Week 48
Nov - Nov
24th-30th

Open wounds deep inside a teenage heart and soul can be excruciatingly painful things (where the risk for infection is great) The trust to allow anyone near the hurt doesn't come in a day or two -- but it it is unlikely to be washed clean on its own!

Mireilles employer (the government) has enroled her in a specialized training program so she has spent 2 days a week in Gothenburg the last weeks. Next week is the final one with exams and stuff -I think - and then with Christmas on the way in - our days will be full.

The kids have had some colds and such ,-- but except for a couple of days have been in school as usual. The school Christmas parties start next week (including the Saint Lucia traditions)-- so that will book up my evenings.

Week 47
Nov - Nov
17th-23rd

Friday we took some of our kids (and their friends) out of school for the day, loaded up our bus and spent the day on a trip further south in Sweden to a enormous discount clothing store (they have 6000 shopping carts . most were being used when we arrived) Amazing how a person can "save so much money" but still come home so poor!! On the way home we had a tire 'blow out' (first in 20 years) on the freeway that made for some excitement. It was on the side of the bus toward very heavy fast moving trafic so I didn't dare trying to fix it myself. The emergency help truck with all its lights and bells and whistles made a good story for the kids to tell when we finally got home again. Boy did the taco dinner with the neighbors that evening ever taste good!

Saterday morning was my turn to visit folks in isolation in a larger pre-trial detention center for our justice system in a nearby city. For some poor folks, life has an amazing capacity to really 'hit the fan" -- a fresh reminder that good people are still sometimes a long ways from perfect -- but so is the legal system!! 

Week 46
Nov - Nov
10th-16th

Rebecka is in her third (and final) year of high school where she has specialized in the 'care' industry (nursing, social work, etc etc) The first 6 weeks of 2009 is to be compulsory work experience and of couse, where that is to be done is an important question for her. This week she was VERY pleased to finalize the plans to do it in the maternity/delivery ward of our nearest hospital.

Ellen is back to her interest in horses - Eleanore spent Saterday at an indoor soccer tournament for young girls. Alfons is involved with the latest release of a WOW extention (online computer game). I keep busy as a 'house wife' and Mireille is busy with her work.

Week 45
Nov - Nov
3rd-9th

Mireille worked 54 hours this week so was away a good part of the time. Her work place has an interesting way of scheduling her working hours. She puts in her suggestion once a month as to the days and hours she wishes to work to get her monthly hours in, and with a little adjusting for how the others plan she, usually gets her plans approved. This week she got a lot of hours in partly because she accompanied her 'girls' on longer trips through our county to visit their homes and families. Depending on the security risks she sometimes has another of her co-workers with her, and sometimes does it alone.

Seems to me that most of my week went to meetings -- partly for our own kids in parent teacher interviews and such .. and mostly in connection with the enormous control system for the kids that have been placed in our care. Lots of colorful individuals in this system so I find it all quite interesting.

I am involved in a parent operated youth center in our little village -- this occupied my Saterday evening.  As you can imagine in any voluntary parent organization, there are lots of opinions .. so I spend a fair bit of energy, just attempting to dodge opinions!! The kids are the lesser of the problems!

Today was fathers day in Sweden -- and it seems that I fill the requirements for celebration in this - so my kids have made me a king for the day.

Week 44
Oct - Nov
27th-2nd

On Wednesday Mireille was working but I took the two smallest and our new 13 year old friend 'Maria' to a Water World facility in a near by city. Seeing it was fall break, the place was crowded -- so you can imagine me trying to keep track of my three in the moving swarm of folks (of every form, shape, shade and size) - but the kids thought it was fun!!

Mireille was off work for 4 days the end of the week .. and as usual had  filled these days with plans! Friday she had invited a childhood friend and family for supper, that she hadn't seen for a few years. They only live a few cities away, but we found it interesting to think about how time in genuine friendship seems to surge and receed to fit into other aspects of practical reality. - This doesn't reflect on the value of the  friendship - and when we met again, it was simply picking up where we left off - nothing seemed to have been lost!!

Saterday evening Mireille invited some neighbors in -- and (she decided) that a single neighbor man and I would make a fall pot of stew for us all to eat together -- so on Friday he and I drove into town and bought some ingredients that we figured would make a tasty pot. Fortunatly he is a good cook ..

Rebecka and Niklas celebrate a 1 year anniversay of their relationship .. and went out to a resort on the coast. -- Ellen returned from Umeå on Wednesday -- and then went to Gothenburg to spend some time with Emma. Alfons and some of his friends are busy building some BMX bike ramps in one of the unused buildings on our property here.

Week 48

It seems to me that theology has hijacked and distorted much of the beauty in the concept of our "soul".  Rather than the religiously implied interpretation of it as a simple transport medium to the afterlife, it appeals to me as the most significant ingredient of life itself, as we live on the earth.  'Losing' or 'gaining' our soul, has far more to do with our capacity for life, than it does with  out potential in death. 'Gaining' our soul is something we need to care for every day that we live -- it is what makes living a 'life'!

Week 47

Week 46

I am dealing with a language school to give a class in "Inspirational English" - This is part of the description of what I have  it will be about.

"Language is used primarily as a simple communication tool to help us accomplish ordinary tasks in daily life.   How well we communicate (in any language) makes a significant difference in how well we manage to handle the challenges of an ordinary day.

In our society, for most of us today, the basic physical aspects of life --  food, shelter, security etc are easily and well taken care of . To achieve fulfillment in life, it has become more and more important for each of us to reach deeper into our hearts and values to discover, share and develop what we feel and believe.  ‘Inspiration’  - ‘motivation’  -‘stimulation’ have become some of the most important factors determining how we succeed or fail in getting the best (and the most) out of each day that we live. This is a two way street – both regarding how we can motivate and inspire others we know and love, and how we can find inspiration and be motivated by the people and forces around us.

There are motivating forces all around us every day – many of them in our own environment and language – however, of recent years, new channels of inspiration have come within our reach through the English language – the lyrics of the songs we hear each day – much of the film industry – books and writings – Internet presentations etc.  

Much of the motivational value of these things does not demand any especially advanced technical level of the English language – but it does require a skill in listening with the thought of recognizing and utilizing what has an inspirational value for us in the words that  we hear."

Week 45

Kids placed in our care often have had very major problems in the school system -- and I spent part of my week trying to convince the school that our girl has the right to a new begining now. What has been, shouldn't be held against her because things are different  -- and if we are to give her a chance to reach her goals it is impossible for her to bare the failures of yesterday as well as the enormous challenges of today that all children face.. 

Perhaps this is one of lifes challenges for us all. -- to begin each day, with a clean face and a new shirt.

Regardless what ugly failures may lie behind the legal decisions that have led up to this separation .. it is hard to see anything but beauty in a heart, when  we  have the privelage of seeing it through the prisim of a mothers honest teardrops.