Streams of Consciousness

Friday, August 22, 2008

Okay, It's Been Waaaaay Too Long!

I know, I am terrible. I have not blogged since our anniversary last year. But, I had sometime tonight, so I figured, what the heck, I'd go ahead and blog now. Ha.

Lots has happened since last year, and yet lots is still the same. For those of you who don't read often, I am still working at Harvest House, and Ben is still at the church. We are absolutely loving living in Oregon. Ben and I definitely feel at home here and can't imagine moving back East. We love our church and have settled into life nicely.

There are lots of exciting things, right on the horizon for us. Ben and I are becoming foster parents! This is the first "public" announcement that I have made about this, but it's definitely starting to come together. We have our home study next week and found out that we will probably be certified and ready to go, possibly by the end of next week. Ben and I are definitely excited to venture into the world of parenthood, and are so excited and feel grateful that God is allowing us to be part of something bigger than ourselves. There is a great need in Lane County for foster parents, and we're just so excited to be part of this. The only thing we know about the child that will potentially be placed in our home is that he or she will not be older than 2, and could be as young as 2 days...or 2 months...or? We're really excited and trying to get as ready as we possibly can. Our world is about to be rocked, so pray for us as we enter this new and exciting venture.

I really am going to try to update this blog more. I will have/will have pictures of life. If you are interested, leave me a comment and I will send you a link to our gallery.

Well, thanks for checking in, again...I can't believe its been over a year since I've posted...but...it has!!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

One Year...

One year ago today, I married the love of my life. I can't believe it has been a whole year! It's crazy. We had an awesome weekend! We went camping at this campground near the coast. Lots of hiking trails and a lake. No showers, but fun none the same. We took Jasper with us too, and I think that he had more fun than Ben and I put together.

We got one of those awesome inflatable boats and floated around on the lake. Jasper wasn't quite sure about the whole boat thing...so he and I ended up swimming back almost all the rest of the way all across the lake. He decided at one point to swim over me, so I have a nice big scratch across my my right shoulder and back. We also got to spend some time on the beach, once to let Jasper run around in the waves and a second time to watch the sun go down. It was the perfect day...not windy at all. I don't think I've ever been to the Oregon coast when it's been so nice.

I think the best part of the whole weekend was just simply being with Ben and reflecting on the past year. It was a big year for us. We got married, moved across the country, started new jobs, and adjusted to all of those things. It hasn't always been easy, but I can say with complete honesty that this has been the best year of my entire life. I couldn't ask for more. We are so happy and amazed at God's provision in our lives.

Wow, now that I have gotten totally sappy, I'll close. Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Woe to ODOT Power Tripping Construction Workers

Today, during my wonderful one hour lunch break, my good friend Elizabeth and I decided to take a little journey to Taco Bell. I was feeling the need to be unhealthy, so we got out of the building and were on our merry way. We get almost to Taco Bell, and low and behold, there is construction! No big deal, just go around, right? So, being the smartie that I am, I turned into a parking lot, and tried to get over to Taco Bell. It was calling my name. Nothing was going to stop me. The only problem were these cones that were in my way.....so, I do what any normal person would do. To make my turn into Taco Bell, I drove for one second in the wrong lane and then turned into the Taco Bell parking lot. Just as soon as I got my car into the edge of the parking lot, this angered construction woman comes banging on my window and is shouting at my friend, "ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW". The conversation went a bit like this:

ANGRY CONSTRUCTION WORKER: "ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW! ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOW!"

ELIZABETH: "just keep going, don't listen to her"

ANDI: "Roll down the window"

ANGRY CONSTRUCTION WORKER: "Do you NOT know how to read signs?"

ANDI: "I didn't see a sign, I thought I could turn here"

ANGRY CONSTRUCTION WORKER: "Well, YES you can turn here, but YOU HAVE TO READ TO READ THE SIGNS. I WILL DIRECT YOU"

ANDI: "I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't see a sign"

ANGRY CONSTRUCTION WORKER (who now is not so angry): "It's okay, sweetie, just pay attention to the signs"

ANDI: "Thanks"

ARG! What the crap was that all about! I couldn't believe after she yelled at me, she called me sweetie. Whatever! Just a little frustrating. Oh well, guess we can't go one day without some kind of ordeal :) Gotta love the city of Eugene.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Update of Sorts

So by now, I am totally sure that everyone thinks I never EVER blog anymore. And it's true, I rarely make time for it. But I would sure like to start and be more regular. There's quite a bit that has gone on since the last post about the garden. So I'll start with that first.

The garden never really happened. I planted peas and never did much else. The peas are growing quite nicely, but the rest of the garden is overgrown. Oops.

We got a new car! Praise God. Check out the sweet ride. We felt like it was time for a new one..it had been very hard having 1 vehicle with both of us working full-time and especially with the nature of Ben's job. Being as it is, we decided we needed something bigger...so we are now the owners of a Volvo V70 Wagon. It is a VERY nice car, and we got a super good deal on it to, which was amazing. Here are some pictures of it. It has dual climate control, which is nice because Ben's always too warm and I'm always too cold. The leather seats are a nice touch also.

The other exciting news in the Kraker house is our new little girl, Sophie! She is an adorable 6 week old baby kitten and Ben just loves her. She loves to play, not so much with her big brother Jasper, but is beginning to get used to him. She finds lots of random hiding places around the office (her bedroom) like the bookshelf and a backpack pocket. She also loves Ben's shoulder and likes to be inside zip up pockets. She's jumping on the computer screen as I type. Cutey. Here's some pictures of her first weekend home and her introduction to her big brother Jasper. Jasper just loves her and wants to kiss her. We're just being very careful with the 2 of them as his paw is the same size as her head. As a matter of fact I think that his head is bigger than her whole body! She also loves to race around the house. She's funny.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Garden

Well, Benny and I decided to take on the task of growing a vegetable garden. This is Oregon after all, and things are supposed to grow well here. So, Sunday afternoon, we constructed a fence of chicken wire and bamboo stakes (hey we do have a dog after all :) and then last night, we moved it to another corner in the yard because I didn't think that it would get enough sun where it was before. Tonight, I planted some pea pods...they are a cool weather plant, so they should take well. Here are some pics of the beginning of our masterpiece! The best part is that I have a hobby now. Enjoy the pictures!