craigedelweiss's blog

Up the Road

craigedelweiss — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 06:54:17 +0000

Much has happened in our household over the past year, so time to bring you up to date with our news!

The biggest change is undoubtedly that we have been able to move into our own house. In July 2015, we found a rental a few minutes’ walk from Edelweiss’ Mom’s place. We have a guest room, so come and visit us!

The apple tree out back produced an abundance of fruit in the Fall. We did apple bobbing for Jesse’s fourth birthday in October. Craig made apple pies for all the neighbours, and we have only just finished using up all the fruit that we collected. (They were in a bucket in the garage, and froze over the winter!)

The other major change is that Edelweiss is now working full-time for an advisory firm. She travels about half the time to clients throughout the USA, and works from home the remainder of the time.

Jesse is now reading very well (he’s been doing Ethan’s Grade 2 reading lessons,) and is desperate to start formal schooling. We’ll probably start him on Grade 1 after the summer (mid-2016.) Even though I’ve tried to discourage him from starting too soon, he has found the Grade 1 Mathematics workbook and has already worked through 10% of the lessons. He and Ethan have been enjoying the Geography Songs CD, colouring books, Lego and play dough. And after working through Roman times in our history lessons, they have recently discovered Asterix books which they love. After a summer on the balance bike, Jesse started riding a pedal bike. So now when we go out for a family walk, Ethan and Jesse can ride their bikes which means Edelweiss and I need to hustle to keep up!

Ethan is continuing to work through his lessons, moving rapidly through Grade 2 (and doing additional Grade 3 mathematics because he was getting bored.) He still reads voraciously, including from his full Bible which is introducing him to some interesting concepts. Tonight, he chose to read 1 Cor 7:9 to us “But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire.” For Christmas, he got his own workbench and tools so that he could do wood work in the garage with Dad.

After trying for a year, Ethan managed to beat Edelweiss at chess and so is now entitled to play on her special chess set. He and Jesse enjoy going to chess club.

Some other highlights:

In April, Paul Windsor was speaking in South Dakota so we drove a few hours south and enjoyed time with him
In the summer we again visited the McRosties in Illinois. They visited us at Thanksgiving and our place is so spacious that everyone had a bed!
Opa visited over the summer and we went fishing and canoeing
We had a weekend in Brainerd with the Thornbergs, and enjoyed a relaxed day boating on the lakes
Our friends from Marsh Park, Mr. Pres and Mrs. Anderson, joined us to present certificates to Ethan as we celebrated his completion of First Grade. And not long after, there was the excitement of “Box Day” as the box of books arrived for Grade 2. Ethan said that he had read half of the books by time we started lessons
Craig found plenty of projects to do around the house, including building a workshop and firewood racks. And splitting up lots of firewood for the winter. Edelweiss enjoyed setting up the Upper Room (our upstairs lounge,) and Craig is pleased that we found a free piano in good condition for our Music Room
We haven’t had much of a winter this year, with only a couple of good snowfalls. But the last one left about a metre of snow on our deck!

Well, that’s about it for our year. How are you going?

Love, Craig & Edelweiss, Ethan + Jesse

Learning Times

craigedelweiss — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 08:27:50 +0000

The march of time cannot be arrested (despite Craig’s contention otherwise,) and so we find that school days are upon us.

Ethan is now five years old. After a year of informal learning times with him and pondering the various schooling options, we discovered a home-based teaching programme that really resonated. Sonlight Curriculum is literature-based, meaning that a good proportion of the teaching is done through books and stories. And so, at the beginning of 2015, Ethan began his formal education. We started him at a Grade 1 level (6-7 year old) with which he is more than comfortable. A feature of the literature-based approach is that it can be used for a range of ages, so Jesse is listening to the books and sitting in on many of the lessons, and learning alongside Ethan.

Ethan and Jesse both love the science experiments, and we also cover reading, memorization, writing, history, geography, mathematics and Portuguese. Ethan is steadily working his way through the bookshelf of new books that arrived with the curriculum (if you’re curious, here’s the list: http://www.sonlight.com/1MSP.html).

Jesse wants to join in, and has begun learning to read. He insisted that we keep an old writing board that we were about to throw away, and has been practicing on it. He is teaching himself to write with very little input from me. Last week, he showed me that he could write his name unassisted.

So that basically accounts for Ethan, Jesse and Craig! Craig has also taken on the role of President at his Toastmasters club, and is continuing to make use of the opportunities to practice his public speaking. During the year, he told the story of How Pickles Saved the World Cup, recounted the day he met Edelweiss, and entertained with the tale of The Ant and the Kangaroo.

After our last update, Edelweiss began working with a start-up coach to develop a viable business model for RPHealth resulting in a clear focus to serve chiropractors. She is gaining traction in that space. There continue to be a few other projects in which she’s involved, including a new chapter for an international Human Resources textbook (Expatriate Management across the MENA Region,) strategy consulting with Capstone, participating in a faith-based social entrepreneurship conference last September and teaching her next course at Bethany Global University. She enjoys working from our home office and homeschooling on Fridays including Portuguese lessons.

We seem to have managed a lot of activities over the last year, so here is a brief run-down.

A camping trip with cousins, which we really enjoyed
Blackberry picking! Our favourite spring-time activity. They grow wild at the nearby park, and this year Craig learned how to make delicious blackberry pies
Ethan attended Vacation Bible School for a week at the beginning of the summer
Craig’s Dad visited from NZ for Ethan’s 5th birthday
We took a family trip to Chicago, and really enjoyed our time with Edelweiss’s best friends from Georgetown, Dr Anna and Mrs Inna. We also had a great time staying with Mr & Mrs Williams, and with the McRosties
Canoeing on Lake Harriet while Edelweiss’s Mom paddle-boarded
The Minnesota State Fair, which we look forward to all year
Helping Mr Hansen in the garden
Attending the Fire Service Open Day. Ethan & Jesse put out a “fire” with the fire hose, practiced escaping from a room filled with smoke, and climbed into a Fire Truck, an ambulance and a snow plow
In the Fall, we spent a fun afternoon driving up to Stillwater and picnicking by the Saint Croix River
Apple picking
Heading north to Brainerd to go flying with Brad Thornberg in his Super Cub. Edelweiss’s greatest achievement last year was introducing Debbie Smith to Brad in September, and we were delighted to attend their wedding just before Christmas

Christmas Day was a lot of fun, shared with Mark & Elaine, Jasmine and Amber via Skype
After Christmas, we had a week long holiday in St Paul, going to the zoo, shovelling snow, driving along the Mississippi river banks, and visiting the frozen Minnehaha Falls
On Friday, we make pizza and play games. Ethan is learning to play chess with Edelweiss, while Jesse and Craig usually play Snap

We have chosen a selection of photos from last year to put in our Photo Gallery, so please check them out: http://harrison.gen.nz/ce/gallery.

Have a great year!

Craig & Edelweiss, Ethan + Jesse

Change and Same

craigedelweiss — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 05:29:41 +0000

Three more books, a continental role and a big snowman. Read on to find out more!

As always, we begin with the weather. Warm weather is upon us after another long and snowy winter. What made this year different was the cold. Over the three months of winter, only 13 days were above freezing, with 45% of the days having a high of -10°C or less and a couple of days where it didn’t even reach -20°C. When it was warm enough to get outside, we built Gabriel the snowman, enjoyed sledding to church on multiple occasions, dug a snow cave, made angels and played at the playground in waist-deep snow.

Craig has increased his involvement with the Grow Movement, a UK based charity that uses the business consultancy skills of a global volunteer team to transform the lives of entrepreneurs in Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi. He has taken on the role of Community Manager for the Americas region which involves providing support to the consultants and encouraging a stronger connection and sense of community among the volunteers.

Edelweiss has just received a copy of her second book, for which she wrote a chapter on Latin American women in international management. It’s the first project she’s completed as a solo author as well as the first time she’s researched Latin America. She’s beginning a new writing project contributing a chapter on expatriate management for a textbook on international HR in the Middle East. At the end of March she finished up her work with Capstone to focus on RPHealth. There were definitely mixed emotions as she really enjoyed being part of that team, but she has a new challenge with starting an intensive 12-week ‘boot-camp for startups’ and will be working more closer with her Mom this year on her business.

Ethan is growing taller every day. The most noticeable change recently is in his reading ability. He is reading very well and is now at the point of trying new words which we’ve never taught him but that he’s read in books. His favourite story is Black Beauty, and we’ve also read together The Black Stallion and The Swiss Family Robinson. We have regular learning times with him on a variety of subjects. He particularly enjoys the science experiments with Dad. On one of the cold days when it was -25°C outside, we mixed up bowls of different liquids to conduct a freezing experiment. With the bowls of water, salt water, orange juice etc. sitting on the outside patio, we were able to watch as they froze before our eyes.

Jesse is going through a snuggling phase which we will enjoy while it lasts. He is becoming quite articulate. Recently he warned his aunt to be careful when sitting on the bar stool because it was “fraught with danger.” He is very active and though he enjoys the snow and coped well with being inside so much over the winter, it’s nice to be able to go outside now without needing half an hour to put on snow gear.

The third book (in addition to Edelweiss’s two) is “Forty Years,” written by Craig’s Dad about his life at Christian Youth Camps. We were very pleased that he finished this project and excited to get our copies recently. There are lots of photos and videos from those days at CYC on the project’s website, along with information about buying the book.

We enjoyed having Craig’s Dad with us for Thanksgiving in 2013 and had a lovely visit from Heather and Rachel Major recently, so it’s been nice to catch up on news of some of our friends in the Waikato.

There are new photos on our website.

Love from us all.

Craig & Edelweiss, Ethan + Jesse

Blink and the Summer is Gone!

craigedelweiss — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 08:23:00 +0000

It’s funny how weather is a regular topic of conversation when one lives in Minnesota!! The summer months were very pleasant. We enjoyed time outdoors, including playing in the Minnehaha Creek near Minnehaha Falls. Ethan particularly liked the freedom to throw rocks into the water to make them splash!

Edelweiss’s Grandma passed away at the end of June – she lived a fruitful life for 100 years and 51 weeks. Her memorial service was a celebration that included a standing ovation complete with whistling (never a dull moment with the Linder clan!) We all wore something purple for the occasion in recognition of her love for bright colors.

Mark and Elaine travelled from New York State for the service and Elaine, Jasmine and Amber stayed on for the month of July. Ethan enjoyed celebrating his 4th birthday with all his cousins, and told Edelweiss the other day that he has lots of friends. His most-used present is a drum set. He was given a bicycle towards the end of the summer and has been learning to ride it. He enjoys reading to himself and to Jesse. They’ve recently started praying together before bed – with Ethan coaching Jesse on what to pray.

A major highlight of the summer was going to the Minnesota State Fair to see the horses. Now that we have enjoyed the best of the Fall colours, they can’t wait for snow to arrive.

Jesse turned 2 in October. He has a fun-loving personality and also seems to have a strong sense of independence: he has no trouble telling Ethan to back off.

In August, Edelweiss received a copy of her first book contribution – it was wonderful to see it in print! Her trips over the summer included attending the wedding of her college roommate, Inna. Other work-related travel included attending the launch of the Mission 5 Million movement which her business champions.

Photo: Michael Segal)

Craig has continued his involvement with Toastmasters, and recently attended a financial intelligence conference. If you’re interested in where the global economy is heading, you might like to read his blog post. He enjoys playing the piano for the children as they go to sleep, and has Ethan working on multiplication tables, square roots and poetry while Jesse has learnt about 'onomatopoeia.'

We hope the year is going well for you.

Best regards

Craig & Edelweiss, Ethan + Jesse

After the Long Winter

craigedelweiss — Sat, 25 May 2013 02:33:46 +0000

We had snow this winter. Lots of it. For five months. But it’s gone now.

After an abnormally mild winter in 2011/2012, this year we had snow cover from late November to late April, so we enjoyed another white Christmas and were able to go sledding on Christmas day.

Only a few weeks ago, we were building a snowman enjoying the winter vistas.

Though a long time coming, spring has finally arrived. The photos below were taken on 24 March 2012 and 23 March 2013, and illustrate how different the two years have been.

Last year Craig took photos from the patio each week, and compiled them into a book for Edelweiss’ Mom as a Christmas gift. If you’re interested, you can view this online (click here).

We enjoyed a couple of days at Duluth on the western edge of Lake Superior over New Years. The temperature reached a high of -9degC the day we were there and was down to -25degC overnight. It was cold but beautiful. In February, Edelweiss and Craig enjoyed their 10^th wedding anniversary with a long-talked about cruise. It was a three-day trip out of Florida, stopping at the Bahamas.

Ethan and Jesse continue to keep active and learning, and coped well with being mostly inside for five months. Jesse’s vocabulary is expanding rapidly, and he is making good progress at learning the alphabet (beginning with “W” and “Y” thanks to Craig’s Dallas Cowboys shirt). He loves books, which of course we encourage. Ethan is doing well with reading and writing, can recite the value of pi to 14 decimal places, insists on sweeping the foyer and helping with the dishes, and loves shovelling snow. They’ve recently enjoyed many of the activities available in the Twin Cities, including the Como Park Zoo, a kite day and the Minnesota Horse Expo (see them here on YouTube) where they went on a horse-drawn wagon and Ethan had his first pony ride. That was followed by an outing to the St Paul Chamber Orchestra where local high school musicians played for a family audience. Ethan later told Edelweiss “Mom, there were children playing in the orchestra!!” It made an impression – good!

At the beginning of May we were excited to hear that Edelweiss’ sister, Esther had her second boy, Marcos Haroldo (named after their Dad Haroldo Silva who passed away in 2009). We had Eli (our two-year old nephew) stay with us for a couple of nights which gave the new-again parents time to settle in with the new baby and get some rest.

Meanwhile, Edelweiss completed her latest book chapter on South American women in international management. The chapter is part of an edited research handbook that is expected to be published in 2014. That brings her accepted academic publications to four: 2 articles and 2 book chapters. While she has enjoyed the research experience and likes teaching, a career in academia doesn’t appear to be likely at this stage. She applied to a PhD program at a leading university in the Twin Cities and despite being a ‘serious contender’ was not accepted into the program. Although that was a disappointing experience, she’s already considering other ways she can continue working on publications and teaching or training in some capacity going forward.

In January, Edelweiss co-founded a company called RPHealth with her Mom and sister Liz. The company is a Mannatech Independent Business Associate and aims to help end global childhood malnutrition. She’s excited to share Mannatech’s cutting-edge glyconutrients and Real Food Technology® solutions and is learning a lot about nutrition and wellness. All three attended the national training conference in Dallas and had the opportunity to meet some of the executive team members. She also continues to work with Capstone and recently took a trip out to DC along with some extra time with long-time friends during a 48 hour trip to North and South Carolinas and Virginia. She even got her first tour of an OM Ships office and book warehouse in Florence, SC – thanks Jon & Myles!!

We hope the year is going well for you.

Best regards

Craig & Edelweiss, Ethan + Jesse

Message for Those Using "Feed My Inbox"

craigedelweiss — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:49:42 +0000

If you have subscribed to our blog using "Feed My Inbox", you will have received notification that this service is shutting down. Instead of Feed My Inbox, you can use a very similar service called Blogtrottr. The Subscribe box on the left of this page has been updated to use Blogtrottr, and you will need to sign up again to ensure you continue to receive our highly anticipated updates!

Please let us know if you have any problems. We hope to continue to keep in touch with you.

Christmas Update 2012

craigedelweiss — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:33:42 +0000

Another few months have flown past and its time to summarize the highlights from the last 6 months! Craig’s Dad (Opa to his grandchildren) and his sister Cherie came to visit in October for Jesse’s 1^st birthday! We had a lovely time together and went to Taylor's Falls for a picnic then back home for a lovely tea. Jesse had his first taste of ice cream and seemed to like it although it was cold! J Jesse started walking right around this time so Opa and Auntie Cherie were able to see some of his first steps. We had a lovely time while they were here and managed to fit in bush walks, playground time, train riding, lots and lots of reading, singing grace at mealtimes and even some shopping (much to Opa’s chagrin)!

We’ve taken turns looking after the boys as Edelweiss has had an opportunity to extend her strategy advisory work at Capstone with projects in a few new industries including corporate training and the clean energy sector. She was also invited by her former co-authors to write a chapter for a new research handbook on women in international management (WIM) which they are editing. Her chapter will focus on WIM from Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which is an emerging research field.

Craig joined a local Toastmasters group and has been developing his public speaking/presentation skills through their regular meetings. He continues to research sustainable businesses for our blog. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out at: http://quadradix.wordpress.com. Craig has enjoyed the extra time with the boys and taken the chance to get Ethan started on learning to write. He’s been able to spell quite a few words for some time and type them out on the computer but we hadn’t worked with him using the old pencil and paper method! He now regularly spells his name, Jesse, Mom and Dad. =)

In addition to writing, Ethan loves riding his tricycle, playing and exploring outside, watching Youtube videos and reading. Jesse seems to have taken a big leap in terms of his personality along with his walking. He and Ethan regularly find comical things to laugh about (particularly during rest time) and he enjoys bringing books to Dad and Mom to read at all times of the day. He tries his best to keep up with Ethan and has ended up with a few bumps and bruises as a result but doesn’t seem too fazed! The joys of having boys! =)

Wishing you all a very special Christmas time and a year full of blessing and fulfillment!

Lots of love,

Craig & Edelweiss, Ethan + Jesse

Summer-time in Minnesota

craigedelweiss — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 04:49:03 +0000

We are still in Minneapolis! It is now a year since we moved here from Syracuse, and we have been able to take advantage of the many local activities available such as parks and playgrounds, the zoo, the Minnesota Children’s Museum, the orchestra, concerts and mosquito swatting.

The winter was unusually mild with very few heavy snowfalls. There were some cold days, one in particular when the maximum was -23degC, so Craig had to go outside to experience what that kind of temperature felt like. It was cold! But before we knew it, spring had arrived and we are now well into summer. It has been warm recently with one week reaching temperatures in the mid to high 30s and overnight lows of about 25deg.

Jesse is growing fast, and now at nine months is crawling and standing and trying to keep up with Ethan. He is full of smiles (showing off his four teeth), sleeping well overnight and generally doing what children his age do.

Ethan has recently turned three years old and is becoming articulate and thoughtful. He enjoys playing the piano, using his imagination, building towers and watching diggers and dump trucks.

We were glad to be in the area recently so that we could be part of Edelweiss’ Grandma Elaine’s 100^th birthday party. There are over 75 family members across five generations and most of us were at the party.

Craig has been making some good connections locally, particularly through being part of the Think IT association. He has done some contract work and continues to be involved with volunteer consulting to small businesses in Africa, currently working on organisational strategy with a leadership and entrepreneurship programme for women and young people in Uganda.

Edelweiss is currently working with an M&A advisory firm on a couple of projects in the specialty chemicals and business training industries. She’s had three academic research papers accepted for publication based on her Master’s thesis (Western women working in the UAE) and has recently been invited to submit a manuscript for a new research handbook; she will be writing about Latin American women in international business. It will be interesting to see where these experiences lead in the future!

We trust that your year is going well, and would love to hear some news from you as well. There are new photos on our website for you to enjoy.

With our love,

Craig & Edelweiss + Ethan + Jesse

Our Family Expands

craigedelweiss — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 02:21:13 +0000

We are pleased to announce that our second son Jesse was born on 17 October 2011. After being quite content to keep us in suspense for a long time, he finally made the move 9 days after his due date (so apologies to those who have been wondering – we were waiting for something to be able to tell you!) He and Edelweiss are doing extremely well, and after a day to rest in the hospital while Edelweiss’ Mom looked after Ethan, we are back home and starting to establish a new routine. Special thanks to Edelweiss’ sister Esther who provided wonderful support and assistance during labour and delivery.

For those interested in the details, Jesse was born at 8:18pm, weighing in at 3.81kg (8lb 6oz) and measuring 55cm (21.5in). We chose the name because it means “the Lord will provide abundantly,” something that we have experienced recently and that we claim as a promise for Jesse’s life.

Ethan is very excited about his baby brother and has been very gentle with him. He has been asking “Baby home?” for months now, and has quickly learnt to say Jesse’s name.

There are some photos on Jesse's photo page.

With our love

Craig & Edelweiss + Ethan + Jesse

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Move to Minnesota

craigedelweiss — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:47:29 +0000

Greetings from Minneapolis! We moved to the Mid-West at the end of July, and are now living with Edelweiss’ Mom in her apartment. It is great being here, where we’re also close to Ben & Esther (sister #3) and their one year old Eli, as well as Edelweiss’ 99 year old Grandmother and many other relatives. The apartment building includes an indoor pool, exercise room, library and fireside lounge (which we have all used regularly) as well as a pool table, tennis court and BBQ area (which we haven’t used so much). Cable TV is included and amazingly, there are regular football matches and highlights shown, so to Craig’s delight and for the first time since Big League Soccer days, he is able to watch the English Premier League regularly. (No, of course they aren’t broadcasting the Rugby World Cup...)

There are a number of parks nearby, and fields with a children’s playground a few minutes walk away. Quite a lot of wildlife lives in the neighbourhood, including many birds, wild turkeys, a deer, a fox, a snake, and a turtle that lives in the pond behind the complex. We’re also near an ice rink where they have ice hockey and figure skating, and we’ve walked down to watch hockey practice a couple of times which has been fun. We attend a church just around the corner – the service time is during Ethan’s morning nap, so he is back to sleeping regularly through the sermon. It is great to be within walking distance, although we’ll have to see what that’s like in the winter when it’s 20 degrees below zero. A community college is just over the road, so we have access to an academic library – wonderful! The library even has a children’s section and a cooking section, which seems unusual for a college but no complaints from us!

This summer included some wonderful trips. We spent a week in Washington DC for Edelweiss’ 10 year reunion from Georgetown University and had a great time seeing her alma mater and catching up with friends.

A month later we were back in DC for a weekend to pick up Ben (Craig’s Dad) and do some sightseeing around the nation’s capital. We enjoyed the irony of leaving the US to spend the 4^th of July (US Independence Day, which Craig likes to refer to as the day in which Edelweiss’ nation celebrates the rejection of his) in Canada with good friends from Ngaruawahia days, but wrapped up Independence Day with hot dogs and s’mores roasted in Mark and Elaine’s backyard. Ben spent most of the month of July with us in Syracuse and then came along for the move to Minneapolis so was able to see both places where we’ve lived so far. It was lovely to have our second kiwi visitor and Ethan enjoyed having another regular adult playmate!

Also in July, Ethan celebrated his second birthday.

Over the first few months of the year, Craig worked with a small business in Uganda to develop a marketing strategy. The project was facilitated by a UK charity called Grow Volunteer Consulting, and he hopes to take on other projects as he is able. The move to the twin cities is positive with respect to career opportunities, as the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area is much larger than Syracuse (3 million people vs. 130,000.) Many of the major consultancies are represented, and the twin cities hosts the headquarters of many multinational companies of interest.

Edelweiss continues with her academic writing, and has begun another project with her professor and co-author in New Zealand. They are now writing a chapter for a book on the experiences of self-initiated expatriates based on her thesis research on female expatriates in the United Arab Emirates.

Ethan has adjusted very well to the move and his new surroundings. He has his own room, continues to love books, and enjoys regular use of the pool where his confidence in water is growing in leaps and bounds (literally!). The day he turned two, it seemed like a switch flipped on – his energy levels shot up and he started talking more and more. His vocabulary increases every day and he’s making great progress at counting and learning the letters of the alphabet.

We hope this update finds you in good health and that you’ve been having a meaningful and satisfying year, regardless of the circumstances! There are new photos on our website for you to enjoy.

Greetings and blessings,

Craig & Edelweiss +Ethan