Issue 17 Christmas- ish 2013 We spent our family vaca-

tion in Galveston (our fa-

vorite family trip) and at

KBC family Camp!

Successfully

Completed Marital

Communication class.

Aka: we bought a

house and are still in

love. Brouse house T HE NEW SL E TT ER T HAT YO U CAN ’T PUT DOW N … UNL ESS

YO U NEED F I RE ST ART ER … O R HAVE A T RASH CAN.

“For unto a child is born, unto us a Son is given… and his name shall

be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting King,

the Prince of Peace” Handel’s Messiah We pray you know Him!

Living a Stinking Great Life…

Rich in Faith & Family! As we write this Christmas (ish) newsletter, we are sitting in the living room of our new

house, the official Brouse House (our first purchased home). The kids, Steven Whiting and

the Gregory family are playing Just Dance on the Wii. There is a fire burning, and our

family is together. For now. Many things have happened this year, but what stands out is

that we are finally getting settled. Since Paul was born in 2008, the Brouses have moved 4

times, and there have been items in boxes since that first move. We are working our way

out of those boxes. We have also settled into a church, Mountain Christian Church, and

have found our way into a homeschool community, getting the kids involved in Drama,

Choir, and Civil Air Patrol. 2014 looks to be an exciting year: Hannah (and Noah) learning

to drive, going to college, working on and improving the house, celebrating our 20th wed-

ding anniversary, and entertaining guests with the mountain view from the school room.

We are truly a rich family, in faith and the blessings of wonderful relationships.

Paul Louis…5... The non stinky boy He never stops talking. Seriously. It’s impressive the conversation he can have with anyone while they do

anything. He loves tape measures, granola, oatmeal bake, running, going on hikes, making up stories,

school (esp math & science), licking others, dashing, kissing and hugging Mindy when she seems upset

(one day after Mindy fussed at the kids on the way somewhere, he says, “Mama, as soon as I get out of this

car seat, I am SO kissing you!”), & his friend Josh. He dislikes changing clothes more than once a week,

doing anything anyone else wants him to do, and cleaning his room. He is a charmer and can sweet talk just

about anyone. Watch your watch when you are around him …he has a thing for them. He will talk to you

while he takes yours. Seriously. We are grateful that God added him to our family almost six years ago.

The

Gazette

Hannah Beth earned

full scholarship to Uni-

versity of New Mexico

We tent camped as a

family for the first time

and LOVED it! (and nailed

it, by the way!)

Paul took a part time

job as the director of

childrens’ ministry at

church (Mountain Chris-

tian) and loves it!

Numbers of interest (or befuddlement) in 2013: 224 Houses looked at in person/online 39 Friends/family hosted here

5 Days gifted with friends in CA 86 Road trip hours

1,256 Kisses provided for bribery by PL 31” Snowfall in our area

845 Chai lattes consumed 26 Boxes (out of 320) left in the garage

Our new address: 10 Casa Colina

Sandia Park, NM 87047

Hannah Beth……16….

Hardly Stinky at All

“By grace you have been saved through faith, and that

not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8

Oh, Toey, how we love her. We don’t love her inherited lack of zeal for showers/changing clothes, but her heart is precious to us. She holds her sweet spirit and gentle nature. Chloe loves Reese’s, draw-ing, animals, going to the zoo, Skyping Haley, reading uninter-rupted, vising friends, & camp. She was the arts & crafts director at CRS Teen Camp this summer and earned the top award (“I am 3rd”) at Deer Creek Camp. She is grow-ing into quite a young lady, but still snuggles on occasion. She is a delight to all who know her. Even if she hasn’t bathed in days. Truth.

HB has had quite a year so far.

She was Lydia in Pride & Preju-

dice, worked at CRS, earned 9

hours of credit from The Masters

College, went to TX for her birth-

day, and fell in love with English

Line Dancing. She

starts her spring

internships in a

few days, spend-

ing a month in TX

for January and

then May. She

will graduate in

May. She is a bit obsessed with

Doctor Who, Sherlock, Avengers,

LOTR, and more. She is interest-

ed in therapy majors (SLP, OT or

PT) for next fall, making use of

her camp experiences. She has

really grown into an

amazing young

woman. It is excit-

ing and surreal to

watch. She gives us

hope, in that she

showers regularly,

unprompted. Yea!

Guaranteed to gener-ate an eye roll and heat-

ed discussion: Why is Legolas in the Hobbit? He is not in

the book...

Noah: The Awesome & Stinky Boy

Our first born son is 15 and

stinky. There is just no other

way to put it. We buy deodorant

and force showers, but we may

have to succumb to Axe spray.

He doesn’t even notice the

smell, which is a bit disconcert-

ing. Noah loves logic class,

Algebra, washing the dishes,

Latin, & toting wood and he

jumps out of bed early in the

morning on school days. He

isn’t a fan of all things LOTR,

Doctor Who, Avengers, chai

lattes, and Instagram. (Reverse

those last 2 sentences) His

highlights: camp, KBC Family

Camp, Stephen Whitings’ two

visits, the beach trip, program-

ming our computer to change

the word awesome to Noah, and

talking about the mountain lion

at camp to Mindy as much as

possible. He intends to eat ba-

con as much as possible in ‘14

& shower more. With soap.

Oh, how this girl knows how to love. Phoebe is a fabulous hostess, sister, and daughter. There is nothing she likes more than to make others hap-py. Tea parties, friends, and family are tops in her loving book of life. Almost every day she asks if we “can have someone over to visit” and every night she asks if she can “fix something special for dinner for the family”. To say she is a loving extrovert would be an understatement. She is growing in her faith, asking questions and learning about the LORD. She likes Littlest Pet Shops, cats (even though she is allergic to them), the out-doors, rain, and camp counselors. She and Chloe now share a room and it’s a delight to watch them giggle and grow closer. Such sweetness.

Parenting Tip: Use every challenge that arises to teach, including

building walls, moving 320 boxes & furniture, cleaning out septic lines.

Esther ….

…8…..Amazingly Not Stinky

Chloe...12...Stinky

But Beautiful

Phoebe…10.…Never Stinky

Esther Lynn is still the picture of grace… not yet blossomed. She is beautiful and dear. And sloppy and messy. She fiercely adores her family. She gives amazing (and breath-taking, literally) hugs. This blondie would prefer to spend her time in a pool (so the trip to Galveston is her idea of heaven), snuggled with a sibling (while watching something on the iPad), or eating some kind of sugar treat (she’s really not particular). Esther rocks math in school and has found a love for reading (her older siblings are so proud) that was strengthened by The Door Within series. She avoids showers and changing clothes (do you detect a theme?), but doesn’t have stinky pits yet, so she’s just a cute mess. We adore her muchly and can’t wait to see her blossom!

Caption

Parenting Tip: The words ‘ridiculous’ and ‘seriously’ and “are you

kidding me?” never sound so great as when spoken by a 5 yr old.