RFKC

Last week i went to a 6 day camp called Royal Family Kids Camp... Let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing! Everything about it! The facility, the kids, the food, personal AC units for each room... I mean, talk about high class!! :) It was by far the best camp i have ever been to. The kids were fantastic, and even though we had a few tantrums every here and there, the majority of my time with the kids was very enjoyable. Or course there was the goodbyes that tore my heart in two and let the flood gates loose... I was and still am very hopeful for each and every one of those kids though. GOD has been constantly reminding me and throughout the camp was constantly reminding me that even though those kids have been through Hell in their lives, GOD is still the same gigantic GOD that parted the Red Sea and saved Daniel from the fierce lions. He reminded me that he was and always will be with those kids as they grow up. I left that camp at peace because those kids just absorbed the truth of the gospel like sponges! It was AMAZING to see that! I was only support staff and going into it i was not sure how or if GOD would use me last week but immediately that thought was shunned from my mind as i began to watch all these little girls run up to me and give me hugs, and as they did motions during worship; they were so thirsty for love and not only that but for GODs grace! I was truly blessed to be apart of the whole camp and to share truth with some listening children. GOD is Beautiful and Awesome and Glorious! Always and Forever! :)

Please continue to pray for the Kids at RFKC!

Family Visits/Birthday Weekend

Wednesday June 9th my dads parents and my cousins came to visit good ol' Texas! It has been a full year since i have seen them and to me that is far to long! Ohhhh how i missed them! This time it has been different though because we have a new house, new games to play, and thats about all i can think of thats different! :) Here is a little summary of our time with them so far. We just bought this game called Guesstures which is like me in a game! It is all about acting out words on a card before they fall down the hole and you lose the points. Sooooooooo, Who would have thought that playing that game with my Grandparents would be so much fun! It was the funniest thing i have seen in sooo long and full of laughter and memories that will last forever. It started with my Grandma in Round 1... She reached over to push the button that would start the timer, and before we knew it she had pushed the button and was making this horrible hissing meets getting bit by a vampire noise... As she pointed to her throat while making this wretched noise we all burst into laughter and started guessing.... CAT, CHOKING, ummmm..... DYING.... VAMPIRE, in the final seconds of the cards life someone yelled GARGLE.... Sure enough that horrible noise and her frantic pointing to her throat was Gargle. Then came Grandpa following after her. He had a few moments of pure embarrassment that will forever stand on his record. One of his cards was baby, It was his last card and he had been doing great the three other cards prior. He stood around and then began pacing the room saying "I have no idea what to do, Oh Geez, Oh no..." Then out of no were... BAM... His thumb went in his mouth and he began sucking on it! We all yelled BABY but by that time it was to late. The card had dropped and his turn was over. Then in another round he got the cards Air, Mistletoe and Dizzy. For Air he put his hands out to his side as wide as possible and began to what looked like kiss the air in different spots each time, Lets just say No one got what he was trying to do. For mistletoe he put his hand above his head and looked up at it, then he puckered up as far as his lips would go, Someone called out his card but it dropped to fast. And then Dizzy... He went on to do a tribal looking dance in circles and as we all laughed someone figured it out and we got the points. Lets just say i will forever remember that night! The rest of the time we have been hanging out, painting rocks, going shopping, eating really good food that is extremely high in carbs, late night swimming and working out til the wee hours of the morning. It has been a fantastic few days that they have been with us and i look forward to the rest of it... Though i dont want it to end they have assured us they will be back for Christmas time! :) YAY!!!

Oh... And i turn 19 tomorrow... EEK!!! :) I am blessed

Excitement followed by Sadness

Sunday May 23 was a great/sad day all mixed together! It was great because of Royal Family Kids Camp which is a week long camp that is for foster kids! I am so excited to be going... I just feel God all over this and i know that he is going to do such amazing things! I cannot wait to go! It is less than a month away and i get the butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it! It is so great for me because i have never done anything like it before and so it will be completely new and fresh! I am doing what i do best Drama :) and i am helping with worship which is cool. There is a chance i could be a councilor but that is uncertain at this time. Either way Gods will will be done and it will be incredible!!!

But... At 5:30pm May 23 the finally of my all time favorite series "Lost" played on the TV screen for the last time! Though i was spending time with my family last night so i watched it today.. But still! Its over. I will forever remember the years of suspense and unanswered questions and pure frustration at that show. All of those questions have been answered(I think... that show made a lot!) now i am just sad that i wont have anything TV wise to look forward to every week. Other than dancing with the stars... GO ERIN AND MAKS!!!!

Now to ask a huge favor... Please be apart of the RFKC prayer team! This camp is so important especially for the kids we are targeting and so prayer is a huge tool that i know God will listen to and answer. None of this would be possible without Gods help so we want to continue to ask for it in everything. May his will be done at RFKC this year! AMEN!

Shrek the Final Chapter

Yesterday at 1:50pm my friend Alissa went with me to see my favorite series of movies in the whole world! Yes... Shrek... And i might add that it was absolutely fantastic! :) I highly recommend seeing it with Kids, and if you might fancy Shrek then see it with older people! It was very cute in a romantic way, Pretty funny at certain parts, and highly entertaining the whole way through. Of course this is coming from me, i am obsessed with Shrek! There is just something about the greenness and his Irish/Scottish accent that makes me go crazy!

Needless to say it was a beautiful end to the Shrek adventure and i look forward to buying the movie when it comes out along with any adult T-Shirts, Bowling balls, figurines Etc... that they decide to attach to this :)

First experience with Respite

The weekend came to a sad close Sunday night when we had to say goodbye to the 4 kids we got to hang out with for the weekend. But overall we had a great time. We had two teenage girls and then two precious little boys. There was quite a range between the ages of the girls and the boys but it gave us a huge advantage going into Fostering come June 17th because now we can really build our experience on how to treat the different ages, races, and personalities. I will admit at first with the older girls i was intimidated by the lack of excitement in staying with us for the weekend. Then i have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a fun thing for the kids coming to stay with us, while it may be fun for us it is not a vacation for them. It turned out to be great with the girls though. Saturday i took them to a movie, we saw The Back-Up Plan with J-Lo and it was actually really cute. The male lead in that movie had pretty corny lines that i am fairly certain no man would say in real life but thats okay. At least i didn't leave wishing i would have a guy like that, which if you know me at all is saying A WHOLE LOT! :) I had to house sit for some folks Saturday night so i wasn't with them that night but we hung out Sunday when i got home from church and i was very glad to get the extra time with them. From the looks of it saying goodbye is going to break our hearts... But all the time we get to spend with them is priceless!

Prayers are still appreciated as we continue this journey!

Paul Coleman and the Rivercity Rollers :)

Today was an exciting day at Rivercity Community Church because Paul Coleman(Yes the same Paul Coleman who toured with the Newsboys and who is the leader of the Paul Coleman Trio) visited our church today and blessed us with the Amazing opportunity of playing with him and worshiping with him as well. It was a great time and i feel blessed listening to him open up his heart to us about where he is right now in Life, Faith and Career. Though i am fairly certain he thinks i am a creeper and most likely assumes that i will become the crazy stalker groopie... I assure you for his sake... I will not! :) OK... So i am up on the rotation for the worship team this week to be a backing vocalist with Natalie! I get an email earlier this week warning me in advance of the presence of a famous person accumpaning us on stage! So already i am stoked right!! I mean, its not everyday you meet a famous person, and well, i have never met a famous person(and now i kind of understand why that is a good thing!) So i walk in 7am to pre-service practice and i come through the doors to find... No famous person... Then, we start practice and get through a few songs. Take note that every person walking through the doors i am analyzing going through the same script with each on "Have i ever seen you before in my life?" if no then "STOP WALKING THROUGH THE DOORS I AM WAITING TO SEE A FAMOUS PERSON!" I also realize that this is not a good mind set to be in and that every person walking through those doors is a beloved child of GOD! That realization of course slipped my mind as i was in a frenzy waiting for Paul Coleman the Magnificent to arrive :)

Then, all of asuden the doors swing open and the sound of angels begin singing and an out of the ordinary ray of sunlight is beaming on this mysterious man and his right hand man as he walked through the door...(Not really, but that would have been totally awesome!) I then begin to sweat like a fat country man sitting in his rocking chair in the middle of summer. Not only that but this stupid grin grows on my face as my tongue forms the words "IS THAT THE FAMOUS GUY!!! IS HE HERE?!?!?!" Oh it was him indeed... Sazzo(Sean Azzaro) then began to reprimand me saying "You cant do that, dont say anything, Brittany stop it!" Sazzo then takes it into his own hands and brings good ol' Paul into the loop about my stupidness and Paul reacts by looking at me and saying "Aw she's cute" With those three words my shame was ignited! I then began to get so excited that tears started forming in my eyes... Like i couldnt speak, breath, and the only movement i could make was jumping up and down like a 4 year old does when they see santa. Praise the LORD i was able to control myself and turn around so he did not see my cry and i was actually able to stop myself from allowing them to roll down my helpless little face.

Needless to say i have forever scared poor Paul Coleman from every wanting to return and sing with the Rivercity Rollers(His band name for us) ever again.... I pray that one day enough therapy will help him to stop having nightmares about this crazy girl in a purple dress and cowboy boots from stalking him.

In all seriousness i will add that he does have a fantastic heart and GOD really used him to share some amazing stuff with us this morning. I was privileged to be able to sit and listen to new songs and to hear a musicians heart.

Husband, Comforter, Healer, Forgiver, Savior, Creator...

Ya know those songs that give you the chills. Or that speak to you so deeply its as if it was written just for you... Well, i have been hearing song after song where i feel this way. God is just so good that way! He is always there to remind me that i am not alone. Even when i was going through that dry period in my life a few weeks ago where i felt so alone, he still came to me and i know he will never leave me! No matter what i do he will always love me and focus on my well being. Seriously, he is the PERFECT guy... I often chuckle at the thought of just running away with GOD, kind of like one of those typical chick flicks... I mean he says in the Bible that he is our Husband, Comforter, Healer, Creator, King, LORD, Everything we would ever need. I know for me i rarely give him credit for being any of those things in my life. Its so bad, but true. But for a little while now i have been focusing on him being my Husband (haha) and what that really means. I am totally not thinking of it in a creepy way. But really he is the only perfect guy. The only one that wont break up with you because you have a dry or boring personality, or because you wont cross boundaries, or because you arent what he is looking for. He never runs away with some lame excuse claiming that "Its not you, its me" Not once will he ever do that. He is the only boy who is always there, Always loving me, Always comforting me, and there are times in my day when i forget he is there! I MEAN SERIOUSLY! What is wrong with me?! Hello... Man of my dreams staring at me in the face 24/7 and I, Brittany Marie Brandner who obsesses over my future most of the time, who has planned the majority of my wedding with the only parts missing being the venue and the guy, who often worries that i will die an old maid if im not married by the time im 20, ME I have the Perfect guy, The guy from all the beautiful love stories that i have day dreamed over... I have that guy (Only better because he is perfect... literally perfect) And i forget he is there sometimes.

But the amazing thing is, is that even when i forget at times to think about him or to thank him, He still looks at me like i am the only on the face of the earth. He looks at me and sees me for who i really am. Not who the world wants me to be! He knows me and cares about me, not what i look like. The LORD above all chooses to love little ol' me everyday of my life. He calls me His, and gives himself to me!

"Crucified, laid behind a stone

You lived to die, Rejected and alone

Like a Rose, trampled on the ground

You took the fall, and thought of me... Above all!"

Gosh... I love that guy! :)