2005 Post from my old blog "Searching for Sophia"

I recently received an email regarding an old blog I had. I only posted once, which figures since I have a hard time sticking to anything for very long with my crazy schedule. I thought y'all would enjoy the pick of Nomes and I in our 70's outfits for bowling night. :)

30 July, 2005

Journey Begins

Tomorrow will be the beginning of my first week of summer camp counseling. I am co-counseling with my best friend of 15 years, Naomi. We will have ten 7th & 8th grade girls in our dorm. I'm really excited, yet a little nervous. I pray God will generously bless this week and that many girls will be strengthened in their faith, make recommitments, and others may welcome Christ into their lives for the first time. Please pray for us!! God be with you. posted by Kari at 3:31 PM 3 comments

Ready for Vacation

Elections, projects, overtime...

Steve and I are both staying overly busy. Yet God is good to us and gives us little rests here and there. We were glad to hear about Patty's new job! That's exciting. Sadly, Phil and Patty will be in Oregon the week after I am so I won't get to see them! How disappointing... I'm very excited to see Kirstin though. It's been a long time since we have had the chance to get together and have some fun. It will be so much fun to introduce her to my new home and our friends. This summer, if you need a place to vacation, give Steve and I a call or send us an email. We'll be glad to have you in our home! :)

Valentine's Day Recap

The day of hearts and candy is over, but I'm still accepting gifts if you would like to give me one.. or two... or even three!

Steve worked most of the day. I was supposed to have class and then go to work for most of the day, but it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and...you get the idea. So, I stayed home for the morning. Then I went to Wal-Mart and bought a nice headset for my computer, some party invites for when I'm in Oregon, and some ice cream. (Yes, Wisconsinites still eat ice cream when it's snowing and below zero degrees farenheit.) Then I drove to south La Crosse to pick dad up from work and we stopped for mom's present from dad. When we got home, mom had made a delicious Valentine's dinner of salisbary steak, steamed asparagus, steamed corn, mashed potatoes with beef gravy, and fresh berries. Wow! That was awesome.

After that, I watched a few online episodes of shows I like while waiting for Steve to get home. He finally came home and our Valentine's day began. We turned on our webcams and mics and put our headphones on. We just had a great time talking, laughing, and playing Jewel Quest. Fun game!! Eventually we both were so tired we couldn't stand watching the computer screen anymore. So, we said goodnight, prayed together, and fell asleep for the night. It was one of my best Valentine's Days ever. :)

Oh! If you ever want to send someone an e-card that is guaranteed to make them smile, check out http://www.hallmark.com/ and send them a Hoops & Yoyo card. Funny!!

Take care, everybody!

Love you,

Kar

I love our apartment.

I cleaned house on Friday night/Saturday morning because I thought a friend from Eugene was going to be in town and she wanted to see the place. She canceled on me, right after I finished scrubbing the toilets and shower (somehow my mom brainwashed me into thinking that all girls will be terribly disgusted unless a house is spotless, thanks mom...) and making sure everything was looking great. So I had a beautifully clean apartment and no one to share it with. I was about ready to see if the mailman wanted something to eat when he came to the door, just so I'd have an excuse to show off all my hard work, but I thought that would be a little weird, and a little desperate of me. Now, 5 days later, the place looks like someone lives in it again... There's a couple dishes in the sink, a few articles of clothing laying on the floor exactly where I changed for bed the night before, It doesn't smell like "fresh orange" cleaner anymore, but it sure feels comfortable. The most exciting thing is that very soon I will have to do all the cleaning over again, but this time it will be for Kari and Kirstin! The girls were going to take over the apartment and I'll take back my old room at my parent's house for the week. Well... Back to work for me. I hope that everyone is having a great day. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the air is warm, so that can only mean one thing... Time to go back to my cube and wish I were outside.

Steve

Shortcuts

One of my favorite kinds of days are the ones where I have a huge list of things to do, but they take a lot less time than I anticipated. On Mondays I usually have a morning class, a Campus Crusade bible study over my lunch break, an afternoon class until 4:30pm and then I go home to do homework. However, today my morning class was over 10 minutes early. I went to bible study, which was on Daniel 3, and was absolutely fascinating and inspiring. We discussed how Rack, Shack, and Benny stand up against Nebuchadnezzar and his golden idol in the midst of every other person of the nation bowing. Wow! Talk about faith and guts!

After that, I went to my Human Resources Applications class, where we are working on various projects for local businesses. My team consists of three women: Dawn, Jamie, and myself. We are working on a disaster preparedness plan, a wellness plan/challenge, and a cookbook. We were only there for a half hour when Dawn decided to go home and Jamie and I decided to walk over to the business to talk with their representative, Becky. The business is on the third floor of the building, but we forgot and pressed 2 for the second floor. The door opened and we both stuck our heads out and realized our mistake. So, Jamie pressed 3 for the third floor. We got out and walked down the hall, then realized we were on the first floor. After that, we decided to take the stairs. We laughed the whole way up and were still laughing by the time we got to Becky's office. Talk about technical difficulties. ;)

That little meeting didn't take us long, so I packed up my backpack and walked to the gym. Wow! I wish I had done that weeks ago. It's so refreshing to feel my muscles burning. Yay! It's a nice change from the frigidity of this winter.

I'm still waiting to see how Steve's day has gone so far. He hasn't been feeling so good today. I got a call in the morning from him informing me that he had scheduled a doctor's appointment for 12:30pm. He called me later and told me the doctor had prescribed him some medicine and given him some tips to help him get better faster. So, pray that he feels better soon and heals quickly.

I hope you're all over the Monday blues. I'm dreading my exam in the morning. Time to study!!

Playing Catch-up

I'm (Kari) finally caught up with homework for the week! Now getting ahead another week will definitely be a less possible challenge. Steve has spent a lot of time working on systems/computers at the OSHA field office in Portland with a few other co-workers. These long days really exhaust us. Only 104 days until we can be exhausted at the same time! No two hour time difference!

There have been really long days as I was saying, but there are also the humorous instances that make it all bearable. Steve was telling me about one of his rides to Portland with his co-workers. One of the guys was driving, Steve was in the passenger seat, and two ladies were in the back seat. Steve had remembered that he put some cash in his back pocket so he wanted to put it in his wallet to make sure he didn't lose it. He was buckled up, and in order to reach in his pocket, he put all of his weight on his feet. Due to a child safety feature, any time there is less than 50 lbs in the seat, a light comes on and the airbag disables itself. So, Steve sat back in his seat and tried to wiggle to get the light to turn off. That didn't work so he started bouncing. Finally the light went off. Taking in this whole event, a lady remarked from the back, "That's what my son would do when I would tell him we were going to get ice cream." :)

My funny moments happen mostly when I either stick my foot in my mouth (figuratively) at work or school or when dad is home and is feeling slap-happy (literally). One of my funny moments happened the other day while I was driving down the interstate talking to Steve on my cell. I had rushed out of the house to meet mom at Kohl's and remembered I had told Steve I would call him that morning. So, while I was talking with Steve, a sudden panic gripped me. I had patted my jean pocket and not felt the familiar shape of my phone. Fearing the possibility of my car breaking down on the interstate in the freezing cold, I was freaking out. "Ahh! I forgot my-" a short silence, ".... hahaha" That's when I realized I was talking to Steve, he wasn't in the car, and I have no known telepathy skills. Wow... Some days are just like that.

Now for some wonderful, absolutely great news:
I will be flying to Oregon on March 6th



........and.......

Kirstin will be meeting me out there the day after!!
I'm so excited!!

While we're out there, we'll be enjoying a bridal shower hosted by Steve's mom, Cathy, and her friend, Leah. Kirstin and I will also be planning and, together with Steve, hosting a rather informal engagement party.

So, I have a lot to plan for and look forward to. Great motivation to get my homework done! I hope everyone has enjoyed the weekend and is having a wonderful week!
Take care!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I wanted to share the places and things I have come to love most about Oregon in the little time I've been here so far.

Multnomah Falls

(North of Portland, OR)

Multnomah Falls is one of my favorite places because it is a place that makes me feel close to God, aware of His amazing power, and yet his tender and beautiful grace towards us is also evident in the carefully hand-crafted ferns and flowers throughout the hike to the top. It is also the place where Steve asked me to be his wife.

Road's End Tide Pools

(Lincoln City, Oregon)

I love the beach. The sand is not warm and the surf is not necessarily swimmable, but it is full of gorgeous little creatures like starfish and anemones. There are also shells scattered about the shore. One of my most treasured parts of the northern Oregon beaches is that there aren't a ton of half naked people hogging and polluting the whole thing. I fell in a tidepool the first time we were out crawling around on them together. I sliced open my hand, but I'll spare you the gory pictures and details. Steve and I like to build sandcastles and draw in the sand when it's warmer.

Butte Creek

Steve took me here as a surprise. I was so excited. You hike down through the woods, across a little bridge, and then climb down a steep rock face to get to the bottom of the waterfall. The water is frigid, but it is so beautiful.

Salem Saturday Market/Wednesday Farmer's Market

I love to go to the markets and see what all of the artists and farmers have to offer. It's really fun, as you can see. :) I hope everyone can experience these things some time, and enjoy them as much as I do!