“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)
As Brenda and I have reflected on the year 2012, we have realized that we are truly blessed. God has put many influential people in our lives and we thank Him for that. Many of you have been an encouragement to us in the past year and we thank you for that.
I still work for GoDaddy.com. I have been at Go Daddy for 5 years and 10 months. This has been the longest I have worked at a specific company. The company discontinued the project I was working on and I was transitioned to the Business Intelligence team. My biggest highlight at work this year was helping my team redesign a system that processes one million records with an average wait time of 4-6 hours per record to an average wait time of 3 seconds. We are still serving with the youth group at our church and enjoy spending time with the teens. We are very blessed to have Brenda’s mother living close so that she is able to watch the kids during youth events.
In July, I attended my 20 year high school reunion this year and enjoyed visiting with classmates. My garden did not do so well this year with the dry conditions, it didn’t get watered and the weeds took over. My onions were doing really well in the spring and then a few weeks later they were almost gone. I later found out that every time Luke took out the compost he would eat an onion from the row. He thought they were all winter/green onions and was really enjoying his almost daily snack.
Brenda continues to homeschool the children and enjoys being a stay at home mom. She completed a half-triathlon this year and is planning to do another one in the future. Brenda was stretched this year as she led the primary class for our VBS program. She was in charge of approximately 50 kids in the 2nd-4th grade. It was a challenge, but a huge blessing at the same time.
Brenda and I were able to take 2 trips to the Boundary Waters this year. In June, we took some teens from our church’s youth group. It was grueling week with high winds and many miles travelled, but a fun week as well as friendships were made and deepened. In August, we celebrated our 15th anniversary and went back to the Boundary Waters with 3 other couples from our church. It was a perfect week: beautiful weather, great fishing and great company. While we were on these trips the kids enjoyed time with Grandpa and Grandma Krueger.
Amanda turned 8 this year and is in the 3rd grade. She enjoys riding bike, playing with friends, crocheting and reading. Her piano skills continue to improve and she has played at church a few times this year. She is very competitive and she can even beat daddy on a few games. The biggest highlight for Brenda and I this year was that both Amanda and Luke decided they wanted to be Believer’s baptized. This was a very special time for us as parents as we watched them being obedient to God’s word.
Luke turned 7 this year and is enjoying the 1st grade. He likes to help me do projects around the house. His piano skills continue to improve as well. It’s been fun watching him and Amanda work on duets together. Earlier this fall it became obvious that Luke needed glasses. It is amazing how much more he can do when he can see things far away. Luke can still spend hours using his imagination as he plays with his Legos.
Nathanael turned 4 this year and started doing some school work with the older two. He continues to be the comedian in the house, he always has a story to tell, true or not. He enjoys everything related to Lightning McQueen and hot wheel cars. He is determined to not be outdone by his older siblings. He rode his big wheel tricycle 1.75 miles while Brenda was training for the triathlon. He also started riding a two wheel bike this summer. He enjoys doing dot-to-dot’s and he has some amazing luck playing Peggle on the PS3.
Rebekah turned 2 this year. As we reviewed the pictures we took in 2012, two things were very obvious. She likes to climb and she sleeps in some very interesting places. One of her favorite phrases is “Me do it.” In February, Luke and I took Rebekah in for ear surgery. I was very impressed that Luke wanted to get up early and be there with me while Rebekah was getting tubes put in. Rebekah did wonderful and the tubes really helped her. It was amazing how much her vocabulary increased after the surgery. Rebekah enjoys playing “mommy” with her dolls and trying to be as big as her older siblings.
In March, the kids built cars for our church’s Truth Tracker Grand Prix. The kids get really involved with their cars and enjoy the time spent building them. This year, I helped to start the cars, but Brenda helped the kids finish them. Nathanael and Amanda won their divisions and Amanda won the overall championship. Luke was in the same division as Amanda and lost to his sister. Brenda’s car started out faster than my car, but my car ended up being the fastest adult car.
In April, we were able to attend the Shriner’s circus in Sioux City. We all enjoy attending the circus with Grandpa and Grandma Krueger and our friends Henry and Dixie Brueck. This year instead of riding elephants we had the opportunity to ride on camels. In early June Brenda, her mom and some other church family took the kids to Niabi Zoo in Rock Island, IL. It is a smaller zoo that is geared toward family’s with younger children and can be seen in about half a day. They enjoyed feeding the birds, riding the train and playing with a toad that they found in a public grassy area.
In September, we took a family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells and then to Columbus, WI to help build a church. While there I spent 4 days helping them shingle the church building. That brings us to our latest news. We are now missionaries with Continental Baptist Missions, CBM. I am excited to be following in my father’s steps, but instead of building homes, my family will be part of a team that builds churches in North America.
Once again we thank God for all of you! We would enjoy hearing back from you. Have a very Merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Brian, Brenda, Amanda, Luke, Nathanael and Rebekah Krueger