Happy Memories of Baby Georgia

Today I want to share a few precious photos of Georgia Rose.  Today marks six years since she passed.

This first photo was taken the day we brought her home.  Jill wrapped her like a burrito in this home-made crochet blanket.  Who made the blanket?  I don't remember.  Doesn't she look sweet?

Homecoming was so exciting.  Here, Jilly shows off Georgia.  It was a great day for The Brasfield Nation.  We couldn't explain why Georgia brought us so much joy.  Maybe it was because we had come out of a dark period.  You can see the happiness on Jill's face.  There's not a mother on Earth that can take care of a baby better than my Jilly.

Look how little Levi was.  That's his Aunt Sandra holding his hand.  She rightfully wanted to keep him from touching too hard.

Here we are playing cards - probably Go Fish.  Or maybe it was Crazy Eights.  I like it better than Go Fish.  I think Jilly took this photo.  After Georgia died, I was thankful that we had held her so often.

This was also taken the first day.  A few days later, I shaved my beard because I thought my whiskers might be too rough on Georgia's face.  However, I quickly grew it back.

Today, I am able to see the happiness in memories of Georgia.  Other days, memories of her death over-ride.  Please say a prayer for Jilly and me, plus our whole family, today.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Ballet Magnifat Knoxville Update

We are in the final stages of securing the Knoxville Civic Auditorium.  This process has taken longer than expected, but I am confident we will sign the contract on time.  Please pray for wisdom and favor over this part of the project.

This will leave us about one month to pull the event together.  Start now by talking it up with your pastor.  We will have posters and need volunteers to display them in churches, schools and businesses.  We will have promo videos that can be shared online and played on church announcement projectors.  Ask your church if they would play the video.  We need a local hotel or motel to provide two nights lodging for the dance company.

The dancers will be available to perform at a few local churches during Sunday morning services.  They will split up into small groups or solos.  We need churches to invite them to perform during offertory or specials for 5-7 minutes.  This will serve as a preview and will encourage attendance.  Please help us get invitations.

I am very hopeful that this event will bless the Lord and will bless the people of our community.  I welcome your prayers and invite you to get involved.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

How to Sponsor Ballet Magnificat! Knoxville.

Several people have asked about sponsoring Ballet Magnificat! Knoxville.  The immediate need is $1700 which will allow us to secure the Civic Auditorium and Ballet Mag's Alpha Company for March 11, 2012.  So far, we have received $400 in sponsorships.

Sponsors may help at any level they wish.  Additionally, we have set amounts for recognition of the sponsors in the printed program which will be handed out at the event.

Sponsorship

Back Page  $500

Inside Front Page  $400

Full Page  $300

Half Page  $150

Third Page  $100

Honorable Mention  $50

Please make checks payable to BMK (Ballet Magnificat! Knoxville).

Mailing address:
Andy Brasfield
c/o Southeastern Laser
1738 Louisville Dr.
Knoxville, TN  37921

Questions?
Contact me by phone, email or on Twitter.
Phone 865-235-1323, Email  AndyBrasfield@yahoo.com
You may also contact Ballet Magnificat! by phone at  601-977-1001.

I encourage you to catch the vision and participate.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

Ballet Magnificat! Knoxville

Last month Jill and Tilley drove to Clarksville Tn to see a performance of Ballet Magnificat!, a Christian ballet company. They worshiped and told the story of Moses through dance. After the performance Jill called me with such excitement. She told me of how she had been touched during the dance.

She also told me that she met Keith Thibodeaux, the executive director of Ballet Maginicat! and former kid star, Little Ricky, of the "I Love Lucy" show. Keith asked where they were from and was impressed they had driven all the way from Knoxville. He said we should bring them to Knoxville for a performance. That was the birth of Ballet Magnificat! Knoxville.

Ballet Magnificat! has never performed in Knoxville. We hope to change that on March 11, 2012. You can help make it a reality.

Here is how you can help:

1. Pray. Your prayers are very much desired. We want to follow the Lord in this. If we follow His plan, then we have succeeded already. Pray for unity in the community and for unbelievers to come to Christ.
2. Be a sponsor. We need to raise $1700 to secure the facility and pay a deposit. Sponsors will be featured in a printed program to be handed out at the event. Sponsor packages are $300 full page, $150 half page, $100 third page. The inside front page is $400. The back page is $500. Each sponsorship package includes complementary tickets.
3. Spread the word. Encourage your pastor or your boss to be a sponsor. Put up a flyer at your local dance studio, your church and your work place. (We will have posters soon.) Post it on Facebook and Twitter. Put it in your church bulletin.
4. Mark your calendar. Sunday evening, March 11, 2012. When tickets go on sale, they will be priced $10 each.

Our goal is to fill the Civic Auditorium and to lift up Jesus Christ through worship so people would be drawn to Him, and to bless Ballet Magnificat! financially and with increased awareness.

For more information, contact:

Andy Brasfield at 865-235-1323 

Or

Ballet Magnificat! at 601-977-1001.

www.balletmagnificat.com

Thanksgiving, Elvis Style

Hello Memphis. The Brasfield Nation has invaded your city. We have all our kids together including our daughter in law and grandson. We are quite a force.

We drove most all day Wednesday then went out to eat with some of my kin. Asher and Levi asked about a million questions while I played an audio book by Cal Ripkin Jr. It all made the drive easier.

Today is thanksgiving and we went to my moms house. We got to see more family there including one of my brothers from Arkansas. We ate too much, as always. Now the leftovers are on the stove.

I took the youngsters down the street to the school playground and took some pictures. It's great to see little cousins getting acquainted and playing together. When we got back it was time for the annual exchange of Christmas tree ornaments. I got my first Grandpa ornament.

I have so much to be thankful for:

• I am thankful for God's grace and mercy. Grace is getting what I don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what I actually deserve.
• I am thankful for my amazingly talented, uniquely passionate, selflessly compassionate, terrifically beautiful and great smelling wife. Seriously.
• I am thankful for my children and my grandson. They are gifts from God. My quiver is full.
• I am thankful for all my friends and business associates. So many of you have come to my rescue in times of sorrow or need.
• I could go on and on. I am truly blessed.

We will be in Memphis for a few days to enjoy our family. Maybe I'll see some of y'all while we are here. Others I will see back in Knoxville or on the other side.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Dadofmykids

First in. First out.

I was kinda surprised at the boys for getting up early on Saturday morning to go to the tire store with me. Last night I told them I planned to get the tires rotated and balanced on the van because we are driving to Nashville today to meet up with my sister.

After my brother in law's accident, he was in the hospital and rehab. The doctors expected him to be there for a month so we took my nephew for a couple weeks. Jill home-schooled him along with our kids. My BIL went home this week, thank the Lord. Today, we are taking my nephew back to his mom who will meet us in Nashville.

Right now, I'm sitting at this old tire store in Lenoir City. It's a family owned, second generation business where everybody seems to know each other, and if they don't, they act like they do anyway. They know what they are doing and provide good service and value. My tradition has been to come here as early as possible on Saturday because they get backed up pretty quickly. First in first out.

Bringing the boys with me is cool. This place is really manly, but I would have brought the girls too, if they had been up. It obviously hasn't been updated or remodeled in many years. it's the kind of thing they will remember. I hope they will take good care of their vehicles when they grow up.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

The Brasfield Nation at the Cornmaze

I just wanted to share with y'all about the great time we had on Saturday.  We went to the Cornmaze at Oakes Farm in Corryton.  They take Tradebank;  Yay!

It was a good time.  Watch the video; you'll see.

All the kids got pumpkins, so we carved them last night.  The kids baked the pumpkin seeds.  Yum.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

How to pull a tooth, gently.

When I was a just starting out a s a dad, I didn't know the various methods for pulling teeth. The only one I knew was tying a string to a door knob, which sounded terribly risky. Now I know a better way.


Items needed for this project:

1. A dry washcloth.
2. A kid with a loose tooth.

Watch the video to learn a gentle method for pulling teeth.

God bless,
Dadofmykids
Sent from my iPhone

Two Pictures. Seven Years.

This weekend, we went to Pigeon Forge, TN and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. That's a mouthful. All the kids were with us, except Sean. He had to work. My mom and dad met us there. Daniel and his wife, Kelli, brought Drake, out six month old grandson. It was a good weekend.

2004

My mom and dad's car over heated Friday evening, so we located a local repair shop and dropped off the car Saturday morning. They were scheduled to attend a wedding in Gatlinburg on Saturday and caught a ride with others of the wedding party.

2011

Jill and I took everybody else up to Newfound Gap for pictures. We wanted to have a picture of the kids there because we have one taken there about seven years ago. It was a cool idea to have pictures of the kids at the same location from different times. It was cold up there. Brrrr. In the main picture - the ONLY one with everybody looking in the camera's direction - we had several kids doing their own thing. We like that.

Along the way, we stopped in Gatlinburg so some of the kids could buy UGLY hats. We saw Santa Claus sitting on a bench, decked out in a Santa themed Hawaiian shirt. So we took a picture with him.

You'll see a lot these pictures in the video below.

It was a great weekend, rolling with the flow, as usual. Never a dull moment. What a blessing.

God bless,
Dadofmykids.

Day 40 of #40Days - Life, as it Happens.

Wow! Forty days is gone already?!?!  It went by so quickly.  I want to close the series by reviewing and summarizing a few things about my Forty Day Project.  I will point out something I learned, my favorite posts and yours, based on site traffic stats.  Then, I will compare the finished project with the goal or vision I had at the beginning.  That all sounds so analytic, but hopefully it will be fun.

Day 38 blew me away.  I was speechless because of the sweet things Jilly said in her second guest post of the series.  There's no doubt that our marriage is special and was ordained in Heaven.  If I had it to do all over again, I would.  My Jilly is amazingly awesome and I love her more than words can say.

Day 30 was a video blog entry or vlog.  I recorded it on the way to work one morning after Jill and I had been talking about childhood influences.  Ted Stolpe edited it for me and his work was wonderful.  I just asked to have something on the front and back of the video to ease it in and out.  Ted went way beyond that.  Thanks again, Ted.

After Day 1, which I linked to each daily post, Day 18 got the most hits.

The purpose of this series was to satisfy the calling I felt God was giving me to blog daily for forty days.  At this point, I feel it was completed, but it was certainly more than just writing forty posts.  Facing my fears of transparency and judgement has shown me that people are interested in what we've experienced; many of you said so.  Additionally, I learned that trying to do this or anything worthwhile by myself will lead to mistakes and to poor quality work.  When I asked for help, the result was way better than expected.  Jill helped me a lot with honest and constructive proofing and editing.

It was a lot of fun to look through old photos and videos.  Our kids looked at them too and asked a lot of questions about who what when and where.  It was great remembering some of the blessings I had forgotten and talking with Jill about stuff we've been through.

Thank you for participating by reading.  If you commented here, on Facebook, or on Twitter, thank you.  The encouragement was motivating.

This ends the intentional daily blogging, at least for a while.  Be on the lookout for life as it happens in The Brasfield Nation, here on Dadofmykids Blog.

God Bless,
Dadofmykids

This is # 40 of Forty Days, the last post of the series. Learn more here.