Two Good Men, having a Happy Birthday!!

My life is SO rich because 1st of all the Daddy that Jesus gave me! Long before I knew who I was, Jesus chose to put me in the Edgar A. Bryan family.  I'm eternally grateful!

I love your laugh!

 

• Thank you Daddy for loving Jesus first
• Thank you Daddy for loving our Moma as close to 1st as you can get and still keep God 1st!=)
• Thank you for loving we kids ALL THE SAME, never playing favorites and doing an amazing job at loving us for who we are in spite of our strengths and weaknesses, not because of them
• Thank you for loving our mates just like your own kids
• Thank you for loving serving Jesus and making wanting to serve God CONTAGIOUS
• Thank you for your humble spirit, never being too big to back up and ask our forgiveness.
• Thank you for your knowledge. (In spite of how we like to tease you about all the details=)
• Thank you for your giving spirit! 
• Thank you for standing up for Holiness and never being wishy-washy!  

I'm soooooo blessed! 

Then over 22 years now, Jesus brought this most wonderful man into my life!  I couldn't ever have asked for better.  When we said, "For better for worse"... I've only ever gotten the "FOR BETTER" PART!

Sweets, I love you!

•  Thank you for loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength!
• Thank you for loving me so close to 2nd after God  that you can still make me feel like I'm 1st!!! =)
• Thank you for loving our kids and being the most.amazing.father.EVER!
• Thank you for all your wisdom. I'm constantly impressed and amazed!
• Thank you for your leadership in our home
• Thank you for your quiet confidence
• Thank you for being YOU and allowing us to be US and loving us still
• Thank you for always standing up for God wherever you find yourself serving Him

Again, I say, I am sooooo blessed! 

Some years ago a Southern Gospel song came out entitled, "We Just Need a Few Good Men"  Though some would agree with me that the words would not all be very deep, the thought has blessed me often for how thankful I am for the Godly men that God has placed in my life.

And these two special men God has placed in my life, share a birthday each year! 
Happy Birthday to you both!!!!  Thanks Daddy for allowing us to share your birthday's together a few weeks back! Sorry, I only have this poor pic to prove it!

Dinner out at a Chinese Restaurant!

 We like to jokingly say they are "twins" separated by only Twenty-Six years. =)
Daryl has gotten to have a birthday week... uh make that WEEKS!!!!  Life was too busy and our schedules going in too many different directions to make things all happen on his actual B-day, so we're still dragging things out and it's FUN!

Heart-Shaped Brownies!

The Flings, missionaries to Peru home on furlough, stopped by the night of Daryl's actual B-Day and sang a Spanish birthday song to him... so sweet but I failed to get the pic!
 The following Thursday our dear friends came over to work on helping lay tile.

"U.Daryl's little helper"

 The sweet story is this.  Sean got a ratchet tool set for Christmas earlier this year, when he opened it, his 1st reaction was, "Oh Good, Now I can go help U. Daryl fix up his house!" Too sweet! we were just able to finally make it happen a couple wks back.  When he got here though, he was sad b/c he had forgotten his tools.  But U. Daryl had a solution to that problem and told him he could borrow his tools.  Here they are laying the last bit of tile in our kitchen area! Sean is a good little worker!

Here's a couple other "helpers" that wanted to get in on the work!

Served a simple Chicken Taco Salad and then this yummy dessert since it was Valentine's Day too! =)

Long story, but having work done in our Haus so needed to keep supper as simple as possible, (since I don't have a kitchen right now)... but with it being Valentine's Day I had to do something! =)  This is a dud of a pic, but it was all we had.
I served this Creamy Strawberry dessert made with Ice Cream and then took a 100% Mocha Dark Choc candy bar that was sent as a gift from www.dickinsonfam.blogspot.com (my sister Heather!) mixed it with some milk chocolate that I had, melted them together and then cut out these Lil hearts with my smallest cookie cutter. Chilled my crystal dessert dishes and we had a fancy Valentine's Treat that made my heart smile at least!  It was sure yummy!=)

Daryl was also given a YUMMY Sunday dinner, one of his fave's!  Company Chicken and trimmings... completed with PB Pie!  And we STILL hadn't opened his gifts yet!!!  Lol!=)
He s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d this B-day out as long as he possibly could and it was FUN for all of us!

He's on spring break this week... and already we've gotten to enjoy a concert at downtown Music hall! And have gift cards to go on another date!  I don't even "need" to have a birthday celebration when it's my turn, I'm having too much fun helping him celebrate his birthday MONTH!!!!

The Annual "Perfect" Christmas Card Pic Search!

 So this post is for every family that has done this year after year... searching for that best-pose-ever! Usually in our case we are pushed for time and running 90-2-nothin and this year was no exception... only had less than an hour to run to beach on our visit to FL for that wedding and get these shots done.  The result we'll never forget... but as for that "perfect shot"... I'll let you be the judge! =)

                                               I dearly L.O.V.E. this "calculating man"! =)
                                                     (anybody notice a side-kick here?!)

FL WIND!!! Turn and get hair out of face & eyesquick peek at the ocean and relax your smile...

And...

Try again!

"Stop squinting!"  Like Father Like Son! =)

And Again...

One

Two

Three

Four

Five! "Okay forget it, let's go with what we got!!"

So there is NO perfect picture, but we sure had fun and hope these crazy shots gave you a much needed smile!
~Daryl, Laura and Family~

Burlap, Tulle and Wedding "Bales"!

 In December after arranging to take finals early, we were privileged to make a mad-dash trip to FL to be part in our dear friend's wedding.  Years ago we became fast friends when I "babysat" them, while their mother taught a couple classes each afternoon at the local Christian Day school there in Hobe Sound.  They were home schoolers and we quickly found we had so much in common.  They have become our life-long friends.  One's who stick with you through thick and thin.  Dearer Friends one would have a hard time finding!!

 Back to the wedding... Tiffany called to ask if we would help them decorate... telling me that she was sticking with the theme of her cowboy husband-to-be! Smile! Complete with hay bales, burlap and tulle, and her color scheme!   Fun how it all turned out and thanks for all the willing helpers who showed up to make it all happen!

 The antique oval table in the center had also been used in her parents wedding over 25 years ago!  I LOVED that idea!

 Tiffany asked if our girls would be willing to play their violins as part of the music for their wedding. They felt very honored to get to be a part! Practice Practice, Practice!!!!  (I love the bare-feet sticking out there! =)

 Shirl and Tiffany decided to open close family and friends gifts at the rehearsal dinner.  LOVED THAT IDEA!!! When I heard of her theme, I quickly asked Brittany if I could "steal" her idea and make them a set of stockings for their wedding present from us.  Too fun! (See earlier post for Brittany's creations, where I got my idea... she helped me work out some of the kinks in these too!=)

 While we were decorating and practicing... These next few pics show you what Daryl and Bryan got to do! I wasn't really jealous.... ( Stretchin the truth there?...maybe just a tad! =)

  Isn't the water gorgeous here!  Such a beautiful day!

My Sweetheart  for over 22 years!!!

 Back to Day of Wedding.  Jesus helped all decorating to go smoothly and we praise Him for His amazing help!  Fun times with close friends all working together and catching up on our visiting while we worked!

Mr and Mrs Shirl Rosengreen and the Budensiek Family!

Congratulations, Shirl and Tiffany!

                                                              (sorry this is so dark)

 This was the coolest thing at the reception.  Shirl and Tiffany were involved in the bus ministry, and these were "their" kids who came to sing to them as their gift at the reception.  Talk about rewarding!!! so precious!

FRIENDS!!!

 Such sweet holiness young ladies. Oh, may they always remain untainted by this ole world and all of it's flaws and continue to shine as examples~ Daughters of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!~ His Princesses!

This was the girl's 1st time to get to wear a corsage!  So pretty!

 Thanks, Shirl and Tiffany for asking us to be a part of your special day!  I loved your ideas... so easy to follow, yet beautiful too! Just seems like yesterday ya'll were playing wedding together... I had to keep pinching myself to see that this was REALLY the REAL THING!=)  Our prayers go with you as you begin your new home together!  May you always depend on the Lord Jesus! There's no battle that He can't help you to overcome!  Our Congratulations to you too, Paul and Marilyn our dear friends, on another SON!! We love you all! ~ The Hausman's 

Christmas~ The Joy of Giving!

 One of the privileges of going to CNC is to get to be a part of the Homeschool Group.  And one of my Favorite Field trips is going Caroling to a nursing home in our area.  (We meet in Nov for our annual Thanksgiving dinner and each child makes a gift(or two) to pass out at our Dec mtg.) We go caroling to the Home there and the children play Christmas recital pieces, recite poems or readings and sing group songs, then we carol through the halls singing to those guests that aren't able to get out.  Each year is very special for one reason or another.  This year as we were singing, a Gentleman came out in the hall, found out we were a home school group and invited us into his room for a REAL,LIVE, History class. 
He and his wife lived in a room together and had it fixed up so sweet and homey. The story he shared with us was...  he was on a ship in the war... and the details are foggy, but I was so interested to hear him telling the kids his story.  He'd written his own book about it.  His sweet wife just sat there on their Loveseat and listened with a look of honor and respect for her husband of many years.  It was special!

 Above picture shows a piece of wreckage from the ship he was on... it was shot at while he was on the ship by a plane... a buddy of his drew what the plane looked like etc... later crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. This gentleman happened to find it while emtyping the trash and kept it.  He picked up a piece of the wreckage that was flying everywhere as the plane was shot and crashe right in front of their eyes, but their ship was spared. He retrieved the drawing  and some years later someone had it framed for him with an actual piece of the plane from the Kimikaze attack.

The Drawing

 Here is Bryan with this gentleman.  It was so enlightening for the kids and I was SOOOOO happy for that man to get to share with a group of eager-to-learn-children!

A Ship like he would have been on, though not his exact ship.

 One of my favorite things to do at Christmas Time is CAROL.  As a child, Daddy would take us caroling every year as our Wed pm prayer mtg close to Christmas.  We would walk through our little town, all bundled up, knocking on doors and caroling, then we'd come home for Hot Cocoa and Cookies.Thanks, Daddy for making that so much a REAL part of GIVING for Christmas! I want to make that happen for our family... and this is one tiny way to do it.  Thanks, Aunt Nesi for all your labors of organizing to make this happen.  It's my FAVE field trip every year!!!


Another part of GIVING this Christmas was the girls being in the GBS Christmas Program.  Natasha's 1st year as a part of the Orchestra and Brittany's 1st year as a part of the choir.  We are so thankful they are using their talents for the Lord!  Thank you Gram and Gramp for the mad dash, out of your way and so tired... to come by and hear the girls... I mean listen to the program! Smile! Your sacrifice was touching and meant LOTS to all of us! I LOVE how you both! You always look so festive! Makes me SMILE!

 We always choose to go on Sunday night, for the cast seems most relaxed in their parts and can really enjoy themselves. (in our humble, unbiased opinion, of course!=)  We also enjoy getting to have a few guests over for fun after the night performances.

 

Daddy and His Girls... all grown up!

 More to come... ~Laura

Fun with Burlap and Linen

 My sewing project for Christmas 2012!

When I saw this idea on Pinterest last year, I ate my heart out! They were just so adorable, and I knew they would 'fit' our house! So beginning to end it took me about 12 hours. I am sure it would take others much less than that, but I learn by trial and error it seems!:) I did not have a pattern when I started, so that took a while just to figure out what to sew to what and how to attach the linen correctly etc. :)

Darla's, Mommy's,

 I told Mommy that she had it pretty good, as I was sewing. She could just keep on working around the house, and she was getting adorable stockings at the same time! Don't you wish I lived in YOUR HOUSE!:)

Daddy's, Mine,

 The quilting on it took a little while, just trying to make the seems straight in all, but I was so happy how it turned out!

                                I couldn't resist putting a little lacy flower at the toe of my stocking!

Bryan's, Natasha's.

  This was my first attempt as can be seen by the pointed toe! lol I still thought it was cute though, so kept it for fun, and added the red stripes with a sharpie. I know, I know, I'm a professional! Not!

                             My favorites are Daddy's and Mommy's. Which is your favorite?