Profiles, Fifth in a Series

It seems appropriate to single out Ross for today's post becasue on this day, twenty years ago, Ross and I were married. Two apartments, five houses, four children, and four countries later, we are still together. This is by God's grace more than anything, I think. Barely beyond adolescence when we made our vows, we have both grown and matured together. Recently one of my daughters and I were discussing marriage. She confided in me, "I hope I can find someone who loves me as much as Daddy loves you." "Well, you know exactly what to look for," was my reply.

Ross with all four kids in Pittsburgh in May 2010:

First Sunday down under:

I can't write about Ross without at least mentioning his job. That is what brought us all to Australia in the first place, and it is what consumes the majority of his time and energy on an average day. It has been a dream of his for as long as I have known him to be CFO of a medium-sized company, so when this opportunity presented itself, he was intrigued. It took longer for me to get on board, but you can read about that in in the first few posts I wrote for this blog. We, the children and I, are all very proud of him and what he has managed to accomplish in the past two years.

Checking out Ross's new office in Melbourne:

When he is not working, Ross has a few favorite pasttimes. One of them is walking to the grocery store, ideally with one or more of his children. Working for a food company has meant that Ross has largely taken over the grocery shopping for our family. He finds it necessary to regularly inspect the shelves and check out the current display of his company's products. A few years ago I realized that I could send him with a list of things we needed. I love this, as you might imagine, as I have never been a fan of the grocery store. The only thing that has changed in Australia is that rather than buying a weeks' worth of supplies at a time at our local Giant Eagle, Ross drops into either Coles or Woolies every second day or so, buying just a few things at a time.

Initially Ross lured the children outdoors on walks by promising a visit to Trampoline. He still loves to go there, but we have drastically cut the number of trips to buy ice cream.

Happily both Ross and I enjoy hiking and nature, and we got to experience both last November on an overnight trip to Phillip Island without the kids.

We also love going out for a leisurely dinner together, but I have not taken many photos of this fairly rare occurrence. Here is one from the other night, just before we went to a Japanese restaurant to mark our upcoming anniversary.

It would be impossible to discuss Ross's pasttimes without mentioning the Great Ocean Road, possibly his favorite place in the whole world. He has been there once or twice, or perhaps a dozen times.

For the final photo of Ross, I have chosen one taken at our church when we celebrated an American Thanksgiving last October.

Ross was giving out answers here to a trivia quiz, which other than carving one of the three turkeys, was his main contribution to the event. He provided needed moral support to me, however, even if he and David did sit down to eat while Gillian and I scurried around the kitchen. I end with this because I remember how much I appreciated his praise for our efforts after it was all over. There are many things that I love about Ross, and one of them is his unstinting praise and approval of those close to him.

The privilege of spending the past twenty years with a true soulmate is one that I surely cannot fully appreciate. I can only hope for many, many more years to come. Happy 20th Anniversary to the love of my life.