight when she got upset I asked her to help me rock so she came and pushed me and thought that was great. I think we are on our way out of that one. She's so silly.
I will not ignore my kids fears or brush them off. Kids are aloud to be afraid. However.... We really need to work through most of them so they aren't afraid of them forever! Thankfully, we are making progress!

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Kylies first pony tail

She is not a fan

this is a test

At the Beth Moore Conference

Good friends

Watching veggie tales

Jackson and I are working on our computers

Dancing

I dont' know what came over Jaden, but here he is. Terrible quality as it was taken on Jared's phone. Pardon Kylie, she got sauce on her shirt.....

Swimming

The next one was taken on Jared's phone :)

A morning at Shelley Lake

Cute Kylie

Cars 2

Boys first movie theater experience... Cars 2! Yay!

Happy Fourth of July!

And.... The power is out

July 4th

And we used to complain about the rain in Washington on July 4th
(where it is currently beautiful) we've got buckets of rain and look
at that wind!

High school pals

Love these 2! They were in their sisters wedding that night which is
why they were so matchy and I was the odd one out. Not to mention ....
Look how WHiTE I am! This was not too long after we moved here.

Friends

Friends from back in the day. Fun to catch up at their sisters wedding
(which is why they match outfits). Notice how white I was. I hadn't
been here that long....

Charlotte

Last week we went to visit my brother's family in Charlotte. We had a great time. Jared had never been to their current home and we haven't gotten to see them much over the years (looking forward to more of that!)

Wednesday we took our time driving down and "shopping" then spent the evening with them.

Thursday the moms and kids went to the park in the morning while Ben worked and Jared had a phone interview. Then we hung out at home and in the evening had dinner at Chris and Melody's house! Melody is one of my dearest friends from years ago and it's so great to see her again!

Friday we went to a spray park. There were a billion people there (which Emily had never seen before) and kids kept coming by the busload. Ellie had fun. Kylie had fun but didn't get too wet and I was constantly terrified of her being trampled (lots of kids running top speeds not paying any attention). Jackson had fun but didn't get super wet. Jaden did not. He FINALLY got the courage to go in there and got totally knocked down by some kid immediately. So he pouted a bit. Finally he said " I wanted to go to the other one and its like, time for lunch" Shortly after we went right around the corner to a really cool playground. The kids had a great time then we all relaxed at home while the kids napped and Ben fixed yummy ribs for dinner. Saturday we were able to get free tickets to the Raptor Center (a rescue place for birds essentially) . The kids thought that was great and got up close to many birds. There was a small ant problem, but thankfully, Emily and I were the only ones that got bitten. :) And we had to play it cool really well because Jackson was analyzing us. One false move and our morning would have been over. They loved it though.

That night it was off to church and seeing where Ben works. I had been there before but I don't think Jared had. It was fun. Reminds me a little of CTK.

Left after breakfast on Sunday and took our time. We spent a long time at IKEA (where the kids got free kids meals!) and wished we could buy alot ;) Made some stops on the way home and didn't get there till dinner time. We are all tired.

We had a great time and Ben, Emily, and Eliie were great hosts! Emily is a wonderful cook and I think we ate them out of house and home!

The kids were all so cute together. Our kids loved everyone which was good and even the two girls were starting to grin at each other and interact a bit towards the end. Kylie even gave Uncle Ben a hug before we left which was very good progress!

Here are some pictures...

BBQ

We had a BBQ at Umstead Park with my parents and had a great time. Despite the fact it was thunderstorming. Didn't really hardly rain though. But it was pretty dark. Here are some pictures....

Free kids meals at ikea today!

Chalk

Chalk video

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Donuts

I don't know if this will link or embed video. If you don't see the
video click the link to hear the conversation the kids had at krispy
kreme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt7aIMn_hzw&sns=em

Rachel Bryant

This morning I cleaned the house.... Here's what the kids did.....