Peter's Box Company

Peter has begun to explore his creative side by decorating boxes. He begins by choosing the recipient and spends hours, literally, working on a box especially for that person. He uses a variety of techniques on his boxes including punching holes with a screwdriver, coloring, sanding, and painting. The latest limited edition box was given to our neighbors. When this Huggies box was finally complete, he insisted on delivering it to them all by himself (we had to call to give the neighbors some warning and to offer to dispose of it if neccessary!). I'm sure he'll accept special orders if you feel that your house will not be complete without one (Grandma uses hers as a trash can...).

100th birthday

We all made a quick trip to Minnesota this past week-end for Grandma's 100th birthday. We are all very glad we went! We had planned to stay in the Super 8 in Milaca, but friends called before we left and offered us their home. Dan's sister Karolyn came with us. We drove through the night on Thursday and arrived at 4am on Friday morning. After a little nap, we went to the school and took a tour. We spent most of our time gawking at the students who were so much smaller the last time we saw them. Janneke chose to stay for the rest of the day and hang out with her old class. We spent some time with Grandma in the afternoon. She did not remember us, but she did recall certain things as we talked about them. She still has a great sense of humor. It was so good to see her. She is an amazing 100 year old woman! There was a big party for her on Saturday at the Elim home (which is a very nice nursing home). Several hundred people came, and she did not want to miss a thing. Karolyn read her the card she had made, and when Grandma saw the whole basket of cards she asked me, "Are those all for me? Can I take them to my room?" There was a home basketball game at the high school on Friday night, so we went there as well. Between the party and the game, we saw more people than you would think possible in a week-end. Henry spent some time with an old friend on Saturday, and all five asked to move back by the end of the week-end. Dan and I left very happy that we had gone, but also glad that we now live where we do. Going back is great, and we are thankful that we were so warmly received there. I will be at every 100th family birthday from now on. It was well worth the trip! Love you all so much~

Way to go Jonna

January 17, 2007 ORGANIZATIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT Jonna Borgdorff has recently joined Physiotherapy Associates as Group Director and National Director of Senior Living. Jonna will be based in Chicago and will direct the efforts of Physio in the sales and marketing of services to senior living communities. Jonna will consult with senior and local leadership regarding the specific operational requirements for successful and profitable programming for senior residential facilities. Another goal of Jonna’s in this new role will be the establishment of partnership opportunities with home health organizations to provide therapy staff to adjacent businesses which should, ultimately, increase patient visit counts to existing clinics. In addition to her new duties, Jonna will be directing the temporary staffing business that is based in Chicago and exploring ways in which that service can be expanded on a national basis. In Jonna’s first months with Physio she opened a new senior living clinic and earned a profit in that clinic’s initial thirty days of operation. Her plan calls for an additional nine clinic openings in Illinois by year-end. Jonna has a wealth of expertise in the senior therapy market dating to 1997 when she was a rehabilitation director for three skilled nursing communities in Wisconsin. She later served in a similar role for a large senior living campus in Michigan. In 2003 she shifted her focus to building outpatient therapy offices in assisted living communities in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Texas. Jonna is a Wisconsin native and graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a double major in Physical Therapy and Psychology. Jonna, her husband, and two sons reside in Oak Park, Illinois. Jonna will report to Joe Delligatti, Director of Marketing. Please welcome Jonna to Physiotherapy Associates and wish her great success in her new role.

Ethiopia ~ Yeah or Nay

Thought I would share a Friesland Photo.... Thank you to each of you who offered me insight on my big decision whether to accept an all expenses paid trip to Ethiopia for All God's Children. I felt drawn to it but also some reservation. My tension was if the experience I might have would be greater than what I feared might happen in the day to day with VA or AGCI. I then very practically sat down and mapped out the calendar...Cathy is awaiting her travel notice and although we had hoped to be there and back before the end of January, we are not yet and once she receives her TA (travel approval) we will leave in about two weeks, for two weeks. They say that the 26 hour flight and 12 hour time change takes a good 10 days to recover from. Diana, my 75 year old friend, is scheduled for a total knee replacement, in early March and since I have supported her through her hip replacement in 2004, her shoulder in Feb of 2005, her other shoulder in August of 05 and her knee in December of 05, I assured her I would be available to support her through this one also. Must be crummy to have your joints go out one at a time. And then you add the day to day and the family life I enjoy and the reminders of a few of my board members that I do own a business that is undergoing a constant state of growth and change and I came into my 37 year old mind and let AGCI know how much I appreciated the invite, but maybe another time. Even toyed with it being the trip for Anna and Liv to accompany me on, but that to, maybe another time. So, until I get word from Cathy that China has granted permission to come, I am working on finalizing the VA purchase, transitioning to 6 full time staff in the office, managing a month of 111, ooo if we hold out till month end with our current client group and trying to secure new office space in or near Eastown. Add on a few home studies and some time to work out again, and what can I say but life is full and life is good....love to you all! Trish

2:00 am Thoughts from Trish

I thought I would see if it worked to post. It looks like it does. I was sharing with a few good friends today about our Christmas, about the kids, the gifts, the hugs, the laughter, the squeals, and then the laughter and the simplicity of the adult gifts. I shared a bit about the profiles and the results and numerous times, throughout the discussion, the words echoed...wow, your family does well, or wow, my family would never talk that through and so, even after a day of flying emails and alot of emotion, I am glad to be in the family I am in. Tonight Beth and I have worked late on adoption and at the end of the day I realize the deep content feeling in my soul. I have acquired Visiting Angels for 100,000 dollars and was approved for the line of credit with my VA assets. I have worked a deal with Mom and Dad to draw a small amount on their home and I continue to pay down my home equity on Aunt Dot's home. I am going down the street as Andy observed, but I won't be down to the Bos' home anytime soon. My home doesn't hold alot of equity yet but in time I will be able to share the model and allow my neices and nephews to borrow against my home for their college education! Well, dear family, I am off to bed to prepare for a busy day tomorrow. I hope you are all well and will share soon on the blog!

Hello Kupborgdebos-ers,

So, enough talking about, it was time to finally do it. We have a blog. This may not solve all of our communication issues, but let's give it a try. Besides, it's a great way to share pictures, stories, ideas, suggestions, and memories. I don't have a lot of time to format it at the moment, but I'll try to work on it in the days ahead. If you have a category you'd like to add, just shoot me an email. Or, you can access the blog by signing in at blogger.com with suannebos@yahoo.com and the password: borgdorffblog Ok, I better get back to work. I don't want to get fired. It's hard to hide this from my bosses since I have to send them the email telling them about our site! Take care and love to all. Suzi