Family
Carina & Matt Knoespel
Kiki's Daughter & Son-in-Law
Carina is Kiki's first-born daughter. She is very smart, loving, determined, musical and creative. Growing up she was extremely artistic, and I (mom Kiki) actually thought that she might end up in Paris, studying art. But God had a different plan! Although being raised in Green Bay, WI, Carina and Matt never crossed paths during their teenage years. They both went to college at UW Madison where they fell in love at a weekend-getaway with CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ). After a year of dating, they got engaged and married within six months and are about to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary next May, in 2026. Carina is full-time employed at UW Health in Madison, where she is a cancer research manager in one of the oncology departments. Matt is co-owner of "Atrility", a heart-device company, which he founded with his best buddy while still being a junior in college. Both are the parents of Emilia "Mila" (4 years old), Cedric (2 years old) and little Ralph (7 months old). They have a huge heart for God and love serving in their church and community. Carina loves hosting her friends for some tea-time. Fun fact: each summer Carina and Matt are part of a group of friends who gets together and plays (hard-core) frisbee.
Annika & Taylor Manuel
Kiki's daughter and son-in-law
Quick run-down on Annika: she loves Jesus with all her heart, is an extreme funny and witty human being, an actress to the core, has an amazing voice (serves on the worship team in her church), is a FANTASTIC cook and baker (think EVERYTHING home-made!!) and has a huge and empathic heart. Her's and Taylor's story is a bit similar to Gregg's and Kiki's, if you compare timeline of dating and tying the knot ;-)). They also met online last year (March of 2024), then went on vacation to Mexico a couple of months later in July, where Taylor decided to propose on the beach, and they got married three months later at a beautiful church ceremony and reception. They both live in Appleton, just ten minutes away from Gregg and Kiki, and both are teachers. Taylor, Kiki's "newest" son-in-law went through some very tough times during his young life, but he came out of it stronger, and he is a wonderful young man who, together with Annika, seeks after God, is an avid golfer, loves his Packers and Brewers (actually ANYTHING football or baseball!) and he is a Phy-Ed and health teacher in Omro. Annika is currently a language teacher at Neenah (she speaks four languages: English, German, Spanish and French) but is going to be back at Ashwaubenon Highschool this fall, to teach German. Fun fact: these two love to travel and are spending their belated honeymoon in Germany/France and Italy in July 2025.
Hannah & Conor
Gregg's daughter and future son-in-law
Hannah and Conor found and fell in love with each other when they met at UW Oshkosh, where they both enrolled in the program to become counselors. Hannah enjoys musicals, theater and dance, and has been performing since she was a little girl. Last summer (2024) Hannah and Connor moved along with their two cats to Lacey (a town close to Seattle), WA. Both found employment as therapists, got engaged shortly after their big move across the states, and are planning to tie the knot mid-August! They love living on the west coast and their hobby is hiking. On their weekends together they are always finding new areas to explore. Pretty soon they are going on a "destination" honeymoon, where their location won't be revealed until they are on the plane overseas - how exciting!! We pray that this honeymoon is going to be an amazing time for the two of them.
Justin Schierl
Gregg's inspiring son
Justin is Gregg's 26-year-old son. He is a sweet and fun young man who loves anything Mario & Luigi on his Nintendo, he knows everything about King-Kong and Godzilla, and all the other dinosaurs who exist in his world. Justin has a genuine heart, serves regularly in his parish, along with his dad, and he can also be pretty smart...if he wants to, haha!! Kiki has grown very fond of him and his pure heart and found out that he REALLY loves hugs, and he is warming up to her cooking and baking. Justin's world is his dad: he loves spending time with him whether doing projects in the house, cutting down trees together at the land, or going four-wheeling... nothing beats spending time with his dad or making him proud! One thing you need to know about Justin: he can put ANY Lego project (think airplane) together in no time - He is an absolute genius when it comes to that!!
Mila, Cedric and Ralphie
Cutest grandchildren, so far... :))
We are so blessed to have these sweet little munchkins in our lives!! Through the joining of our lives in marriage, Gregg is now instantaneously becoming a grandpa or "Opi" (in German) of three. But they already captured his heart when we were dating :)) Mila, our little princess, is so loveable and so very smart: she already knows how to spell and to count and loves to sing-along to "Frozen" and pretend to be "Elsa" or "Anna". Cedric is such a handsome (yet also mischievous!) little boy, who loves anything Dinosaur at the moment. Him and Justin have a lot of fun playing together :). And then there is our little baby-boy Ralphie: he sleeps through the night at seven months old, which is a blessing to his mom, Carina :)).
Whisky
The vicious family guard dog... not really ... LOL!!
The best dog one could ever have!! Whisky is British border collie and a walking fuzzy ball of love! He was adopted by Kiki and her girls many years ago. We named him "Whisky", as he came from Kentucky. Throughout all the ups and downs of life, Whisky has been Kiki's best friend and her most loyal companion. He is a sheep herder and has not one mean fiber in his DNA. Whisky loves everyone, and we all love him. He used to be very obedient, yet, since Gregg came into the picture, all the rules suddenly went out of the window, and he now only has ears (and eyes) for Gregg... Kiki decided to give Whisky the middle name "traitor", as he literally ignores her and only looks to Gregg for approval!! Joking aside, we laugh about it often and are so thrilled that Whisky has "accepted" Gregg as his new co-owner, and we hope that we still have some years with this beautiful creature - Whisky is going to be 17 this fall!
