Saturday, May 30, 2009

Meet the Newest Bryan in our Family

Bryan Mejia
Birthday May 17, 2001
Honduras
We have a tradition in our family that when our children are old enough to understand their commitment, we "adopt" a child through a relief agency to pray for, support financially, and send letters to. Reilly "got" Andrielle when she was 6. They are the same age and Andreielle is from Brazil. Kate "got" Jenifer from Ecuador when she was 7. They have the same birthday.
Today, I would like to introduce the newest "member" of our family: Bryan Gerardo Canales Mejia. He is the same age as our boys and we chose him (actually we feel like the Lord planned him for us!) because he has their favorite Uncle's name. Even spells it the same way (which is unusual!). We support him through Compassion International and the boys are already excited to become acquainted with their new "brother" through letters and packages. Even though Bryan is almost the exact same age as our sons, his life is very different from theirs. More importantly than our monthly support checks and care packages, we intend to pray for Bryan every week like we have "our girls".
Just another step towards keeping my word, to live BIG in my brother's honor! Now we have a sweet-faced, eight year-old Bryan in our lives to pray for and love. We miss you Uncle B.
PS--Disneyland was indeed bittersweet. Mostly sweet. I would post pictures but I have lost my download part thingie--you will have to wait. I am no good at making Disneyland magical. We almost missed the parade, we visited Toontown AFTER the slurpee place was closed and my mom called me General Kelly for the brisk pace I set. Bryan was greatly missed. But we shared a gumbo bowl in his honor and only cried a few times. We did skip Pirates of the Caribean and we only went on It's A Small World once. He would have been proud of how I utilized "fast pass"--he is the one who taught me the game! Over all, new memories were made and life is moving on. Slowly. My heart will go on. My mom and daddy were troopers and even though I know it was very difficult to have all the memories and emotions swell up inside of them on that first ride, they smiled and laughed and made it a RAD time for our children. I love that about them. They are so courageous. Bryan would be proud.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kelly my sweet,
It was your poor ole broken down daddy who labeled you "The Colonel" for your exhausting pace. You and your crew wore your tired and wickedly slow pops to a frazzle and he had to call uncle! Your mom on the other hand, kept up and kept going right along side you every step of the way, which I am immensely proud of her for. It was in fact a bittersweet day, but it didn't take to long for the sweet to over take the bitter and we all truly had a great time. I can hardly wait until our next adventure at the beaches og SO. Cal..........

XOXOXO,
Daddy

Anonymous said...

Kelly- You are such an amazing person.I can only hope that I am able to discover the awesome faith by which you live your daily life.By the way-Andrea corrected me on my memory.The picture of Grandma Lolly with the baby is Uncle Lenord not Uncle Frank.Peace and Love to all.....Aunty Ingy

WARNING! Tissues Required-Video Slideshow of Bryan's Life-Sorry the music was muted!