The Kristi and Kids team simply put is a band of bonded siblings and mother who uniquely love to travel together, have bedroom campouts together, midnight movies with pop corn, creating memories to last a life time. When asked, how do you all get along so well together? The consensus is…when you go through many challenges to overcome you either choose to draw strength together like the football linemen or you break apart, crumble and fall. With Christ as their cornerstone the Kristi and Kids team has chosen to allow all things to work together for good and draw them closer than ever. Relationships are eternal investments! What are three of the keys they've learned???? 1) Forgiveness! You must seek and give forgiveness continually to develop and grow in love. Say I love you often - show it and mean it! 2) Fun! You must have fun turning obstacles into adventures and crisis into crack ups! Laugh Lots! (See the avalanche story below!) 3) Faithfulness! You must be faithful to be fruitful. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. [and when you slip up here simply repeat number one!]

An example of Fun is with our mini-road trip turned long! We left sunny Florida to begin a speaking and book tour. Five kids, a dog and a mom all piled into a mini-van packed with everyone's needs, including books, flyers, schooling supplies, chalk art, computers…clothes - you get the picture! Way too much to fit. So on the day of departure, the six of us gave our neighbors quite a few laughs. Since we knew ahead of time we would be going from staying with host families, to luxury hotels to campgrounds and from 100 degree heat to 30 degree cold - we thought we needed a variety of supplies. As you can imagine, those supplies needed to be unloaded to create space for the passengers. After a hilarious hour of laughter and repackaging…everyone allowed to take their one 'favorite but no needed item' (that list is another story!!) we piled in. We thought we had done a fabulous job with our packaging engineering skills….until we came upon the that first sharp left turn…all of a sudden it was an avalanche! As I recall the sight in my rearview mirror I find myself laughing out loud (you know LOL!) so we replied everything and began our journey once again. Only this time the key word was…"Avalanche on the Right" prior to every left turn and "Avalanche on the Left" for every right turn. And when I got tired and forgot which way the 'stuff' would fall - I simply said "Avalanche!!" Those next few days of travel had us having more belly laughs than I can count! …however - what you must know is that this has been a growing process! Going from all the ducks in the row for happiness to Avalanche Hilariousness - it's such a better place to be.

You can never laugh enough with your family! Make those memories yourself and send them in so I can post them on our site for all of us to enjoy! Simply put in your subject line: My Family's Avalanche Story - and the lesson learned!

Yes that's our little boy Shitchzu's name! And much of the time Fluffy is simply the most wonderful dog we've ever had. However, a funny with Fluffy…well, let's just say don't look too close at him in the family photos! He had been staying with friends on a horse farm with big dogs, big horse and big piles! And you all know what little dogs like to do when around big piles - practice their roll-over skills! Anyhow - our photo shoot came upon us quickly, without warning we whisked up Fluffy and it was off to the park. On the way everyone began to wonder what that 'order' was…we knew Fluffy needed a hair cut that simply wasn't going to happen prior to the shoot - what we didn't know was all that was hiding under that hair of his from his roll-over practice! We offered that perhaps he not be included in our photos - but then decided - this is it! It's who we are …sometimes groomed and sometimes not!

For our team of boys the amazing truth is that they are truly gentlemen who amaze me every day. From surprising me with setting up my massage table at the end of a long day to having a home-made 'boy spread' on the table as a surprise for us girls! They are truly amazing young men. Now - for the other side! They can be totally typical boys! Love to fish, climb trees, race the little motorcycle, play sports and do all the other fun and adventurous boy things! They have also become amazing handy men around the house or on the road. From tools to electronics one of them can usually take care of our needs! Richie loves working out with weights now and growing strong enough to carry his mother all around! John has an entrepreneurial spirit that is constantly giving us creative ideas. Kyle is always ready willing and able to lend a helping hand or give a loving hug. Together our boys are amazing young men growing together.

My girls and I began a 'special-time-tea-party' during my son's major plight with Autism. Since so much of our days revolved around his care it was important for me to make sure they knew just how special and important they were. I still remember our first tea party - they were very little and I had gotten out their fanciest dresses, set the table with goodies and juice in fancy tea cups - had them each get a doll and 'surprise'! We had a wonderful time. This started a tradition we maintain to this day. We no longer play dress up - and we use 'real tea' rather than juice - but it's this special set aside time just for the three of us. To talk, share and laugh together. We often now include a 'girly' movie to mix of our evening. These times are treasures. Creating that transparent and completely open relationship has been a process we invest in - the result…we are best buddies! Three different personalities have blended with three bonded girls. How? See the three keys above! Every year of child rearing has been wonderful but these teen years are truly treasures! I wish I could hold time still!!