Feb. 3, 2025
We Are The Hansons The Challenges of Maintaining Long-Distance Relationships with Family Members
In this episode of We Are The Hansons, we dive into the struggles and strategies of keeping family bonds strong despite the miles between us. With a big family like ours, staying connected with relatives who live far away can be tough. We'll share how we handle the challenges of maintaining close relationships, from scheduling calls and visits to finding creative ways to keep everyone involved in each other's lives/ Whether it's making time for grandparents, keeping siblings close despite the distance, or navigating family dynamics from afar, we'll discuss what works for us-and what doesn't. Tune in for heartfelt stories, and a real look at the ups and downs of long-distance family relationships.
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Welcome to We are the Hands Ends. Today, we're diving
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into the topic that so many families face the challenges
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of maintaining long distance relationships with family members. Whether it's parents, siblings,
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or extended family, Saying connected across miles can be tough.
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Life gets busy, time zones get in the way, and
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sometimes distance can make relationships feel strange. We'll be sharing
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our own experiences, struggles, and what has worked for us
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in keeping our family close despite the miles. Distance is
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hard on family bonds, that is for sure. I'm gonna
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tell you. One of the biggest challenges is missing out
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on daily life, birthdays, holidays, and even the small everyday
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moments that make relationships feel strong. Most of our family
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is in Wisconsin. Time zones really aren't a thing for
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us because obviously they're on the same time zone as us,
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But it is really hard when your kids miss out
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on grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. We do have some family
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in Illinois, and we do have some family in California,
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and we have some family in Arizona. Majority of our
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family is in Wisconsin. It gets really tough. My kids
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really miss out on being able to bond with their aunts,
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and uncles, cousins and grandparents, and I feel really bad
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for my kids because they have us, and they have
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their siblings, but they don't have anybody else. I mean,
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they have a couple cousins here, but that's about it.
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So it does get really sad seeing the kids, especially
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the little ones, questioning why they don't get to see
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their aunts and uncles, their grandparents, because that is a
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big thing. We want our kids to have a relationship
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with their aunts and uncles and grandparents, and it just
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seems very I don't know how to even say it.
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It's just really sad to see that, you know, we
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don't get to travel up there all the time, and
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they don't get to come here and see us all
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the time. My kids don't have that bond that I
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wish they had with their grandparents and their aunts and
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uncles and cousins. They're kind of stuck with their siblings.
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So that is a big thing we miss out on
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so much with our family being far away. I have
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struggled with it for a long time, just because my
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kids always ask, well, how come we don't get to
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see Grandma and Grandpa or our aunts and uncles and cousins.
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Very stressful. And I know that you can call them
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on the phone or video them, but it's not the same.
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You can't go call them up and say, hey, let's
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go to the movies, or hey let's go roller skating,
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or hey, you want to go to the beach. It's
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not easy. Most of the time, we try and get
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togethers for like Christmas or you know, a family Thanksgiving
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after or before Thanksgiving. This year, it just didn't happen,
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and it was really hard on my kids. I think
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it's very important for kids to have aunts and uncles
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and cousins and grandparents, especially grandparents. Had my grandparents and
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Jeremy had his grandparents, so it does mean a lot
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to kids, and it's really sad when there's nothing like that.
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And I know, time and money and stuff like that,
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it just it's hard. But I have made it a
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goal for this year twenty twenty five to make sure
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that my kids are able to visit their cousins and
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grandparents and aunts and uncles, because that is important to
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them and they have expressed that to me. So I
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am going to to try my best to make sure
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that they are able to be able to see their
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aunts and uncles, and cousins and grandparents feeling disconnected or
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even forgotten sometimes has always been a thing for my kids.
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They will hear about grandma and grandpa going to cousin's house,
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or aunts and uncles going to cousin's house, or aunts
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and uncles being at grandma's house, and they want to
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do that too, but it just doesn't happen. So I
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know how they feel, and it's very heartbreaking sometimes not
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being able to visit as often as you'd like, especially
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when family members are older and go through life challenges.
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It's just it's very hard. My sadness and my husband's
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sadness is seeing the kids grow up without their long
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distance relatives being as involved as we would like them
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to be. It's not easy, guys, it's not easy at all.
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And sometimes to the kids, it's crushing. And then you
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see your kids being crushed and you feel I wouldn't
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say failed as a parent, but you wish you could
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do more. You wish you could take that away. So
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I try and get my kids to make contact with
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all family members. It's very difficult because the older ones, especially,
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they do a lot, they work, go to school. You know,
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they got their own life. Even though they want to
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talk to them other family members. Sometimes, as my older
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kids have expressed, is it's hard to talk to somebody
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when you don't really know them. You know them, you
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know that they're your family, but you don't know them
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enough to carry on a full blowng conversation. I know
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it sounds bad, but that's the truth. And when you
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don't see someone for a long time, you just it's
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hard to communicate with them, you know, picking up the
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phone to call them, you just don't know what to say.
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You don't know them as well. So that's tough. And
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I know my kids would like to be able to
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see them and talk to them more. But like I said, again,
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life happens. Life gets in the way, and when you're
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super busy, and I mean, the road goes both ways.
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And I've always got after my mom and dad, you know,
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because they can pick up a phone and they could
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call the kids, and it just doesn't happen very often.
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And I always tell my kids, you know, I'm sorry.
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I don't know what else to say to them. So
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some of the ways we make contact is obviously calling.
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We try to video chat. Not everybody can video chat
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or FaceTime, so it gets tough. Video calls Facebook calls
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have been our thing that helps a lot. My parents
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are older and they don't drive very much anymore, so
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that becomes challenging because now it's to the point where
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if we want to see them, we need to go there,
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because unless they're getting a ride to see us, it
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ain't happening. I mean, health in your parents as they
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get older starts to decline. Not everyone's health is great,
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so it's tough. It can be hard when one side
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feels like they're making more effort than the other. And
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I've seen it firsthand, and so have my children, and
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that gets to be a very tough and sticky situation.
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Sometimes distance isn't really the barrier, even though you think
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it is. It's not. Sometimes it's just everybody's busy with
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work and other things that they just don't have time.
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And I feel it's really important that you make time.
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Whether you're working or whatnot. You need to make time
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to see your family because when it's your time to
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go home, you can ever make memories. Ever. Again, So
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when I say make time for your family, whether it's
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long distance or not, make time, because once they go home,
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that's it. I know me and my husband have had
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a lot of regrets with Grandma Darlene, and once she
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passed away, you regret a lot of things that you
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didn't do. So while long distance relationships can be difficult
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and challenging, they're not impossible. It takes effort from both sides.
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But make sure you keep those bonds strong with your
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children and you and your long distance family. It's very important.
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I can't stress it enough because there are times that
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I sit there after one of my younger kids has said,
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how come we don't get to see our grandparents because
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they see their friends seeing their grandparents, or how come
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we don't get to see our aunts and uncles. Make time,
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do whatever you got to do, and make sure you
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either travel there or you say something to them family members,
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because you aren't here forever, and once you're gone, you're gone.
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When it's your time and God calls you home, you're
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gone and you can never remake those memories. So as
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for being able to see family long distance, like I
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said twenty twenty five, my kids are going to be
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able to see their family who's far away, because I
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want them to know that, regardless of how long distance
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it is, you know. I know the road goes both
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ways and so does the phone. But if I can
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help in any way to make sure my kids are
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happy and they are able to see their family far away,
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I'm going to do it for my kids. I'm going
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to end this off by telling you guys that you
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need to cherish your loved ones near and far regardless,
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and we want to hear from you and how you
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stayed connected with long distance family members if you had
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any Thanks for tuning in to We Are the Hansens.
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If you'd enjoyed this episode, don't forget to go over
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to our YouTube channel We are the Hansens and subscribe.
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You can also reach out to us on our Facebook
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We are the Hansens or send us an email We
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are the Hansens Show at gmail dot com. Until next
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00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.759
117
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:35.159
118
00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:41.080
119
00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:44.799
120
00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:50.000
121
00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:54.159
122
00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:57.679
123
00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:04.559
124
00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:08.879
125
00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:15.600
126
00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:21.279
127
00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:26.840
128
00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:31.039
129
00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:38.559
130
00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:46.320
131
00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:53.799
132
00:10:53.879 --> 00:11:01.639
133
00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:06.559
134
00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:11.000
135
00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:14.279
136
00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:17.639
137
00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:21.919
138
00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.080
139
00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:31.679
140
00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:39.080
141
00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:43.200
142
00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:51.720
143
00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:57.200
144
00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:01.039
145
00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:05.360
146
00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:10.120
147
00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.200
148
00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:18.919
149
00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:21.720
150
00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:26.000
151
00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:32.519
152
00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:38.399
153
00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:43.200
154
00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:48.639
155
00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.039
156
00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.679
157
00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:01.279
158
00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:05.519
159
00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:07.720
160
00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.840
161
00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:16.759
162
00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:17.000
