Ellie turns 8!

Our little Austrian princess is 8 now!

It’s hard to believe Ellie turned 2.5 (yes, we celebrate half birthdays) not too long after moving to Austria... and now 5.5 years later here we are! 

She’s a great daughter, big sister, and friend. She loves routine and is a very good student. She loves reading. She loves the Lord, reading about the Saints, and never forgets to pray before she eats. She’s very creative and loves involving her siblings and neighbors with her ideas. She really wants a pet - her wish in blowing out her candle was for a dog - but that isn’t happening!

We had a great time celebrating Ellie’s birthday! The day before her birthday we met all the “Kartause kids” at the playground & the kids went on a scavenger hunt for little gift bags Ellie prepared. 











On her birthday, Ellie was up early & ready to open a couple gifts before school. 



One of those gifts was the paper purse that Francis made, and wrapped for her, at kindergarten. 



Ellie brought birthday cake to school and the kids “spoke” to her the equivalent of the Happy Birthday Song in German — they’re not allowed to sing (due to Covid), so they have to speak it. Her birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday, which is one of the two self-testing days that the kids do at school. Ellie doesn’t mind the test, she says it tickles her nose. This is the first week since the end of October that they’re back in school for formal instruction, so I think she’s just happy to be back with her friends!

After school, we went to mass & then Brian, Francis, Ellie and I went skiing - our first time as a foursome. We stayed together most of the time except for when Ellie & Brian decided to do a black/red run - it was super foggy at the top but I saw another to wisely decide to take the blue run down with Francis. We all had a blast!



After skiing & picking up Isaac & Clare from our friends’ house, Ellie opened more presents — including the paper necklace Francis made for her at school :)







Her special night concluded with a video message from her friends who made a calico critter happy birthday scene. And chatting with Nene. 



And going to bed our avid bilingual reader got started on the first book in the German Magic Treehouse series from her godmother. 



Happy birthday, dear Ellie! Or as they say here:



We love you!!

Frozen Lunz am See: Site of a Miracle

Our family loves visiting the nearby town Lunz am See (Lunz by the Lake).  This is the lake we can see when we're at the top of Maiszinken mountain.  It's warmed up lately, but most of the lake is still frozen over.  

Today as we were walking by the lake, we noticed a sign that a miracle took place here in 1786!  (At dinner tonight the kids said the favorite part of their day was seeing where the miracle happened :)

A rough translation of the sign pictured below says: a man fell into the lake with horse and sleigh in March 1785, and was saved by a request of Our Lady Mary of the Wild Alps.

Thankfully we didn't find ourselves invoking Mary to rescue anyone from the lake today!  

And yes, the boys are ready for the Chiefs to play in the Super Bowl tomorrow!

10 Years Since We Met

10 years ago today Brian and I spoke for the first time!

A friend invited me to join her for a one-day Catholic retreat.  At the last minute, she was unable to go.  And it was raining.  I seriously considered not going but decided I might as well.  I walked into St. Charles Borromeo gym not knowing a soul.  Little did I know later that day I'd be talking to my soulmate ;)

The retreat was led by Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR.  That name didn't mean too much to me at the time.  However, it meant a lot to my mom who was familiar with him from Franciscan University of Steubenville Adult Conferences.  I picked up a schedule for the day and sat down alone in a folding chair. Many others were gathered around chatting.  I found out later that a lot of them knew each other as they had attended FUS.  As I read the day's schedule of events, I saw Praise & Worship would be led by Brian Kissinger. 

Kissinger.  A name I recognized.  One of my fourth grade math students was Kara Kissinger.  And she had told me about 6 month earlier that "her uncle saw me and he likes me."  To which I responded, "that's inappropriate" or something to that effect.  In my mind, I was imagining an old, creepy uncle who was stalking me!  Plus, I was dating someone at the time and had no intention of meeting anyone else.  Over the coming months I figured out who this "uncle" probably was due to the fact that at the school masses I would see Kara and her siblings go sit with this guy who looked to be about my age.  But school masses were at 9am on Fridays, and this guy came wearing jeans - so I figured he was probably jobless.

Turns out he had a job.  He was a youth minister at a local parish, and on the side he also led music for retreats like this one.

When I saw him on stage, I did indeed recognize him as Kara's uncle.  But I figured, what does it matter - the 300 folding chairs around me were now full and what was I going to do - go up and say, "hey, I think you're my student's uncle?"

Well I didn't have to.  Because during the lunch break I decided to get in line for confession.  While waiting in line... yes, while waiting in line for confession... Brian decided to approach and our first conversation ensues.  He says, "Excuse me, Ms. Ridge, I think you're my niece Kara's math teacher.  I think she may have told you I like you.  I don't.  I mean, I don't know you."  Ok... so exact wording I've forgotten now.  But it was something to that effect.  To which I replied laughing, "Oh don't worry, kids say the funniest things."  He laughs and then asks if I like teaching.  I tell him that I do.  And that, folks, is the end of our conversation - as he let me get back to examining my conscience.

It was three more months until we would speak again.  (After he heard from my school secretary, who was his sister-in-law's neighbor, that I had broken up with my boyfriend - he sent an email to my school account reminding me of our meeting at the retreat on February 5 and asking for my phone number).

So 10 years later, here we are!  Gaming, Austria!  Living at Franciscan University's study abroad program.  Fr. Dave is now president of FUS.

God's plans are truly far above our own, and how grateful we are!

"Ski Week" Hikes

This week is officially the kids "ski week" holiday.  

Now this is ironic for several reasons.  First off, Ellie hasn't officially been in school since the last week of October.  Second of all, we've got no snow in Gaming!  Some of the nearby slopes still had snow earlier in the week, but with our temps hitting 50 degrees in Gaming I don't imagine the conditions are too great up there.  

So instead of skiing this week, we spent it getting outdoors in the afternoon!

With friends we walked to the "Beer Well" in Gaming...

And another afternoon, we hiked to the top of Maiszinken.  This would be used for skiing - but they don't make fake snow there and as you can see most of it has melted.  However, enough was still there that it made it a bit of an adventure to hike up with our friends!  And the kids had a blast "sledding" down on their bottoms on the way down!  We walked down as the sun was setting and it was gorgeous! 

So yeah, it's been a great ski week so far!

Francis is a Skier ⛷

We've got another skier in the family!

Francis, who is 5, tried the kiddie slope a few times last year.  This year he started off there as well.  He had a private lesson on the kiddie slope, which was awesome and he learned how to go side-to-side and how to stop.  I knew he had improved a lot - but I didn't realize how much!  One snowy afternoon, he and his friend Franek (Polish name for Francis) took a lesson on the big slope.  And did great!!  Brian and I have subsequently taken him and Ellie skiing - and let's just say, I'm pretty sure they've surpassed by skiing ability!  Ellie definitely has - and she'll choose to go on Red slopes with Brian or her friends.  Whereas I like to stick to the Blue slopes.  I took Francis to the top of the Blue slope, which is terribly steep and icy at the beginning.  The first two times down that part were very rough - a bit of blood and lots of tears.  But he loved the rest of the run, and Brian took him back a few days later and he did amazing!

Nothing like skiing in the Alps with your kids =)