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:)