Pictures from Vacation

I am uploading pictures to my facebook account from vacation with our families. I will upload pictures to the blog and picasa when I get home. Until then, this is the best way to upload from my phone. Check it out when you have time.

Vacation 2008 is Underway!

We just arrived in Golden, MO! I am typing this update from my awesome iPhone. When we were leaving OKC today, we stopped at Arby's for lunch. Rachael accedently left her purse at the resturant and didn't realize until we were well on our way. We decided to call Paul M. and ask him to get the purse for us... and he ways already there! He was walking through the door to have lunch at the same Arby's we had eaten lunch at! God knows our needs before we ask. What an exciting start to a much needed family vacation!

We are in MO now and we are about to have dinner. I will tryto upload pictures and update our blog throughout the trip. TTYL.

-Brandon

I just got my new iPhone 3G! It is amazing! I uploaded this picture of me and my baby from my phone. Pretty cool. I am excited about vacation...only 2 more days! Pray for Elizabeth because she doesn't feel well. Have a great day! -Brandon

Character Week 2008

I want to say a special thanks to all the volunteers who worked so hard to serve the children in Character Week this year. There were at least four salvation decisions that I know of! Each one of you that invested your time and resources into this week had a part in that. Thank you!


A big thank you to Whitney and Morgan. They did a fantastic job leading areas, shopping for supplies, and coming up with curriculum ideas. Thanks to my big, little brother Jonathan for doing such a great job leading large group, skits, P.E., and lots of little but necessary tasks. Thanks to Noel for taking time of work and staying late to help lead. Thanks to Maria for driving so far with her siblings every day and leading Scripture (and thanks to Mercy for doing such a great job helping her!). Thanks to the Myers for stepping in and leading crafts in the last second.

There are so many more people I could thank... however, I want to express the greatest appreciation to my lovely bride Rachael LeAnn. She was amazing this week! So many details to cover behind the scene and she did them all with joy! She truly served with a humble spirit and made me successful. Even when she was ill, she found the energy to finish the week strong in the grace of the Lord. I could not ask for a better helper than her!

Praise and glory be to God for the mighty things He has done! I am so excited about this next year! Please pray for us as we seek to make disciples and as we lead others to invest themselves into kingdom work.

In Christ,
-Brandon


Check out this Picasa Web Album for more pictures and information about Character Week 2008!

Character Week 2008

Ten Random Things

Ok, so I haven't been feeling well the last few days and so today as I was taking it easy and looking at peoples blogs I discovered I had been "tagged" to do this 10 random things about yourself thing. So umm for anyone interested. Here it goes.

1.) I LOVE to play sports. Any kind really but I am best at softball and wish I had more opportunities to play.

2.) My favorite color is purple.

3.) I love to do "old-fashioned" things like sew, quilt, can food, garden, etc. although I am not very good at most of those things and I wish I had time to do more of them and the knowledge of how to do them better.

4.) We are naming our little girl after my hero - my mom. Of course if you read our blog you already knew that. :)

5.) I play the piano and violin fairly well but can also play a little on the guitar, flute, trumpet, and clarinet.

6.) For my birthday I still go out to my parents house and "play in the creek" with my best friend Alisha. Although this year should be interesting since the baby is due on the 17th and my birthday is the 19th. :)

7.) I have been to about 40 states. I LOVE to travel.

8.) Lasagna or my one of my daddy's grilled steaks is my favorite meal.

9.) I lived in the same place until I got married. Tuterville is one of my favorite place to be!

10.) I rarely stay awake through a movie if it is put in after 8:00. I would rather go to bed early and get up early than stay up late and sleep in. I can become VERY grouchy when I am tired. :)

So there you have it. Ten random things about me.
Rachael

Character Week has come to an end!

Praise the Lord for a great successful week. We has SO much great help to make the week possible. There were at least three salvations. Praise the Lord! Here are some pictures of the week.
P.E. is always a wonderful energy release for the kids. They loved playing with the new parachute.

Morgan and Noel taught songs in large group

As a big bang finish on Saturday we had a parent presentation followed by a pizza party. The kids really enjoyed the games, prizes, and cotton candy!



Please pray for the preparation of the dessert social we are hosting for Character Focus in the first part of August. The purpose of the event is to raise funds and awareness of our ministry. Having Character Week thrown into the mix has set us back a little bit in the preparation of it. Please pray that things will fall into place and that the Lord would bring the right people to the event!

Blessings!
Rachael

Werner Family Pictures

For Mother's Day all of us werner kids pitched in to get mom new family pictures. A friend from church, Bryan Sholtess, took the pictures and did a fabulous job. I was so excited to see them today. Here is just a sampling of some of my favorites. There were so many to choose from and these are mostly just of our family but I hope you enjoy them anyway. Bryan just does photography on the side kind of as a hobby but I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to have their pics done.

Katherine Faith Werner

Ladies and Gentlemen....another baby girl is being added into this family and we are SOOOO excited. A boy would have been great too but we had a few reasons for wanting a girl. We plan on naming her Katherine Faith. I requested that name as a way to honor my own mother Kelli Katherine. I want my kids so know how special and influential my momma is to me. She is one of my very best friends and greatest role models. Not only can I ask my mom's advice about anything and know I'll find a godly answer but I can also just look at her life and see how to honor the Lord, my husband, my children, and my friends. My mother is the most selfless person I know. I love you Mom! I am so excited to get to name one of my children after you! Thanks for the example you are to me!

Currently Brandon and I are battling out what Miss Katherine is going to go by. We don't really plan on calling her Katherine but cannot agree on Kate or Katy. I absolutely love the way Kate Werner sounds and think it is much less common than Katy. However Brandon is dead set against it. So if he doesn't budge soon I will probably give in. If we do end up with Katy I'm not sure how we will spell it. Vote on our pole to give your opinion about what she should go by. :) Isn't this so much fun!?

With that said I would like to ask all of our blog readers’ forgiveness for my irresponsibility in posting about baby's gender. I did get busy but I gave you my word in the last post and did not keep it. Please forgive me. I will purpose to keep my word when it is given.

Blessings to you all!
Rachael

P.S. Sorry I don't have pics to post. Our scanner is broken.
By the way...in the last pole only 34% of you voted it would be a girl. Way to go!

A Wonderful Whirlwind Week!

Our week's focus changed quickly on Monday when we were asked to head up Character Week for our church. We were happy to take on the task but with the start date being next Monday things had to be put in high gear. There was already some prep work done for the week so that was helpful. The Lord is so faithful though and the ideas started coming quickly to us and some others helping us. Everything just seemed to fall into place. Please be in prayer that the Lord will bring the exact kids that he wants us to have there. May we not lose sight of the goal!

One of the things I am most excited about though is the fact that tomorrow is the BIG day! The Ultra sound! Hip Hip Hurray! Hopefully the baby will be cooperative. :) I suppose I shouldn't get my hopes up to much. Stay tuned for a detailed report hopefully with pictures. :) My appointment isn't until the late afternoon so don't be upset that we haven't posted "results" by the evening. It will be at least 8:00pm before we get to post and might not even be until Friday morning. But I promise to try and make it quick. :)

And for the big bang finish is the crop retreat I am attending this weekend. It is an overnight get-away with lots of cropping! I am planning on working on Elizabeth's one year album. More than the cropping I am excited about the fellowship. We mom's all need some "girl" time..don't you think?

What good is a post without a picture? I thought these picture was really cute of Elizabeth enjoying some watermelon. We had a great time with our dear friends - the Covels. They are always so hospitable and I love to catch nuggets of wisdom from Mrs. Covel about all sorts of things. They have really sweet kids too and all make great babysitters. :)

I know it is hard to imagine but Elizabeth really liked eating the watermelon. The scratch under her eye was a warning from the cat to stay away. It looks worse that is really is and it didn't actually get her eye -just underneath it. I am grateful for the Lords protection on little ones.



Jaden flying high! I think Brandon did a good job taking this photo. What a great shot!

From what I am told this is future Mr. and Mrs. Jarett Covel. :)

Lauren and her boyfriend Britt. The Covels felt it nessecary for Lauren to get their approval on him. :) I do believe they approved.

Kenzie was very sweet to let those who wanted to to ride her horse.

4th of July Picnic

4th of July Picnic

These are pictures from the 4th of July Picnic that Western Hills Church host each year. The event is open to the public and includes, inflatables, volleyball, horseshoes, softball, hot dogs, and lots of fun! Elizabeth was so cute!