Get Informed! --Mike Huckabee

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been a while since the post but you understand with Christmas and everything. I am sure Rachael will be posting some Christmas pictures soon and I am working on some videos.

I wanted to encourage all of you to begin following the campaign for a new president. Our nation is struggling and all the righteous have to do to allow evil to reign in our nation is nothing. We must be informed and take action! We need every believer in America to vote in the upcoming elections!


One candidate that I have been thoroughly impressed with is Mike Huckabee. He is an ordained minister of the gospel and the odds have been against him all the way. I can see God's working through him. I want to encourage you to research Governor Huckabee and keep him in your prayers. You can learn more by going to meet the candidates at You Tube or by visiting his website: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/. His information and blog is on this site.


If you wish to support his campaign please visit https://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Contribute.Home&r=3164. We have a goal to raise at least $100 for Mike’s campaign.

Remember to pray for our nation and its leaders!

2 Chronicles 7:14"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Laughing Out Loud

Elizabeth doesn't laugh much. In fact, this time was only the third time we have every heard her laugh! Luckly we had the video camera handy so we could share it with you :)

Elizabeth Learning to Crawl

Watch this exciting video premiering a few of Elizabeth's first forward motions. (Some of this might be over dramatized :) - what can I say, I am a video guy!)

It's not to late to vote to see who Elizabeth looks like! Scroll down to view the pics then vote on the right hand navigation bar!

You Decide

Okay it's time to let you be the one who decides. Does Elizabeth look more like her mommy or daddy? Use the pole on the righ nav bar to place your vote - "Daddy" "Mommy" or "Can't Decide".


Picture of Daddy:



















Picture of Elizabeth:













Picture of Mommy:

New Computer (continued...)

So we figured out the new computer situation and I got it all set up. It is pretty awesome! We can watch HD TV through our PC, play music, picture slide shows, and home videos. And if that is not enough I can use my 360 as a media extender and view all of the above media on our TV! Pretty cool.

Things have been going well at our home. The Thanksgiving holiday was very enjoyable. We spent it with family and friends... how can it be better than that?

We are excited about Christmas! This will be Elizabeth's first one and New Year's Eve marks our second wedding anniversary! I am sure we will have many posts to come throughout the rest of this year! Wow, the end is already almost here!

Happy Holidays,
-Brandon

Elizabeth's Red Letter Day

Last Friday, November 9th, Elizabeth experienced a few firsts for her life. She got to eat food for the first time. (Other than rice cereal and formula.)She had carrots and like everything else she eats, she loved it and was just happy to have food entering her mouth. :)
Her other first was her very first tooth! Yippee! Mostly I am grateful that she was able to have a tooth poke through without me even knowing it. She hasn't been extra fussy or anything. Praise the Lord! Last Wednesday my mother discovered her other front tooth had poked through too! They are the front bottom teeth and are coming in very nicely.Aren't they cute?
Hope you have a blessed week! -Rachael

Don't forget... be grateful for the everyday things!

I am so so so so SO excited about my new toy! Brandon and his parents got me a dishwasher for my birthday! My wonderful dad installed it for me and it runs like a beauty! I actually get excited about doing the dishes and I gladly offer company a "real" glass without hesitation! Thank you to all of those who made this happen for me!!! I am very grateful!

New Computer

Today we bought a brand new computer! It is an AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor, 500GB HDD, 3GB of Ram, TV Tuner and more! We really like it.



When I went to pick up the computer today I didn't realize what I was in for:

1. Some of my most important applications would not work or it was questionable if they would work when I upgraded from XP to Vista.


2. After spending hours of checking into things and studying I bought the PC only to discover that this machine was not supposed to be sold. It was a display computer that had features disabled, activiations expired and 50GB instead of 500GB of space. Of course I had already set it up and unpacked it all before I realized.


3. When I took it back to Best Buy it took forever. However, they helped me out by giving me a good discount on a 22in flat panel monitor! We are very excited about that!


4. I spent extra money on a tv antienia because we live just south of mount trashmore.


5. I am still not done setting up and it is after 8:00pm!

Nevertheless we are still excited. Pray that setup goes better!

-Brandon

New Web Album (family pics)

We just got the rest of our family pictures back from Hannah! There are some new ones but if you went to Hannahs blog you have seen most of the best. Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/brandonrachael/FamilyPictures to view our web album of our first family photo shoot!

We entered Elizabeth into a photo contest for cutest baby of the month. If you would like to vote for Elizabeth go to http://links.mkt457.com/ctt?kn=2&m=1157016&r=ODk3MTkzMzAwNAS2&b=0&j=MzY1NzY5NjgS1&mt=2&rj=MzY1MjA5OTkS1 You will have to create an accout with them and they will send you a verification email. Click on the verification link on the email and then your vote will count. You can vote once a day so bookmark it and click it often!

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Heart of Worship

Hey Everyone!

Tonight we will be hosting our second Heart of Worship event. It is a night of worship, praise and testimonies. Many of the young people in YOU GROW (our weekly discipleship program) participate in the event.

If you aren't doing anything tonight we will be meeting in a old highschool auditorium on NW 1st and Broadway in Moore. The doors open at 6:30pm and the service starts at 7:00pm. A love offering for the ministry will be collected.

We hope you will come hear what God is doing and expereince a Heart of Worship with us!

-Brandon

"Halloween is on my Birthday"

As Brandon likes to say.."My birthday is not on Halloween, Halloween is on my birthday.” So for the last several years a favorite tradition has been started. When the sweet children come and knock on the door to trick or treat, Jonathan (who is dressed like a scare crow) scares them. It really is quite entertaining and we video so we get their faces. Don’t worry we have “code words” that we use if they are too little. We had a great time.

Grandma Phyllis made us breakfast for dinner at Brandon’s request. It was wonderful!

P.S. We had Elizabeth's Pictures made today. You can check the blogspot www.lifencapsulated.blogspot.com to get a peek at a few. (It might be tomorrow before they are out.) I will post some as soon as I get them!

The other day Brandon and I were outside enjoying the weather playing catch with the football. Elizabeth enjoyed her time outside too! She sat on a blanket and played with her toys and didn't make a peep the whole time. The sun was really bright so we put on her hat but the wind was so strong it kept blowing off so we turned it backwards. :)


When we went inside Elizabeth started crying. We gave her the football and it kept her interest for quite awhile. Startin' her young! Go Sooners! :)

YOU GROW

Through Character Focus Ministries we have started a dicipleship on Monday nights called YOU GROW. (Yeilding Ourselves Unashamed as God's Ready Open Workers)It has been exciting to see what the Lord is doing!

Who Really Wears the Pants?

The Pants Elizabeth is wearing in this picture are nearly 100 years old! They were Brandon’s great grandpas and they are quite the site to behold. At first I though they looked like a strange shape but when I put them on her they actually fit quite nicely. I took them off as soon as the picture was taken so hopefully they can stick around for many more generations. Almost every child in the Werner family has had their picture made at 4 months old in these pants. Pretty cool - huh?
Each day brings new discoveries for Miss Elizabeth Grace. She loves her newest trick – sitting up. It was amazing how fast she learned! She hasn’t mastered getting herself into that position but she can stay sitting up for a really long time if I put her there. She is on a really good schedule and is sleeping very well through the night. Praise the Lord!

Smile

This is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it! Don't forget to smile today!!!

Blessings

Vacation Pics!

We had a great time on vacation! It was different this year, not only with Elizabeth being there but also we went to a different lake and cabin then we usually do.We really enjoyed having Brandon's uncle and his family there.

The weather was great! Oklahoma sure has some breath taking sunsets!!











We had two boats and 5 jet skies while we were there. We didn't use them all at the same time though. Partly because gas on the lake is $4.00 a gallon!


We had a big slow boat that we could just relax on and swim around and jump off the top of. Then we had the ski boat and of course the jet skies. We really had a fun time!


Elizabeth went out one time on the slow boat but all the other times it worked out for someone to stay behind and keep her. She liked the boat but I think the cabin was more enjoyable.
















I am hoping to put out a web album with lots more great picsof our vacation. We will see ifthat ever happens. :) I figured this is better than nothing! :)

Blessings!
Rachael

Character Week was very successful. We had a really great time with the kids! There were over 50 children there from the community. We saw about 15 salvation decisions. Praise the Lord!


We had a lot of help making this week successful. From Elizabeth enjoying time with Grandma and Nanny to Blake making video's for the children.



The teams spent some time in the morning praying for the children before they arrived.




We learned about how God love's all the children of the world. Including the children with disablities. They enjoyed the wheelchair relay game in P.E.



We were grateful the Lord held the rain off for our carnival on Saturday. It was a bunch of fun!




The inflatables seemed to be pretty popular.

Cotton candy and snow cones were a huge hit!

The small carnival games were fun to play!







One of our younger workers (about 12 years old) came up to me at the carnival with her eyes beaming and a huge smile on her face. “Did you hear the good news?” she asked me. “What?” I replied. “I was able to pray with the little girl from our group and she accepted the Lord!” After she told me I had to fight back the tears as I felt so excited not only for the girl that was saved but for what the Lord had done through Reagan. Her excitement was unbelievable. If only we as Christians would lay down pride and step out of our comfort zones as Reagan did to save souls. I have no doubt you would experience the same overwhelming joy as Reagan did. What a difference we could make!
This year we had many younger workers helping us. I pray each one will choose to live for Christ and share His love with others.

Next on the calander is vacation. Hurray!!! We leave this Thursday - headed to the lake.

Our Growing Girl

At Elizabeth’s last doctors appointment on the 27th of June went very well. She now weighs 10lbs. 15oz. (Which I am sure by now is at least 11lbs.) I absolutely love listening to her “talk”. It seems each day brings more and more of those precious sounds; you can’t help but smile.


Mommy is VERY happy to report a good night’s sleep (from 11:00 to 7:00)! Yippee!!!! Elizabeth has always done very well at night. For several weeks now she has only woke up once in the early morning hours to eat and then easily went right back to sleep. She is not totally consistently sleeping through the night but I can’t really complain. We are working that way at a very pleasing rate!

We had a very happy 4th! On Tuesday we celebrated with our church family by having a picnic in the park. Brandon and I played some games with the kids, and then we played a game of volleyball. After that there was a short service. It was a really nice time.

On Wednesday morning we went and enjoyed the Bethany parade. My mom’s family has a float in it every year.My Papa Joe rides a little bitty clown bike for the parade. He made a short stop on the side lines to give a hug to his adoring fans. We were going to be on the float but Kristina and I decided it would be easier with the kids for us just to watch. So, my Mom and Dad, Kristina and Jasmine, Brandon, Elizabeth, and I all enjoyed the parade from the sidelines. Brandon and I were going to go downtown but ended up buying a few fireworks and going out to my parent’s house for the night. I really enjoyed the entire day!


We went swimming at Uncle Cecil’s pool recently. It was a little chili so Elizabeth enjoyed her first swim time sitting in the hot tube with Papa. We love to swim during the summer and are looking forward to vacation later this month.


Her second swim was in the real pool with daddy. The water was a little cold but she seemed to really enjoy it.








Hope you enjoyed this update. I apoligize the post have been so far apart. This week is Character Week at our church. Things are going really well so far. We would appreciate your prayers.

- Blessings,
Rachael

CFM - First Mission Trip

NOTICE: This update is taking a while to get all the info and pictures together so check back often to read more and see some pictures!

Hey everyone! We got back from our first mission trip with Character Focus Ministries to Richmond, VA a few days ago! We had a blast teaching over 600 children the message of character, of conscience, and most importunately the message of the gospel! God blessed this trip in so many ways!

We left OKC on Monday, June 4 at 7:30am. The first obvious blessing was that we did not have any travel issues at all! The vehicles ran perfectly, gas prices came down just before we left, their were not accidents, and we only sat in traffic one time on the ENTIRE TRIP (Richmond, D.C., and more!)!

We traveled approx. 600 miles the first day and stayed the night in Dickson, TN at Restoration Church. They graciously opened their doors to us and allowed our group or 27 (including Elizabeth) to stay at no cost! In return, we were able to be ministers of Christ by leaving the church facility better than we found it. This completely shocked the janitor and pastor. They allowed us to stay their on our way home as well.

On day two we traveled approx. 650 miles to Chester, VA (south of Richmond) where we stayed in a Best Western and got a great nights sleep! The young people and adults enjoyed sleeping in the next morning while my dad and I went out and scouted the area. By the way, at McDonalds on the east cost they have an AMAZING steak egg and cheese bagel so if you are ever out there you have to try one! After dad and I scouted everything out we went to McDonalds before returning to the hotel.

We had a great time of preparation at the hotel that afternoon. God blessed us with a very hospitable manager who let us use a large conference type room in the hotel at no charge to prepare for the children's conference! We had a great time of planning, praying and ate a great lunch provided by Rachael and Kelli!

After lunch we headed over to Richmond Christian School (RCS) where we would be staying the night for most of the duration of the trip. They were VERY friendly and had a great facility that meet our needs perfectly! They had a gym that we used for a play area and the girls dorm, a chapel for worship and a guys dorm, showers and locker rooms, a washer and dryer, a kitchen area, a park area, and a cafeteria area for use to eat in! We had a great time practicing skits, preparing lessons, playing basketball and dodge ball, having worship services and more at the gym!

On Thursday we had the privilege of meeting the Richmond Volunteers. Thirteen Richmond Volunteers came to the training and all thirteen played a very significant role in the conference. In the training we covered conference logistics, teamwork, the power of praise and more! After the training, we all went to the conference exhibit hall and setup for the event! It was huge! About three times the floor space of building B at WHC! Roger made us a bunch of signs and banner that really made the room pop! He also helped us pull together a superior check in / security system that (from what I have heard) is unmatched by any of the other organizations that handled child care before! After setup we headed back to RCS for a good nights sleep before the big day.

The conference was OUTSTANDING! On Friday and Saturday we had three children come to Christ and over 75% raise their hand to ask their parents about who Jesus is that evening! 613 children attended on Friday and about 400 attended on Saturday. We were able to share Christ with the children on both days and on day two we did a parent presentation right after the key note speaker! The HEAV team was very organized and did a great job. All the volunteers (OKC and Richmond) did outstanding and I have no complaints! Way to go team! After the last day we let out a big cheer and sigh or relief as we saw what the Lord had accomplished through us.

Needless to say we crashed after that. We took it easy on Sunday; slept in, games, rest, etc. We ended the day with a worship service. It was a nice day to enjoy each others fellowship and rest.

Early Monday we took of for D.C. Most of the young people had never been so it was a big hit! We saw the clock tower, Washington Monument, Abe Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, some Smithsonian Museums, the White House and more! We had a tour of the Capitol setup for Tuesday. It was so neat to be in a place that had been around for so long and to see the Christian heritage that was evident through the building.

One of the big hits and great decisions was to ride the rails into Washington from about 30 miles out. It saved so much time and traffic! The Lord really directed our steps.

When driving things couldn't have gone better. The Lord always put us in the right lane to take us through. At one time we took a lane that lead us around a big accident with an overturned semi! Praise the Lord for His protection!

After D.C. on Tuesday we headed back to RCS. It rained SOOO hard on us we could barely see! God protected us in the rain and we actually beat the rain back to the school by about 5 min... enough time to unload everything in dry weather!

The stories and the blessings go on and on and on for this trip! God has also provided us with new vision on how to reach more children and youth in the future! We are so excited to see what God is doing and how this ministry is positively affecting the lives of children, youth and families across the nation! Please be in prayer with us and feel free to talk to anyone that went to find out more about God's blessing on this trip.

To conclude, all the volunteers made it home safely, refreshed, and Spiritually motivated to impact eternity and walk in the Spirit. What a great testimony to end such a wonderful journey. Keep us in your prayers!

Check out the web album for more pictures!

In Christ,
Brandon and Rachael Werner

Little Fashion Queen

The trip was wonderful. Brandon will be posting trip details and pictures in the very near future. I had a few minutes and wanted to show you these few pics. Elizabeth is very blessed to have aunts that will keep her in style! Mommy is more into comfort clothes. : ) We made a stop at a Wal-mart during the trip and Aunt Lauren got Elizabeth some sun glasses. It was so cute! This was the smallest pair they had - they are a little to big.











Because of the size of the glasses her passy kind of overlapped them. Therefore every time she sucked on her passy to make it go up-down-up-down so did her glasses. We all thought it was pretty adorable!