Hanson Crew

The memorial service for Sue Hanson took place yesterday afternoon. It was an excellent celebration of her life as well as a worship service. We made bookmarks to hand out as well as a program (see below). Here is a link to watch it online if you missed it. https://boxcast.tv/view/sue-hanson-memorial-service-140133

Susan L. Hanson (65) passed into the loving hands of her savior Jesus Christ around   3 am on January 18th, 2017. She was surrounded by her family who she cherished.  She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Lydia Steiner and she will be  missed by Gary, her husband of 41 years, her children John (Deanna) and Carol;  her grandchildren: Rylee, Ashlyn, Joshua, Caleb, Jonathan, Molly, Macy, and  Carter; Her sisters, Sandy (Paul) Boisseree, Chris (Tom) Osterbuhr and Nancy  (Greg) Baker, sisters in law, Sheryl (Jim) and Linda, as well as many cousins,  nieces, and nephews. Sue was first a daughter of God. She was a follower of Christ and covered by his  righteousness. She was also a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister and close  friend to so many people. In every context of her life she was always meeting  people and connecting them to others. Anyone who had Sue as a friend she was  truly a friend for life. She was ...

We have been able to be with Sue all hours of the day as her body slowly shuts down. She was able to talk normal on Monday into early Tuesday morning. Then she could only grunt or whisper words here and there. Family came into town as well as a couple pastors. We sang hymns, prayed, and read scripture to her. By Tuesday evening around 9 pm, she was in a deep sleep, still alive and able to hear, but otherwise waiting on the Lord to take her home. Watching her slowly shut down was one of the hardest things our family has ever had to watch. Yet, the moments were peaceful and God's mercy was so evident in the room.

My mother in law Sue has been battling Stage 4 Lung Cancer the past 2 years. She has lived pain free for two years and people will often say that she does not look like she can have cancer. How could they have told her it was incurable and that she would live only 15 months when she was diagnosed in Jan 2015. Since around Dec 15, 2016, she has actually been sick. Meaning she has begun to be uncomfortable and in some pain. She has had multiple brain tumors, her esophagus has been closing shut and she has been starving literally. She went into the hospital on Wed to get a feeding tube so she could finally get some nutrition into her stomach. The tube finally got put in on Friday morning and we she was able to start using the feeding tube on Sat morning. Since we were warned not to drive on MO roads because of this huge ice storm we never really got, we haven't got to visit her since Friday evening. This morning, John woke up to a call from his mom. She said they doctor had just com...

Since the state of Missouri is under a state of emergency for a huge ice storm this weekend, John closed the Maids yesterday. Schools got out early too.  But so far, no ice or freezing rain. Caleb and I have been wanting to clean our carpets so this seem like the perfect time rent a Rug Doctor. We cleaned his room, part of my room, and the basement carpets.  They look great!  Then we spent some time rearranging the basement furniture and fixing or surround sound. Let's see if the ice comes on Sunday...

John's such a romantic especially around Valentine's Day when all that romance is on the shelves around him.  Here is a thoughtful surprise I came home to today :)

We love reading in our house. Well, the majority of us and I think Jonathan will be on board soon. I'm certain Caleb will never love it, but at least he  completes his required reading each day. So we knew it wouldn't be long before our brilliant dog Bear joined in the fun! Not really. Jonathan's school is doing a photo contest about reading and they had to submit a picture of their pet reading a book.  This is what we came up with.  Hoping we win for 4th grade.  We'll keep you posted...

I get the pleasure of hanging out with my 2 nieces and nephew sometimes and can't believe how quickly they are growing up!  This boy, Carter, has the sweetest smile and loves to snuggle. Macy is sure talking more and loves to read and play playdough. Molly, who isn't pictured, loves reading books and playing hide and seek.  What a blessing to live so close to these cousins for our kids!

My best friend Lisa and her husband Nate were blessed with the birth of a baby girl on Thursday evening at 5:38. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. My friends have been unable to conceive since they were first married. They have adopted four children.  And then to their surprise found out they were pregnant in the summer. They are beyond excited as am I for my friend whom I have prayed for over and over again. What an amazing God we serve. In His timing, Haylee has arrived.

We just went back to school after a pretty relaxing Christmas Break. Here are a few things we enjoyed doing while we were not testing, reading, driving, studying, getting up early, and on and on... We slept! A lot. About 10 hours a night We celebrated Christmas with Grandma Peggy and Larry right before Christmas We spent the night at Grandma Sues house Christmas Eve into Christmas day. Carol's family was there too and we made some great memories We went to the movies - a few of us saw Sing and a few saw Passengers We ate at the Big Biscuit the first day off (we love that place!) We played board games and video game together We celebrated New Year's as a family instead of throwing a party like normal We organized bedrooms - first Josh who hated it, then Ashlyn who got rid of so much, and then the boys who moved their beds around Ashlyn painted her dresser from plain white to awesome glazed grey (see below) Enjoyed our first real snow of winter Baked some cookies and...

We are a family who enjoys binge watching shows on Netflix. We will all be bored sitting around our house with not much on our schedule and decide to re-watch a favorite TV series or movie series.  Recently, we watched Downton Abbey and Sherlock again.  We loved them both the second time around as much as the first time. But as I was going through the options on Netflix the other day, I noticed a movie on there that was popular when I was in high school. 10 Things I Hate About You.  It was an okay movie back in the day when Clueless and Dawson's Creek captured high school life perfectly when I was younger.  Things are much different now and I know my kids would watch these shows today and think they were so weird and nothing compared to the public schools they attend now.  But that's another blog post for another day, back to 10 Things I Hate About you.  The movie ends with the main character writing a poem about the boy she ended up liking in the movie ...

As some of you know, we own a cleaning business.  One of the big perks of owning a cleaning company is getting to use the chemicals we buy on our own house.  We sometimes have the bottles on hand to use when we need them around our house. My favorite is the Air Fresh.  The teams spray it when they are leaving a home and it really smells fantastic.  My secret to having it in my home is to spray it around before guests come, even if I don't actually clean that day. So today, I was actually cleaning our house.  I don't do that often, but when I do, it kinda takes me all day.  When I was all done downstairs, I couldn't find our Air Fresh bottle I usually have on hand.  When I did find it, it was strangely in the Laundry Room. Anyway, I sprayed it all around Ashlyn's room, her bathroom and in our downstairs living room.  I went back upstairs and began to vacuum up there. After about 10 minutes, all I could smell was bleach.  I did clean Ashlyn's...

Today was supposed to be our first day back to school after Winter Break.  We weren't to sure why they had planned on us returning on a Thursday to begin with, but remembered we started our break on a Thursday. So maybe that was part of the planning process all along. Either way, we got an extra day! Beautiful blanket of snow to wake up to, plus extra sleep!  I guess we'll go begin our first day of Quarter 3 on a Friday.  I wonder how much work will actually get done that day before the weekend?

Today was our last official day of Winter Break.  I say official because we are headed to bed right now while the snow is falling through the night.  And tomorrow is the first day of Quarter 3 according to our school calendar. Chances are high that tomorrow might be a snow day!  We will see in the morning! We spent most of the day playing video games and watching movies.  We made an appearance at The Maids today too since we hadn't worked all week. I ended up cooking chicken in our new pressure cooker and sewing some new curtains for the kitchen.  Here is a sneak peek at the window above the sink.  They will tie in the new pantry door we added this fall :)

If any of you know my father-in-law Gary, you know that he is very introverted. He passed down this trait to my sister-in-law and my daughter Ashlyn. It takes a lot of effort for him to hang out with our families when we come over for meals or holidays. When Ashlyn and I were Black Friday shopping this year, she found the perfect sign for him!  He usually enjoys cleaning the kitchen after meals, but would prefer we not be there in the first place. Thanks to Gordman's for this wonderful gift!

We have been seeing some amazing sunsets this winter in Kansas City. Ashlyn took this one from our van on our way to visit Grandma Sue.  It was glorious. It reminds us that our home is in Heaven and how God's glory can be seen every moment in our lives. Let us not forget that this new year.

Welcome 2017. I'm excited to say goodbye to 2016. It was a hard year for so many I love. Broken families, cancer taking over bodies, broken marriages, job losses, death, ...and on and on. But we enter the New Year with great Hope and Love that only comes from above. And with Thanksgiving for the moments we endured and loved in 2016. Last night, we had a family game night. We normally have people over for New Year's Eve. We skipped the tradition and just enjoyed one another. We ate snack foods. Played Catch Phrase, Charades, Scattergories and attempted to play Settlers of Catan. We counted down with New York City at 11:00 pm Central Time because we were all getting tired and had church this morning. It was a great night! And a perfect way to enter this New Year.  Happy New Year's everyone!