His Grace is Enough

Jefferson's favorite song on KLOVE is Your Grace is Enough. During this Thanksgiving time the words of this song have been flooding my spirit. I'm really trying to cling to the fact God is all I need. I am so guilty of relying on Him only when I need something instead of a daily friendship with a God who always has my best interest in mind. Since we moved a year and a half ago I've really struggled with lonliness. I know this sounds silly because I could make a huge list of friends that I have. For some reason it's different. For those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I'm a people pleaser. I want people to like me. I love doing things for people. I love for people to need me. The problem is I try too hard. That's when I get hurt. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that some friends are only in your life for a season. When we moved relationships changed and I don't like that. But me being me tries to hold on and keep things the same and just get hurt over and over. So I come back to the lyrics of that song, "God I see your grace is enough, I'm covered in your love, Your grace is enough for me." I have to learn to let go. I'm not in control, but I'm covered in His love and that's enough.

Is it really the middle of November?.....

....what happened to all that we did in October??!

How time flies. I can't believe Thanksgiving is less that 2 weeks away. I haven't even finished processing all that we did in October! The fall is always busy for us. Brett's weekends are filled with symphony rehearsals, All-Region and All-State auditions and All-Region Clinics and Concerts. In between all that we celebrated Jarrett's 2nd birthday twice and had a fun Halloween.

It is hard to believe that Jarrett turned 2 on October 25. He is such a charmer and truly a blessing to our family. We first celebrated his birthday with a family party in Odessa. Aunt Erin ordered a Thomas the Train cake. Jarrett got a lot of fun Thomas toys. He loves playing with his trains. It was fun to have all of Brett's family together. Pretty crazy with all 7 grandkids. We also took that weeked to have Erin take our pictures for our Christmas cards. She also took pictures of all the grandkids. On that particular day they were ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7! How fun is that!

On Friday, October 24 we drove to my parents house in Plano. On the way there we stopped in Denton to have dinner with Clint and Kerry and Cooper. On Saturday (Jarrett's actual birthday), we drove to Rusk, Texas to ride Thomas the Train. We had a blast. It was the most beautiful fall day. The kids played games, jumped in the jump house, stamped pictures. The train was so fun. It moved extremely slow, but the kids loved it. They made a "train" of kids to walk and sing up and down the aisles. Jarrett jumped right in the line with the big kids. When all the other kids sat down, Jarrett continued to entertain everyone by walking and dancing up the aisles. It was a wonderful time to celebrate another year of our sweet boy's life.

The next week was filled with Halloween festivities. First, Brett had his annual Hauntcert with his feeder middle schools. It was a huge success. The turnout was great and all the kids played wonderfully. Brett's students played the Overture to Barber of Seville. Brett adapted the arrangement so that it became the "Rabbit of Seville". The students played while the Bugs Bunny cartoon played on the big screen. Before the kids could put their instruments down after the final cut-off, the audience was on their feet. One of Brett's students looked at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Mr. Berridge, no one has ever done that for us before!" Brett has made such an impact on that program in such a short time. I am so proud of him and the students. The students are proud to be in orchestra. The administration is proud of the orchestra and enjoy coming to the concerts. Brett's parents were able to come up for the concert. I think they enjoyed seeing the boys in their costumes as much (if not more :)) than seeing Brett's concert!

On Friday, we went to our church's Fall Festival. The boys had a great time playing games and collecting candy. Because of Brett's concert, Brett and I had costumes this year. We were Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. The boys were Spiderman and Superman.

Well, I guess our novel of October is long enough. I'll be back soon with the beginning of November!

Painting Pumpkins

Jason, Erin, Grant, Hagan and Evyn came to visit today! Jason was given 2 tickets to the Tech game, so he called the biggest Texas Tech fan around...Brett! They had great seats on the 50 yard line, 6 rows from the field. Jason said you could almost read Coach Leach's playbook from their seats!
After lunch the guys split for the game, leaving Erin and I with our 5 children! Needless to say, it was LOUD!! Erin had the great idea (as always) to paint craft pumpkins. After spending at least an hour at Michael's, we got home, stripped the kids down, and let them paint. They had a great time.
After the kids finished, we sent them outside to play and we started our own pumpkins. Erin is so creative. I really hate her for it, but, secretly, I'm glad so she can help me!! :) I even made one for my friend, Aubin, who turns 30 tomorrow! (Happy Birthday, Aubin!)
It was a great day with (some of) our cousins. We're looking forward to going to Odessa next weekend to be with the rest of the Berridge clan to celebrate Jarrett's 2nd birthday! I'm sure I'll have more to say about my baby being 2 in a later post!

Evyn Joy

Grant Man!

"Bubba" (Hagan)

Jefferson

Jarrett (He only ate a little paint!)

Erin helping Grant with his finishing touches.

Jarrett and Evyn (I wonder what they are plotting?)

Mine! Aren't you proud of me? Okay, Erin painted the zebra stripes and made the bow!

Erin's! See, don't you just hate her?! :)

Race for the Cure 2008

On September 20, 1988 my grandmother, Janice Walker Wrotenbery,
lost her battle with breast cancer. She was an amazing woman.
Unfortunately, I will never know her the way my mom knew her.
They were best friends.




As a way to celebrate her life as well as to raise awareness about
this disease my mom and I walked the Race for the Cure today.
We had a great time. We flew to Lubbock on Friday after being
together in Plano for my grandpa's funeral (my dad's dad) this week.
This morning the boys dropped us off and went to the finish line to
meet us. After we finished the walk we went out to breakfast! Yummy!






This was a great way for us to remember Grandmother.
I think we have started a tradition. I think even the boys
want to walk with us next year!


To all of you ladies whom I love: Please do a monthly self-exam
and have a mammogram every year. I'm going to talk to my doctor
about having my baseline film done this year! I know it's earlier than
what they recommend, but I think my family history justifies it.
I turned 30 this year, so it's something I want to do for myself!

That's My Boy!

Apparently, Jarrett thinks he's ready for potty-training..... we're not so sure!



He pulled the undies out of Tracen's drawer when he was at Melissa's last week. He pulled them on about half-way and then Melissa helped him with the rest. He was very disappointed to have to take them off!

What a Week!

Like most of you Brett started back to school this week. His 2nd year at Monterey looks very promising. His orchestra grew 100%! We are very excited about that. The boys start PDO and preschool next week. Last night we met their teachers. We are very fortunate again this year to have great teachers. Jefferson will be in Pre-K 4 with Mrs. Cude (like Dude)! He's growing up so fast and I can't wait to see all that he learns this year! Jarrett is in the big boy class this year! He gets to sleep on a napmat and sit at a table for lunch! Hard to believe he'll be 2 in October.

As for me, well, I'm crazy! I am teaching 5 different places this year! On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I am helping with the Hutch MS Choir. My friend, Daniel, is the choir director and he was desperate for some help this year. On Monday and Thursday I will be teaching music at Jefferson's preschool. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I will teach K-4 music at Bozeman Elementary. This school has not had music in several years, so the 4 hours a week I'm there is exciting for them. On Tuesday evenings I work with the West Texas Children's Chorus. Last year the performed at TMEA. This spring we're looking to take them to NYC to perform at Carnegie Hall. And finally, on Wednesday morning and Thursday evening I teach Mommy and Me music classes for birth-5 years.
Check out www.freewebs.com/firststepsinmusiclubbock for more info on that!

Luckily, the boys are at school Tuesday and Thursday 9:00-2:45 and Friday 9:00-12:00 when I do the majority of my teaching. Monday they will be with Melissa (thank you friend!) and Wednesday they can be with me! I think it will be a good year. The boys and I are ready to be out of the house more. They both love school.

Brett will continue to play with the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Jefferson is still taking violin lessons!

Tonight we will support the Monterey Plainsmen in their 1st football game of the year. Tomorrow we will wear our Red and Black and cheer for our #12 Red Raiders! GO TECH!!

We speak Spanish?

Apparently, Brett and I have been taking Spanish lessons in all of our spare time! The other day I decided that we were getting a little stir crazy and needed to get out of the house. So, we all load up in the Berridge Limousine (as my dad calls it) and Brett and I begin to discuss where we can go. I told Brett, "Well, we could go to T-A-R-G-E-T, but then we'd have to buy P-O-P-C-O-R-N." (They have a cheap popcorn/drink deal if you don't know!) Jefferson then asks, "Daddy, Why are you and Mommy talking Spanish!" Of course, Brett and I cracked up! Jefferson asked what was so funny? I said, "You are!"

I love the funny things kids say!