Paula was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Linda and Gary Karasch on January 16th, 1981. She grew up in Mondovi, Wisconsin and graduated from Mondovi High School in 1999.
Ben was born in St. Paul, Minnesota to Cheryl and Greg Gryskiewicz on December 3rd, 1980. His family moved to Eau Claire when he was 6. He graduated from Regis High School in Eau Claire in 1999.
Both Paula and Ben went to UW-Stout for 1 year and transferred to UW-Eau Claire. This is where their story begins...
They met in a night class, Paula a Criminal Justice Major, Ben a Physics Major. They apparently both noticed each other, but, or course, Paula made the first move and asked Ben out. (If you know these two, you will agree that that is the only way they would have ever gotten together.)
This began a very short courtship where Ben wooed Paula and swept her off her feet. He asked her to marry him after only 8 months of dating at the Olive Garden in Eau Claire. (What a train wreck that was! Paula thought Ben was breaking up with her.) After about a long (and by long I mean very difficult at times) year of planning, they were married at Immaculate Conception Church in Eau Claire on September 25th, 2004.
Paula and Ben lived in Eau Claire for about 2 more years. In June 2006, they moved to Woodbury Minnesota because Ben found a job. The job didn't last too long as it wasn't really what he was looking for. Meanwhile, Paula had found a job as a nanny with two wonderful families with whom she still keeps in contact with. In the little spare time she had, Paula found Ben a new job. A job that he is still at today and plans on being for a long time.
After a couple years, Paula and Ben decided that it was time to start a family. We broke the news to everyone in May 2008 that Paula was pregnant with our first child. At Paula's 20 week ultrasound we found out that our baby had extra fluid in her head. We would later find out that she had Spina Bifida. If you don't know what Spina Bifida is, please see the Spina Bifida page. We were determined to have a normal pregnancy and we did, just a few more appointments than other pregnancies.
Paula was scheduled for an c-section on December 15th, but, because of an amniocentesis she had on December 3rd (Ben's b-day)Cora Lynn entered our lives on December 8th, 2008. Since then she has had numerous appointments and a few surgeries, but all in all is the happiest baby you will ever meet. She is doing very well and her progress is updated through this website.