head over

hey ya'll:)

head over to my more current blog:

www.kristineandryan.blogspot.com

it's got more updates and more on the ministry Ryan and I are involved in. This blog isn't kept up as much, because, well, I get around to updating my kBr blog more often:). hope to see you there! Feel free to follow kBr... I love to hear from you!

2 1/2 days

that's right...that's how far it is till:

- 6 am runs

-taking the time to cook a good dinner for my husband-no more rushing dinners or late ones

-bike rides to get where i need to be-because i can take the time to leave earlier to get there on bike!

-shorts, tank tops, and summer clothes every day-no work clothes for 2 1/2 months

- sunny days to play outside and get a tanner tan

-freedom to spend time with people

- bummer thing: no beach here.

- getting to see my husband more during the day, visiting him at work!

-time to read Love and Respect, Fresh Wind Fresh Fire, Percy Jackson & and the Olympians, and the remainder Harry Potter books

-another bummer thing: no pool unless you want to pay like 15 bucks each time

- visiting the garden and picking fresh vegetables from it

-baseball games in the evening; complete with concession stands and cheering fans

-visiting Kansas to see the mom B, sister Katie, and Grandma O

- taking pictures in the sun

-wearing flipflops or going barefoot in thick green grass

- cold treats: smoothies, frozen berries, yogurts, and skinny cows

so many goodies in the summer.

So many things to look forward to.

I can't wait!

dear mom. from child #2.

There's this woman, who loves the Lord. She loves the Lord so much that she gave up everything she had for her three girls. She dedicated her life to be the mother and nurturer for them, choosing not to work outside of the home, but using her life to invest and teach her girls at home in every moment of her day.

This woman saw her call of being a mother as the greatest privilege the Lord had given her, and loved her role as she was involved in every area of her girls' lives. She became her daughters' wise counsel, because she not only spoke the truth of God's Word, but she lived as an example of it. She taught so many life lessons, and shared times in God's word with her family, both at the start of the day and the end of the day, and because of that, her girls are following the Lord.

She doesn't take prayer lightly-she prays diligently everyday for her family. Her little girls would wake up and see their mother in God's Word and in prayer every single day. That memory is still ingrained in these girls' minds.

She taught her girls to love each other, to respect others, to spend quality time above all, with their family. She showed these girls to respect and love their daddy so much, because of the love and respect she showed him at all times. Their love for each other is so evident.

This woman's strength, love, and character strengthened this family even to this day. She never stops caring, loving, and nurturing her girls and husband. She always told the girls how she treasured them, and although so many women complain about their husband and kids, this mother never did. She always loves her family in her words and her actions, whether the family was present or not. She was quick to discipline in love, and point her girls in the right direction when they made mistakes or disobeyed.

This woman is also such fun to be around. Her laughter is contagious and brings belly aches of laughter to the family. Because of this mother and her husband's effort and love, together, they made family time more desirable and enjoyable than anytime with anyone else, just the way it should be. This couple established family nights, family devotions, and family prayer to the lives of these three girls-and today, these three girls are following the Lord personally.

This woman is the most loving, amazing, and incredible mom-I can testify.

this woman-is my mom.

I love you, mom.

thank you for the example you set for me as I have started my own family.

You showed me how important it is to take care of my husband, and of others.

You showed me how to nurture and love.

You showed me the importance of a clean clean house and good yummy food.

My husband and I appreciate you, because what you've done has spilled over into our own family's life.

Thank you for loving the Lord, mom. Your godly ways has made me fall deeper in love with my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I love you.

next step up

this is the next step i want to take in pictures and good blogging:). it's not quite an SLR, but definitely not just a point and shoot pocket camera.

the pictures it'll take our crisp and vibrant.

it's just a dream right now-cuz we're being careful with the finances God's blessed us with. But hey, i can dream (and maybe even hope for this for my birthday;)).

the last songs

I did not have high expectations of this movie. I LOVE the book, which my husband surprised me with when it first came out, but when I saw Miley Cyrus was the gal, i didn't have much hope that the movie would be as good as the book. it took a whole week for this movie to reach storm lake, so ryan and i went and saw it at matinee price:) (well, since i was taking ryan, i wanted to make sure that if the movie stunk, he didn't have to suffer twice with paying for this movie and then sitting through the movie:))

but i freakin' LOVED the movie. I was in tears for most of it, and (shhh) so was my sweet husband. it hit him in a soft spot. both of us were pretty touched by it. So yes, go see it if it's still at your theater. it'll make you wanna hug your momma and daddy as much as you can, and for me, it made me completely homesick. the gorgeous south was more than evident in this movie, and seeing the beautiful ocean, palm trees, and moss, was unmistakably southern beauty. driving through corn fields and smelling cow poo rather than salt air, definitely did not help. I left the theater longing to go home to SC.

[here's the last time i touched the warm sand of our beautiful sc beach.]

oh well.

more packages please.

i loved this.

the contents were wonderful.

and yummy.

and the letter from the Philippines was just precious.

thanks!:)

losing it.

i have lost NINE POUNDS since i started working out and eating well.

whoot! still going, and trying to lose the last 11 pounds.

Post-marriage weight gain, my butt-not this gal;)

post-marriage weight lost-hallelujah.

snacking on green and yellow

when i come home from work, i need a little something in my tummy to fuel me up until dinner time. i take out my lil knife, slice up on of these avocados, and eat half with lemon or lime juice, and a little garlic salt. mmm....

these are great in burgers, sandwiches, or over salads. they're a fave of mine!

heart it.

love, love, love:

1. my mom's breakfast: bacon, eggs, rice, and sausage. mmmm...

2. early morning worship-just me and God.

3. productivity-sitting in front of a tv for hours and hours and being lazy drives me nuts!

4. taking care of my husband and home-one of the most wonderful joys in my life.

5. being called, "mrs. BB."

6. letters in the mail that you don't expect.

7. being with my ah-mazing seesters.

8. shopping trips-love them more so now, because it's a rare occasion!

9. filling up empty spaces with colorfulness

10. peppermint mocha creamer by coffee mate is now a year round flavor!

11. text messages

12. bike riding-can't wait to get the tires all pumped up!

13. peyton manning gamboa

14. my hubby's arms-he's buff!

15. playing catch

16. being active outside

17. the 41st minute of running...al-most-there. phew.;)

18. seeing my husband's face when i'm walking out of the school and he's picking me up.

19. laughing. with my family. nuttin' like it. nuff said.

20. colorful throw pillows!

(oh, so many more things that i just heart so much. more to come at a later time.)

Beautiful SC

Someone tell me why the beautiful South Carolina beaches has to be so far away from me.

I keep seeing everyone's facebook statuses from the east coast talking about going to the beach or walking by water. for a coastal chic, it's driving me nuts not to be near the ocean or beautiful bodies of water. I'm still wearing jackets to go from the house to the car, and i'm just waiting for the day when i can pull out my handy dandy flipflops and go for a stroll around Storm Lake. (people around here claim its beautiful-we'll see...a lake surrounded by fields just doesn't compare to a whole ocean with sandy beaches and palm trees!) Hopefully we'll get to feel a similar warmth here in Iowa before I go completely out of my mind:)

favorite drink

enjoying my new favorite drink. Almond milk.

another alternative to soy milk, another favorite. try it!

it's been a few days

I don't feel as sharp as I usually do. It's been five days since I've hit the gym to go running, because I've had these awful allergies and congestion. Ryan and I have gotten into the habit of packing our stuff and taking it to work with us so that immediately after work, we can go running and work out. It's been my one way of really enjoying being active, with the winter weather and such, and it has been my favorite way of relieving the stress of the day, but I have not made it over there, simply because of my congestion and headaches.

I'm encouraged though! Because in the times of running and eating healthy, I've lost 8 pounds:) which makes me happy, because I really worked at it! (but still managed to enjoy the goodness and yumminess of life.) .

i love my first graders:)

aren't they cute?:)

glad to be home.

THIS is how I feel today.

it was one of those days.

I'm just glad I'm home and it's all over.

Glad my husband's hugs make me feel better.

I gotta learn not to take my work annoyances home with me. I'm still learning how to deal with kids with attitudes. bad attitudes. and sassiness.

maybe i should learn how to be sassy back. haha, just kidding.

it's just nice to be home with a plate of veggies, soy milk, and the peace of my cozy home with my husband.

going organic

Ryan and I decided we are going to try organic foods for the time we are in Storm Lake. I never thought I would consider all natural and organic food, but some recent happenings made us consider the option of organic food.

We're both working on being healthier, working out, and eating well, and organic and all natural food is our next step to healthiness. Not to mention all the things we're hearing about Storm Lake (our town) being a HOTSPOT for all sorts of cancer, because of the chemicals used on the farms surrounding us and that has gotten into the water, animals, and vegetables and fruits growing in Iowa. For some reason, Storm Lake is one of the ten top places of cancer victims, and i guess there have been studies about it becoming common in this area. So while we're in Storm Lake, IA we'll be eating organic meats and veggies and fruit. and drinking purified water:) healthier eating here we come:)

smiley faces and a hug

one of my first graders came up to me with this card that he made.

--------------

earlier in the day I had sent him inside during recess because of the way he had acted towards one of the elderly teachers outside. I told him to go back to his classroom to think about what he had said and done.

he put up a fight, claiming he hadn't done anything, but after ten minutes of protesting and arguing, almost to the point of tears, he went inside.

--------------

after an hour, i was teaching Kindergarten reading, when he found me and handed me this card:

turns out on his way inside, instead of his classroom, he found his way to the principal's office-and told her "that he was rotten to Ms. BB (Brandenberger) and had kicked her." (he hadn't kicked me, although he told the principal he had.) So strangely enough, he wrote me this note and folded it into a card.

He came up to me, with his face looking sad and worried, and said, "Ms. BB, I made this for you." I asked him to read it to me-and all the while my heart was just smiling-and he ended the note with, "i'm sorry ms. BB." His eyes were big as he looked at me and i looked into his big brown eyes and told him I was proud of him for apologizing.

He gave me a huge hug and held on to me and then went back to his classroom.

this seven year old's card and huge bear hug made my day:).

i do miss it...

one of my favorite street corners.

beautiful chicago.

lots of memories.

all my favorite things.

and so many of my dear friends and family are here.

i was dumb this weekend, and didn't whip out my camera like usual, so i don't have as many pictures.

cute packaging-and even better contents:)

here's the BEAUTIFUL ring Ryan bought me-from ilene's etsy site! You should check it out-lots of great and beautiful things on that site-and all made with love! Muchlove illy

Morning glory

The first part of my day

when everything in the house is still,

the quietness of morning is deafening,

the smell of coffee is in the air,

and outside, the town is still waking up;

wrapped in my cuddle blanket,

with my fuzzy slippers on my feet,

my coffee mug is full and fresh-brewed,

my Bible and journal in front of me,

and I pour my heart out to my Savior-

-THIS is the best part of my day.

talk about vintage.

Ryan brought back this sweet vintage camera that belonged to his father. Since we had a free day because of the winter wind storm, we stayed indoors, and I messed with it to see if it would turn on. We bought new batteries, put in a new roll of 35 mm film, and i figured out how to work it!:) and it still works beautifully! And isn't it a neat looking camera? Totally vintage.

When we got it, there was a roll of film that Ryan's dad had taken of Katie (sis B)running in junior high! it was kinda neat to see the pics he had taken:) Ryan found the owner's manuel online so I can learn how to use all the settings, so I'm excited to mess with it even more and take it outside!:) Now, check out the extra equipment that it has...look at that LENS and FLASH!

Yay, I think i'll have some fun taking pictures when it's nice outside:)

So far...

With my new goals, so far, I've :

- Lost 2 pounds

-Am running 38 minutes:)

- Have memorized Philippians 1:1-14

18 pounds left to go, and 6 minutes left to run up to!:)

The Bible in two languages

Today I got the chance to sit down and talk to two Burmese ladies. Our church had adopted them during Christmas to bring gifts and food to them and their family. There are three children in their family, so we got them little presents for each (Hot wheel cars for Ehnkmer-age 8, and baby dolls for K'pru and Ehknaso-ages 6 and 4). We were privileged to bring the food and gifts to them and watch their little faces SO excited with their little gifts. Because of the cold weather, we hadn't seen them since before Christmas. This family are refugees from Burma, and are new to the United States.

Today, they came to church, and Bablu, the mother, came in wearing one of the sweaters I had given her:). She came with her Bible, in the Karin language, and as the kids were upstairs in Sunday school, she and I and Pashe, spent some time, reading Philippians together. I was so blessed to sit down and read with them, as they read from the Karin (pronounced Kah-Rin) Bible, and I from the English Bible, but what was neat was to see God's word translated into both of our language and us reading it together. What a cool thing to think that with God as the foundation, we have a common bond with each other, the Lord Jesus Christ, even if we're from completely different parts of the world! God's Word has reached so many and have changed lives all over the entire world. Today, i got to experience the joy of knowing the same God and Savior as someone from Burma.

I can't explain why that amazed me so, but it sort of displays to me, the power of God's word.

Soda commitment

"I'm gonna get all the soda i like and drink it on New Year's Eve!!!!"

My dear sweet friend and junior bridesmaid touched my heart in a big way with a little comment. New Year's Day 2009, last year, she made the New years resolution to not drink soda all year long.

So many adults I know make new years resolutions to lose weight, eat healthy, stop drinking, or smoking, or anything along those lines...more often than not, these resolutions don't last all year long.

This girl, 11 at the time, made a decision not to drink soda. But SHE DID IT. She stuck to her commitment and carried through what she had said she would not do for a whole year. And this gal loves her Cheerwine soda:).

For a simple statement such as that, this young lady showed me an admirable quality. Sticking to her commitment. Now, if this tween girl can give up her love of soda for a year, with her drive and determination getting her through all 365 days of pretty much a a necessity drink for tweenagers, how consistent can you be in sticking to your commitments?:) I can honestly say this young lady encouraged me sticking to my own commitments-and she didn't even know it:).

(Ale Grace and I-December 27 2009.)

This new year makes me think alot about the past year. All the things I did, and all the things that happened. I mean, in 365 days, I:

• had a great last semester at Moody,
• went to the Philippines for two weeks
• saw my Lola (grandma) one last time
• spent time with my mom's side of the family in the Philippines
• spent the summer being blessed in Chicago with my five families I was a part of,
• was a camp counselor at 2 summer camps,
• spent time with friends,
• rode my bike in the city,
• rollerbladed everywhere,
• went to Beaufort to prepare for a wedding,
• got married,
• went on a honeymoon,
• went to universal studios,
• drove halfway across the country,
• packed up my apartment in Chicago,
• drove to Storm Lake,
• settled in a new home
• helped Ryan coach soccer
• signed up to be a sub at the elementary school
• got hired full time as a Reading Instructor
• learned how to cook some decent meals
• learned how to make sugar cookies
• had my first few blizzards and snow days
• had our first overnight guests in Storm Lake
• roadtripped a few times with my husband
• flew home to beaufort to celebrate Christmas with my husband for the first time
• flew to Kansas to celebrate New Years

and thatz only SOME of the things that happened last year...it's crazy how much can get crammed in one year and to be honest, alot of it is a bluuuuur to me.

Now, starting a new year, I'm not quite sure what to expect. I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, but I do have hopes for this year. Here are some things I hope to accomplish:

• To be honest, i'm only posting this one to help keep me accountable to it:-D Ryan and I joined the fitness club here in town, in hopes to stay healthy and fit, so we've been woring out pretty consistently (minus the two weeks of Christmas break). God is good, I'm working up on my time on running...went from 15 minutes to now 30 minutes straight in a nicely paced run:-D Must say, i'm pretty proud of myself. I'm planning on reaching 45 minutes, at least four times a week. My goal is to drop down 20 pounds. haha, we'll see...like they say, muscle weighs more than fat:-D jk.
• Eating better. After getting married, I've been learning how to cook, and I've been aware of all the ingredients that I put in my meals. I'm loving it!:) I love finding new ways of eating healthy, and how to make it tasty and appealing for my Anti-veggie husband (haha.) But since getting married, we've found ways to enjoy our meals, portion our intakes, and eat well-balanced meals.
• memorize Philippians. Being in a community where I have yet to find believers to fellowship with, I am constantly been digging in God's Word for enrichment...although, going through life without girlfriends, or even friends to fellowship with for Ryan and I, has been a challenge, especially being used to always having brothers and sisters in Christ that have sharpened us throughout our life. God has really been emphasizing in our lives, the need for one another to enrich each other in the word as husband and wife. it has been a true blessing to be married to my best friend. And even though we lack Christian fellowship or growth with other believers, we have each other and the Word of God pulling us through all this. So with that said, I've been going through the Philippians series from Community Bible Church (my church from back home) and have been listening to the sermons from Pastor Broggi; I would like to spend this next year memorizing Philippians.

For now thatz about it. I have a feeling this year might not be quite as jampacked, because this lil town of Storm Lake is alot slower paced, but I'm thrilled to see what God decides to do with us this year with the ministries that we have started and hope to start this year:).