We´ll meet again.....

Today was Kristian´s dad´s funeral. It was beautiful. 

It was a time to celebrate his life. 

Kristian´s dad always wanted his funeral to be a day of rejoicing. He had talked, for as long as I have known him,  about his children playing "Oh when the saints go marching in" at his funeral.  So to fulfil his wish, Signe sang and Kristian played a more slow version of the song. However when leaving the church Johs got the quickened version that he always wanted! 


I have recorded parts of the funeral for Johs sister, Edel who is a missionary in Panama. I know she would have loved to have been with us all today. This is our way of letting her be a part of the service. 


The first video is part 1 of the service. You can hear the hymns that were sung and a little of what the minister said, but you will have to understand Danish to get anything out of that part. (This part is mainly for you Edel)


The second video is part2. This takes place when the last hymn is sung, Kristian and Signe sing and play and then the coffin is carried out to Johs´s song. I was so touched by this part, it was really beautiful. 

Part 1  The Service

Part 2: Kristian playing and Signe singing.

After the coffin was taken away, family and friends gathered in the church hall for sandwiches, tea and coffee. Here it was open for anyone who wished, to share thoughts and memories of Johs. This was also such a special time. A lot of people shared what Johs (and Jette) had meant to them in their lives. He really did touch a lot of lives.


About 3pm it was over and it was time for me to head to the airport. (Going to Ireland to see dad.) 


While I headed to the airport the rest of the family headed out to the graveside where Johs ashes would be sprinkled. Then the family gathered at a local restaurant to eat dinner together. I wish I could have shared that part with them too.


All in all a very beautiful and special day. 

Home at last....

Today at 10.20am my father-in-law finally went home to be with Jesus. Something he has been looking forward to for 56 years of his life, but something he has been LONGING for, for the last 2 weeks.

Kristian, his mum and his brothers and sisters were with his dad when he died.


The rest of us joined them as soon as we got the word that he had gone from this world to the next. 

It has been such a special day. Kristian´s 3 brothers, their wives, his 2 sisters and their husbands as well as the grandchildren were gathered together to say goodbye. I feel so privileged to be a part of this family. They really are something special (and I mean special in the good way here!) and Johs was a special father-in-law too. He welcomed me into his family from day one. He accepted me for who I was, my crazy ideas and all and he just loved me like one of his own daughters. It has been a privilege for me to know him these last 22 years.


When I get sad I think about where he is and I know he wouldn´t change places.


I will leave you with one of my favourite quotes, one I want read at my own funeral....


"One day you will read in the paper that I am dead. Don´t believe it, I am very much alive!" How true that is and how true for my father-in-law. We might think he is dead but he is very much alive tonight!

On the move.....

Today was the day we were moving for my old lady friend. Every spare minute last week was spent packing down her stuff for the big move. Today it happened and it was successful! 


From 8am till 6pm I worked at unpacking and organising things. Kristian was there too, but he left about 12.30pm, when he headed in to spend the rest of the day with his dad, mum and the rest of the family who were gathered together.


We got so many things organised and her new place is looking lovely. Now we only have her old apartment to empty of all the unwanted furniture or what I really should say is, all the furniture she doesn´t have room for in her new place. Then we need to clean the old apartment before we hand over the keys. An end is near!


I made a quick dinner this evening and then headed down to Kristian´s mum and dad. Today there has been no real contact with his dad. He is just sleeping all the time. We really hope he soon gets the peace he is longing for.


Andrew went for his EKG test yesterday. Before the test even started they could see that his pulse was high. An unfit person can have a high pulse but even if he was unfit it (which he is!) his pulse was higher than that of an normal unfit person. There was also something strange about the way the heart pumped blood to the lungs (I think that is what it was!) So the specialist is going to look at all the results from the EKG, the scan and the machine that recorded his heartbeat for 3 days. He will then send the results from everythng to the hospital and let them look at the scan too. Hopefully if there is a problem they will discover it. So all we can do is wait and see what happens.

Special moments

Kristian has spent the day with his dad and family. 

His dad is nearing the end of the road and so the family were gathered together, I joined them after work. It was a special time for Kristian and it meant a lot for him to be able to spend the day there.

His dad is very weak and is sleeping for the most, but in between times they have had some special moments. One of those was when his dad woke up and asked Kristian to go and buy some roses for his mum - Jette. His dad then gave the roses to Jette as a token of his love, but he added that the most beautiful rose was Jette. 

Kristian took a picture of the two of them with their roses and sent the photo to me with an explanation. I received the text and photo while in the supermarket. Well talk about getting emotional. I walked around the supermarket with the tears blinding me. It took me a while to recover. 

His dad´s greatest wish now is to pass from this life unto the next. Signe, Kristian´s sister, asked him a few times today if there was anything he needed - "Yes" he replied "I need to die!" was his answer every time. He is so weak, he can´t eat and he is now on medication for pain relieve. We are all hoping and praying that he very soon gets his wish. 

It really has been a special day together with him and the family. Precious memories.

Silver Wedding....

Saturday we were invited to our friends 25th Wedding Anniversary. The day started at 10am with a music café bruch which meant that there was an open microphone for people to freely go and perform songs or pieces of music, for those of us sitting around eating brunch.


It was a brilliant morning. From 10am to 1pm we were entertained by all sorts of musical talent. It was fantastic to hear all the different types of talent. The silver wedding couple are very musical and so are their families.


My own wee family took part in the performances. Kristian played a few songs on his sax (Henrik - the "groom"  played the piano.) Leah sang a few pieces with two friends from her choir. They did really well. Not only was the entertainment great, the food was great too! I sooo enjoyed the american pancakes with syrup - totally yummy!

We were home from the brunch at about 2pm and a few hours later we were getting ready for the big evening party. We had been invited to that too. So we got all dressed up and away Kristian and I went to that. We had a fantastic evening and once again the food was great. We finally arrived home at 3.30am!! We really are getting too old to be out so late! We were totally exhausted!


I have always said that we would not hold anything for our 25th but after having experienced this silver wedding I could be tempted to hold a party. I have usually been so against doing anything because the Danish tradition is to be woken at 6am by a flock of singing family and friends. The idea of having guests at 6am does not appeal to me. I hate being up so early, but a brunch at 10am - that I can handle! So maybe I should start saving - there are only 3 1/2 years to our silver wedding - scary or what?!!!

A special afternoon....

It has been a special afternoon. 


We went to visit Kristian´s dad. He is going quickly downhill and so we decided we would go in and see him. It was late afternoon when we arrived and a few other of Kristian´s brothers and sisters were there. Suddenly it was a whole big family gathering. Really lovely.


We spent a lovely few hours there with the family and especially with my father-in-law. He was tired and was resting on top of the bed. One by one we went in to speak with him and to say, what might be, our final good-bye to him. It was his wish to see us one at a time and I had a wonderful time talking to him. 


He told me about how his life changed 56 years ago when he met Jesus at Capernwray Hall. We talked about his different experiences with the Lord through those 56 years and we talked about the hope that he had now. He had so much peace and joy and his eyes shone when we talked about heaven and him soon being with Jesus. I told him to give my mum a big hug from me when he saw her - he said he would:-)


He has been such a good father-in-law to me. He welcomed me into his family from day one and has loved me like a daughter. I thanked him for that. He told me to continue to be as crazy as I am! haha He loves my crazy plans and ideas!! hahaha 


So it really was a special afternoon. We all had our special time with him. Andrew and Leah had their time too. (Sara wasn´t able to make it but will be going tomorrow, after work, to spend the evening.)


So we all said our goodbyes to him, yet it was more like we were saying "Johs, we´ll see you again in a little while!" 

Sunshine

The sun is shining and it´s 15 degrees. Wonderful day! I am feeling a lot better today. My sinuses seem to be clear again. I still have a bit of a sore throat and am feeling really tired, but other than that I think I am on the mend. 


Just lying here looking out at the world and thinking about how much I long to be outside. Since before Christmas I have not been out in nature!!! It´s terrible that I haven´t been a walk in the forest, or to the beach or even been to my favorite spot - Heather Hill. In fact I haven´t even been out a walk around the area where we live - how awful is that?!!  At the start of the year I made this deal with myself that I would go out and enjoy God´s wonderful nature a lot more. I would go for long walks and even jogs! HA! I haven´t done one bit of that! 


Life has been sooo busy and I admit, when I did have a free moment I collapsed unto the sofa with no thought of going out. To my defense, it was also cold and dark outside and the sofa was far more inviting, especially with a cola and a kit-kat in hand!! But that is all about to change!! Spring is a coming and with it a new me! (Yeah I know, you have heard that before!) But seriously, I am going to make time for walks! 


I´ll keep you posted on how it goes! :-) 

A little reminder again of the important things in life.....

Update...

So my last post "Poor little old me..." was written while I was waiting on dinner to be taken out of the oven. Kristian had gone to pick up Leah from her baby sitting job. I was lying on the sofa waiting on them to return so they could take the stuff out of the oven. 


Kristian came through the door and look what he had with him....

I laughed and said "Have you read the blog?" (You know the hint I gave him about TLC.) He had no idea what I was talking about. He had however bought me flowers. Leah was late getting away from her job so Kristian used the extra time to get me flowers. Aaahhhh it touched my heart. (The cat was delighted too!) He´s not a bad wee man after all!! haha

Poor little old me....

I´m sick!! I don´t get sick so often but why do I need to get sick right now?!! We are in the middle of moving for our old lady friend. Over the next 10 days we hope to get her moved in.


It all started with an itchy throat on Saturday evening and it has progressed to a full blown sore throat and bad cough.  I think I have an infection in my sinuses. I have such a sore head, eyes and cheeks. I have been treating it with boiling water in a bowl, sitting with a towel over my head and letting the steam go up my nose and down my throat.(Lovely!) It works wonders but only lasts for about 10 minutes!! I have my nose spray too and my hot drinks. I am sore from coughing. Last night I was banished from the bedroom as the night before I kept Kristian awake all night with my coughing. He wanted/needed a good nights sleep. So I slept in Sara´s room as she was staying in at Winnie´s in Copenhagen. I actually slept really well:-)


So I am needing a little bit of TLC! (Kristian - hint, hint!! and in case you have no idea what TLC is...tender loving care!! haha)

I think I might head up to the doctors tomorrow in case I need some medicine. We have a Silver wedding anniversary to go to at the weekend and I really want to make it to that!

My Father-in-law....

My wonderful Father-in-law has had some sad news. They have discovered that he has a large cancerous tumor on the pancreas which has also spread to different areas in his body.  He has decided not to have treatment. At the age of 83 and with a bad heart, he has decided to enjoy his last days on this earth without having to go through the side effects of treatment.

(Kristian´s mum and dad on their 50th wedding anniversary. Lots of laughter!)

It is sad news for us as a family yet my father-in-law is such an example to us. He is not sad or worried, or anxious. He is about to make a journey that will top all other journeys he has had. (And he has made a few good ones in his lifetime!!) He is looking forward and looking up because he knows when the time comes to leave here and make that journey, he will finally be home - really home. (Oh I get homesick for heaven sometimes!) He is a wonderful man who loves the Lord and has many years of close friendship with him and that shows!


So even though our hearts are sad at the news we have a peace too. I honestly don´t know how people live and cope with life without God. I would seriously have fallen apart by now if I didn´t have him in my life.

Want to try something different???

Then come to Denmark swimming.

Last night in the news we heard that our local swimming pool has NAKED SWIMMING, yes you read it right,  every Wednesday evening and apparently it´s a hit!!! Arrrghhhhhhh!!!!!!


Why on earth would you want to swim naked? What are these people thinking?!!! Do people really go to things like this?  Aparently they do! So every wednesday evening you can go and swim naked along with a whole bunch of other men and women! Ummmmhhhhh could make for an interesting date night with my hubby! hahaha  

Blue blood.....

Well what do you know, my husband has blue blood in him! I`m not surprised - he has always been Prince Charming in my eyes! haha


Kristian´s mum´s maiden name is Walsoe. A man in her family has spent years researching the Walsoe family tree. It turns out that Kristian´s great grandfather, Carl Edward Walsoe, is a direct descendant from some Kings of Denmark. WOW!!! 

 Below is an old photo taken in 1942 of the Walsoe clan. You can see Kristian´s mum, his grandmother and grandfather and his great grandfather Carl Edward. All rather interesting! I love things that this - makes me want to do The Robinson family tree. Wonder what things we would discover?

So it has been a productive weekend. Saturday Krisitan and I starting packing down some of our old lady friends stuff. It´s a big job but I am just trying to take one day at a time so as not to get overwhelmed by it all!

Today I had Sunday school and then it was home to relax. I just needed an afternoon off. It was lovely, I actually ended up falling asleep on the sofa. Now I feel all relaxed and ready for another busy week, although I can feel that my throat is starting to get sore! I don´t have time to be sick!! So it will be off to bed early this evening with a warm drink. 

Breathe deep......

.....and relax - it´s weekend!!


I have had a very productive week. I had a list as long as your arm of important things I had to take care off for my old lady friend. She is moving so phone calls had to be made, forms had to be filled out and bills had to be paid. I  dealt with things last week that I have never dealt with before. (Every time we moved Kristian dealt with all the form filling and phone calls, I always just packed the boxes for moving!) Good news is that we are getting things organised - slowly but surely. 


On Thursday my colleagues and I were invited home to dinner with our boss. He loves to cook and is always bumming about his food so we decided to put his food to the test. Wewere not disappointed. He is a fantastic cook. We had home made (no tin stuff here) tomato soup for starters, followed by delicious steak (medium done and it just melted in the mouth) with potatoes, a red wine sauce, loads of different root vegetables and a curly kale salad which I had never tried before. It was absolutely delicious! Then we ended the evening with pancakes and ice cream! Now I am all inspired to cook lovely food - lets see how long that lasts!!!

Everthing looking good....

When it comes to Andrew´s heart things are looking good. He was at the specialist today and got a good going over. They took scans of his heart and thankfully, it looked normal. They however want to discover why he is having these palpitations. He has now got a machine stuck to his chest to read his heart beats over the next 3 days, then in two weeks time he has to go for a EKG and see how the heart reacts to biking for a while! 

Things are not looking so good for Kristian´s dad who is doing poorly and slowly going down hill. 


Then my dad collapsed yesterday in church and is now in The Royal. It seems that he needed blood again. He got two units of blood on Thursday and had to get another load yesterday. He is still in hospital and is in good spirits, just tired. 


As for me, I am getting slowly on top of things. I wrote a list of "Things to do" yesterday afternoon and managed to get 7 of the 11 things ticked off the list! Whoopieeeee! I am feeling good. I also managed to get one of the Bible verses made and sent away. Now I am about to start number 2! This week things don´t seem so overwhelming:-) 

Words of a song have been going around my head today. It´s an old country & western gospel song called "Sheltered in the arms of God". I remember hearing my dad´s choir sing it when I was a kid. I loved the words even back then.


The words of the chorus say: 
So let the storms rage high and dark clouds rise,
They wont worry me,
cause I´m sheltered safe within the arms of God.
He walks with me, and not a word can harm me,   
For I´m sheltered in the arms of the God.

That´s how I feel - sheltered in Gods arms even when the storms of life rage about me. I feel safe!! Such a wonderful feeling of security! 


Ok I found the song on youtube sung by the good old Gaithers....

Overwhelmed.....

Well at times during this past week I did feel a bit overwhelmed! There is a lot happening in my life at the moment and there just doesn´t seem to be enough hours in a day.


Last Sunday we spent the afternoon with Kristian´s mum and dad. His dad isn´t during so well and is going for some tests this week at the hospital. It was really lovely to get to spend the afternoon with them.

A few years ago when I worked for CEF here in Denmark, I had the job of creating illustrated Bible verses, songs, quizzes and idea packs for the kids club. We made a lot of material back then, enough to fill a 5 year plan. 



Last week CEF asked me if I would be interested in making a few more new Bible verses for them. I said yes, I enjoy being creative and thought it would be fun.


The plan was to make a few last weekend and a few this weekend, unfortunately nothing ever goes as planned, especially when working with technology.


 I got myself a disc drive for my wee laptop so I could read the discs they would send me with loads of clipart on them. However when the discs arrived I couldn´t open any of the clipart. Arrrrgh!!!!


 I searched the web and eventually found a way to open the files but this took a few evenings of downloading different things and trying different things. 


I was starting to fell overwhelmed! How would I make all these verses, be a wife and mother, cook and clean,  look after a full time job and visit my old lady friend! On top of that I was feeling so tired.  Arrghhh - life was starting to feel overwhelming! Then I remembered  Isaiah 40,31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint!"  I needed to wait on the Lord - phew everything was ok again!


Finally I got the clip art open. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a few Bible verses made.


I got a new colleague this week. Her name is Rock `n`Roll Rita.

The kids in our 4th- 6th grades are doing a project to raise money for Cambodia. They have to help clean around the house, then they get friends and family to sponsor them for doing it. Rock `n` Roll Rita arrived at the assembly to give the kids some cleaning tips. Such fun!


My old lady friend said yes to an apartment in the nursing home so we will have to move for her over the next few weeks. I think she is going to be very happy there.

Leah has been sick with a throat infection. It started on Wednesday and by Friday it was a lot worse. I had to leave work early on Friday to take her to the doctors. They checked her over and discovered it was just a virus and so there was no medicine for her. Just TLC, a warm bed, hot drinks and panodil. 


Jette, Filip and the children were meant to come Friday evening for a cosy evening with us. We would make dinner together and watch X-factor but since Leah was not well we had to cancel. I was really looking forward to playing with Josephine and Jonathan again. I had even bought a McDonalds cash register and food (on sale going really cheap) so we could play lets pretend! haha Ah well there will be another Friday evening some time soon!


Today I was at a meeting in the church for all who work with the children or youth. We started at 10am by eating brunch together, then there was a session of teaching and group work. It was a really good day. It ended at 2pm and I headed into town. The weather was beautiful, a real spring day. I parked at the castle and wandered up through the castle grounds to the town. I wandered around the shops for a while before heading home.