Christmas/New year 2011


What a year it’s been. Both of us in new jobs!
With the old Danish TV series of Matador, Danish/Swedish food and pepperkakor, we celebrate Christmas just the two of us. Taking time to relax and reflect in thanksgiving for although a fast paced year, it’s filled with great times.
2011 looked like this for us:

The year started with a visit from our Norwegian friends Sissel and Ole Henrik, giving us an excuse to do a bit of sightseeing around England.
February saw Kirsten attending a conference in Atlanta, and a chance to catch up with her American friends and family with whom she feels very close to. Driving through old Tappahannock with AnneBerit brought back good memories.
April is our birthday month and this year it was Karsten who turned the corner of 40. He really enjoyed a visit from his sister Annette and her husband Richard, which added to the celebration.
May/June we had the pleasure of being keynote speakers at GIEN ( the Adventist church headquarters Conference for techies and communicators ) in Jamaica. Although at a nice resort we were kept busy with our keynote and 3 other smaller presentations, a great time to network with old and new people in the industry, and the day we had schedule for the beach- it rained!
Summer was spent mainly at home, with Karsten developing apps and games as well as searching for a job, (as a researcher he is on contracts) which came in the form of being offered a Teaching Fellow at Reading, so he got busy preparing lectures. We met with friends and family and attended one great wedding an Kirsten conducted another wedding.
August enabled us to visit both our families in Denmark, although driving in the Smart Car we still managed to do a bit of shopping in Denmark and filled the car with delicatessens from the home country.
September saw Kirsten being elected to serve as Communication and Media director for the South England Conference, a new challenge and although mixed feelings about leaving congregational ministry at Newbold Church, this leadership position is proving to be quite enjoyable. With 22.000 church members in the conference there are quite a lot of churches and groups to visit, as well planning, organising, training others, writing  and producing TV programs, she certainly is keeping busy.  Her new job has taken her to Slovenia for a conference ( Division Communicators advisory)  and Germany with her media volunters to see the media centre and their programs. Her personal challenge is the commute to Watford, depending on traffic its a 2 1/2-3 hrs a day on the motorways around London, which can be tiresome.
And then all of a sudden it’s Christmas. Before returning to work, we will treat ourselves to some sun and sightseeing in southern Spain.
We wish you all a wonderful new year.


Kirsten & Karsten


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LAST YEARS NEW YEARS LETTER:

Wishing you all a wonderful Happy New Year

with our belated new years letter.

Our year 2010 turned out quite eventful

The year started in Snow and ended with snow –which is quite unusual for England and brings the country to a standstill, interrupting travels and work.

This Year we didn’t travel as much with work but had a couple of trips,

In June Kirsten was able to catch up with her youngest sister who flew in from Cananda  for a 24hr get together in Gothenburg, and in August we were both able to go to Denmark and celebrate Karstens nieces 18th Birthday as well as his grandmothers 90th

Karsten was thankfully not hurt when someone drove into his car but it did mean that he had to get a new one, and this time his dream of a SMART car was fulfilled, to the constant amazement of people who cannot believe he can actually fit in it. He loves it and it does have enough room for both of us and a weekend trip of luggage. Which was tested when we drove to Holland in it.

In may Kirsten was recognised as a minister by being Commissioned at the South England Conference Camp meeting. Not much changes in her daily work but the official recognition and affirmation is appreciated and does add credibility to her work.

She also started a blog on www.oster-lundqvist.com/kirsten where she tries to regularly write down some thoughts.

And in July Karsten graduated with his Phd In computer science from Univesity of Reading.  The title of his thesis is:”Ontology Supported Comparison In Vague Domains”

To read more about his PhD thesis visit his website  www.oster-lundqvist.com/karsten

It was a great day for both of us to see him completing, having worked full time while studying full time has surely keept him busy these past years, to think that he started his BA in 2002, makes it even more amazing.  He sure has a very proud wife 🙂

This summer we went to Tenerife and it was so lovely to get away for a much needed break to enjoy the sun and the sea.

A trip to USA is almost a  autumn tradition and this time Kirsten was able to bring 7 ppl to a conference in Nashville, where she luckily was able to catch up with the Dittes family.

Christmas came and went and was a busy time- this year we enjoyed being just the 2 of us as Kirsten was working through to Christmas day. And the year ended with some relaxing days with our Norwegian friends OleHenrik and Sissel who visited us for new year.

It sure was an eventful 2010 and the start of 2011  with   celebrating  15 years of marriage makes this new year a promising one.

we both wish you all the best for 2011.