New Home

Hi friends,

Kristi's blog has a new home! :)

Check it out HERE!

cake pops!

thanks to my friend ashlee for giving me the recipe to try these adorable cake pops :)



i made these for my mom and grandma for mother's day, and although i need to practice more, they turned out cute and taste yummy! :)

here's my cutie grandma...


happy mother's day to all you moms and mom's-to-be out there, especially my sweet, wonderful momma!!

busy bees!

we've been super busy the last month visiting family and friends, and figuring out what we're doing next, haha. :) we've gotten to see lots of people near and dear, and are thankful for the downtime we've had.
here are a few pictures from the last month:
















as nice as it's been to travel around, see people, and live out of our car :P (haha) -- we're also ready to move back into our own space, and get to unpack all our stuff and use it again! (some things we haven't even gotten to use since there was no space for them in japan!) :) we have a busy rest of the month, but are excited to be able to see more friends and family before we pack up the BIG moving truck!

big things:
* all our things from japan arrived last week and are in boxes! :O
* we found an apartment in dubuque!
* we'll be moving in about a month!
* ben will be finishing school over the next 2(ish) years
* kristi will be subbing/possibly more :)
* we'll have a guest room, so visitors are welcome!!

happy spring! :)

one step at a time...

we are now the proud owners of a 3 pc. sectional couch and an entertainment console!!! (courtesy of the pottery barn outlet store we visited yesterday). we got a great deal - such a blessing!

now all we need is a place to put it all..... =D

ps: to see a picture of our entertainment console click HERE

Nike + Running + Ben + Kristi

Ben and I have been trying to get back in shape - especially now that we have some extra time on our hands =) So we started running about 2 weeks ago.

To help with motivation, (and partly because it's just fun) we bought some Nike Plus gear to keep track of our runs - it tells you how many miles, time, calories, etc. =)

You can see ben's run on nike+ if you go HERE! (i can't figure out how to link mine for you to see)
It has a neat graph to show you how you did on each run.

We didn't even have to buy the fancy shoes, all we bought were these fun bands, and the holder for the sensor that straps onto your shoe!

I'm hoping we can keep it up even when we get busier, it's been fun to run together!
I'm really not a very good runner, but Ben's really helped me - he's wonderful =)

Happy Spring and love from Georgia!

what a blessing :)

we were able to buy a car last week!

here it is :)



it's a Honda Civic LX, and we love it!
God is good.

we're slowly taking care of things here and adjusting to life back here in the US -
we definitely enjoy being back!

ps: happy "pi" day! :) (3.14)

3 years ago today...

was our wonderful wedding!! :)







happy anniversary my sweet!
what a crazy adventure we've been on these last 3 years!
now we're at the start of a new adventure, and i can't wait to spend many more years with you! <3

it's nice to be back :)

we've been having a great time being back in the USA!
relaxing, sleeping in, hanging out with my parents, getting to go to church again! we're also car shopping (which isn't the most fun, but a necessity!) :)

we've been able to do some fun things already -- for instance, we went with my parents earlier this week to the mall of GA and saw AVATAR in their IMAX theater :) here we are with our 3D glasses on...
my parents:


us:


i've also been busy working on cards!
i'm really trying to sell some during this downtime to make a little extra money (and it's something i enjoy doing, so that's a blessing!)

here are a few i've made recently..






and here's the link for my brand new ETSY shop! CLICK HERE

i love etsy and have ordered a few things from there, and finally decided it was time for me to give it a try. :) let me know what you think if you get a chance to go look :)

happy march! looking forward to spring weather which should be here soon!

ps: our 3rd anniversary is next week! :)
and we're also SUPER SUPER excited for our dear friends charity and tony who are expecting a baby this fall! :) visit their blog to read their story, it's an amazing testimony of faithfulness to our Great God.

a red eye and a missing tooth...

funny name for an update, but it's what's been going on here!

*ben finished up his paperwork/meetings/checking out today and is flying to atlanta on a redeye flight tonight! SO glad to be seeing him soon and getting to relax together! it's been a crazy roller coaster ride up to the very last step (even the plane ticket home was a headache!) but we can now say bye bye navy!! =)

as for the tooth...
**i unfortunately had to get a tooth extracted last week unexpectedly, and went in to see the oral surgeon this week to try to get the ball rolling for the next step. it rolled quickly and just as i was healing from my extraction site, they had to re-cut it open yesterday morning to do a bone graft in preparation for the implant they'll be putting in my toothless space. needless to say it's been kind of crazy week battling jetlag and surgery pain and on top of that i also seem to have come down with a cold! =X i'm kind of a mess right now! but God is good and i do have pain medicine, which i'm thankful for!

***in other news, my dear friend charissa recently got engaged and is getting married this fall! we've had a ton of fun tossing ideas around and planning for a beautiful october barn wedding, and my bridesmaid dress arrived in the mail today and is so cute! =) weddings are such fun and i'm so thankful we were able to move back in time to be a part of it!

that's all for now, as a pain pill and some rest are calling my name... but i hope all is well with all of you! =)

we're back!

after 30+ hours of traveling and multiple flights this past weekend, we're in the US of A! =) we're apart right now as ben is processing out and i'm here in atlanta waiting for him.

we're still jet lagged and feeling kind of out of it, but we're here! thanks for praying for our safe travels!! we're glad to be back, and when we're together and more settled we'll try to post more =)

hope to be seeing lots of you soon!!!

Japan

things we will NOT miss...
-strange looking (and tasting!) food
-crazy tiny roads
-scooter riders that go around you and go slow!
-poorly insulated apartment
-crazy trucks that scream from their speakers
-annoying neighbour's bass thumping through our walls at night
-rainy season
-not being able to watch tv online due to copyrights
-limited shopping selections at grocery store and NEX
-14 hour+ time difference
-being so far away from our friends and family


things we WILL miss...
-polite people
-clean-ness
-nice scenery
-sasebo elementary
-cheap cell phone plans
-100 yen stores!
-our shower and heated toilet seat
-steak salon
-interesting culture

less than one week left!

if you haven't noticed...

our countdown over there -->
22 DAYS! that's how long we have left in japan.
it's crazy and overwhelming and exciting and scary all rolled into one.

we've been busily trying to pack up our house and my classroom and are feeling some of the stress of moving across the country, but let me say that i am SOOOO incredibly thankful that ben is home and we are able to work on all of this together!!!! God is good. my amazing husband doesn't have to leave me for months at a time anymore!!!! it's hard to believe that part of our marriage is over, but i can't express in words how thankful i am to be finished with that part of life.

if you would, you can pray for us as we wrap up the last of things here and head on to new adventures that await us.....

thanks friends!!

snow day!

for the first time since i've been teaching here in japan, it snowed enough on a weeknight that we got a SNOW DAY! :) this is how it looks outside our window right now:

i'm definitely not minding the day off as we had a kindergarten potluck family night last night, and i was at school for 12 hours! sadly, though, the ship doesn't recognize or celebrate snow days =( (silly ship!) so ben is at work, but hopefully won't be have to stay too long and can come home and play!

some random updates:

*we went on a date last weekend to our favorite restaurant here in sasebo called "Steak Salon". it's definitely something we'll miss when we leave japan! it's a mom and pop type restaurant and is run by a cute older couple, with only enough seating for about 12 people. the food is SOOOO good! we've taken all our visitors there and they've all loved it as much as we do. :) here we are standing outside:

and getting some hot chocolate from starbucks on the chilly walk back to the car through the ginza:


*yesterday i finished a 40 card order from a friend of mine, and here are a few...




*we're still plugging away trying to get things ready for our move! reminds me of that song we used to sing at church "the countdown's getting lower every day"! =) please keep us in your prayers as we finish our time here in japan!

happy snow day!