Bradley Family

Caleb: 1 Week

2010-04-23T16:42:00.003-04:00

See pictures from day 1
See pictures from week 1

Yesterday we found a beautiful little mountain town

2009-04-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Daddy taught Brynn how to throw the stick for Bodee...
This led to endless fun for both of them...
And even a very cold adventure into the lake to get the stick herself...
With great success and a sense of accomplishment! What would we do without Daddy's life lessons.

You can't blame me for taking pictures of these faces all day!

2009-04-17T21:16:00.000-04:00

From ballarina to dirt...

2009-04-17T21:12:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Auntie Amy, this is Brynn's new favorite outfit!

Two Peas in a Pod

2009-04-17T21:07:00.000-04:00

I hardly hear these two laughing harder than when they are playing together.

The best medicine to cure a cranky little girl is an adorable sister that's all smiles hugging on you and giggling. Neither of them have any defences against that one.

More Fun Easter-ness

2009-04-17T21:01:00.000-04:00

We thought Uncle Matt might get a kick out of this one. We miss you!!

After church-lunch-nap we went on an Easter egg hunt from one end of the park, through the stream (many times) to the other end of the park. There's nothing quite like finding a bunch of eggs filled with treats. Brynn stopped every time she found an egg to try to persuade us to let her eat the entire contents before moving on. Fortunately for her, daddy and Selah started finding some eggs, and her predictable, competative spirit kicked right in.

Easter Sunday

2009-04-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

Here are the girls enjoying the beautiful weather and our front yard tulips on Easter Sunday. Noni gave them these very special Easter dresses. These pictures are priceless!!

Brynn is just over 2 and Selah is 8 months old.

Climbing Trees is Totally Rad

2009-04-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

Beautiful North Carolina in the Spring at the Park

2009-04-17T20:09:00.002-04:00

Pony tales are fun!
Selah's not too sure what Mom's up to...
Brynn - on the other hand- can't get enough of the slides. The faster and longer the better.
Sheer happiness!

Personalities!!!

2009-04-17T20:08:00.002-04:00

We have no lack of personality in our family. Both girls have many different sides to them. Selah is a comedian - she loves to get people to laugh at her, so she's always coming up with new funny faces to get us to giggle.
But then sometimes she's very serious and contemplative. She always wins the staring contest around here.
Brynn is not often caught standing still unless she's watching someone's every move so she can learn a new trick. She loves climbing on rock climbing walls (she must get that from Uncle Mark) and balances very well on a beam.
Oh - and she's also completely potty trained - praise the Lord!!! She hasn't had an accident in weeks...which is exciting since we have people coming over all the time to look at buying our house. (Sorry no picture for this one - I thought about it though:)

Selah's crawling all over, except on our hardwood floors she pulls herself everywhere. Auntie Laura would be very proud of her army crawl!

More Spring Fun at the Park

2009-03-22T22:13:00.001-04:00

Daddy is always doing fun things and making fun noises!

Selah's baby blues hidden beneath seriously focused brows...

Brynn discovers a treasure in the coooold water!

Happy Spring!

2009-03-22T22:09:00.001-04:00

Bath time is more fun with sisters!
"What am I supposed to do with this these?" (Brynn's new attire-of-choice from Auntie Amy.)
Bodee splashed me...
Feeding the ducks at the park is a most-loved springtime tradition.

Snow day

2009-03-05T13:23:00.001-05:00

Welcome to 2009

2009-02-28T20:25:00.011-05:00

Sorry it's been a while since we've posted anything. Life has been full!
Here are a few snapshots of the past few months.

Brynn and Selah get a long great. Selah's really mellow, so Brynn just plays with her like she's her very own baby doll. Here the girls are playing at the neighborhood park on a warm January day.

Noni and Papa Dave came to North Carolina to visit for a couple of weeks and Selah fell in love with her Papa Dave.

Brynn is now 2 and loving chocolate frosting!!

We all had a blast going to an indoor waterpark in January.

We also got a dusting of snow this year, so we played outside with Brynn till our noses tingled.

We had a fantastic trip to California in February. We got to see all of Mike's family including his Ba Ba! The girls had fun taking turns on his lap.

Brynn had a great time keeping her Nana and Papa Tim busy. She is always on the GO!!

This one is from when Brynn was about 18 months old. Whenever she tells you to "DO DIS!" this is what she wants you to do.

That's all for now. We'll try to do better in the future.

It's Been So Long!

2009-02-28T17:32:00.003-05:00

Here's at Selah 6 Months
She's a pretty happy kid...needless to say...

- More soon to come.

Selah's Baptsim

2008-08-04T09:52:00.006-04:00

Selah's Baptism
Uploaded by bradleyden

I posted Brynn's Baptism video as well, but I put it up under the original date, so you have to look back in the archives, or click here to see it.

Someone asked for the text of what I said, I took the main gist of it from a post I made a while back on my theology blog. Anyway, here is what I said:

Baptism is symbolic of many things,

entrance to the Church,
ingrafting into Christ,
remission & cleansing of sins,
it is symbolic of regeneration,
our Death and Burial with Christ,
it is called a sign and seal of Holy Spirit and His righteousness, and
an appeal to God for good conscience.

Ellie and I believe that all of this symbolism is present here in the baptism of our daughter. Yet, it is hard to keep all of it in the forefront of our minds and do justice to each individual part. And so Ellie and I have decided to focus on the symbolism of death and burial with Christ in this event.

I've searched my mind for a way to give you all a glimpse of what is going through our minds in regard to this symbol; and so, in order to share our hearts with you, I'd like to tell you a short story.

John Paton was a missionary to the New Hebrides, a group of islands which now form the nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. In 1858, as he was in route to his mission station, he thought of how, not twenty years earlier, the earliest missionaries to the region were martyred by those they were attempting to save. He wrote the following;

John Williams and his young Missionary companion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, landed on Erromanga on the 30th of November, 1839. Alas! Within a few minutes of their touching land, both were clubbed to death ; and the savages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies.

Let me pause the quote here to highlight the next sentence, one that shows how Christ and Christ's kingdom were foremost in this missionary's mind. He goes on:

Thus were the New Hebrides baptized with the blood of Martyrs ; and Christ thereby told the whole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own. His cross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been poured forth in His name!

Paton knew that the blood of martyrs is Christ’s blood to the nations! When he thought about that blood he did not primarily think of it as tragic. And as he was looking forward to his own suffering among that same group of islands, he did not primarily think of the cost it would exact on his own person. Those thoughts were secondary to the surpassing joy of how God would use that blood and that suffering for the good of His own kingdom. Paton knew that Christ's Kingdom advances in glory by the suffering of the brotherhood of saints, of which Christ is our head and our example.

If you go back in Paton's story to his childhood you will find parents that dedicated him, as an infant, unto this cause. They gave little baby John as a sacrifice to the heathen lands even before he was born. And they raised him up, in the admonition of the Word, unto being such a sacrifice as he eventually became.

If you have followed this story so far, you will understand that though this is a joyful ceremony for Ellie and I, it is also a hard ceremony. Later, when Ellie and I are tempted to care more about little Selah's health, prosperity, and the cares of this world; more than in her status as a living, and perhaps a soon to be dying sacrifice, unto Christ's Kingdom; we want to look back on this day to remind ourselves that Selah does not belong to us but to another. She is the child of a Father much kinder and gentler than I, one that wants her prosperity even more than I do. And yet He is a wiser father who knows better than I, that it is for her good and His glory that she should be poured out like a drink offering for the sake of the elect.

More Selah (~10 days old)

2008-08-03T22:32:00.003-04:00

Selah 3 Days Old

2008-07-24T20:41:00.002-04:00

0 Days Old

2008-07-22T08:09:00.002-04:00

We uploaded some pictures of the wee one here. Here's a few from the set.

Fresh out

Weighed and measured

It's a Girl!

2008-07-22T03:31:00.001-04:00

6 pounds 12.5 ounces
19 3/4 inches
and no name yet.

Thanks everyone for your prayers.
We'll get pictures and such up soon.

Labor?

2008-07-21T17:52:00.000-04:00

Ellie's been having contractions since she got up this morning. The midwife is here and we're ready to go ... just in case.

Kool Park Waterslide

2008-06-27T17:57:00.001-04:00

A camera

2008-06-26T23:35:00.000-04:00

People have asked us when we are going to start updating these posts. Well we bought a camera, I've showed Ellie how to use it, and pictures should be forthcoming.

Also, I've been organizing some photos from the last year and I've updated some posts. But they don't show up at the top as I put them in chronological order. So scroll down and you might see something new.

Snow

2008-01-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

Around Christmas 2007

2008-01-01T23:07:00.000-05:00

My new goal is to keep these posts down to about four pics each, there are a lot more in this batch and if you'ld like to see the rest, go over to this link.

You'ld think for someone who likes to talk as much as I do I'd have more to write, but I don't.

Here's our daughter trying to eat beans, which just so happens to be what we call her most of the time.

I think this is her learning to clap (Ellie keeps better track of that kind of stuff)

Reading the picture Bible. Yes, we start 'em young.

And here is her first stroller.

Our new house

2007-11-19T09:46:00.001-05:00

We made it!

On August 16th we left on a trip with no destination in sight and now, 3 months later, we finally move out of our trailer and into our new home.

For those of you who don't know what we've been doing, here's the scoop. A while ago, my wife and I decided that California isn't the must conducive place to raise a family, especially on a single income; and so we sold our house, I quit my job, we packed up our stuff, and we drove out of California with not a very good idea of where we where going. Our main goal was to find a local church where we could grow in Christ, and though that might sound like an easy thing to find, Ellie and I are quite particular about churches :) We eventually found a PCA church in Hickory, North Carolina where we seem to fit in quite well, and now, 3 months and 14 states later, we are moving into a new house. Well new for us anyway, it was built in 1950. I'm pretty sure that was before I was born, I'm pretty sure that's before my parents were born.

Anyway, here are some pictures and a movie. You can click on a picture to go to a web photo album where you will find a few more pictures.

A bit of an accident

2007-08-13T22:31:00.000-04:00

On our way back from buying a trailer--the one we needed to go across the country in--we got re-ended. As you can see, the only part of the truck that was hurt was the part necessary to pull the trailer. We wondered if God was trying to tell us something.

In case you missed it in that last picture, here it is again.

But we got her fixed up just in time to head out.

Yup, all fixed. We kept our fingers crossed for three months as we drove around. (That's code for we prayed a lot)

Rattlesnakes

2007-06-03T22:12:00.000-04:00

Bodee has almost died quite a few times now. What's comming to mind is getting hit by a truck, getting hit by a 5-wood, sitting on death row in the pound, and now getting bit by a rattlesnake.

Here's some pics of him after he got back from the vet. Take a look at his right paw (the one without the bandage) it's huge!

Brynn's Baptism Video

2007-01-28T10:15:00.000-05:00

Brynn's Baptism
Uploaded by bradleyden

Baptism Announcement

2007-01-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

This Sunday, Brynn is getting baptized. Anyone who can make it is welcome to go (and to come back to our house afterwards). The details are:

Time: 10:15am
Date: Sunday, January 28
Place: Branch of Hope - 2370 W. Carson St. Suite #100, Torrance, CA 90501

Finally Some Baby Pics

2007-01-23T20:14:00.000-05:00

Well, here's some of the pictures we've taken over the last four days. If you want to see a few more, check out the gallery.

Still day 3 and still no pictures

2007-01-22T21:37:00.000-05:00

So to start it all off, here's some pictures we have of the pregnancy, to see more, try our Picasa gallery

And yes, we'll try to get baby pictures up soon.

Day 3

2007-01-22T21:23:00.000-05:00

Today is Brynn's third day with us and I've decided to start a blog so family and friends can share the joy.

To start with, here's the vitals:

Name: Brynn Bradley (yup, no middle name)

Age: 3 days

Weight: 7lb 2oz (That's up from 7lb 1 oz at birth)

Length: 19.25 Inches (I don't know when this changes to height ... maybe when she starts walking)

Crown: 13 Inches (Yup, a big ol' noggin)

Place of Birth: Mom and Dad's bed (That'll make for nice security questions later in life)

Hair Color: Light Brown (Mom says there's strawberry blond in there, but Dad's not buying)

Eye Color: Dark blue/gray

That's about all we can think of, I know your dying for pictures but we haven't taken many yet so you'll just have to wait.