Saturday found us getting ready for a big party. Our friend Henrik turned 50!!! I can´t get my head around that number! haha I never think of Henrik as 50! Anyway he decided to hold a big birthday party to celebrate, so we had to shine ourselves up a little bit for that.
We had a great evening together with Henrik, his wife Birthe and the rest of their family and friends. The party started at 4pm and we first got home at 3am!!! I didn´t even realise it was soooo late! Time flies when you´re having fun!
The food was delicious and the speeches that people held inbetween the different courses were really funny.
I had a job to do that evening. Henrik´s daughter sings in a band and so they had hired the band to come and play for a few hours so people could dance. Not many of Henrik´s family and friends are used to dancing so I had to do an ice breaker so we could get people up unto the dance floor. I dressed up in my Mamma Mia outfit and taught everyone the Thriller dance. It was great fun. (I was however a bit worried that I wouldn´t be able to fit the costume as I have put on a load of weight! I squeezed into it, but just about. The diet is seriously going to begin on Monday!)
We had such a fun evening. The Thriller dance was a hit and people actually stayed up and danced, at least for part of the night! (I love to dance so I didn´t sit down. I danced for 3 hours solid and I felt like an old woman of 90 the next day, I could hardly walk!) It was one great night that we will remember for a long time to come. Just think, next year Kristian will be 50!! Where are the years going?
I love these videos from The Normal Christian Life. I follow their website and have watched all 12 episodes. This one especially blessed me. (along with episode 6!) Jill just touched my heart. She seems like such a wonderful person. (I found myself wishing that she lived close by so I could visit! I found myself wishing I could sit and pray with her.) I could identify with her feelings. I could identify with her longing for boldness. I long for that too. I long to have the courage to go up to someone and just pray for them, to pray for their healing, to introduce them to Jesus. I too have had the same thoughts as her..."what if I pray and it doesn´t work?!!!" And in these thoughts I open the door to doubt and shut the door to boldness. I know that I am forgiven, I know I am going to heaven. I know Jesus loves me. These things no one can take away from me. I am soooo confident and sure of these facts! They are rooted deep into the core of my being. But when it comes to healing I do not have that same confident. I have grown up with the idea that God can do anything, He can heal, but he doesn´t always heal, sometimes it is not his will to heal, but I am being challenged in this area. I need to study the Bible more, I need to get those healing scriptures rooted deep in my heart so I have the same confidence in healing as I have in my salvation.
Over the last few days I have been studying Ephesians and I have discovered a new prayer for my life....it is found in Ephesians 1, 17-19. Paul´s prayer for spiritual wisdom. I have set a goal to try and pray this prayer everyday, changing the "you" in the verses to "me" and "I" to make it my own personal prayer.
Anyway just wanted to share this because it blessed me so. Episode 6 is below.....it is sooo good!! Check it out! God is amazing!
It has been a great weekend!! Busy, but good. Friday evening we went out to dinner with the rest of the neighbours in the little village where we live. We all met over at the local farm as they have a big barn with room for us all to be seated. We spent the evening eating Gullash together. The Gullash was made from one of the cows from the farm and it tasted soooo good. We got to meet some new neighbours that just moved into the area and also got to catch up with some of the neighbours from the other end of our road, that we very seldom see.
We have a lot of talented people living in this neck of the woods. A few of them just got up and started to play some songs together. There was one on guitar, one on bass, one on piano, one on accordion and Kristian on his sax. They hadn´t practised and they sounded great together. We sang some known Danish songs and some Beatles songs. It was a really cosy evening.
Saturday morning we decided to head out and do a bit of shopping. We headed to one of the big shopping centers close to us but we didn´t buy anything, we just had fun window shopping. After a couple of hours we headed home and made ourselves a quick sandwich before we got stuck into cleaning the house. Then we had a bit of time relaxing before we had to get ready to head out. It was SILVER ENVELOPE time again!!
So this was Silver Envelope 9 and 10. The idea was that Kristian would have been given the envelope on Friday evening. This explained what the first part of the date entailed. Then later on in the date he would be given envelope number 10. But sometimes things don´t go as planned!!! :-) This didn´t!!! If you want to know what happened take a look at the video. This video is recorded an evening at the start of January!
So he chose Lionel and me and last night was our date night. (Actually the trip to Italy never got to be more than an idea. The go-karts would not be ready to collect in February, so after all that I could have kept the whole thing quiet. Having said that, we both enjoyed being able to look forward to this night out. We started the date by going to the restaurant that we used to visit the first few years we were married. The food was always good and it was always very reasonable in price. It hasn´t changed in all these years....the decor is still the same, the food is still good and the prices are still reasonable.
After dinner it was finally time to see Lionel Richie! We were soooo looking forward to this. Years ago when we made cassette tapes to each other, we always played romantic songs from Lionel Richie´s albums. This was something special to see him live.
He did not disappoint. We were standing about 5 rows from the front in the middle of all the action. We got to meet some lovely people while waiting on the concert to start....a Swedish girl and her American husband and an American man with a Danish girlfriend. The majority of people there were our age or older, but us oldies still know how to rock. We had a great time jumping up and down to all the quick numbers and we sang our hearts out to both the ballads and the quick songs. It sure is a night we will remember for a very long time. After church today our friends Jette, Philip and their two kids came for lunch. We had such a cosy afternoon with them. This morning the weather here was beautiful - sun and blue skies, so we hoped we could go for a walk in the forest in the afternoon. However the weather changed and it started to rain, so we spent the afternoon watching Frozen with the two kids. Just the sort of day to be inside being cosy.
A really great weekend from start to finish. Now it´s time to get organised and ready to face a new week.
(For my memory - Silver envelope poems...envelope 9:
Once again a date is planned,
21st February is when I need my man!
Cause we are going on a date
At 4pm so don´t be late.
To Blostrød kro we need to go
To this address ________, so don´t go slow.
Candlelight and a delicious meal,
Is where the next part will be revealed.
After dinner envelope 10 should have been read. Here is what it said...envelope 10: HELLO Kristian,
Now we´ve had a wonderful meal,
The next part I´m going to reveal.
You need to drive to this address ------------
We are goint to hear one of the best!
We always loved to hear his songs
He is going to rock us ALL NIGHT LONG,
We might even start DANCING ON THE CEILING
Oh! isn´t this such a great feeling
Kristian, YOU STOLE MY HEART AWAY
The 1st of September was such a great day!
After all these years I´m still STUCK ON YOU
I hope that you are stuck on me too.
If you SAY YOU and I SAY ME
Can you guess who it could be
That we are going to hear tonight,
And have this memory for the rest of our life!)
The holidays are almost over for another while. It has been a really great week. I relaxed a lot and got to spend time with friends too. Thursday afternoon found me out with my friend Laura, who just also happens to be my neighbour. She has decided to re-decorate her living room. Since she knows that I love decorating, she wanted me to go out with her and check out some new sofas. What a blast we had!!!! I get sooo happy being in furniture shops. We didn´t go to Ikea this time, as she also wanted a sofa that could turn into a bed and we knew a shop that specialised in these, so we went there.
So many decisions to make......
Finally after about 2 hours in the furniture shop playing on their computer, (you could design your own sofa) she had something she was happy with! She ordered the sofa, but it will take 12 weeks before it is made and ready. This gives us time to paint and re-arrange furniture! To celebrate we went out to eat! Something I also love to do!! We had a lovely evening in a wee cafe! Friday found me at home together with Leah. We had a cosy day relaxing. Andrew meanwhile has gotten himself a Saturday job in the post office. He had to go to work each day this week to learn the system. So he hasn´t had much of a holiday. Each morning he has been up at 5.30am so he could be there by 6.15am. He started on Tuesday and that afternoon he had us in fits of laughter with the stories he had to tell. The first thing to go wrong happened a couple of hours into his morning. They had just sorted the post and were having a coffee break before heading out to deliver it all. Andrew just happened to pour the coffee all over himself!! Down his shirt and over his jeans. Luckily the coffee was not boiling hot and he was not injured, just embrassed. He was able to change his uniform before heading out. Then he had to ride a moped for the first time. The guy didn´t really explain it all very well (or that´s his story) but he got on the moped, with the boxes and bags attached to carry the mail. It was heavier than he thought. He turned it on and the moped took off! He couldn´t remember where the brake was and as he tried to stop the thing it only went faster! He ended up crashing into a big green bin! Oh my I could just see it all for me! The tears were tripping me when he told me all about this. He said they all had a good laugh and after that he was given better instructions about how to handle it!
He did hurt his leg a little in the crash! Poor wee fella! Anyway he likes the job and has got the hang of everything, including the moped! He now only has to work on a Saturday. He is happy to be earning a little extra money! Kristian received envelope number 8
It was for today - Valentines Day. We headed out for brunch and then went for a walk on the beach. While walking we had to each share 5 memories that were special to us. Memories we have made since the time we got married. It was really fun! We only had 1 memory that we both thought of that was the same. We also didn´t stop at 5 we kept going because we were having sooo much fun remembering! It made us thankful as we thought about how blessed we are! We have created soooo many great memories together and even now, we love being together, we love creating new memories.
The weather wasn´t the best but we still enjoyed our walk. We then drove down the coast road and ended up in Ikea! We bought ourselves a new rug for the dining room. Then we headed home. We were still feeling sooo stuffed from our brunch that we decided to have a light dinner of cheese, salami, and bread. It was really delicious. We ended the evening in front of the TV watching a film.
It´s that time of the year again - holiday time! Friday 6th February I stopped work for a weeks holiday. Andrew and Leah´s colleges have also been closed for the week. Unfortunately for Kristian, he has had to work. (poor man) I have sooo enjoyed my week at home and can´t believe it is coming to an end so soon. We are all back to normal life again in a few days time. So what have I been up to.... Saturday we had Kristian´s cousin come by for a visit. He had borrowed his friends Tesla car and so he wanted Kristian to go for a quick spin to experience how fantastic it was. That short spin lasted 5 hours! haha The boys had a blast in it!! I got to experience it too! Oh my what a car! It goes from 0-100km/hr in something like 3 secs! You get pushed right back in your seat like you´re on an amusement ride!
Saturday evening we went to visit some of our friends. They live just a few houses away, so we had a pot-luck dinner - everyone bringing something for the meal. My neighbour Laura also came along. It was such a cosy evening all together. We are so blessed to have good friends close by! Monday was my Ikea date with my friend Audry. As usual we walked around Ikea for hours. Audry got quite a few items, me - only a new shower curtain! We ended the day with a trip to McDonalds where we sat and talked together for another few more hours!
Tuesday evening and we went on a double date with Kristian´s cousin and his wife. Jacob and Louisa live on the other side of Denmark, close to Sara so we don´t get to see them that often. When our kids were small, they lived close to us and we did a lot of things together. They also would babysit for us from time to time. So this was an evening I was really looking forward too.
We went out for dinner and then went to see a late movie - America Sniper, It was such a great evening with them. It was lovely to catch up and just spend some time with them again. Wednesday and I had a girly day planned with my colleague. We went shopping, had a bite to eat and then went to see new Danish film that was out. It was also a really cosy day out together.
On this holiday I have discovered Downton Abbey!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! I LOVE THIS SERIES! It is just sooo me. This is the era I wish I had lived in! A year ago, Kristian had gotten me the first series for Christmas but I hadn´t gotten around to watching it. Well, that changed this week. I started the first episode and within 10 minutes I was hooked. I spent all Monday morning in bed watching the one episode after the other. And that is how it has been each morning this week. I have spent my morning at Downton Abbey and my afternoons and evenings in the real world. I am now on Season 2 episode 4. Had to join Netflix so I could see it!! haha I am now offically addicted!
Every Thursday I start work early - 7am, (sooo horrible!) but this means that I have free at 2.30pm. So yesterday I decided that I would go shopping after work. In the town where I work there is an indoor flea market that is open every day till 6pm. I go there from time to time to see if there are any bargins. Sometimes I´m lucky, sometimes I´m not.
At the moment I am looking for an old chest that we can set a record player on. The record player is from the 1920´s and still works!! The sound is absolutely brilliant because it sounds sooo old!! So I went to see if there was a chest and guess what? There was! However it was just a little too short for what we needed. I thought it was so beautiful, it was all hand craved. Pity it was the wrong size.
I took a photo and sent it to Kristian to see what he thought. He could see it wasn´t broad enough, but like me, he loved it.
When he got the photo he was curious as to where I was. When he heard I was at the flea market it made him wish he had free too. Kristian has flex hours so he can leave some days early and work late other days. So he decided he needed to leave work early and come hang out with me!
He sent me a text asking if I wanted to meet him for a cake date. We have this cafe close to where we live that does delicious chai teas, coffees and cakes. Of course I said yes to his text. I said goodbye to the chest and headed to the cafe
When I arrived at the cafe there was my wee hubby waiting on me. He treated me to cake and a chai latte. It was something so simple but meant so much to me. We had a lovely afternoon sitting there chatting. We then headed over to our little shopping center and had a walk around the shops. A bit of a different afternoon than I had anticipated.
We got to enjoy a beautiful sunset on the way home. A great ending to a rather lovely day!
My name is Laura and I come from Belfast, Northern Ireland. I am married to Kristian who is Danish, so for the past 25 years I have lived in Denmark. We live in a small town north of Copenhagen. We have 3 kids, Sara (24 years), Andrew (22 years) and Leah(18 years).
Kristian and I are both Christians. It´s so great to be in a relationship with God and know He is there helping us and loving us no matter what life may throw our way. Life has meaning and purpose.
I started this blog mainly as a diary so I could look back and see what we had done as a family over the years. Then I realised it was a great way for my family and friends in Ireland to follow our life here in Denmark. It´s not the most exciting blog - it´s just life - our life :-)
