Refrigerator Art

Tucked inside a card we received from Phil there was a drawing that Annika had made. 

Now I can use the refrigerator magnet I received from a friend when she found out I was going to be a grandma!

Thank you Annika for the beautiful picture!  

A few days later we received a special decorated Thanksgiving card!

Thanks Annika, Phil and Rachel! They are treasures!!!!

Thanksgiving

Ben, Christy and Maddie arrived the Saturday before Thanksgiving and stayed until Wednesday. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and seeing how much Maddie has grown. It was so fun to have conversations with her and understand most of what she said to us!  We celebrated her 2nd birthday, went to the zoo, played with the boys’ old Fisher price toys (the barn, Main Street, zoo, western town and airport), sang, danced, shopped, ate, laughed, watched children’s videos and hung out together.

We started out celebrating Maddie’s 2nd birthday with cupcakes and presents. Unfortunately I didn’t discover my camera card wasn’t accepting pictures for the first day or so even though it showed it had space.  But I don’t think I’ll forget her eating her birthday cupcake on Grandpa’s lap. A grandfather’s love overlooks the crumbs and frosting all over his shirt front, sleeves and collar from all the hugs and laughs while eating cupcakes together. And what fun it was to watch her open her birthday gifts from us.

Thanks Ben, Christy and Maddie for making a true “round” trip (around Lake Erie) to visit us for a few days! We loved having you at the BK Bed and Breakfast and hope you had as much fun as Grandma and Grandpa did.  

Bumblebees and Butterflies

We were able to see our two beautiful granddaughters on Halloween this year and bring them candy from Grandma and Grandpa! What a special treat for us!!!!

Bumblee Annika

 

   

  
Butterfly Maddie

Ordination

October 30, 2012, what a special day. We were able to witness Phil be ordained as a Lutheran minister.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy a group of family and friends were there to witness this holy celebration.  Bob and I were so proud and honored to not only witness this but to be a part of the service. Bob read the New Testament reading and I was able to help with the communion. What an awesome experience to have our son, a newly ordained minister’s first act of service be to serve us communion.

We are so proud of Phillip and the hard work he has put toward this achievement and proud of Rachel and Annika for their support.  It was great see Rachel put Phillip’s stole around him and to see Annika’s precious little hand rest on her Papa’s shoulder.  Rev. Neil Kattermann spoke a beautiful personal message to Phil and his brother-in-law and grandfather-in-law were able to take part along with  Bishop Jerge who was there to officiate.

It was an unforgettable evening.

 

 

 

Published!

Many months ago Christy showed me this website where you could have your blog published in book form. Being technology challenged I put it off. But for my birthday they gave me a coupon for that website.  I finally took the time to look into it and now I have a book form of my blog from our time in Australia!

I was able to pick out the dates to be included, the cover design, the photo for the front and back covers and I was also able to include a dedication. So I spent some time working on the dedication. After finishing, I was disappointed to find that I was restricted to 150 characters so I had to work and work on editing it to include what I wanted to convey. I had to cut out a lot. So I decided to print the full dedication here in my blog.

 

Living Upsidedown   - a blog about being displaced on the other side of the world

This is about an empty-nest housewife and her adventures on being transplanted to Australia for a few months while her husband was on a temporary work assignment for his company.

To my husband Bob, I could never have imagined the wonderful journey we would share together when we began our life together over thirty-three years ago.  It has been an amazing one of laughter and tears, ups and downs, joys and sorrows.  We have traveled near and now far and it has been a wonderful life. I appreciate your love for me and our family, your hard work to support us, and your character to be true to the God you love. Bob, you are my love.

I thank Ben, Phillip, Christy, Rachel, Maddie and Annika for your love and support. Rachel and Phil, thank you for your help in getting my blog started. Ben and Christy thank you for your help in getting my blog in book form. Thank you Maddie and Annika for your love, laughter and the joy you have brought to my life.

Thank you to all who followed and encouraged me on my daily journey. It felt like you all were there with me every step of the way!