Friday, February 22, 2008
GRANDMA BURSON HAS ARRIVED!
We have had an adventure-filled day as we've waited and prayed for Grandma Burson to arrive from America! She finally landed around 4:00 p.m. and enjoyed a relaxing evening with Michelle, Hannah, and Anna (a little girl just about Hannah's age who lives down the street...we were babysitting for her tonight!).

Below are just a few pics from the evening...we are SO GLAD that she is here and we're thankful that Baby #2 hasn't arrived just yet!

Now we're just waiting for Dan to get home from Basketball Tournament tomorrow!

Hannah and Anna hanging out at the rocking chair
(Hannah is repeating "Rock! Rock! Rock!" as she is rocking Anna ;o)



Grandma Burson looking great even after losing
a whole night's sleep and feeling VERY jet-lagged!

2/22/2008 10:58 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [1]  |  Trackback
 Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Exciting Times
Yes, these are exciting times for us! Here are just a few things that are making these days feel almost like "Christmas in February" (no, SNOW is not included in this list!):

1. Dan is finishing up a challenging but growing season with his Basketball guys at European Finals this week. I'm praying that they'll play the best they have all season as a really unified team! We are definitely looking forward to having Dan home more often, especially on the weekends.

 

Hannah is looking forward to seeing Daddy more often in the morning when she wakes up.
In fact, maybe she'll stop calling everything "Daddy!" (including Mommy!)
when he's around a bit more!


2.  We are looking forward to meeting our newest family member in the next few weeks, especially as Hannah has taken a particular interest in the local newborns lately! On that note, Michelle's Mom flies to Germany on Friday, the 22nd, to be with us for a month!
ALSO, WE ARE EXCITED FOR OUR GOOD FRIENDS ERIC AND KIM AS THEY PREPARE TO FLY TO VIETNAM THIS WEEK TO ADOPT THEIR LITTLE BOY EVAN !!! (For more details, see their weblink to the right - "Crawford's Blog")

Hannah enjoys time with Jonathan Bryan (8 weeks old)
as she tries to teach him the parts of the body!




Hannah loved the time she had with Grandma Burson last summer in America!




3. Spring seems to be in the air with some incredibly warm weather here, so Mommy, Hannah, and Cinder have enjoyed many walks in the woods together. Sometimes Hannah seems to think that Cinder likes her as much as she likes Cinder!


  


4. Hopefully we'll have more time to spend with Uncle Andrew at his dorm as the weather gets nicer and the schedule gets a bit lighter. The guys at Andrew's dorm apparently do like having Hannah around as much as she likes being at their dorm!

Below, Hannah enjoys rides in her favorite "toy" at Andrew's dorm: a mop bucket cart.

 

Andrew's fellow RA, Rachel, almost got a taste-test
of Michelle's scrumptious chocolate chip muffins!



Hannah also loves having Uncle Andrew over to our house,
especially when she can cuddle with him before bath time!




All in all, we are excited about the days and weeks ahead! God is good and we are looking forward to the adventure of being a family of four very soon! We really would appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this huge transition!



2/19/2008 10:50 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Trackback
 Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Spring Break Soon!
Some days it sure doesn't seem like winter here because its been so warm and balmy several times already this month. We're almost to the point of hoping for no snow this winter and just going straight to spring! It actually was "spitting" out today, just above freezing, and occasionally it would turn to little snow flakes. And we had one day where it snowed for a few hours during Christmas break, but other than that, we've had only rain this winter. In the last few years, though, we seem to get more snow at the end of February and March...it will be a great "Spring Break" for us with the new baby and maybe lots of snow!

This was taken just a few weeks ago...
it looks more like spring than winter, huh?




We are very thankful that we're all feeling better these days, and Hannah has enjoyed some fun times with friends over to play and friends at the pool! Below are some pictures of her times with all these other little gals around!

Hannah enjoying poolside play...
     


               
     
         

Hannah and her friend Anna both fell asleep before we got home (about a 15-minute drive)!



Hannah and her friend Emma enjoyed playing together,
although Hannah is not so sure about sharing her toys and things with another youngster...
its going to be an adventure for her with a younger sibling!


1/30/2008 8:55 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Trackback
 Thursday, January 17, 2008
Winter Blues
Pray for our staff and students at BFA...we have many with the "Winter Blues" - or should I say, "Winter Flu"? - after two weeks back at school. Dan had to stay home from school today and many of his Basketball players are down for the count. Upwards of 50 students have stayed home from school this week because of bad colds or the flu. Pray that Hannah and I will be protected from all of this - we're healthy right now and hoping to stay that way!

Hannah enjoyed Swing Dancing lessons with Daddy before he got sick!




While we are rejoicing in our health, however, we'd also like to point out that Hannah is so healthy these days that she's running around, climbing up and down stairs and chairs, and managing to bump, scrape, or bruise her face several times each day! We had a little scare this week thinking she had the chickenpox, but it just turned out to be a rash (we think it might be because she is starting to get her 12th and 13th teeth!).
Check out that bruised face!



Hannah loves cuddling with Cinder...
and Cinder doesn't seem to mind (most of the time!).




Michelle is healthy, too, and praising God that she can still get out for walks with Cinder and Hannah every day, sometimes for an hour or so in the woods. Its a great time to spend talking with God and enjoying these last six weeks of "bigbellyitis" before Baby #2 arrives. Michelle and Hannah visited the Bryan Baby (see Chris and Chrissy Bryan's blog, to the right) and Hannah was a bit jealous when Mommy held baby Jonathan for a while. Pray that this transition won't be too tough on her...

Hannah loves playing and cuddling on the couch with Mommy!










1/17/2008 9:45 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [1]  |  Trackback
 Monday, January 07, 2008
Happy New Year!
We hope your New Year is off to a good start!

Sometimes we wonder who enjoys Hannah's toys more...Hannah or Daddy?




Hannah and Mommy have had some good laughs in the last few weeks!




Cinder is getting used to Hannah's craziness.
Hannah loves giving kisses to Cinder every day!




Hannah enjoys playing with the spices while Mommy is cooking...

1/7/2008 11:38 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Trackback
 Thursday, December 27, 2007
Merry Christmas!
We hope your Christmas time has been filled with joy and the love of Christ!
May the remembrance of His birth spur you on to extend
and receive His grace in your life every day!

Christmas 2007 Family Picture




Preparing the Christmas Goose - Dan was pretty excited to smoke a goose on the grill!

     

Hannah helping Mommy make scalloped potatoes...



Celebrating on Christmas Day at Steve and Renee Grubb's house with many friends...




12/27/2007 11:08 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [1]  |  Trackback
 Sunday, December 23, 2007
Exam Week!
Exam Week!

It's about that time of year again: where kids take exams

 and scram for the holidays. We snuck some of them out

of the dorms to have them over for dinner.
         



We had the captains of the basketball team over for dinner.

They all had aprons as they helped out in the kitchen. Hard at

work helping out, as you can see

       



Yum!


        

Hannah has realized that she can be in physical control of things

while they are in her hands. So she typically walks around the

house holding as much as possible.





Marlined!



12/23/2007 8:44 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [1]  |  Trackback
 Sunday, December 02, 2007
More Basketball and Birthdays
Dan was off to Italy this weekend with the Basketball team to play their first games of the season. The guys worked hard this week (even outside in the cold weather when the gym was being used by the girls!), but the Aviano team was really tough. Although BFA lost all their games, they learned a lot and played really well, considering their inexperience. A few of the new guys even surprised Dan quite a bit with their aggressiveness and tough playing.


Dan instructs the guys to work hard and work smart during practice
(Andrew also helps out when he can - very good for morale with his encouragement skills!).


      


Uncle Andrew takes a break from helping with Basketball practice to hold Hannah.




While Daddy was gone, Hannah and Mommy got to hang out with some different friends here. Hannah was invited to her now 4-year-old friend, Emma's birthday party (the only other invitee was a 12-year-old babysitter and Emma's four siblings and parents!). Hannah was confused with all the fuss over a cake with candles, but she sure enjoyed eating it!

Hannah's favorite four-year-old friend, Emma!




Emma prepares to "bwow owt my candles and open my pwesents".
Hannah practices blowing out candles often,
especially since her favorite (and only comprehensible) word right now is "HOT"!

       


After the party on Saturday afternoon, some friends invited Hannah and Mommy to a dorm for the evening. We had dinner and played there until Hannah's bedtime, when we walked home with Cinder and looked at the Christmas lights in Kandern on the way.

The annual Christmas lights of downtown Kandern.

      

We also got our Christmas decorations out this weekend - we can't wait to see what Hannah will do when we put up the Christmas tree in a week or so!

12/2/2007 3:27 PM W. Europe Standard Time  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [1]  |  Trackback