End of Summer Review

  As our second summer in South Carolina is coming to a close it's been an unusually hot a record breaker.... Thankfully that hasn't been such a big deal, we have amazing friends that just happen to be neighbors with pools! We have a course that much there over the last few months! Our summer has pretty much much consisted of short trips, visitors the pool, camps, Core, the pool, zoo, the pool =) you get the picture

It has been an eventful summer with big change us. Of course I think that's how life tends to roll out- change is constant. Probably one of the biggest changes for us is that come the 19th all of our kiddos will be in public & private school for the first time. For who know me you, this is a big! Long and short of it is that the timing has come together and we're all excited about new ventures.

~Braeton has grown like crazy, enjoyed lazy summer days, slinging and summer camps.
~Cianne has been hard at work. She has working with Brent Peterson, Core Possibilities- HUGE shout out! Straight up amazing that she has accomplished so much, particularly in the area of reading. Brent has been an advocate and in many ways our own guidance counselor for education. She has done plenty of swimming, horse back riding and hanging out with good friends, always on the Go!
~Mikelle has lost her first tooth I have a feeling she will be trying to break the tooth fairy's bank this coming year. She is super excited about school and can't wait to learn read!  Kelz is always up before everyone, dressed and ready to go she loves her doggies and pretend. I am looking forward to seeing this little ones sweet personality emerge even more.
~Owen is truly a fun kid who loves his brother and sisters, he is his Daddy's little shadow. Just 2 pounds shy of Mikelle he is a little tank and happy to be in the mix. CC class this summer is near Trader Joes and Owey truly loves to shop there, I think I may a foodie in this one. 

~Luke stays busy between work and all of us!  I am sure he is hoping to get a bit of golf in this year. He will be 37 in just a few days =)
As for me this will be a different year and I am not only at peace but super excited as this will give each of us unique opportunities to Bloom, the best is yet to come! Speaking of we are coming up on 15 years this September, its hard to believe! I am so very grateful, cheers to many more baby!


All the best for the rest of the summer!

8 Months~ 8 Years

July 25- 8 months & 8 years. ~ so normally these days are lil holidays in our family but this weekend half of us were sick so rather than an eventful day it was a chill, chill day. However my dad would have said the day matters not so in honor a few days late. Two fabulous people who brought joy, life and laughter wherever they went and possibly a bit of crazy- we love you for all that u taught us and what we are still learning from you. May we live- giving life, loving, laughing, singing loudly for all to hear ;), joy and crazy -for you each lived so well and your lives are still giving now! We love and miss you dearly!

Happy Easter

Merry Christmas

Dear Family & Friends,

         2014 has been a year of immense change for our family, the good and the very hard on this journey to forever. In late May the Davis family relocated to Columbia SC. And not long after mom and Dad joined us in September. Why Columbia is always the question, it is a multi faceted: to care for our family in a new way, for new beginnings, to church plat with the Greers ~ that is just the short answer =). While we are enjoying becoming connected in this new community and anticipating all these new ventures the unexpected loss of my father, Chris, on Nov 25 , after just a few months of relocating is certainly a blow to our hearts. He has battled brain cancer for nearly 14 years, this Sept after finding the tumor had returned he underwent a second surgery at Duke. Then suffered a heart attack  2 days before Thanksgiving and was instantly  with His Lord. He is survived by his loving wife, Cindy, Cameron and Ally and their daughter Rowan, Brandon, Luke, myself and our four  children,  Braeton, Cianne, Mikelle and Owen. He was greeted by many who he loved that went before Him, I am sure Micah was among the first! He has run the race and finished well, the last 14 years have been very challenging yet in all he did he strove to honor the Lord, he faith never waivered and complaint never meet his lips but rather loud songs and whistling.

         This is not your standard greeting but then this is just where our journey finds us this     Christmas. In the midst of grief the giving of Christ through his birth, life death and resurrection give Faith and bring Hope to our hearts. May that Faith and Hope be yours as well both  now and Forever. 

                      Thank you ever so much for your love, care and support, they have  been so very  meaningful, we truly have felt  carried by your prayers during this time. Thank you for walking this road with us, couldn't have imagined going it without you all!   

       

                                                                                                                         

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

With Love,

~Luke & Kriscinda, Braeton, Cianne, Mikelle & Owen,  ~Cindy and Brandon~

Farwell Damascus

A house was made a homes by the lives of those who filled it. We journeyed together through the days and the years in laughter & tears. Our God upheld and sustained us in unimaginable ways. Our friends loved and cared for us, our family brought refuge and strength. So even though the address has changed a fam we are, even across the miles. Bonds formed by blood, loss, love and life will ever continue. What a gift we have! Friends and family, a journey to forever together! Love to all!

Crazy Continues- Moving

     It feels like a whirlwind here. Our home here in MD is under contract and the home inspection, appraisal and final repairs are under way. It is exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.It is crazy all the details that go into this and to think I wanted to do a for sale by owner at first~ now just glimpse at what goes into this I am so very thankful for our Realtors. On this end, Dave Dabb and in SC Paul DuRant- shout out Bros, you guys are doing an amazing job! Luke has been handling all correspondence and logistics, my baby is going to be ready for a nice tall glass of southern Tea ( or something!) Needless to say everyone is working hard and things are continuing to come together. Still nothing is final- we are set to settle here in Md on May 9th if all goes well. We will rent back until May 26th.

     South Carolina Calls~ we are set to close on our new home there May 23rd. Luke will probably get the truck Friday and begin to load to drive down Saturday, I plan to drive down on Sunday with the kiddos. It is a beautiful place. It fits us to a T. Best of all, Luke has a separate building , whoo hoo!- His Only~ quiet place to get work done- okay maybe mine some =) aka the Man Cave on the weekend/Guest Cottage/ Zija Hub and The Office! This was so important to us as he now gets to work from home and travel back to DC, he  will have his very own office separate from the rest of the fam. The commute, a killer, 20 yards =) This 20x20 spot will be super utilized! So if you come our way, please stop and stay a day (or few!)

     I think that is about all for us, still we would appreciate your prayers as nothing is final and there are still lots of logistics- seriously who knew all that goes into this. Also for peace in this transition and joy for our family especially the kiddos. They are doing well but this mommas heart wants this to be a sweet and easy as possible transition for them.

    Long winded I know- here is my closing.... we will be back in MD the week of Aug 17 to meet Cam & Ally's lil one and spend some time here. SUPER EXCITED  to be an aunt again! As always thanks for joining us in our craziness!
Love to All

Happy Birthday Micah Man!

"Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake, come awake!

Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead

We are one with him again

Come awake, come awake!

Come and rise up from the grave

Oh death! Where is your sting?

Oh hell! Where is your victory? 

Oh Church! Come stand in the light! 

The glory of God has defeated the night! 

Oh death! Where is your sting? 

Oh hell! Where is your victory? 

Oh Church! Come stand in the light! 

Our God is not dead, he's alive! he's alive!"

We long for they day when our faith will be made sight, 

until then may hope abound. Happy Birthday dear Micah, 

you are greatly missed!

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, 

the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Fun!

A beautiful day to celebrate, have a bit of fun and visit some place that are
special to our family in honor of Mike's Bday!

Under Contract

    So it is really happening, we our now under contract, thanks to loads of hard work from my Lukey, Dave Dabb and his real estate team and huge blessings from the Lord~ we received a full price offer, needless to say we took it! Barring no bumps in the road we are scheduled to close on May 9th and will rent back until May 26th as we have a wonderfully important event to host on the 24th, Cam's wife Ally is expecting their first lil one and we get to a be part of hosting her baby shower, I am super excited!!!

    Surreal is still the word, we are wonderfully excited,a bit grieved, a touch of apprehensiveness , lil nervous ~ you get it a roller coaster of emotions as we transition. Thanks for your prayers, we see the Lord at work and it has brought my anxious heart peace many times over!
Grateful!

Surreal

      Today I received my first email with ya'll in it =) from our Realtor of all people! It still seems very surreal that the house will go on the market on Thursday. We are all exhausted but most of the major projects are done ( The deck is the last biggie we hope :)! To say it's been a roller coaster of emotions would be the understatement. The house looks great thanks to Lots of help from the kiddos mom, dad, Cameron and Ally. Dare say Better Homes & Gardens worthy- not really but great for us! Well at least for the pictures it was- until real life resumes.
     The weather has postponed our trip twice now and messed up my best made plans. Breat in particular has had to bear the brunt of that as his birthday plans and airsoft battle has to be rescheduled. But hopefully this weekend away will be a nice break for everyone. We are finally heading to South Carolina on Saturday.
     Please pray for us. I always said that the stars would have to align for us to make this move and many have, which we are really grateful for but there are are few left and they are Biggies. I know it will all work out but my heart can be a bit anxious about the remaining "Stars," not to mention sad about not being in the same state as some of the dearest people in the world to us. Its totally Sweet and totally bitter like dark chocolate with raspberry filling - yumm ( what can I say I am thinking Easter candy here!) Anyway as always we are sending our love and so grateful for your prayers, thoughts, support and friendship.
                                                               The journey continues!

March Maddness

   So this is just a lil update on the Davis family. As you know we've been contemplating moving for quite some time. We came to Gaithersburg In the fall of 2002 with plans to stay for a couple of years. Well two years turned into 10 and Montgomery Co became home. With the birth of four children here, friends, family, a son preceding us to Glory and much of life joys and sorrows we have much history here. Thus the coming transition is a bitter sweet one.
   This coming March will we be putting our home on the market we are contemplating a For Sale by Owner- so if you know anyone looking for a place in Damascus, send them our way! The plan is to move south, most likely in the suburbs of Charlotte.
    We would covet your prayers as this is huge for us. We are not adventurous people and while we are hopeful and excited for this change it is also completely out of our comfort zone. There are few details yet as things are just starting to take shape and move forward! We would appreciate you keeping this Off of Facebook as details for my moms work our not yet in place. We just wanted you to be in the loop and give an update before our March Madness Begins!

13 Years- with my Love-

    The trip has started, the snacks, movies and traffic but we are on our way! Heading to Granny Joyce's first, then to Orlando- Give Kids the World, it should be a truly special time. Thanks my Love for the wonderful journey!

THANKS, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD for yet another AMAZING TIME!

  Luke & Kriscinda

9-9-2000

Celebrating 13 Years  God’s Faithfulness & Goodness with my Best Friend

Milestones are the Mile Markers on the Journey 

 such as chapters in the book of ones Life.

     We were young and in love, we had little thoughts about the future just about being together for life and it started simple… a boy loved a girl he had known for such a short time~ the girl loved the boy and thought maybe they were crazy but they were crazy  Love so 13 years ago on her 20th Birthday the best friends became Man and Wife.

Life set in and the journey continued as they wrote their chapters and sought to find their way: faith and friendship, college, community, work, highlights ... The wonderful joys of  children and family and also the intense pain and trial of family sickness and a yellow ribbon of Childhood cancer around our dear boy. Waves crashed and the valley grew darker, hearts were broken and dreams disappeared ~ the little family of 5 turned into 4 and they fought for faith, hope and joy. Alas with a little man in heaven and four beautiful children to make life full, the Lord has carried the Man and Wife for 13 years of laughter & tears, smiles and heartache. He has continued to renew their strength, hope is alive and they long for the day when their faith will be made sight.

    Our Micah lived a joy filled life and taught us so much in a very short time, I can only hope to achieve half as much! Make a Wish and GKTW provided our family an incredible gift of some our last earthy Milestones with our dear boy. It was an amazing gift to our family and thus be here and

 celebrating now is truly a treasure!

Thank You for your kindness and generosity to make this 
 Marker a true highlight in our Journey.           

It means so very much to our family!

From the bottom of our hearts, we are ever grateful!

With Love,

Luke &  Kriscinda

Braeton, Micah, Cianne, Mikelle , Owen

The day after

So Micah's anniversary is always a special day for me but a bumpy one too. I think my expectations are still a lil unrealistic :) imagine that. And too I am learning over the years what works well for our young fam and trying to implement those tidbits each year.
This year was no different: some really special highlights and some bumps( mostly just a mommy meltdown- nothing big! ha) A side note to those who are experiencing hardship or a milestone such as we were... Simple is sweet. Think about what blesses and brings peace to your heart and your fam and implement just a few.

Some sweet highlights were a beautiful day, singing and praying together at the cemetery. Luke brought his guitar and we were able to sing some of our favorite songs from the memorial service,letting 6 orange balloons fly to the sky, giving the kids an Eddie, which they loved more than I though they would and that was a delight.
The reason they must all have another.... Mikelle! She LOVES these lil elephants and has been stealing everyone else's, thus creating her own herd. Every night she wants to sleep with lots and lots of Eddies :) Now everyone has ether own color and Kelz can't steal them!!
For those of you who don't know the History of Eddie. My friend Elizabeth gave Braeton an elephant when he was born. An Elephant that Micah confiscated! It became affectionately known as Eddie. On one of our hospital stays Eddie was accidentally taken to the laundromat- never to be seen again :( Then the Buchanan's purchased another elephant and when Micah came home from the hospital it was overjoyed I find Eddie in his toy box ( needless to say we jotted down the maker of our new found friend and promptly ordered a few!!). From then on Eddie went everywhere with Micah and has since been a treasure for us all!

Thanks so much for the many prayers, thoughts, notes via text and email, and beautiful orange flowers ( I wish I could bottle them and make them last the whole month :). It is so very meaningful!!

6 years with Jesus

It is hard to believe.... It amazes me how your lil life continues to give and ripple through us causing us to want to grow, remember and live life well.Grateful for you lil man.
     As I lay in bed last night my thoughts drifted to Eternity, it overwhelmed me on many levels. I can't imagine it, I just can't. I can not imagine each day with my Savior- the peace, the refreshment, joy, wonder,beauty, wellness, life unlimited- just to name a few :) My life is constrained by time and spent trying to make the most of the time I have or achieve much. Yet Eternity with Jesus is vastly different from the world I now live in, each day Though, I catch glimpse of that world here and now and Micah J sure has spread those footprints here for so many of us. Mikes, we long for the day when our faith we will be made sight...until then may we live well. Wuv You so much!!!

Happy Daddy's Day

    How grateful we are for you! You love, your care, your time. The way you laugh and have fun- the hard work, day in and day out, be it at NRL or here where you have remodeled for well a long time...from dishes to laying floors~ we Love and so appreciate you! 

lil Gymnasts

     This Spring the girls were able to take Gymnastics at Hills- as you can see they loved it! The Olympics was nothing short of inspiring! I think all my front door may need repainted from the countless hand stands practiced! Spills & Skills Day at Hills

Super Bowl

So football season is coming to a close this very night. We are a divided house with teams but we have all come together tonight to support Braet and the Ravens!!!! Our celebration has been low key as we still have a sickie- Mom. But we have enjoyed some yummy food, watching the snow fall, playing with our squish, aka Owey, the kiddos and snuggling on the couch. Totally my kind of winter Sunday afternoon!
Braet, this is a note for you my boy. Tonight as we watch the game you have parked it on the floor with some cozy pillows. The girls are in bed and of course so is Owey man and I can't help but notice the absence of the lil bro who should be sitting next to you, joining in the fun. At times bud, it still seems surreal and I know your pain still comes in waves ( I'm sure it always will) we share it with you. We pray for you for we know the loss of your best friend can hit so hard, we still miss him too. Longing for the day when all will be made new. When your pain will be taken away and there will be one sweet reunion with Micah J and with your Savior! He lived- died and was raised- Conquering death and the grave, what a sweet victory to partake in. My his comfort always be near to your heart and the hope of heaven alive in your eyes as you live your life today full of purpose as you journey to that day. Love you so!

Our Mikey jackets!

Merry Christmas

   Joy to the World, the Lord has come and he has brought to us Hope!

  Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas, filled with Hope, Love, Peace and Joy!

A few of my favorite things...

Braet and CC have begun practicing for their Christmas piano recital. I know Christmas music before Thanksgiving!! But I must confess that I love it :)

Also after starting the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the summer of 2011, Braet has finished the trilogy. Way to go!