Monday and Tuesday.....

I can´t believe it´s Tuesday already!! Where is the time going!

Monday morning I spent on the phone sorting different things out for dad. It felt good to get loads of things ticked of my list of things to do for him. Monday at lunchtime we headed up to the hospital. It was time for him to get his platelets. The afternoon was spent up there and it was 4pm when we got home again.

After some dinner Dad decided he was feeling well enough to head out to the local church for a meeting. My cousin Lorraine had sent me a message through facebook wondering if we could meet up. It suited me fine so while dad was at the meeting I headed out for chinese with Lorraine. It was delicious! We ate far too much but we had  a lovely couple of hours together before she headed home to her wee family and I headed home to dad. 


The rest of the evening dad and I spent in front of the TV. I got a bit of reading done too. I actually got my book finished. I haven´t had time to read since Christmas but on Friday evening I started a book and Monday evening, I finished it. It was good!! (The Lies we tell by Diane Chamberlain.)Now I am about to start book number two for this week! I´m loving it!! 

Today we couldn´t do anything as dad was getting blood. The Marie Curie nurse arrived at 9.30am to get dad all set up for his 2 pints of blood. It was lovely to meet her, I had heard so much about her from dad. She was lovely and we had a lovely morning together. She was finished by 2pm. Dad was tired and so he went to have a wee nap while I went to Tescos for some bread, milk etc.

Just before dinner my sister-in-law arrived with my niece and nephew. She usually heads up to see dad and this time she had a big pot of stew with her! It was delicious!! Gillian you make the best stew - I love it!! It was lovely to relax with them,

Missing you, you, you and you

I am now in Ireland. It is wonderful to see dad again and we have had a lovely time together so far.


I arrived late Friday evening. Saturday we had a long lie in, something we both needed. When we finally got up we decided to go around the corner to the local cafe and have an Ulster Fry. It was delicious as always. It was then home for a few hours of relaxing in front of the TV.


Late afternoon I decided to head into town to do some food shopping. Dad stayed at home as he has the cold. I had a lovely few hours in town. A quick visit to The Faith Mission, then a walk through Primark - too many people!! I walked right through without looking at anything. A visit to HMV - one of my favourite shops and finally food shopping in Tescos and M&S.

It was amazing how shopping  could make me miss my family. Walking through Primark I thought of my girls. In HMV I saw a DVD with Bruce Willis, Leah loves Bruce, so off course I thought of her. Then I saw Top Gear, I thought of Kristian. In Tescos I saw CurlyWurlys and I thought of Kristian. I saw Milk Bars and I thought of Andrew. I saw Skittles and I thought of Sara and so it continued through out the day. By the end I was feeling homesick for Denmark!! haha

Saturday evening dad´s neighbour came over. We had a lovely evening together, mainly talking about God and discussing different Bible verses. 


Today we are just relaxing as dad still has his cold and cough. I don´t think he should go out, so we are having church here at home, listening to different preachers on the God channel. So relaxing - just what I need.

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.