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myspace.com/impactawards

Faceless International Impact Award Video


i made this homemade video for the impact awards about Faceless International. faceless hopes to motivate people to get educated and experience firsthand issues needs here in the US and other developing countries. we work heavily in the issues of fairtrade and human trafficking. come along with us on a trip, and be the change you want to see in the world!
please vote @ myspace.com/impactawards
-stephen

Arnold Update

Hello family, I wanted to update you on our family. We are doing great. This new year has been an exciting beginning to our lives. Paul has started a new job and really enjoys it. I am still teaching 9th grade Biology and hoping to work at the same place next year, but because of budget cuts I may stay home this fall. Thomas has started home child care with five other kids his age. That has been a blessing to us because the person caring for him is wonderful. I am really happy about it. We had a wonderful Christmas in Texas. Hayden's favorite gift was a barbie cash register. Thomas was his toy that he can speak into like a mic with a book. Paul's was his 37 inch TV and mine was my trek bike. We are all getting use to the swing of things since we have been back. It is very busy around here with two kids. Paul and I love our life and really appreciate it. We hope everyone is doing good and would love to hear from you!

4 Brauchler Boys 2008

turkey day!

well this is julia and my first thanksgiving together, last year i was on tour so this year julia went all out. i arrived back in the united states on thanksgiving eve and when i got home julia had everything ready to go complete with decorations and a HUGE turkey.

we invited some friends over who couldn't go home to see their family, and everyone brought a dish or three. we had so much food, but im not complaining because i have had the best leftovers!!! hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and hope everyone is on a workout plan to get rid of the lbs we just put on!
love you all,
mr. & mrs. arnold

Praise God, I have 5 jobs! As of today, I am a nanny, a personal assistant to three doctors, I am writing up a manuscript for a local author, and a volunteer for hospice. I need more. I have too much down time yet. Thank you Lord for work. Love, Ruth Marie

This summer I read "The Unquiet Ghost." This amazing book is about a journalist traveling through Russia and talking with people about the Stalin years. He interviewed people who were prisoners, servants, guards and others who had unique perspectives of those years. Stalin was extremely paranoid and suspected everyone was an "enemy of the people." Neighbors betrayed each other and families kept secrets from one another. In one servant's interview, she said that Stalin never slept in the same bed. He was afraid someone would come and kill him during the night. His secret police had conviction quotas and they were good at getting confessions. People who were not shot on the spot were sent to Kolyma, a camp in north east Siberia. Life for these people was torture.

This book made me think about Oma and Opa. In 1937, Opa was my age and I can't help but wonder what he was experiencing at that time. Why did opa think it was good to move from a communist country to a Nazi country? What year did they move to Germany? Did opa see any of secret police or know people that were sent off to Kolyma? Was the Ukraine too far from the hand of Stalin? Oma and opa met in a work camp. What kind of a camp was it? Was it the horror camps like Kolyma or were they like the CCC camps in America?

I thought I had an interview between my mom and oma concerning her courtship. But it was a very short interview about how oma loved school when she was little.

I was talking to Paul the other day and he was telling me some stories about opa that I have never heard before. I would love to hear your favorite opa/oma story. Or any answers to the questions above.

I do apologize that I (Tanya) haven't updated in a while... can this thing send an e-mail notifying me someone has posted something? I kinda (don't hurt me) forgot about this...

Okay first off (as many of you may know because Oma loves to tell) - It's a Boy! Due Jan 19th.

We are busy busy... with cleaning up a watery mess of a basement, school, soccer, swimming (all 4 of us have been swimming actually, meaning Oma is getting some good therapy in); Young Families / Young Married events; still busy with the LMCC worship team (Matt-guitar, Tanya-vocals); the Bridgman Church Softball League season is over (the Prez & V.P. of the league, aka: Matt & Tanya, sigh with relief... Matt was our church's coach, and played short-stop too... I think he can also juggle while standing on his head); Matt's into the semester at Purdue, Tanya is done with her BBA (except one itty bitty exam that must be made up from when we were in FL during Stephen & Julia's wedding... the teacher forgot about it, threw everything out from summer, the exam software became corrupt... you name it! The exam will allegedly be ready in October - oh just pray for grace). Nathan will be home soon! That's good news! Sorry to be jumping all over the place with this update, but additionially, Isaiah learned to ride a 2-wheeler, thanks to the greatest dad in the world, and he's working on mastering swimming. (I'm just happy he's now comfortable in the water. The Arnolds remember how he felt about the pool this summer. I mean, we still have much work to do before he becomes Michael Phelps, or even as good as daddy, but we're making progress.) He's also reading very well, but he's only in kindergarten (at a private school with only four other kindergarteners and two 1st-graders in the classroom, so the teacher-student ratio is good enough that they can keep challenging him).

Okay... I can't think of much else, but praise God for a much emptier basement! Aunt Mary - I should send you some pics. Oh, and what's this I hear you're on facebook? Debbie Stanford told me... with the Babbels and so many others on there, I'm comtemplating getting one. I'm thinking it might be better than myspace.

So one more thing to share, because it makes me laugh. Isaiah wants to be a rockstar like Stephen. I catch him in the living room one day (which has now become a regular show he puts on for guests), having made a little runway stage, black plastic guitar in hand, and singing along (some of the words are made up) while playing Anberlin music from my mp3 player of a cell phone... okay, I'll just let you watch the video and enjoy. Oh yes, he also said he wants hair like Stephen's (Stephen, man I meant to tell you all this, but I figured you were busy on tour and I knew a text would get lengthy. Matt's like, "Have you told your cousin about this?" as he chuckles at Isaiah's behavior. So, sorry I'm a bad cousin). Anywho, if my memory and eyes don't fail me, this might have been the day that Isaiah decided to cut his hair himself to look like a rockstar... maybe he couldn't want to wait for it to look like Stephen's (which would take a miracle), or maybe he's working on his own image. He says his band is called "Crazy Boys," which in the car on the way home from school one day sounded like "Greasy Bones," which made for lots of laughter for the rest of the ride home. Now he's contemplating a name change. He told me I'm his manager so I should decide, but I just don't think I'm ready to make that kind of a big decision. :) Anyway, watch and enjoy. Talk to you all soon!

(If you're up to it and have one that I don't know about, look up yiddiegirl@hotmail.com on myspace, or maybe one of these days I'll look for you on facebook.)