Celebrating our 50th by Ourselves!

The morning of our anniversary began as a beautiful day...just like 50 years a go.  We had kind of wondered

just how we would celebrate since none of our family would be with us.  I was up in the night the night before...seeking God and asking HIM what we could do to make the day special.  I felt He unfolded a great plan for us...I shared that with Dave when we woke up.  Here goes!
     At 5:45 we were up and ready to embark on a new work out plan called C25k...an ap that gets you ready to run a 5k in 8 weeks.  That was fun!  I did the jog/walk...Dave walked.

    We got home by 6:30 and were ready for activity 2- our favorite of each day.  THE HOT TUB!!!Here we are ready to go out to the hot tub with our coffee frappe mocha and oatmeal.  You may think that oatmeal sounds boring but not the way we make it.  Oatmeal...strawberries..apple...blueberry and roasted almonds.  Yum!  This has been a morning ritual for years.  We have actually been enjoying mornings in the hot tub for 21 years!!!

After the hot tub we headed down to the dock for our morning devotions and prayer time together. 

Time to head to Tyler for a day of fun!

Our first stop was just down the road at an estate sale.  We both found some random items that were fun.

We finally
 made it to Tyler....and our first stop was a store we like to shop for fun housewares.Ross!!!  If you know Dave you can see he came up with a classic Dave item!  And even in gold for our golden anniversary!!

By now it is hot and we are ready to rest...so we went to one of favorites ...Jason's Deli and split a one trip through the salad bar!

Now, being well fed and totally rested we are ready to move on to our next adventure.  Normally, when we exchange cards for these special occasions we go to our box of recycled cards where we have saved, birthday, anniversary, valentine cards for over 30 years and pick one we bought previously.  It works!  BUT...this being our special 50th...we decided to go to the Just $1 store and splurge for a 50cent card and a one dollar gift! 

( I can't figure out how to get rid of the underline!)

Being that this is East Texas and June 22 it is HOT!  So we head for McDonald's for a special drink and to write out our cards which we will exchange at dinner.

Across the street from McDonalds is Hobby Lobby....I wanted to get some mosaic materials for starting a project and we found the perfect sign for our house!

There are several reasons why this is so special and will have a prominent place in our home.  One is that being raised in the Lutheran church...this blessing was pronounced over us at the close of every service...so for 30 some years we had in spoken over us every single Sunday!  (No wonder we are so blessed!!!) The second reason is that Dave spoke this over our children every night when he tucked them in and now...they are speaking it over their children!  At our 50th anniversary family service, David closed the service with having the children and grandchildren stretch out their hands to us and speak this blessing over us!  What a BLESSING!!!!

    Just down the street is the $1.00 jewelry store where we went to buy jewelry for my new top!(Also a gift from Ross)  I got 12 pieces of jewelry for $10 since they were having a special!!! My man knows how to please his wife!!!

Now it was time to be off to our favorite restaurant for our anniversary meal and the exchanging of cards!  Villa Montez in Tyler!

Super fun and special!!!!  The cards were wonderful and filled with such love and sentiment!!
Our final destination was Big Sandy for dancing.  We started ball room dance 10 years a go when we went on an Alaskan cruise for our retirement.  We saw people doing ball room and said...we ought to learn that.  So we went home to Florida and found the SR centers all around us taught Ball Room.  We were dancing 3 or 4 times a week the 2 1/2 years we lived there.  Now...we only have East Texas dance halls but find music that we can do some ball room to and love it!

We brought a cake and sparkling juice, grapes, cheese and crackers and celebrated with our friends, Jan and Ray Baker.  What a wonderful close to a wonderful day and 50 awesome years together!  To GOD be the GLORY...great things HE has done.  So loved He the world that He gave us HIS SON...and 50 years together!  I love you David Hasz!!!

50 Years of God's Grace

o

June 22, 1963-June 22,2013
Yes!  God sustained this marriage for 50 years by HIS grace and blessed us above and beyond what we could have ever asked or thought.  Standing in front of the altar of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and pledging our troth!  Promising to forsake all others and support each other in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, till death do us part...we could never have dreamed of the way our Father God would bless us!
     He led us to a deeper relationship with Himself and each other and blessed us with four children, four great spouses for these children and seventeen grandchildren.
     We were blessed to serve Him in Christian education for most of our lives.  We made many  friends all over the country, lived in Wisconsin, Colorado, again in Wisconsin, again in Colorado, Florida and currently in Texas.  We have traveled the world and had wonderful vacations..  He has blessed us with amazing homes, and now ten years of retirement.
    All glory and praise to HIM- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Our children hosted a party at our home on May 18th for friends and family.  Two of our wedding party were present.  My sister, Patty, and my college roomie Gay Joy Traster.  We thank all of you who sent greetings and wish you could have all been here!

All of our children and grandchildren were present along with many others.  We were so blessed!

We thank God for the amazing journey He has taken us on these past fifty years and continue to look to Him for everything.
     Since last posting on this blog our children have been moving around a bit.  David and Jon left Teen Mania a year ago and moved to the Houston area to work for a company there.  David since then left and moved to the Minneapolis area to be a part of the Bethany School of Missions ministry.  Amy and Brian just moved from their home in Little Elm to a 100 year old home in Frisco.  They are busy renovating this home.

We held our 7th annual Grand kids camp the week after the anniversary party with 15/17 grandchildren attending for 4 days.  It was so much fun!

We look forward to what lies ahead...trusting that God is in control of our lives.  He always has many surprises for us!  We love it!  Thank you Jesus!