The Story of Us- Part III

Ok....so where did we leave off? We left of with Wednesday, April 14, 2004.

The following day, Thursday the 15th, was Nostalgia night. I went with my friends and Chip went with some of his friends....so we didn't hang out. I remember seeing him from across the room and thinking he looked in my direction and I winked at him! I couldn't believe I had done that....but I was relieved later to find out that he never even saw me at all that night : )

Friday the 16th came. This was a very interesting night. My floor had a formal "Pick-A-Date" event that night. About a week earlier, or so, my friends had been bugging me to go. I was already really starting to like Chip, and didn't want to waste a bunch of money on a formal event to just go with some random guy. So I told my friends I would only go if Chip agreed to go with me. So I asked him.....and I told him I was just asking cause I didn't really want to go but my friends were bugging me about it. He said no. So I told my friends no. So I was pretty bummed that he didn't want to go with me (I took this as a sign that he did in fact like Emily and that I was fooling myself thinking he might like me). Anyway....this was where our mutual friend Karin got involved. She decided if I wasn't going that she didn't want to go either. So we decided to try to do something else that night. She got one of her good friends (Toll...the one who wore the suit to the fish funeral) to agree to go out to dinner that night with us and got him to bug Chip to come with us. Chip agreed...although he was NOT excited about it. He pretty much wanted to go to dinner and then get home as soon as possible so that he could be in his room when open house started in case "other girls" (ie:Emily Wilson) decided to stop by. So....we went to Applebee's. I was SO excited about this "date" (that I knew wasn't REALLY a date....). I borrowed clothes from a friend and worried about how my hair looked and got sweaty hands and butterfly feelings and everything. So then, Chip REALLY confused me while we were at Applebee's...and Toll didn't help the situation. Toll paid for Karin's meal, which put Chip in a really awkward spot. It was VERY clear that Toll and Karin were just friends, yet Toll wanted to do the gentlemanly thing and pay. Well, this meant that if Chip didn't pay for me he was going to look like a big jerk. So he paid. This confused me though, because I wasn't able to use this as a sign of whether he liked me. I had no idea if he paid out of obligation because of Toll's action (which he did) or if he paid because he liked me and wanted to send a message of it being a date (which he did NOT). So of course I spent the rest of the evening analyzing and re-analyzing and over analyzing every aspect of dinner and trying to decide WHY he paid for my food. The other thing he had done that made me wonder about everything, was as we were walking back to the car, he was being exceptionally flirty and using these cheesy pick-up lines. It was really fun : ) But it confused me about whether I should read into it at all.........

SOO....we got back to Taylor and went to his room...I think Karin and Toll came, at least Karin did. We listened to a Brian Regan CD in his room. That was about 45mins long. After that, I could tell he was pretty much done with me for the night. So I told him I was going to visit other friends. I hung out with some people on the BroHo(the floor above him) and visited some of my other SIIS friends. Around 10:30 or 11, Karin and Toll and I decided to watch a movie at Toll's house (his dad was a prof and his parents lived 2 mins away...). We got Chip to come (mainly cause it was so late and the "other girls" hadn't shown up).

So, we got to the Toll residence, and another awkward/confusing situation came up. There were three places to sit for watching the movie. Karin and Ben sat right down in the most obvious choice of the three....a couch with a good view. That left 2 options.....a chair with the BEST view of the tv in the whole room, or a love seat with a side view of the TV. So I was the next one to go into the room. The chair is the obvious choice as far as viewing goes, but that left no option for him to sit by me. So I sat on the loveseat. I knew that he would REALLY have to WANT to be sitting by me specifically if he came and sat with me. But no....he sat in the chair. I was really bummed....but it made sense....it was the best place to watch the movie from.

Well, I decided that it was stupid to sit alone on a loveseat with a bad view. So I grabbed one of the pillows and laid on the floor a few feet in front of the chair so that I would have a good view. I could not believe what happened next...........all of a sudden, Chip was getting up out of the chair and grabbing a pillow and laying beside me on the floor. Now I am all full of butterflies again and definitely going CRAZY trying to figure him out. I was SO confused. Throughout the movie (which I barely paid any attention to at all since I was so busy trying to figure out what Chip was thinking....) I must have convinced myself that he probably liked me....because I got up the courage to hold his pinkie. Not his hand. His pinkie. It was a very slow progression. He had laid down on the floor THAT close to me, so that made my decision easier. It started with just having my hand at my side. His was at his side too. Which meant our hands were by each other. So throughout the movie I just moved mine closer (meaning like millimeters at a time...lol, since they probably only started about an inch or two apart) until our pinkies were touching. It was getting closer to the end of the movie, maybe 15-20 minutes left, when I decided to go for the pinkie hold. I got really nervous and was SURE he was going to freak out and pull his hand away. But I looped my pinkie around his and he didn't move. He didn't move at all.... In fact, it kinda seemed like he was totally fine with it. And eventually, through both of us shifting more and more, we were pretty much holding hands. So then.......the thing that REALLY shocked me........was that when the movie got over, and the lights came on, he STILL DIDN'T MOVE! I figured there was no way he'd want Toll and Karin to see us holding hands, but he DIDN'T MOVE! After like 3 minutes we decided we were tired and it was late and we needed to go back to campus. I rode back with Karin and he rode back with Toll. Of course at this point I was FREAKING OUT! I had NO CLUE what was going on.

And....I am going to have to stop here for now. I will keep writing later on and you can find out how long it was until I finally had some answers : )

Perfect Day for the ZOO : )

So. Earlier this week,on Monday and Tuesday, Arizona summer temperatures hit with a vengeance. I believe one day it was around 106 and the next around 110. It was HOT! We went to the zoo on Monday with our neighbors, Becki and Kingston (who is almost 6 months old). We couldn't WAIT to get out of the sun and into some nice A/C.

TODAY....on the otherhand....was PERFECT : ) It was 75 degrees, partly cloudy skies, a nice breeze, and possibly THE busiest day at the zoo for the entire year! The parking lot was FULL. I knew it would probably be busy today, but it was just so nice outside I couldn't resist. (We visit the zoo quite often as we have a membership...thanks Mom and Dad B!)

Here are some pictures from our zoo trip today. We go so often and I don't remember to take pictures enough, I guess because it isn't a really "special" trip since we're there so much. But today, I decided we would document it : ) (I am hoping this blog will encourage me to take pictures of more everyday events as well......)

Kenzie has this cute pink sunhat. Until she was around 8-9 months old she wore hats JUST FINE. She wouldn't touch them : ) NOW.....we are lucky to get her to keep it on for 5 seconds. I thought I would try anyway, especially cause she looked so cute in it.














NOPE! Yeah right Mom! Off comes the hat.













And not just off. She also had to throw it to the ground for dramatic effect.













It was totally worth the effort though, because in the midst of this very short process I was able to capture a picture that to this point in time is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES of my little girl. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture. I hope you guys enjoy it 1/2 as much as I do : )








Here we are with the zebras. A nice guy offered to take our picture as he saw me struggling to hold Kenzie on the fence with one hand and lean back with the other hand trying to get far enough back to get her and the zebras in the picture.








Here is Kenzie watching the pretty pink flamingos. We usually go to the zoo in the morning and they are usually sleeping and boring, but today it must have been feeding time when we went and Kenzie LOVED watching them : )









Monkey Village is one of our FAVORITE parts of the zoo. It is an exhibit where you get to go right in an enclosed path with about 16 little squirrel monkeys. They swing on ropes and climb trees and jump from branch to branch right in front of you! We did NOT go in today, as it was PACKED in there.....but I thought it would be cute to get a picture with the big sign.












Here we are.....nice self-portrait huh? Ok...so not the best, but it is pretty hard to be pregnant and holding a 13 month old and get a GOOD self-portrait. So I am happy with how it turned out anyway : )









We had a great view of the elephants today. And the keepers had put out snacks for them, so they were very actively trying to get their treats. Kenzie watched them for a LONG time : )










Here is Kenz looking at the elephant. It was another picture that was a juggling act for me. But we got one in the end!









By this time Kenzie was getting tired...and more importantly...HUNGRY! She LOVED her raisin snack.




"Boy, this looks good"












In the mouth it goes.


















In this picture, she was audibly enjoying her snack with a nice "Mmmmm" sound! (Which she does OFTEN when she is enjoying her food....)
















So...that was our trip to the zoo today. Thank you Lord for the AMAZING weather, the resources to visit the zoo, and most of all....for all the beautiful creatures you designed for us to enjoy!

In His Hands,
Dani

The Story of Us- Part II

THE 2 WEEK FRIENDSHIP
APRIL 2, 2004- APRIL 15, 2004

Friday, April 2nd: Danielle went to the SIIS open house (as usual) and ended up hanging out with Chip and his former roommate, Matt Braham, for a couple of hours.

Chip's thoughts: I remember somehow finding myself in Braham's room with Braham and Danielle, talking about fish (he was already a fish-lover back then.....) and other random things. I had her ask this senior computer guy, Norm, if she could be his girlfriend (a joke I had going with him) so that was fun; but I specifically remember being bored and wanting to leave, but we all decided to go make sure Cricket's door was open 6'' (that was the rule and he had just gotten a girlfriend). Then for some reason, I started introducing her to other SIIS boys I knew, I'm not sure why, probably just cause I was kinda bored. I remember her saying in Braham's room that we should eat breadsticks sometime, but not knowing who she was talking to. Then she specifically asked me later that night, which cleared that up. I knew her as the "floor whore" (it really was an endearing term in the group of guys...) and thought she did this type of thing all the time (which she probably did) and so I thought very little of it and said yes, but was very very unusual for a girl to ask me if I wanted to do something, so that got my attention, but like I said before....she was the "floor whore".

Dani's thoughts: We started hanging out that night because I saw him walking down the hall to his room and for some reason I had a HUGE urge to stop him and talk to him. I remember calling out his name but having NO CLUE what I would say after that! Chip turned around and I found myself blurting out the words "Have you fed your fish lately?"(I knew he had a piranha) This was what got us talking about fish and we went into Braham's room because he had a fish, too. Unlike Chip, who was bored, I had a really good time. (Probably because I was a nerdy little freshman who thought seniors were cool...) I remember asking him to eat breadsticks because I really wanted to hang out again. The other thing I remember is that Chip had holes in his shoes and I asked him about them. I wanted to say goodbye to him when I left the floor that night, but I couldn't find him. (He had already gone to bed) So when I got back to me room I emailed him...and asked about breadsticks....for the 3rd time.
Something else I remember about that night, that I didn't write about the first time, was the fact that Chip told me he had never met anyone else named Danielle and that he thought it was a cool name. For some reason, that made me happy.

Monday, April 5th: Chip's schedule was very busy; he had horseback riding after dinner and then an ISD meeting at 11pm. He had just enough time to fit in breadsticks with Danielle between when he got back from horseback riding at 10 until his meeting. The reason we didn't do breadsticks a DIFFERENT night was because Monday night they were 1/2 off or something....so we were trying to get them on Monday night breadstick night. : )

Chip's thoughts: I remember talking with her about how she was going to get the breadsticks. She said that she had a friend with a car and if that didn't work, she said she had feet. Our conversation wasn't the greatest and it was like we were trying really hard to become friends for some reason. I thought she was a nice girl after this time together.

Dani's thoughts: We had spent the weekend emailing each other, trying to figure out a time and place for breadsticks. We ended up meeting at "the comfy couch" in the science building. Lori let me borrow her car to pick of the breadsticks from TOPPIT (The Only Pizza Place In Town). We talked and I made him a little late for his meeting (which I didn't know he had). I had fun.

Tuesday, April 6th: Chip's cousin Isaac came to visit him, to see Taylor during his college search.

Chip's thoughts: I was really busy with homework and Isaac was watching a movie. We wated to do something with Danielle, but Isaac was tired and only wanted to do something if it sounded REALLY fun. We didn't do anything.

Dani's thoughts: I remember REALLY wanting to do something that night because all I was doing was sitting in my room. Chip told me that Isaac only wanted to do something if it sounded really fun because he was tired and had to get up early. I tried REALLY HARD to think of something he'd think was fun, but the most fun at Taylor on a Tuesday night without a car that I could think of was playing games in the Student Union. It wasn't fun enough for Isaac, so like Chip said, we did nothing. I was pretty bummed. The funny part about this is that I was thinking what a great excuse it was to "want to see Isaac while he was visiting" when really I just wanted to hang out with Chip again : )

Wednesday, April 7th: Taylor was pretty empty. It was almost Easter break and quite a few students had already left for home. Danielle IMed Chip at 1am wanting to "play". They hung out until 4:30am.

Chip's thoughts: I was SO tired! and was all ready for bed and SO looking forward to sleeping, when I get this IM from Danielle asking me to "come out and play". I kind of wanted to, but mostly I just wanted to sleep. Something inside of me decided that I needed to go out and actually have fun with a girl. So I brought food (a cheese packet from a package of Mac N Cheese) and we met at the Sammy Fountains. It was fun and we talked about memories growing up that we had in common (ex: swim team) and eventually we decided to see if there was a way to get into this old closed down art building. We climbed through an unlocked window and explored the dark building which was very fun. We hung out in there until 4:30am and then went back to our dorms.

Dani's thoughts: It was 1am and I was not tired. I saw that Chip was online and decided I really wanted to hang out with him that night because I was leaving the next day for the weekend. I asked him to "come out and play". He responded pretty negatively. I tried to convince him a little bit more and it still didn't look good. I had pretty much given up when he suddenly agreed. We met at the Sammy Statues. I brought 2 blue Kool-aid Bursts for us to drink. We were for for 3 hours.


Sunday, April 11th: This was the day Danielle got back to Taylor from being at her brother's in Aurora, IL for Easter Break. As usual, she wasn't doing much and IMed Chip to see what he was up to. He needed to borrow a book from a friend off campus, so she went with him. Later that night at 10ish (the outing to get the book had been around 6pm) she went with him to return the book and then they got snacks and candy at Handy Andy (the local gas station). They went back to Taylor and ate it in the art building. The night ended 4 hours later (at 2:30am).

Chip's thoughts: Danielle and I were making small talk on IM and for some strange reason I asked her if she wanted to come with me to pick up a book I needed for homework from Howie's house off campus. She said she wanted to come, which I thought was very weird but it was fun. I was driving Hilty's stick shift car and on the way back had a very hard time. Later that night we had fun eating candy in the art building and we started to talk about deeper things. This was when I first started to like her a little bit.

Dani's thoughts: In the way to get the book from Howie's house, I found a fun play gun to play with. It made cool shooting noises. Chip's stick shift abilities started to worry me some when we were leaving Howie's because he couldn't get the car into 1st. But once we got going everything was fine. Later that night, I asked Chip if he wanted to go get candy with me at Handy Andy and he said he needed to take the book back anyway so we could go. I was really hoping to hang out at Handy Andy and eat the candy, but as soon as we paid, Chip headed out to the car so I just thought he was going to take me back to my dorm. When we pulled into Taylor he stopped in a random parking lot and asked if I had any ideas of where to eat our snacks. We ended up going back to the old art building and talking for almost 4 hours. I had started liking him the first or second time we hung out, and this was the first time I left myself think he MIGHT like me a little bit too : )

Tuesday, April 13th: Chip's piranha died and he asked Danielle to help him make a raft that afternoon. She had class so Chip waited to make it until Danielle could help. They collected sticks and then made the raft. Later that night at midnight, Chip invited SIIS and some girls to the funeral. Danielle was one of the girls. Chip told everyone to wear their clothes backwards. The piranha was set ablaze and put out on Taylor Lake while Chip read a poem and FJB (freshman Joe Beckman) read a poem. On the way back, Chip and Hilty and the girls started little gas fires on the sidewalks for fun. Then Chip and Hilty ran away when Campus Safety drove up. They all hung out in the Sammy lounge after Campus Safety left.

Chip's thoughts: This was a fun day. Making the raft with Danielle was fun and I had a good time. I was also excited to see around 30 guys at the funeral. I also liked that a couple of girls came because that was unusual for me to plan something and invite girls. I remember liking that Danielle dressed backwards and that Toll wore a black suit. The funeral was amazing with my poem being weird poetic things I found online and made up myself. FJB's poem was also quite fun, as he was a supporter of the fish that had killed my piranha. Hanging out in the Sammy lounge afterwards was a little strange. Karin was calling me her "side-dish boyfriend" in front of Emily Wilson and Danielle, and I didn't like that very much. And it was also weird having Emily and Danielle both there because I liked Emily and was starting to like Danielle more, and Emily liked Hilty, but he didn't like her.

Dani's thoughts: This day kinda confused me. First it made me excited because Chip had asked me to hang out and even WAITED since I had class. This made me think maybe he liked me. I was excited all afternoon because I knew I'd get to see him that night at the funeral. After the funeral we were still hanging out (participating in the illegal activities....) That also made me excited. (Not the illegal activities part...the hanging out part...) After the Campus Safety incident, we all went back to the lounge at Sammy to hang out a little more. The group ended up being Hilty, Chip, Tyson, Me, Karin and Emily Wilson. This was the night I started to think Chip didn't like me, because he was seeming pretty interested in Wilson. At this point, I decided that at least I had a new fun friend. I didn't really think anything else would ever happen. I can remember Chip talking to Emily about wanting to come to her track meet that coming Saturday. That was one of the things that made me think he must really like her, because you don't just go to a girl's track meet for no reason.

Wednesday, April 14: Chip, Danielle, and Karin spent the afternoon rollerblading. Karin got tired after awhile and went inside. Then, later that night, Chip and Danielle met at the old art building and talked for a few hours.

Chip's thoughts: At this point, Danielle and I were IMing a couple of times everyday and she said she was going rollerblading. I asked her if she was going alone and she said no, but then invited me which was what I was hoping for. After around an hour of blading, Karin wanted to stop, so we all went back to Olson- I wasn't having fun, mostly cause I am bad at bladin', so I wanted to stop too, but Danielle wanted to keep going. So we bladed more. So, while blading I asked her if she still wanted to hang out that night thinking that maybe she would say no cause we had just hung out, but she asked me what I wanted to do, so I said yes, just to do it, and she said ok, but in a very casual way that made me think she might not want to, so I was a little sad. We met in the old art building that night and I brought a candle to burn cause fire is fun and she brought lots of pictures and high school stuff to show me. Our conversation was deep and good and I kept liking what I saw in her. We stayed out late, probably until after 3am. Up to this point, she had already asked me if she could hug me and I had said yes. So it was a little awkward as we were leaving this night as it would've been a great time to hung, but I just stood there waiting for a couple of seconds and then we went back to our dorms. I felt like I was getting mixed signals from her.

Danielle's thoughts: Karin wanted to go rollerblading so I decided to go with her. Just as we were getting ready to leave I was IMing Chip and he said he wanted to do something outside because it was so nice out. I didn't think he meant that he wanted to do something with me, but I decided to invite him rollerblading anyway and he said YES so I was very excited. Karin wanted to go inside and even though I was tired of rollerblading too, I wanted to keep hanging out with Chip so I asked him if he wanted to keep going with me. I clearly rememeber TOUCHING him this day...haha. I pushed him backwards a little bit or something....just being flirty. It was funny, because I was VERY flirty, with EVERYONE.....EVERYONE EXCEPT the person I liked! I always had trouble being flirty with guys I liked because then it was actually revealing my feelings for them, instead of just being fun. Chip made this ESPECIALLY hard because he was NOT a flirty person and you knew he didn't have tons of interaction with girls, so I didn't want to come on too strong and scare him away. Because of this, I can CLEARLY remember being so nervous putting my hands on his shoulders or chest or something and pushing him backwards...for like 1 second! HAHA. At one point, he asked if I still wanted to hang out that night because we had planned to do so earlier. I REALLY wanted to, but, because of the night before and thinking he liked Wilson, I thought he probably didn't really want to so instead of giving a flat out YES, I told him we could do whatever he wanted. When he said we should I was SO excited! I had to hold it in so much. Apparently I held it in a little bit too much : ) That night we talked for a long time. He brought a candle- I thought it was for the mood, but no, it was just so he could play with fire. Earlier I had asked him if he was okay with girls hugging him (I had never seen him hug a girl) and he said yes, but that he didn't initiate hugs with girls, but if they wanted to hug him it was fine. As we left the building we stood there but I got WAY too nervous (for the same reasons I explained above) so we ended up just leaving. After this night, I thought I might have a chance again!

Ok. This is the farthest we got in our hand-written journal and I will stop here for today. From here on out I will tell the story as I remember it, like I said before. If/when Chip wants to throw in memories and details he is MORE than welcome to do so. I really like seeing the opposite views we had, especially in the beginning. If you made it through all of that...GOOD JOB! : )

The Story of Us- Part I

Right after Chip and I got married, we started a hand-written journal to record the events of our relationship that we could remember. We didn't get very far........ We basically got through all of our meetings and encounters and our brief time of friendship before we started dating. I am going to copy those over first, and then I will pick up on the story from there, as my memory recalls things. If at any point Chip wants to jump in, I will let him do that for sure (ok, sweetie?) So.....the story begins.........

(anything in red is afterthoughts that I am adding NOW to what I had already written before)

OUR FIRST MEMORIES OF EACH OTHER

Entry by: Dani
The first time I saw Chip, we were in his dorm room at Taylor University. Here's how the story goes. I had a class with Chip's roommate, Matt Hilty, the fall semester of my freshman year at Taylor ('03-"04). I found out that Matt lived on SIIS, a floor I visited often during open house. So I decided to stop by and see him one Friday night. My friend Joy and I had just come into their room, room 234, and we were talking to Hilty, and in walks a blonde boy, wearing JUST a towel, fresh from the shower. Although things were awkward, Hilty still proceeded to introduce us to "Chip", his roommate. (At this point I really thought that Chip WAS his real name...it never occurred to me that it could be a nickname...) Chip came in the room and got clothes, then left to change. He came back and talked for a minute after he got dressed. THis was the first time I remember seeing and meeting my wonderful husband!


Entry by Chip:
The first time I remember talking to Danielly was not when we talked for a minute after I showered (I was too embarrassed to remember anything), but it was a couple of weeks later when I was walking through the student union with 2 friends. As we got to the exit doors we saw a friend of ours, Jesse Hibbs, playing pool with a girl who turned out to be Danielle Jorg. Jesse introduced Dani to me as "Gungelle" (because her brother's nickname had been "Gunga") and made a comment about 3 Arizona people being in the same room (as he was from AZ too!) I remember staying for a minute to talk about our great state of AZ and then having nothing else to say, so I left. I did not notice Danielle very much at this point. I just knew her as "the girl that hangs out with SIIS boys a lot".

Note from Dani: This was DEFINITELY my second memory of meeting Chip, and I have the exact same recollection of the encounter......just as an FYI : )

A FEW "IN-BETWEEN" ENCOUNTERS

Entry by: Dani
Between the first times we saw each other and when we "became friends", we did have a few small interactions. One of these happened right after Thanksgiving break. My family had come to Michigan for Thanksgiving and my parents and sister, Cassie, drove me back to Taylor. They decided to stay for a night and come to chapel the next morning. Cassie happened to ask me if I knew of Chip Brown (a few weeks earlier she had asked if I knew Paul Brown when I was talking to her on the phone....and of course, I did not!) So I told her that yes I knew Chip and she told me that he was the cousin of Isaac and Micah Brown who I knew from Desert Christian High School. My sister and parents wanted to meet him, so after chapel I introduced them.

The other clear memory we both have is a time in December that we both got a ride to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Muncie together. I rode in the back with him and sat by him during lunch back at the D.C. (dining commons) after church. We can remember making a plan to annoy his roommate, Matt.....the plan worked : )

Current Events at the Brown Home

I have been trying to figure out where I want to start. So....I guess the first thing I want to do is just start with a general overview of what our life is like....and who we are..........right now.

My Wonderful Husband and Best Friend: Stephen Paul "Chip" Brown- Hmm...my wonderful husband. Where to begin? Chip just turned 26 years old in April. He is a manager at Joe's Real BBQ in Gilbert, AZ and LOVES working there. He has been there for close to 2 years now and would love to work there many more years. He is a great dad to Kenzie and loves playing with her, but has also done a great job of learning how to completely care for all of her needs. (I will reserve this area for him to edit his fave activities/etc).



Me: Danielle Marie Brown- Let's see here. I am 22 and will turn 23 in July. I am a stay-at-home-mom who God has blessed with the opportunity to work part time from home! I work for the billing department of a surgeon's office (Chip's dad is one of the four surgeons in the practice....this really helped in allowing for my situation of working from home!). I also type letters for Chip's dad.




Some of our favorite TV shows: The Office * LOST * So You Think You Can Dance * Chuck * America's Next Top Model * Beauty and the Geek* (Chips also LOVE LOVE LOVES Smallville)

Our Church: East Valley Bible Church Chip has been going to East Valley since it started 16.5 years ago. It is a large church and that took some adjusting for me (the church I went to back home was between 200-300 people, EVBC has 4,000-4,500). Now, after being there for over 3 years, it definitely is starting to feel like home. We love setting up the coffee/ice water tables once a month and meeting new people in the process : ) We have also been involved in two small groups, first a newly married group, and for the past year a "home group". The newly married group provided such encouragement and support for our first 2 years of marriage, and our current home group is amazing as well! We love all the couples so much and God uses the time we spend together each week to really grow and encourage the group.
The Kids:
Makenzie Rose- She is such a little miracle and blessing from the Lord. She was born last April and it has been amazing to watch her grow and develop over the past 13 months. It is amazing how dependent they start out, and in just a short year they are all over the place...walking and trying to use their own little language. Kenzie has blonde hair, dimples, blue eyes, and pretty much looks A LOT like her daddy. She thinks she is pretty funny and has SUCH a great personality. It is rare for her to be unhappy, even when she doesn't feel well. She has been such a wonderful baby and we feel SO blessed that God chose us to be her mom and dad.

BABY BOY- Our next little family member is being knit together in my womb as I write this! I am 28 weeks pregnant today with our little boy and we are getting anxious to meet him. We know so far that he is strong and healthy and active : ) We also DO have his name picked out, but have not revealed it yet! So that part of this little mystery man is coming soon as well. It will be interesting to see if this little guy is an easy going baby like his big sister has been, or if he's going to give us some trouble. We'll find out soon!

Where We Live: Right now we live in a cute little 2BR/1Bath condo in Mesa, AZ. We have lived here for 2 years now and, while we look forward to a little bit more space in the future, we are enjoying our nice little 900 sq ft coziness for now : ) We are close (4-5 minutes) to Chip's parents and the home he grew up in and even closer (2-3 minutes) from his dad's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Brown. We enjoy being able to spend time with his family frequently and know it would be much harder to get together if we lived farther away. Plus, it is nice having babysitters so close! Kenzie LOVES going over to Grandma's house and playing with the "puppies" (three big Weimaraners!)

The Living Room













The Kitchen













The Dining Room













Our Pets: We have FISH : ) I was not convinced that I could be a "fish person" before we got married, but Chip changed my mind. I thought having fish was having a 2 gallon aquarium with some goldfish or guppies or tetras. WRONG AGAIN! We have a 110 gallon aquarium which is the home of our 6 pets. Herbie- a Tiger Oscar Ugly- a Clown Knifefish Mmmmbop (yes, after the Hanson hit!)- a Jack Dempsey cichlid Flash- a freshwater pufferfish (although we're not sure exactly what kind.....) Sharkie- a Shark Catfish and last but not least..... Sucker Fish- a Sucker Fish...lol....or officially a Plecostomus












































Hmm...so I think I am about done for the night. Hopefully this gives a slight overview of our current (and wonderful) situation in life and how RICHLY God has blessed us these first few years!

In His Hands,
Dani

Here I Am Again............

So. I think this is the third time I have started a blog. I deleted the other two within minutes of creating them.....we'll see if this one sticks around.

My problem is that I have such a hard time communicating the thoughts in my head in an interesting way. I feel like I am writing things the way I want them to sound, but when I go back and re-read them they are so boring! But I have decided to swallow my pride, and stick with boring. Boring is fine. The whole reason I have wanted to blog is to remember the details of our ordinary days. Days I love....days I might not love so much. I am learning more and more about being thankful for small things in my days-seeing the extraordinary moments that are SO abundant in each and every "normal" day. God is teaching me all the time to trust HIS plans. I want to be able to have a place to look back and see His story for our family unfold. It is definitely fun to be thankful "in the moment", but it is also fun to be able to look back and remember and see from a new perspective how God was working at particular moments for particular reasons that we were too blind to see at the time. I want this to be a reminder to me, as I post new entries, as I re-read old entries, that at all times.....in all things....we are In His Hands.

So. That is a little bit of background. I would love to not only keep up with "right now", but I would also love to capture as much of my time since I met Chip as my forgetful mind will allow.