A weekend in Århus....

Last weekend we went to visit Sara and Christian in Århus and had such a great weekend with them.

We left home late Friday afternoon, after work. We love our road trips and it´s a 3 hour drive to Sara so we were soooo looking forward to having 3 hours together in the car. We stopped on the way in one of the towns and had dinner at a small, cosy cafe. When we arrived at Saras we were ready to be cosy.

Sara and Christian´s friend Katrine was there. We decided we would all play a game of Cluedo. (I had taken our game with me from home.) None of the Danes had played it before so we had sooo much fun playing it. Katrine got so into it and was a really good detective! She won the game!

 Saturday morning and we woke up to snow!! Sara had to work and so I went with her into Århus. I was going to go shopping while she worked for a few hours. I LOVE Århus. It is such a cosy city and I sooo enjoyed walking in and out of the shops and along the canal. I was looking for a dress for our friends 50th birthday party later in February and to my amazement, I found one. It cost about 80 pounds but was on sale for 20!! Now that´s my kinda bargin!

I had only left Sara about an hour when she rang to say that she was leaving work. The snow was keeping the customers away and so they were not busy.  The other girls at work could cope without her, she had the afternoon off. That was just great. I got to hang out with Sara all afternoon. We had such a cosy afternoon together.

We ended the afternoon with a trip to Ikea! I really love the Ikea in Århus, I think its the best one, but I had strict instructions that we were only going through to one area. I was not allowed to stop on the way. I had to go straight to this certain area, pick up a small stool and then out!! What a bore Sara turned out to be!! Off course I couldn´t do that, so I lost her for a while and got to look around a bit, until my phone started ringing and a very annoyed Sara was telling me off,  like she was the mother!! haha

I really think I need to get a job in Ikea. It makes me happy being there!! 

While we were out having fun, Kristian and Christian were at home having fun racing on the computer!! They say they weren´t, they say they were fixing the computer but we don´t buy that!! :-)

Saturday evening was spent relaxing and watching Handball. The Danes were playing an important game so Kristian and Christian wanted to see that. Sara and I endured it as we were just not in the mood for Handball on a Saturday evening. I got into my PJs and started reading my book. Before long I was in the land of Nod.

Sunday and it was soon time to head home again. We didn´t want to get home too late. We went out for brunch and had a few hours together with Sara and Christian before saying goodbye to them and Århus once again. It was such a cosy, relaxing weekend away. Thank you Sara and Chrsitian.

Envelope number 7

So last night Kristian found silver envelope number 7 sitting on his computer. 

The whole idea with this one was to recreate the sort of date night we had when we first got married. Way back then, we didn´t have a lot of money but sometimes we saved a little from our food budget so that we could go out on a date. 

We couldn´t afford a fancy restuarant so we always went to Copenhagen to McDonalds, had a burger meal and then went to see a film. We loved those evenings when we had a treat out in town and even though we had no money we were sooo happy! 

We talked about that very thing last night,  how we have been happy no matter what situation we have been in. That has been a big blessing in our marriage.

So tonight we went on a date like we would have done years back. We drove to McDonalds. Driving was a bit of a luxury, because back then we had no car and had to take buses and trains but we decided that tonight we didn´t have to make this date so authentic.

We actually enjoyed our burgers at McDonalds and there wasn´t many people there, so found a table tucked away in the corner and had peace to sit and talk. 

Then it was off  to the movies to see a new Danish film that has just come out called "One more chance" It was really good. Very thought provoking. The Danes make some really good films (and from time to time some not so good ones) but the last few that we have seen have been REALLY GOOD.

The best thing about this date was just walking to the car and driving home. Years back we had to wait for ages, in the cold, on buses or trains or even ride our bikes home. Tonight we felt thankful and blessed to have our car. God has sure been good to us over the years. It really is good to count your blessings from time to time!

So another memory made for our Silver wedding year! 

Time flies when you´re having fun....

and it has been flying by over here. That must mean we are having loads of fun - which we are! 

Two weeks ago we watched the Taken films. (Taken is a film about a girl that is kidnapped while on holiday in Paris. She is sold into the sex slave business, but lucky for her, her dad is some sort of special agent and has contacts and knows how to track people down so he goes on the hunt for her. I wont tell you what happens.) There are 2 Taken films. The first one was on TV last Wednesday evening. We saw it a few years back but couldn´t remember all the details, so we sat and watched it again. Then on Thursday evening Taken 2 was on. We invited the neighbours over to see it, as they hadn´t seen it before. Oh boy it was sooo good, an action packed,  exciting film! 

Well, last week Taken 3 came out in the cinema. We decided we just had to go and see it. So Tuesday evening Leah. Lasse (her boyfriend), Kristian and I went to the cinema to see Taken 3. We were not disappointed. Soooo much action and excitement in that one too. It was a really great evening out.

 Saturday was a relaxing day. After a long sleep we got up and cleaned the house. I love a clean tidy house. I always feel sooo good after it is cleaned and organised. It didn´t take us long to clean the place and we had a few hours in the afternoon to relax. Kristian relaxes out at his garage working on his go-kart and I relax reading. I read for a while and  I also got my painting room organised as I planned to paint over the weekend. 

Late afternoon we stopped all our relaxing and got ready to go on a date. Tonight we were going on a double date with some of our friends, Birthe and Henrik. 

Birthe and I had bought our husbands tickets to a Moonjam concert for Christmas. Moonjam is a Danish Jazz/Funk/Pop band. Henrik and Kristian love them so we thought it would be a good Christmas present for them both (and we were right, they both LOVED their present and since Christmas they have been looking forward to this evening out.)

We also arranged dinner before the concert and since we all love to hang out together we were sure it was going to be a great night out. We were right! We had a brilliant night.  

We went to eat at a wee Italian restaurant near the concert place. (A restaurant we had never been to before.) The food was nothing to shout about but the service was excellent. It was an old Italian man that served us and he kept us entertained all evening!  

Post by Laura Rasmussen.

Then it was off to the concert. It was brilliant! Fantastic musicians! We had such a great evening with lots of talking, fun and laughter. As usual it all went by too fast.  

A little taste of Moonjam..... press the link...

Post by Laura Rasmussen.

Today I have been painting. Christian´s (Sara´s boyfriend) parents moved house recently and they asked if I would paint a picture for them. They described what they wanted and showed me some paintings that were similar. I have spent this afternoon painting, trying to make the sort of painting that they want. It has been fun and challenging as I don´t normally paint abstract. I love to paint nature so this was a little different for me. 

We will be visiting Sara next weekend so they will get the pictures then. I did send them a photo of the finished work and they seemed really pleased with them. Hope they are when they see them in real life. 

A Great Weekend.....

....that went by too quickly!

First week back at work passed really quickly and before I knew it, it was Friday and weekend again.

Friday evening Andrew & Camilla, and Leah & Lasse came for dinner. I made a delicious meal for us all!! (Don´t know what is happening to me but this last few big dinners have turned out really great!) Then we all settled down to see X-factor on TV. It was a really cosy evening.

Saturday was busy. Andrew was going to Camilla´s aunt´s birthday, Leah was going to her friends for a girls day out shopping and then home to her friend to do face masks and see some films. She was staying with their that evening. That meant Kristian and I found ourselves alone again. (Which we love, but our New Years Resolution was to be better to invite people to dinner or coffee, so we wanted to do something about that!)

We decided we would invite some friends to dinner. It was acutally a couple that I don´t know that well. Kristian has gone to Le Mann the past three years with Claus and so we decided to invite him and his wife up to dinner. I had met them once before, at a planning meeting they had for Le Mann. 

So Saturday was spent cleaning up, shopping and getting dinner ready. Claus and Mette arrived at 6pm and I, once again, made a delicious meal (SHOCK!!!) We had such a great evening with them. We had sooo much to talk about and before we knew it, it was a quarter to one in the morning and time for them to head home. Outside it was blowing a gale, we had a big storm raging over the whole country but thankfully they got home in one piece.

Sunday was spent relaxing. We spent Sunday morning listening to some Bible teaching over the internet and saw some great testimonies on Youtube. I felt blessed and challenged.

 The rest of the day was spent reading. I also did a bit of drawing. On Sunday evening our neighbour (Laura) came over and we had a good old natter.

 Laura and I are going away to London at the end of April/start of May, for 3 days to Hillsongs Woman´s Conference. I can´t wait!! We booked the plane tickets from Copenhagen last year, along with our ticket for the conference. But we still hadn´t booked our flight home to Copenhagen again. So we got that sorted out last night! Now we just need to find our hotel! We are both excited, one of the speakers is Joyce Meyer and another is Beth Moore. Two women that I love to listen too. So roll on April! 

So that was our weekend. A good mixture of socialising and relaxing!

Silver envelope 6....

The sixth silver envelope has been given. 

It was something a little different this time, but something Kristian was really happy about.

Kristian and I each have a Spotify account where you can listen to music on line or download it to your phone and listen while off-line. They have millions of songs  on there. I decided to make a playlist of songs for him. Songs we had listened to through the years of our marriage, songs that always meant something to us. I made the playlist and after he opened the envelope I sent the link to his account so he could listen to it all. 

I spent Saturday evening making up the playlist of all these songs. It sure was hard work. My brain was frying by the end. My memory is not what it used to be so sometimes I couldn´t remember the title of the song, only some of the words or melody. Other times I couldn´t remember the group. I didn´t give up though, and I actually managed to remember the different songs. In the end I had 40 songs for our playlist. 

(Some examples - Phil Collins -Groovy kind of love. Dione Warwick - Thats what friends are for. Cliff Richard - The water is wide. Lionel Ritchie - You stole my heart away.....and so it could go on.)

Kristian was over the moon. Songs he had forgotten about suddenly turned up and with them a whole load of great memories. 

A simple but good silver envelope this time!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

                                          HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We want to wish you all a Happy New Year. We hope you had a good New Year whatever you were up to. For us it was quiet and we LOVED it! 

We are getting really old! haha We love our peace and quiet! (Actually I have always enjoyed a quiet New Year but when the kids were small we always had friends over or we went to visit friends so the kids could have the experience of a Danish New Year with all its fireworks and fun. For years I longed for the day when I could just stay at home and be quiet and thoughtful. )

I enjoy spending my new year thinking about life and making new plans and dreams. 

This year Kristian and I were alone. All the kids had their own thing to do and Kristian and  I were sooo looking forward to it just being us two. 

I made the most delicious 3 course meal!! (It was sooo good! Sometimes my meals turn out fantastic and at other times they are a disaster! This was one of the good ones! haha)

We talked about our dreams for 2015 and the things we wanted to do better in 2015. One thing we wanted to improve on was having more friends over for dinner or for cake and coffee. We want to work on our friendships - not just take our friends for granted.

The rest of New Year was spent on the sofa in our PJs watching TV. It was total bliss!!!

As I said earlier, I love spending time on New Years Eve thinking about life. One area of my life that is so important to me is my spiritual life and every new year I am challenged to do better in my spiritual walk with God! 

This year I want to get to know God more intimately. I want to get into his Word. I want to become more like Him. I want to see things through His eyes and whatever would break his heart, I want to break mine. I can be so selfish, unloving and judgemental at times and I want God to change that part of me. I want to love the unlovely, not just those people that are easy to love but those who are really hard to love.  

I saw this quote on line which really sums up my heart...

I also want to really just take God at his word. Take His promises and claim them.I think I am getting better and better at this and I don´t worry the way I used to. I am learning to just let go and let God take control.

 In some areas this is easier than others. One area that I find it hard not to worry is about my kids and the choices they make in life. At times I can find it hard to let go and just give them over to God - but I am getting better and better at it. When I find myself worrying about them and Satan comes and tells me a bunch of lies, I am getting better at not listening to him, but instead  listen to the promises God has given me. 

I saw this next quote on line and it sums up my prayer for 2015 for me. I know storms will come and so I pray that God will calm me in the midst of it all.

There are also other goals that I have set for 2015. One.main one is to get healthy and lose weight!!! Which is something I say every year!! Maybe this year I will succeed,  I did it in 2008 - lost 16kg!! I was fit and healthy way back then. So lets see if it can be done again!

Thanks for following life with us here in Denmark. I wish you and yours all the best in 2015. I hope it is a year that brings you health and happiness.