Niagara Falls, Links 2-4

Good Friday
Easter Saturday
Easter Sunday

Niagara Falls, Album 1, a link.

Here is an album of our first day in Niagara Falls, Canada, where we spend Easter weekend.  I will post more as I get time!

March Madness

So far, March has been filled with flood watches/warnings, winter weather advisories, 50 degree days, flat tires, tax appointments, car appointments, spring break, reading week, and lent.  And it is only the 11th!  In like a lion, or out like a lion, I can't remember.  Let's hope it's in.  This morning we woke to a fresh blanket of snow.  Here are how the hills look, 5 months later.  Not quite as colorful, but still beautiful.  Hope you are well!

February. Update.

The word for this month in Lithuanian is similar to the word for summer.  It seems weird, but it's because February is the time when you really start noticing that there is more and more daylight each day, and for us these past couple of days in Western PA, you get some unseasonably warm weather (in the lower 60s yesterday and today! Don't worry, it's gonna go back to normal February weather in a couple of days) that reminds you that spring is right around the corner.
Today I took the blankets out of our big, beautiful, drafty living room window and let some fresh air and sunlight in. It is glorious.

We are doing well.  Spring semester is running at full speed, and we are keeping ourselves busy as usual!

Steve is currently in the midst of RA hiring for next year.  It is a busy time spent interviewing many wonderful applicants who would like to be RAs!  Steve needs to hire 9 RAs, pray that his team will come together!  Health-wise, Steve is doing well too.  He's recovered from gallbladder surgery and has been able to eat whatever he wants, though having to eat lowfat/nofat foods for awhile has certainly started some better eating habits for us both!  His knee is getting better and better, and he has been back at physical therapy to help with that.  Praise the Lord for good recoveries!

I am keeping busy with school, really liking my classes this semester, and learning A LOT.  I am taking four classes again.  An Old Testament class on the Writings, a New Testament class on the Gospels, a Systematic Theology class on Jesus, and a Church History class on the Medieval and Reformation periods.  All are courses that I need to take for my degree, which is an MA in Mission (focusing on Spiritual Formation and Catechesis).

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I would like to do with this degree.  A LOT OF STUFF!  I haven't nailed anything down yet (and I have time), but I am really interested in maybe teaching Spiritual Formation, or maybe about Christianity and Culture, or about Missions...or all of the above.  For my Old Testament class, one of our assignments will be to write out a 12-week lesson plan for an adult Bible study...I think it will be a really telling assignment for me...I hope I love it!  I can see myself enjoying curriculum (writing it...executing it...etc).
I think we will surely always be advocates for missions (and studying/living/working abroad), but not sure where or what the Lord is calling us to be/do.  We can see ourselves possibly going overseas (specifically to Europe) again, but on the same note we could also see ourselves planted in the United States, but supporting and sending and encouraging missionaries....or maybe we'll find a way to do both!  At any rate, we are planning on being in Beaver County for a while.  I still have another year of school to finish, and it is just nice to be somewhere for longer than two years!
We are so fortunate that I was able to get such an amazing scholarship this year.  We've had to pay very little money for my seminary education, which is a huge relief on our budget!  We can see how the Lord has been orchestrating this the whole year.
This past week, a classmate of mine challenged our class to try to give back to the seminary by seeing if any of our friends and family would like to donate to the scholarship fund at the school. I thought I would ask here, because I know that many who read this blog (or, who used to read this blog) are generous givers and are maybe looking for a worthwhile cause to support!  Helping people to get a seminary education so they can better minister to others is a very worthy cause!  If you are reading this blog and don't feel that you can donate anything, don't worry. We still love you, and understand.  Maybe you are already giving somewhere else, or funds are tight.  That's ok. Don't feel pressure from us.  One thing we learned while we were raising support for Lithuania is that sometimes, people just like to be asked! We trust that the Lord will provide.
Anyway, if you are intrigued by giving something, here is the link to follow:  http://www.tsm.edu/Giving
I'm also supposed to tell you that Trinity (my school) has a nonprofit tax exempt status, and is recognized as a Pennsylvania 501 (c) (3).
I have no idea what that even means, but I'm sure it's important! :)

Outside of work and school, we've also been blessed to feel like we are part of a community here, and have been active in that.  I have been blessed to be a part of a Bible study with some women who are either working at Geneva, or spouses of men who work at Geneva.  It is so nice to get together with them once a week and share our lives and study the book of Genesis!  Our church is doing a book study, and Steve is going to be a part of that when it starts next week.  We've also been blessed to find friends here who like to play games as much as we do (or maybe more).  Always fun when we can find time to have a game night on a fairly regular basis.

Anyway, that is our February update!  Thank you for reading this far.  Hope you are well, and that you come to visit us soon!





PS...if you ever buy anything off of Amazon, and use this link, Trinity receives back a portion of your purchase.

Happy Belated New Year!!

Dear Friends and Family who still read this blog from time to time,
Happy New Year!  This blog post is a long time coming, but for good reasons.  We had a New Year's newsletter all typed up and ready to print out and send for about 3 weeks now....but haven't found the time to do any of the printing or mailing.  We were also torn because, on one hand it's really nice to send an actual letter out to people.  It's nice to hold something tangible in your hand, and also it supports sending things in the mail (so as to keep our favorite postal worker employed!).  On the other hand, it takes up a lot of time, paper, ink, stamps, address books, etc (which maybe why holding a letter in your hand is maybe more meaningful. Or, it should be).  Plus it's just so easy to post it on here and then send a link to remind people to read it.

Eventually we came to a compromise and decided that maybe we would print out a few and send them to those who would be the least likely to have the internet.  And then share the link to the blog with everyone else.  Well, time came and went, and here we are almost 3 weeks into 2011, and I'm fearing that the letter is perhaps never going to be printed.  Plus I feel like we've had enough activity in 2011 to necessitate its own newsletter!

So, without further ado, here is the text of the letter, copied and pasted as is (if it seems brief it is because I tried to fit it all onto one page...I guess that doesn't matter when it is in this format....but I digress).  Then after the letter, I'll update a bit on 2011.  The only thing that this letter won't include is our updated contact information (who knows who all reads this blog!!). If you would like our contact info, just let us know and we can give it to you :)


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(Imagine a clip art image of a cute little typewriter that has "Hanson Highlights 2010" on the paper coming out of it)

Dear Family and Friends!  Happy New Year!

As we sit and reminisce over 2010, we realize that it has been quite the year!  Very full, with lots of transitions.  We can hardly believe all this happened in one year....we are blessed!

January:  We rang in 2010 with friends in Germany.  Started our final semester working on LCC International University’s Student Life Staff.  Later on this month we chose one of the colder days to go to a sauna with friends and jump into the icy Baltic Sea.

February:  Attended the “End of Winter” celebration in Klaipeda, Lithuania.  Tested our ability to listen in Lithuanian as we watched the Winter Olympics on our Lithuanian TV. Hannah and Eva Brandes visited us, and it was a blast showing them our favorite places in Lithuania and Latvia.

March:  Spent a week in snowy Tartu, Estonia relaxing over our spring break.  The rest of March was full of many events for the inauguration of LCC’s newest president, Kyle Usrey.

April:  Took a train to Warsaw, Poland over Easter weekend.  Steve accepted a Resident Director job at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.  

May:  Attended graduation at LCC, and said many goodbyes to students and colleagues who had become our friends and family in Lithuania.  Packed up as much as we could fit in our suitcases and flew back to the States.  We arrived just in time to welcome our newest nephew Abraham to the world.

June:  Took a road trip to Pennsylvania, where Steve attended a conference and Laura started unpacking a few things in our apartment.  Went to a Twins game at Target Field. At the end of June, we packed up a moving truck and officially moved back to Beaver Falls, PA.

July: Steve began his job as Resident Director at Geneva College.  Laura worked on her application for Seminary (Trinity School for Ministry, in Ambridge, PA, a half hour away from Beaver Falls).  It was fun to unpack, being most of our things were in storage for two years while we were in Europe.  Went to a Pirates game with friends at the beautiful PNC park in Pittsburgh.

August:  Steve jumped into a busy month of RD training, RA training, and welcoming students back to campus.  Laura got accepted to Seminary with a scholarship, and took a part time job at a local coffee shop (Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea).

September: Got into our routines with jobs and school.  Found time to go to a couple of Twins games in Cleveland.  Steve ruptured his ACL playing intramural football with students and coworkers.

October:  Flew to Chicago for the wedding of Steve’s brother Bjorn and our newest sister Aly.

November: Steve had surgery on his knee to replace his ACL.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with friends here in Beaver Falls.

December: Steve continues his physical therapy and recovery for his knee.  We were blessed to be able to be with our family for Christmas in Minnesota and Iowa.  Steve found out that he will need to have his gallbladder removed in January, and Laura is looking forward to some time off before school starts again.

Hope this letter finds you well!  Here’s to a wonderful, adventurous 2011!

Love,

Steve and Laura

_____________________

So far 2011 has been quite the adventure!  Steve had a busy time right off the bat with welcoming students back to campus and beginning of the semester RA training.  I have been working some, reading for fun some, and learning how to sew (one of my goals for 2011)...and just today bought some textbooks for the classes that will start next week!  Aside from that, we had just recently learned that Steve would need to have his gallbladder removed (as mentioned in the newsletter...at the time of writing, I don't think we knew a date yet). So anyway, we made an appointment for Steve's surgery, and then worked on removing fat from his diet (nothing like a New Year's resolution that you have to do!).   This past Thursday (the 13th) we went in the morning and by that afternoon, he was gallbladder free and we went home.  Recovery was going well, we thought.  He was eating a healthier diet, resting, and even able to get in a couple of walks over to school, etc.

Then on Monday night at dinner, it suddenly seemed like he was having another gallbladder attack.  If you've been skimming up until now, you may need a reminder that he no longer has a gallbladder.  At first we were just going to wait it out, but it wasn't seeming to get any better (worse, in fact, but I'll spare you the gory details)...so I drove him to the ER.  I should mention that we were expecting to go to the grocery store after we were done at the ER, because our friends Dan and Tina were on their way to see us and were going to arrive late that night (also this shows just how (not) long we were expecting to be there).

Anyway, they did an ultrasound to see if they could see anything (maybe a gallstone was left behind and causing trouble?)....couldn't see anything.  So they decided that they would keep him overnight and run another test in the morning (plus if he had more pain in the night, the hospital would be able to do more than we would at home).  By the time we got admitted into a room (Monday was a busy night, so the only beds available were in pediatrics...fun little trivia), it was quite late.  I already was resigned to the fact that we wouldn't get our errands run, and that was ok.  By this time I was more concerned about being there by the time Dan and Tina arrived (and that Steve would be ok, of course!).  So at 12:30am I said goodnight to Steve and went home to meet our guests (I had 15 minutes to spare when I got home!).  They had driven all day from Minnesota, and so we visited for a little bit, but soon we all went to bed.  

The next morning, we got up and drove to the hospital to see if the new scan they had run had found anything.  The scan didn't reveal anything, so they decided that an MRI was needed.  Looong story short, we spent a lot of time waiting around, and Steve didn't get his MRI until yesterday evening.  So they kept him another night (his pain had subsided by this time), much to our surprise!  Making the best of the situation (we had thought about bringing our guests to Pittsburgh), we brought some board games to the hospital, pushed a couple of tables together and spent the evening playing games in Steve's room.  We found out later that the roads in Pittsburgh were so icy that they were on the news in MN, so maybe it was good that we didn't end up going to Pittsburgh.  No icy roads here though, thankfully, as we drove to and from the hospital a few times. 

ANYWAY, early this morning, Wednesday, Steve said that the MRI came back negative, and they were going to feed him and send him home.  After some more waiting around (we both ended up eating there), and getting one more test (drew some more blood), they sent us home.  The only thing out of the ordinary from the blood work is that he has "elevated liver enzymes."  So maybe we'll learn more about what that means more specifically.  We're home now, Steve's taking it easy.  Not allowed to do heavy lifting or eat anything fun ("a diet of soft, nonfat food").  Hopefully it was just a gallstone that was left behind and wreaked some havoc before it passed.  Anyway, we're just going to take it as an opportunity for both of us to start having healthier diets and paying attention to what we eat.  Never too late to start good eating and dietary habits.

Thank you for reading this far!  Our guests are here, and since we are not in the hospital anymore, I think we will try to think of something fun to do (that doesn't require heavy lifting and eating fattening food). :)

Next year's newsletter will probably read something like this:

January 2011:  Steve got his gallbladder removed; spent a couple days at the hospital.  Dan and Tina came to visit.

Blessings!