BABYSHOWER

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very bad day. I didnt sleep well during the night and I was tired, lonely and fed up with almost everything. In the afternoon I decided to take the car and drive to Kolding, to do some shopping to prepare for the baby. I didnt really know what to look for, I was mostly looking around to figure out what I need, and where I can buy it.
Then I went home to find Steen shoveling snow outside the house. I was happy to see him, and a little sad we wouldnt have time to spend time together that evening. Katja, Joanna and Bolette were supposed to come, so we could have our monthly YW precidency meeting.
Steen asked if we should take the curtains down on the window to block out the world a bit, and perhaps make it all a little more romantic as we had our dinner.. Steen and I just finished our dinner, when Joanna and Katja showed up. We were still waiting for Bolette, so we were not in a rush to start.
I was cleaning the table, when someone came in the main door. I saw it was Steens mother, and someone else (probably Bolette). I got a little confused, I didnt know Steens mother was coming. But maybe she was just going to pick up something. I heard people talking, and realized there was more people coming. I got even more confused. Suddenly the entrance was full of people! Alot of people from the church, Steens sister and niece, Annas mother and my good friend Mia. I think I got the point pretty fast - it was going to be a babyshower, but I was still very confused, and for a minute or two I tried to hide behind Steen. It was just too overwhelming. More than 20 persons came in to our little living room, and we didnt even have chairs enough. Steen went around the house to find the extra chairs we have got, and a few pillows. Then he left.... I was commanded to sit down, and I really felt bad to not having enough chairs for all the guests.. And the reason why Steen pulled down the curtains was so that I wouldnt see all the people outside the house when they would approach the house!
I got so many gifts, I think I have never opened that many gifts at the same time. It felt like ten times christmas. And I got so many nice things for our little baby! Games, clothes, blancets, diapers and much more. Each and everyone of the guests made a little wish for our baby - I got them written down on a nice piece of paper. It was really cute. And everyone got to guess wich date he is going to be born, and give a suggestion for a name!
Later in the evening, a few of the guests had brought delicious cakes, and other treats.
Thank you everyone! Thanks for coming and make such a good evening for me! Thanks for all the good gifts for our little boy! And thank you for the delicious cakes you made for the evening :-) You are great!
So after all it turned out to be a really good day anyway!

Steen is sneaking out! He didnt like to be the only rooster in the hen-house :-)

This is handmade!



Steens mum made this woolen blancet.



..And can I just say, - as Unni's husband.. Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than pulling a prank like this on Unni ! I knew about this babyshower for at least a month, and all this time Unni would say: "Steen, if you hear any kind of rumour about a babyshower, please let me know, I've got some friends that need an invitation" Haha, she didn't have a clue !
I knew that having that many people in the house would overwhelm Unni, but I actually think she handled it very well..
Also many thanks to the people who participated in surprising her, and planning it all..

YW - wednesday activity

Wednesday night we use to have a Young Women activity in church. This Wednesday was no exception, the difference was just that we did the activity home at my place instead. Its easier and better to make christmas cakes and candies in a home, instead of the church building.
We had a good time together making cakes. The girls did an excellent work! We made ginger snap (pepperkaker), finskbrød (danish cake) and marzipan chocolate.

Josefine and Karoline :-)

Helene and Alma :-) Welcome home Helene!


Doesnt it look delicious? I think I could have eaten it all! But I am unfortunately not going to eat it. The cakes are going to be given to the elderly people in church. Next Wednesday we will go christmas caroling and give a little gift of cakes and candies... I think thats a good christmas tradition :-) I look forward to experience that !

Visiting Anna

Last Wednesday Mia and I went to visit Anna. We used to be her helpers last year. She is trained by the family hope methode. (www.familyhopecenter.org)
Since then Mia has started school to take an education as a preschool teacher, and I have been working as a nurse at Kolding sygehus.
We both miss Anna a lot - she is a very intelligent and funny girl, and we appriciate to come and visit her once in a while.
This day she had made a lot of christmas-presents for us.

She had made a colorful braclet for each of us.

She had made them all by her self! And she also had wrapped in some of the gifts by her self! I was so impressed. Even I sometimes have a hard time wrapping in gifts....

We got so many nice things:

Handpainted kettle holders, a painting, homemade christmas jam and preserved beetroots.

We had a really nice time together. Annas mother had made a lot of delicious christmas cakes and candies. It tasted really, really good.

And of course we had some time to play too! Here you can see princess Anna and Mia crawling to find a little kitten called Nussi.

Christmas in our house :-)

Steen is gone for most of the week. He has a lot to do at his work. Now he is in Fredrikshavn (at the best Scandic hotel there is in Denmark, I am not jalous at all!!!!!), and at Thursday he will go to Copenhagen. So I have a lot of time to clean the house for chrismas, put up chrismas decorations and update my blog....
Today I have been making Christmas decorations with Steens mum. It was actually pretty fun. Here you can see the result:

This was for the front door. But unfortunately there wasnt any place to suspend it. So I put it on the wall in the bathroom instead. I guess that works too!

This decoration was for the living room. And here it is. Steen has made all those silver stars at the table. He tried to teach me how to do it too, but it wasnt that easy. Dont know if I could do it myself, without him guiding me.... Sometimes he is also making big hearts and baskets out of them. Its pretty amazing!

This was for the kitchen, its my favorite!

I had to add this picture too. I love that little "nisse". One of my brothers made it many years ago, and I think it is so cute!

A kiss under the mistletoe

4 weeks

Tomorrow it`s only about four weeks until we will have our little baby-boy. We look forward to that! The last few days we have spent time painting the little baby-room, and I have aldo been wasing and ironing clothes. The room isnt ready yet - we havnt got all the furniture yet, so pictures will be posted later. But I will post a few pictures of the cute, small clothes we have got.

1. advent

TENN LYS !

Tenn lys !

Et lys skal brenne for denne lille jord.

Den blanke himmelstjerne, der vi og alle bor.

Må alle dele håpet så gode ting kan skje.

Må jord og himmel møtes. Et lys er tent for det.

Tenn lys !

To lys skal skinne for kjærlighet og tro,

for dem som viser omsorg og alltid bygger bro.

Må fanger få sin frihet og flyktninger et hjem.

Tenn lys for dem som gråter og dem som trøster dem.

Tenn lys!

Tre lys skal flamme for alle som må sloss.

For rettferd og for frihet. De trenger hjelp av oss.

Må ingen miste motet før alle folk er ett.

Tenn lys for dem som kjemper for frihet og for rett.

Tenn lys !

Nå stråler alle de fire lys for ham

som elsker alt som lever, hver løve og hvert lam.

Tenn lys for himmelkongen som gjeterflokken så.

Nå møtes jord og himmel i barnet lagt på strå.

(Eivind Scheie)

1. advent - our weekend :-)

It has been a good weekend. Yesterday we went to the temple with two good friends Stephan and Joanna. We drove early morning, and it was snowing so much we wasnt sure we would make it to Copenhagen. But we did - we even reached the first session.
It was good to be in the temple again! I am happy we have a temple so close by.

After temple we tried to find an indian resturant, but it didnt work out. After driving through what felt like all of Copenhagen, we decided to go for a mexican one instead. The food was really good, but the place could have been more cozy.....

It has been snowing a lot these days. I like it :-) Feels like winter and christmas!
And today when we visited Steens grandma at the nursing home, they where singing christmas carols and eating "epleskiver" and "pepperkaker". It looked like the elderly people had a good time, and we enjoyed it too.

One of the things about christmas that has always fascinated me, is our christmas carols. All around us we can hear christmas music, with lyrics about Christ as a baby. Even in the stores will play this kind of music, and I really do think that has an influence on people, even if they notice or not.

This is one of my favorit christmas songs. When I was a teenager I went to Ten-Sing Tromøy for a couple of years, and every year we used to sing this song in church before christmas. It brings back a lot of good memories...!

1 year anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our 1 year anniversary. Its already 1 year since we got married! Thats crazy! In Denmark its a tradition to save the top of the wedding cake, and eat it at the anniversary day. So did we too! It actually tasted pretty good!

"Vor Frue Kirke"

This story is written by Boyd K. Packer.
I always think of that when I visit Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen!

“In 1976 an area general conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Following the closing session,
President Kimball expressed a desire to visit Vor Frue Church,
where the Thorvaldsen statues of the Christus and of the
Twelve Apostles stand.
He had visited this some years before.
Others of us had also seen it but some had not,
and he felt we should all go there.

The church was closed for renovation,
nevertheless arrangements wire quickly
made for us to be admitter for a few minutes.
There were just a few of us.

To the front of the church, behind the altar,
stands the familiar statue
of the Christus with his arms turned forward and somewhat outstretched,
the hands showing the imprint of the nails,
the wound in his side clearly visible.
Along each side stand the statues of the Apostles,
Peter at the front on the
right side of the church, and the other Apostles in order.
It is not a large building,
and these beautiful statues make an impressive sight indeed.

Most of the group were near the rear of the chapel, where the custodian,
through an interpreter, was giving some explanation.
I stood with President Kimball, Elder Rex Pinegar, and President Bentine,
the stake president, before the statue of Peter.
In his hand, depicted in marble, is a set of heavy keys.
President Kimball pointedto them and explained what they symbolized.
Then in an act I shall never forget,
he turned to President Bentine and with an unaccustomed sternness pointed his finger
at him and said with firm, impressive words,
“I want you to tell every Lutheran in
Denmark that they do not hold the keys!
I hold the keys! We hold the real keys
and we use them every day.”

This declaration and testimony from the prophet so affected me
that I knewI would never forget it - the influence was powerfully
spiritual and the impression
was physical in its impact as well.

W walked out to the end of the chapel where the rest of the group were standing.
Pointing at the statues,
President Kimball said to the custodian who was showingus the building,
“These are the dead Apostles. Here we have the living Apostles.”
Pointing at me he said, “Elder Packer is an Apostle.”
He designated the others and said,
“Elder Monson and Elder Perry are Apostles, and I am an Apostle.
We are living Apostles.
You read about seventies in the New Testament, and here are living seventies,
Brother Pinegar and Brother Hales.”

The custodian, who to that time had shown no particular emotion,
suddenly was in tears.

As we left that little chapel where those impressive sculptures stand, I felt I had taken
part in an experience of a lifetime.

The word key is symbolic. The word sealing is symbolic. Both represent, I repeat,
the consummate authority on this earth for man to act in the name of God."

Visit from Norway

A few weeks ago, Jon came to visit us! That was sooo good! He is leaving for his mission in November, so this was the last chance to see him before he is leaving.... I will miss him a lot!
He brought me a lot of Norwegian chocolate - thank you Jon!
The weekend we spent in Copenhagen. At Friday Jon and I was looking around in Copenhagen city, while Steen was at work. We went shopping at "Strøget", visited "Vor Frue Kirke", and did some shopping for mum at LDS books.


Friday night we went to a wedding reception - for Kristina and Robert. It was a beautiful reception!


Saturday we went to the temple. There were so many people there! Malmø stake was in charge, and there were people from Sweeden, Denmark and Norway (because of the wedding friday).
Jon stayed with us almost a week. The last day was my birthday. I had a day of work, so I could spend the day with Jon. That was nice :-)
I am really happy Jon came to see us before he is leaving! It was good to see him, and I will miss him a lot! But I am also sure he will be a great missionary, and that he will enjoy his mission a lot!

A blanket for a baby-boy

More than a year ago I visited Oslo. When I was there I bought some nice, expencive yarn from the store Nøstebarn. I was going to knit a baby blanket for my friend I thought. I wanted to give her something Norwegian and something of good quality. At that time I had no idea it would take so much time. I had to give up, the baby was born long before I even had a good start with the blanket. That was in May last year. Then another friend was going to have a baby in October. I was happy so to hear it was a boy, since the yarn was blue. I worked a little bit more on the blanket, and thought I would at least be done before October. Again I was wrong. I am not very good at knitting... I then got tired of the hole project, and gave up for a while. Now I have started once again, hoping to be done before we get our own baby-boy...

Updates :-)

This is how our stairs look right now. Not entirely finished, but very soon :-)

Our stairs

After a long, hard winter, the stairs outside our house looked like this:

Pretty boring.

My family visited us a month ago, and my dad spend a lot of time breaking it down together with Steen. Thank you dad!

I didnt know it was going to be that much work... And it has been even more work to rebuild it. Steen has been using most of his free time to work at it. And his good friends Poul-Erik and Hans-Jørgen has helped a lot! Thank you :-)

These pictures are mostly for my dad - he wanted to see how everything turned out. If he could choose, I am sure he would have stayed for another week, to help rebuild it, but my grandfather in Sweden was also waiting for them to come, so they better leave for some more vacationes (and work) in Sweden.

This is the foundation for the stairs, looking down on it from the front door.


Again the view of looking down on the stairs from the front door, now the outer walls have been build, and iron bars have been placed between the walls to add strength and stability.