Grandma Bray Turned 79

...and I forgot to take her picture. And I forgot to take pictures of a few others that were present at her party. In my attempt not to stop people to make them say "cheese," I miss a few shots. Oh well. Here are a few snap shots I did grab:

*~Rory Turned Two~*

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Blowing out the candles

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY TO RORY!!!!!

Because pictures of Rory are always nice...

4-2-11
Rory and "Baby Bear" of Goldilocks and the Three Bears at Storyland

Come on People!

Okay, here's the deal.  I have been in this family since July 1986, that is 24 years 8 months and 23 days.  That is a total of 9, 032 days.  I have been married to your Father, Brother, Cousin, Uncle, all around good guy Terry for 24 years, 2 months and 24 days.

Why you ask is this relevant?  Well I will tell you.  This blog was started in January I believe and no one is posting to it.  As long as I've been in this family I have never known you people to not having anything to say?  What gives?  Does no one have a single thing going on in their lives?  Has it come to us only seeing each other at weddings, funerals and.... well, weddings and funerals?  It seems that's what it take to get us together and frankly I don't like it.  I feel I have been in the family long enough (see above I did the calculations for you) that I can confidently air my grievance.  

I only turned 50 once and demanded and fiesta/quinceanera as an excuse to get the family together.  That is the last time we got together and really communicated for a fun reason.  I know that we are all busy people and have our differences in the kind of lives we live but honestly we are family.

I got called out on a chaplain call earlier tonight.  There was a SWAT team trying to get a man to come out of his house after having an altercation with a neighbor.  This man was mentally ill.  I sat with this man's mother while she watched the police and sheriff's department try to get her son to come out.  I watched her as she sat there trying to take in everything that was going.  There were swat officers running back and forth, loaded down with gear and weapons.  Lots of them. The sound of tear gas being shot through the windows mad her jump every time, she thought they were shooting her son.

I tried to put myself in her place to feel what she must have been feeling.  She has four kids.  two of them are mentally ill while the other two are perfectly fine.  One being a police officer the other a fireman.  She was terrified and rightfully so.  I was pretty terrified too.  I talked with her about God trying to find if she had a personal relationship with Him.  She was raised in the catholic church but had not gone to church in a long time.

As the hours ticked by and the commotion continued and became more and more tense I kept her occupied as best I could with conversation about any and everything I could think of.  We talked about family and kids and how kids from the same family can be so different.  We talked about life and we talked about faith.

I explained to her that she could not fix her son,  that his problems were beyond what she could repair.  She said I know that, but I am still a mother.  I so totally related to that.  I shared with her a little about my life and that there are time I lose sight of Him when I get wrapped up in my pain.  Then she told me a story she had heard.  It's worth sharing and you may have read it or heard it before but I hadn't.

A man goes to God and says, God I know that we all have our crosses to bear and that you being God has borne the weight of the heaviest of all crosses.  But, the cross you have given to me is just too heavy for me to carry and I am begging you to ease my load.  God takes him to a room that is full of crosses of every shape and size imaginable and made from every sort of material.  God said, okay you pick the cross you think you can bear.  Any cross and it is yours.  Of course the man picked the smallest cross and told God in relief I will take this one.  And God simply told him, that is the exact cross that you have now and are so willing to give up.  That story really got me to thinking about how trivial my problems really are and how her story gave me a new perspective from which to think about what is going on with me.

God puts me in this situations for a reason.  I never know the reason prior to going in and sometimes I never figure out why.  But each is a lesson.  

Tonight my lesson I think was that I need to focus on the family that I have been blessed with and concentrate my energy into making an honest effort to reach out to everyone I love.  

So to all of those who live locally and would like to get together sometime soon for coffee, desert, dinner, a picnic, a pot luck a trip to Walmart.... (you get the picture) To the ones not as close I urge you to post a little something once in a while just to let us know what's going on in your lives.  Maybe after the spring gets started we can plan a time when we can all get together.  Let me know when is a good time and I will make it happen.

Any one have any thoughts on this?  I don't want to hear any excuses of "i'm so busy," I've been so this, or that.  I am not asking for anything from anyone but time.  When it comes right down to it there are only a few things that are certain in life.  One of those certainties is that family is so important and what I don't want to regret at the end of my life is that I didn't try to bring my family closer.  

I love you all.

Annie B.

My own Blog

Hi everyone,

I started a blog of my own.  It's just random stuff.  Mainly about knitting and family.

http://annbray411.blogspot.com/  Come by and visit.

Annie B.

New Kid in Town

By way of Facebook I caught a glimpse of the newest kid on the "Bray" block...and he's a cutie! Welcome Zachary Paul Bray!

30th Birthday Bash

Thanks to David and my family and friends, I had a terrific 30th birthday. David threw/coordinated a great party, taking on a project that most men would leave entirely to the women. Here's a few of the pictures.