We thank the Lord for his provision of a few days at the New Jersey shore. In Sweden, the shoreline is mostly rocky so the kids enjoyed the sand and finding seashells, sand fleas, one live starfish, and numerous wild hermit crabs. It was a double blessing as we made lasting memories with grandma and grandpa! It was incredulous to see that America now sells 'deep fried oreos' and 'deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches' as if they weren't already unhealthy enough!
What a joy and blessing to have family visit us last week! Elizabeth's sister and brother in law visited from Columbus and her uncle and aunt came from the Philadelphia area. (Check out the pictures and videos of our kids playing with their cousin on our family blogsite). In between some of the normal meetings and preparation for preaching God's Word on Sunday morning, we enjoyed together the sun of Stockholm that finally decided to show up after a very dreary winter.
Lighting large bonfires is a popular
celebration in eastern parts of Sweden like in Svealand or Uppland, where people
gather material for their bonfires for months ahead. Lighting bonfires is an ancient
custom related to keeping away evil spirits, demons and witches.
For most of the Swedes though,
Valborg just means the end of the winter season and there is no better way to
celebrate it than singing Spring songs. Spring songs and choral singing are very
typical of the Swedish Valborg celebrations, with many of the traditional songs
dating from as back as the 19th century. Valborg is a double national festivity
in Sweden because King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrates his birthday on Valborg's day,
30th of April. Swedish flags are raised all around the country to salute him and
show him respect.
May Day (May 1st) follows the Valborg celebrations
with a wide choice of events, marches and demonstrations taking place across the
country to celebrate the working class' rights.
For our family, this year's celebration was especially fun for several reasons. Elizabeth's relatives from USA were in town and enjoyed obversing this holiday. Our new neighbors and their large Great Dane came over for a BBQ before the bonfire. We met some other friends while at the bonfire, and the children enjoyed a beautiful fireworks display sponsored by the local grocery store.
Today I was writing to invite someone to stay at our house for fri (utan kostnad) but instead of that, I wrote that they could stay at our house without food (utan kost).
The first few months of being in Sweden, I have often received strange looks after I kept asking for kvinnor (women) instead of kvitto (receipt).
I once said I was going to drop someone off at a building (tappar) before parking the car, but Swedes thought I was going to literally drop them from my hands to the ground (I should have said lämnar).
I said "I am going to get some glögg" (special Christmas drink) but I mis-pronounced the vowel and Swedes thought I said I was going to get holes/gaps in my teeth (glugg).
Well, it looks like we'll have snow on the ground for Easter. We had such a strangely warm winter that there was no snow on the ground for Christmas but in the past week it has remained below freezing. It has snowed all week and the kids are enjoying themselves. Should be fun for the kids to go digging for Easter eggs in the snow.
I added this to the news section since what better news is there than the Good News! This frame hangs in our dining room to testify to all who visit us that God loves us and provided the Way for eternal life through His Son!
