A plea from a mother's heart

This morning I read a post on another blog that touched my heart. I live in a rather remarkable family. My parents have been married for 48 years: their first and last marriage. Dave's parents were married for somewhere around 50 years, the only marriage for them both. I have five siblings. The three who are married are all, Lord willing, on their first and last marriages as well (and some are well into 20-some years.) Dave and I celebrated our 27th anniversary last summer. My children have grown up with a legacy of marriages that last. What a rare and precious thing!

But the legacy of divorce leaves a carnage that goes on and on. Some of the decisions we make bear consequences for the rest of our lives. With Ben's wedding in less than three weeks, and Tim's just around the bend, this mother's plea to her children touched my heart. I make the same plea to my dear children! Please read "Tears at Thanksgiving".

So much to be thankful for!

We find ourselves with much to be thankful for this year of 2007. Above, we enjoy a Thanksgiving feast with the Hanson's in Rio Rancho. (From l to r: Marilyn Finnegan, Jack Hanson, Shirley Hanson, Tim, Dave.)

Marilyn is in great health, and just enjoyed a month visiting her daughter Kathleen in PA. She had a wonderful time!

My mom has almost finished her radiation treatments. She has already put chemotherapy behind her< as well as surgery, and now can look forward to a little break, Lord willing! Please pray for a complete recovery and irradication of her inflammatory breast cancer (If you don't know about IBC, a rare but extremely aggressive and often misdiagnosed cancer, please see http://www.ibcsupport.org/ for more information!)

We have enjoyed having Tim at home this fall. He has learned much at his job at LANL, and is ready to return to Grand Rapids in January. He is looking forward to being able to readily visit with Nikki in Sarnia, whom we are referring to as our "alien fiancee", so named after the "Alien Finance Visa" they have just applied for :-)

The big upcoming event, of course, is Ben and Elsa's wedding on December 15th. We are all growing excited to see one another and to celebrate this wonderful and exciting event. Marilyn, Dave, Tim and I will be flying into Omaha, and picking up Nikki there on December 12th. December in Minnesota... yikes! All the Hanson aunts and uncles are expected to be in attendance. And Elsa should graduate from Hillsdale College just before she heads for MN to take her vows. It should be a wonderful time! I'll post pictures and updates as we go along...

Ben is doing well and loving grad school in Indiana. He should complete his Masters in Latin this spring, Lord willing, with new wife by his side. They have purchased a townhome in Bloomington, and Elsa plans to look for a job there starting in January. Then Ben will work on towards his PhD. Amazing. They really do begin to grow up sooner or later...

We feel so blessed by God-- our cup just overflows! And we thank God for our many friends and family members, and the love and support they have been to us throughout our lives. May God bless you all in this special season!

A Turkey Trot for my Turkeys (and about 400 others)

We started Thanksgiving Day, 2007, at the 27th annual Turkey Trot race in Albuquerque. Tim was hoping that the offered prize money would bring out some fast people he could chase. We figured his hopes had been confirmed when a car load of elite Kenyan races parked right next to us! Tim finished 5th over-all, in a speedy time of 15:13 (his new altitude 5K PR), and chased two elite Kenyans who finished in the 14:30's, one post-collegiate professional runner, and one Division 1 All- American, which made him happy. And he won a pair of running shoes, which made his Dad happy! Dave also ran very well, completing the course in 18:38 (pretty speedy for an old turkey!)

A beautiful day in the mountains

The unseasonably warm temperatures have given us some very lovely November days to enjoy. One such day was Veteran's Day, when Tim adn Dave and I spent the afternoon in the Jemez Mountains. The guys had long runs (Tim ran 15 miles, Dave ran 12!). I hiked to Jemez Falls, and enjoyed reading in the beautiful scenery. Then we had a nice lunch al fresco!

November Give-Away at Challies.com