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