Sarah Michelle - Yesterday and Today

Today is Sarah's birthday!

Sarah is the youngest member and an important part of this core family - where her story began.

And a very important part of this very large family.

And an even more important part of this beautiful family.

I wrote about Sarah in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.  And those posts tell you a lot about Sarah's yesterdays.  And the following pictures will give you an idea of how she's changed 'through the years'.

But I want to talk about Sarah's todays - what's been going on in her life during the previous year. The first thing that comes to mind for me is that she's been in her new house just over a year now so she's been busy organizing and running a much larger enterprise than she previously ran.

And that she's learned to be a stay-at-home mom.  Last summer was her first summer being home everyday with the kids and she enjoyed every minute of it.

Also, in he past year, there's been a new addition to the family and Sarah is very, very fond of him. And so that she stays very fond of him, she has worked hard to train him and teach him to be a good little dog. 

Mike and Sarah have also joined a new church that they love and she's volunteering at the kids' new school in two different capacities - she helps the teachers every two weeks and works one-on-one with one of the students on a special project.

In December, she was back in town because the local high school was honoring the members of the 1996 State Champion Volleyball Team and the 1966 State Champion Basketball Team - both from Michigan City.  Here, she poses with good friends of ours from the '66 team.

Over the summer she and Mike took the kids to Hilton Head

And of course, they spent the Christmas/New Year holidays in Gulf Shores.

Today she treated herself to a mani/pedi with a new friend and tonight she's at Trey's soccer game.  Afterwards they'll go out for a birthday dinner.

Sarah is a loving, sweet, and hilarious girl.  She's conscientious, responsible, level-headed, and happy. In browsing through her pictures I'm reminded that she's helpful to her mother,

her children,

and her sister

She's a great dancer and has all the moves.

And seriously she would do anything for anyone.  We're so blessed to have her in our family and we're wishing her a very happy birthday and a year ahead that surpasses all others in happiness!

 Happy Birthday, Sarah!  We love you!

David Robert - Yesterday and Today

Today was Dave's birthday!

Dave is an important part of this large family (where his story began),

a very important part of this larger family,

and an even more important part of this wonderful family.

I wrote about Dave here and if you follow the links in this post you'll know a lot about his yesterdays. Then if you scroll through the following pictures you'll see how he's changed over the years.

 Here  he is being sworn into the Army.

 So mainly I'm going to talk about what he's been up to for the previous year.  Before he was reassigned, he spent a good deal of time in scouting with his three sons.

Since he was reassigned, he's spent quite a bit of time on the road because his new assignment kept him close enough to home to return on weekends.  So he's been able to attend some volleyball tournaments with his kids, stay active in scouting, and keep up with a lot of the chores around the house.  So yes, Dave is back in college too.  And he's also maintaining two households which is never easy.  And despite a sometimes crushing schedule he manages to stay in touch with his mom and dad and family.

And although he's not 'deployed' he spent his birthday at home tonight, alone, eating the dinner he prepared, and connecting long distance with his family.  That's the way of his job and he does it with professionalism, loyalty, and pride.  He doesn't complain and is grateful for the many opportunities he's been able to take advantage of in his career.  And speaking of career, he was placed on the promotion list and should be pinned sometime this summer.

We are incredibly proud of Dave, our second born son by a mere 10 minutes, and we're grateful to call him our son. We're wishing him a happy birthday a little late and a year ahead filled with fulfillment, family, and fun!

Daniel Harry - Yesterday and Today

Today was Dan's birthday!

Dan is an important part of this large family (where his story began),

a very important part of this larger family,

and an even more important part of this wonderful family.

I wrote about Dan here and if you follow the links in this post you'll know a lot about his yesterdays. Then if you scroll through the following pictures you'll see how he's changed over the years.

 Here he is being sworn into the Army.

So mainly I'm going to talk about what he's been up to for the previous year.  Before he was reassigned, he spent some time camping with his family because he knew it was going to be a long year of separations.

They re-united at Christmas in Florida and Gulf Shores through the New Year but were separated again until about a month ago when they started a house hunt for their new home in Florida.  So it's been a year of college for him - maintaining two households and staying close to his family from far away.  He's never forgotten to stay in touch with his mom and dad and the rest of his family despite an - at-times - crushing schedule and he's learned a lot about facetime!

And although he's not 'deployed' he spent his birthday at home tonight, alone, eating the dinner he prepared, and connecting long distance with his family.  That's the way of his job and he does it with professionalism, loyalty, and pride.  He doesn't complain and is grateful for the many opportunities he's been able to take advantage of in his career.  And speaking of career, he was placed on the promotion list and should be pinned sometime this summer.

We are incredibly proud of Dan, our firstborn son by 10 minutes, and we're grateful to call him our son. We're wishing him a happy birthday, a little late, and a year ahead filled with fulfillment, family, and fun!