A season of reflection....

For us who celebrate Christmas this could easily turn into a time to stress out and get ready, rather than to reflect! My own way of dealing with this time of year is to buy my presents as early as possible and be done with at least that bit.There are so many things we do not have to do I have realized over the years, and what remains is: creating opportunity to just chill together! And reflect. Reflect on the real reason for this season. So here comes my reflection.......


I wasn´t just brought up in a Christian country, I consider myself to belong to the faith of Christianity. But sometimes it seems hard to keep focus on what is more important as a Christian. As a believer though,  I don´t really have a choice on what is more important. Jesus clearly states what is most important: "Love your Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself" (from Mark 12:30). This means that the color of the Starbucks Christmas cup actually is not that important. I would say that protesting against gay marriage is of lesser importance too, just to mention a few.

As Christians, or as humans for that matter, it is our responsibility to help others. To give up something to be there for someone else. Our mission is not to spread fear, but to comfort. The reason for the suffering we see today is evil. The reason is not Islam. Unless you would like to say that Jesus would stand behind what Ku-Klux-Klan stands for. Didn´t think so.The reason for the suffering we see is pure evil. Brainwashed human beings with a longing to belong. They do belong now. To ISIS.


We live in a time where there are sooo many people who need urgent help. People who have watched their loved ones die in front of them, people who do not know any other way than to leave the place they love, where they belong, where they have their identity and run for their lives. Why shouldn´t we help them? Probably because it might cost us some. If not money then it might cost us some of our time or comfort, that we do have in abundance. But the reward of helping others is greater than the cost. Try it. Next time it might be you who need the help!

I dare you to do something out of the ordinary this season. Try something you wouldn´t think you would do. Enlarge your comfort zone. Buy gifts for someone who REALLY needs them, visit someone, give a meal. Be there. Look someone in the eyes, affirm. Share your life!

We as Christians often say "Jesus is the reason for the season". We do celebrate him being born on this day.

Gee, if only there was a biblical story about middle-eastern people fleeing for their lives, and looking for shelter..... hmmmm......

2012 in review

 

Another year has almost come to an end. For some it is nostalgic to look back, maybe sad that another year is over. I always think this is a time to look forward. However we might feel, it is here. And it is real, and it is happening.

I can not fathom how lucky I am. Or more precisely, how blessed I am! We live in a fabulous country (there is no Utopia). I have a chance to go to school, paid, we have everything we need in abundance! We even have something a lot of people around the globe unfortunately lack today, safety. Safety is nothing one should take for granted, neither is it something we can control. Not fully.

I have a lot of friends from different countries living here in Lund (Sweden). They comment sometimes that here they can actually allow their kids to play outside without constant supervision. It is something we, as Swedes, do take for granted I think. It is a fabulous thing to be able to do that. Yet, in most countries around the globe it is not possible. In Sweden we have very few abductions, very  few killings and very few guns. My heart goes out to Connecticut, and again I can´t help but feeling blessed. I am so greatful for my life, and for safety.

During 2012 I continued my studies to become a Special education teacher. I love being back in school! During the school breaks we went skiing. First we stayed with Farmor and Farfar (grandparents) to ski during the winter break. Then we headed towards the Alps and our good friends in Geneva, Switzerland for some more skiing during the Easter break! It was wonderful to be able to take the kids to all those places we visited living there for 6 years as newly married. Noah got to see where he was born and he loved it! And to take the kids up some real slopes! Wow!

The Summer break started off a bit sad. My father moved to his real home, heaven. He had been sick for a while so it was not unexpected, but still very hard to see him go. He was a great man, in many senses.

The Summer was spent mostly at home, we made a few shorter trips, but with a pool and a 15 minute drive to the beach, there is no real reason to go away during summer! Our dear friends from our time in Geneva, Jennifer and Henrik Nissen with Tobias and Amelie and Liz Prosser came to stay with us for a few days. They managed to time their visit very well as we had almost 30 C (85-90F) degree weather the entire time! We sat outside until midnight and went to a couple of different beaches, but most of all, we were able to catch up! And the kids had fun too!

Fall break was spent at home too, maybe next year we will take our new camper out! Fall means cheaper campers, so we found one we loved and got it! Haven´t been able to try it yet, but we look forward to doing so in the spring! Andreas got to visit Japan for the first time in the fall. He brought back some new outfits for the kids!

I have almost never been away from my family. Living in the US there weren´t really anywhere for me to go without them. But this fall I caught up! I went to London with my sister and niece, to Stockholm with my best friend, and to Eastbourne, England with two dear friends! I love living in Sweden! (could have a better climate, but otherwize.....). Andreas took good care of the crew during my absence.

And now we are in a time of Advent. We just said goodbye to Andreas´ grandmother who moved to her heavenly home last week at an age of 99! With Christmas around the corner, we would like to wish you peaceful one, and happy and prosperous new year! And keep Christ in Christmas!

With much love, Jennifer and Andreas Jansson and the below gang! Keep in touch!

 

 

 

 

London baby!

It is nothing I am ashamed of or hide, but I am pretty indispensable around the house. To quote my good friend Jossan (who´s husband also is away alot at night) , I say "I  AM the Jansson-enterprise".

This blog-post is not about how great I am, it is just a reflection on how part of my life appear. I am very happy with life, and my husband is a great man. It´s just that sometimes the unlikely things happen to an extent that you just have to stop, and laugh about.

We chose early to live our lives this way, and for us it works. My husband gets to work with his passion, Physics, and I get to do my passion, motherhood. But even a mother neads a vacation from her job sometimes, so together with two other chicas, I took off to do London for a couple of days!

So me, my sis and my niece, a mother of two, left Sweden for London last Saturday. We had many laughs, walked until we had blisters (that might have been only me, who insisted on wearing no socks...), shopped till we dropped, went to the Theatre, rode double-deckars, English cabs and the Tube, ate sushi and fish and chips, saw the Big Ben and Westminister up close! We did NOT however have a Sauna, as it wouldn´t work for us the two times we tried. We didn´t quite get stuck in the elevator either, even though the elevator lived a very interesting life of its own..... I also got lots of souvenirs for my kids, I got a shopping bag with the Queen of England on it, (for which I am now being widely harrassed, haha) and also got to feel a bit American again as I had Starbucks coffee and  a Bra measured and bought at Victoria´s secret!

We had a great stay in London, and the reports from home were good too. Emma called and missed me deeply already on Sunday morning, but other than that everything seemed to run smoothly. Until Tuesday night. That´s when Andreas went grocery shopping and as he was putting the groceries into the car, he managed to get the edge of the paper bag right into his eye, and managed to cut his cornea right across his pupillary, and when he finally managed to get home, with agonizing pain and one-eyed,  Noah ram right into an open window and started bleeding from his head!  Other than that Andreas managed to hold the house down pretty well!

He ended up with a pirates eye-patch and strict orders from the doctor not to drive for a couple of days, (so now I am a taxi-driver as well!) and Noah ended up with  a head ache (which he has now recovered from btw). So, to sum it up, yes, my family still needs me! After being away, I also feel refreshed to take care of business around the house! Even momma´s need a break sometimes!

Have good weekend everyone!

A tribute to a great man.

A great man has passed on. (för svenska, scrolla ner)

He was born 1929 under poor conditions in a small town in Sweden. He grew up partly in Eastern Africa, partly in an orphonage in Gothenburg together with 3 out of 4 sisters while his parents left for a year in Africa, which turned out to be 7 years because of WWII. His name was Rhode Struble, Rhode after the country Rhodesia, Struble his father took after his married sister in the US. A great man has passed on, a man with many strings to his bow. A man who was on fire for his Lord and Master and who chose to walk in his parents footsteps and became a missionary in Eastern Africa.

1956 he married Gudrun Drott. They moved to Brussels, Belgium shortly after the wedding to study French. That´s where their first son, Daniel was born. Christine was born 2 years later during their first period as missionaries together in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. As a missionary he got to practice his musicality, pray for people, preach, plant new churches, negotiate with authorities about new developments and use his talent for languages. 4 years later, Samuel was born during a stay in Sweden. 1973 the whole family returned to Sweden for good, and one year later Jennifer was born. He had 4 children, 11 grand children and 3 great grand children.

A great man has passed on, a man who loved to discuss, loved to read Gods word, loved to travel, loved to teach, loved to study, loved the sun, loved his wife. A very diverse man. A man who was called ”retarded” growing up, but who later accomplished a doctorate in Theology while he was working full time as a teacher. A man whos humility knew no limits. A man who wrote 7 books, and refused to be called an author, a man who spoke 5 languages fluently but refused to be even called knowledgable in languages. A man whos generosity knew no limits. A man who would give the shirt on his back to a person in need. There are many of us who were touched by his life. Many are we who remember. Many are we who now say good bye, many are we who are going to see him again, one day.

Just like Moses, he was born to nothing, walked with God, lead a people and died satisfied with life.

A great man has passed on,

that man was my father.

I love you dad!

Jennifer Jansson

En stor man har gått ur tiden.

Han föddes 1929 i en kökssoffa i Småland. Han växte delvis upp i östra Afrika, dels på barnhem i Göteborg tillsammans med 3 av sina 4 systrar, då hans föräldrar åkt till Afrika som missionärer för ett år och fastnat i 7, pga andra världskriget. Hans namn var Rhode Struble. Rhode efter Rodesia i Afrika, Struble tog hans far efter sin gifta syster. En stor man har gått ur tiden, en man med många strängar på sin lyra. En man som brann för sin Herre och mästare, och som valde att gå i sina föräldrars fotspår och bli missionär för svenska Pingströrelsen i östra Afrika.

1956 gifte han sig med Gudrun Drott. Tillsammans flyttade de ganska omgående till Bryssel för att lära sig franska, där föddes deras första son, Daniel. Christine föddes två år senare i Tanzania under deras första gemensamma missionsperiod. Som missionär fick han använda sin musikalitet, be för sjuka, predika ordet, plantera församlingar, förhandla med myndigheter om nybyggnationer och även använda sig av sina mångfaldiga språkkunskaper. 4 år senare föddes Samuel under en vistelse i Sverige. 1973 kom familjen hem till Sverige för gott, och ett år senare föddes Jennifer. Han fick 11 barnbarn och 3 barnbarnsbarn.

En stor man har gått ur tiden, en man som älskade att diskutera, älskade att läsa Guds ord, älskade att resa, älskade att undervisa, älskade att studera, älskade solen, älskade sin fru. En mångfaldens man. En man som under sin barndom blev kallad ”idiot” (efterbliven) men som senare doktorerade i teologi under tiden han arbetade heltid som lärare. En man vars ödmjukhet sällan skådats. En man som skrev 7 böcker, men vägrade kalla sig författare. En man som talade 5 språk flytande men vägrade kallade sig språkkunnig. En man vars generositet sällan skådats. En man som skulle kunnat ge sin sista skjorta till någon som behövde den bättre. Många är vi som berörts av hans liv. Många är vi som minns. Många är vi som tar farväl, många är vi som tänker se honom igen, en dag.

Precis som Mose, föddes han till ingenting, vandrade med Gud, ledde ett folk och dog mätt på livet.

En stor man har gått ur tiden,

den mannen var min pappa.

Jag älskar dig pappa.

Jennifer Jansson

Christmas Letter 2011

Västra Karaby December 23, 2011

Who´s the reason for the seaon?

Well, we believe that would be Jesus. He rocks. Even this year.
This has been a sort turbulent year for us. One year ago, we struggle with finding ways for Noah to like
school. We don´t struggle anymore. He switched schools this school year and is very happy where he is.

I , Jennifer, am back in school since August this year. Not teaching, but to learn. I was working in a preschool in Lund all spring, and decided to go back to school, part time, and eventually get a degree in special education. I was excited, anxious, apprehensive, proud and curious all at the same time to go back to school, and it turns out, I still have some learning brain-cells left, and I love it! I love beeing in school!

And I am doing it part time to be able to be here for my family. Andreas still travels alot and then it

depends on me, so I didn´t want to take on too much initially. I have decided to not go back to work in the spring either, and then we will re-evaluate.

Albin and Emma are still in the International school in Lund. They speak English all day, Noah get´s

mother-tounge tuitione in English once a week, and on top of that we are trying to provide English books and movies for him. He thinks it´s weird if we speak English at home, so that doesn´t work out to well.

Albin is in PYP3 (Primary Year Program 3, at an IB-program (International Baccalaureat) ). Emma is in PYP 2. They both love school, the only thing they are not thrilled about is that a lot of their friends move after 6 months or a year. So quite some good byes yesterday, last day of school for this year!

Andreas is still trying to set up a facility that will find Higgs Boson particle before everybody else does.Oh, no that was his previous and the one before that work place. There is still no accelerator in sight, but the plan to start building one in 2-3 years time is still firm. But they are changing location for their offices on Feb. 1st as they quickly outgrew their first facility. He still travels a lot, and in October we all got to come with him to Illinois! Back to our old neighbourhood! It all worked out really well, as he was ,working there for about 10 days at the same time as our kids were off school on Fall break!

We had a truly awesom trip! Hotel was great, weather was fab, the old neighbours had a couple of days

off from school, so we could hang out with them at pumpkin farms, the zoo, the movies during the day!And then we did lots of fun stuff at night too, to forget Halloween! It was great to be back and being able to celebrate a cute Halloween. As Halloween is pretty new here in Sweden, it is all scary. Witches, ghosts, goblings, spirits, blood, skeletons etc whereas in the US you can dress up as anything you want! Cute! We were able to hit our old playgroups Halloween party at Fermilab, Halloween itself at the Finleys with tons of candy and other good stuff!

We had so much fun and it really felt like being back home! But then when it was time to leave again,

that felt like going home too..... (Albin was sad though, really sad. He misses Ryan. A lot!)

We are now getting ready for Christmas at our house! We are not travelling this time of year, as some of us do too much of that the rest of the year. So tomorrow is Christmas eve and we going to have a mix of family and friends over for a traditional swedish Julbord! I already got my Christmas present, we remodeled our bathroom this fall, and the jet-tub is MINE! Last Sunday we had a big Birthday Party for Jesus at church, it was so fun to see all the kids there! And a great way to actually remember that it isn´t Santa we are celebrating.....

So to all of us, to all of you, a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas and wonderful and blessed New Year!

Paris, Paris, Paris! [Pah-ree]

It's been about nine years since I visted a France the last time! Nine years since I really had to speak french. It is going pretty ok. I Haven't really been indulged in any deeper conversations, more asking for things and so on, but it is all coming back to me.

Our three darling children are enjoying the company of paternal grandparents, so just us! Andreas will be working for about three days, but we are here for a week, so that's fine!

We started off today by having breakfast at a local Bolangerie, Bakery that is. I had Pain au Chocolat with a Grand Cafe. Funny how the size of coffe various over the cultures and countries. What I had this morning was a large coffee, and probably the size of a quarter of a Starbucks Tall one (small coffee at American coffee shop). We have actually seen Starbucks here too! And Gap. Got the kids T-shirts that said Gap, Paris on them, for the same price as they sell the souvenir T-shirts at crap quality by the Eiffel tower.

As we were headed towards l'Arc the Triomph at the end of the famous bolevard Champs Elyssee today, we were along La Seine and by the Louvre and we paused for moment to watch to guys climb the roof to fix something. I saw a rope dangling and said to Andreas Thank goodness they have security ropes in case they'd fall! Well, at the other end of that rope was a bucket dangling with tools to fix whatever it was he was fixing. This was on the 4th floor. I had to leave, I couldn't risk witnessing another person die. We turned to continue towards l'Arc the Triomph, and a woman comes up to us and bends over to pick up a gold ring, almost like a wedding band but wider. She turns to Andreas and says "Oh My God!" 

I had noticed that there was no ring on the ground 2 seconds earlier and told Andreas in Swedish that she did in fact not find it, but had it already. He got a bit confused and just told her it wasn't his, and she lost interest and continued on her walk. We then paused again, to see her do it again to two or three other couples. It is clear to me that her intention was to fool us, and them, but we still can't figure out what she wanted? How was she supposed to fool us? I dont't get it! But if you do, please leave a comment and explain this weird thing to us!

We walked at least 15 km today, in scorching heat, so now we are enjoying the AC for a bit before heading out for dinner!

Summertime!

Summer in Sweden is like I remembered it. I walked the dog the other night, at 9.30 pm in the sight the wheat and canola fields coloured by the redness of the setting sun, the blackbird accompanying the scenery. I have missed this sooooo much being away for 14 years! And to think I live right in it is just overwhelming! I plucked a bouquet of early summer flowers to bring home. There were never this many wild flowers in the US. I am not sure I have realized that until now.

Another thing we have here, that the US doesn´t have is Allemansrätten. In English the official translation reads The right of public access. This means that you have the right to walk through other peoples property, unless it is a fenced private yard. So you may walk through and also pick flowers and mushrooms etc. in the forest and fields everywhere (some restrictions apply). Wonderful! The accessibility of nature is really something!

I miss Illinois climate though. A climate where an outdoor event in all likelyhood can be planned and held. Here, you always need a plan B for outdoor events. In April we had 80 F. or 24 C, this week we have a mere 55 F or 16 C and the rain is supposed to hang over us for a week. Ugh. I love hot and humid weather , Andreas is happy we have Swedish climate though.

This week is the first week off. I am on Maternity leave! YAY! The leave is valid until the child turns 8, so I am off all Summer with the kids. This week we have been home all week. Re-organized furniture, cleaned out closets and toys, went to the dump one day with stuff, gave away other stuff and cleaned cleaned cleaned! The kids love it! They really want to be helpful so they have also done a lot of work with me. We have been re-organizing in preparation of something I might tell you in a later blog. Keep praying for us!

Noah went to spend a day in his new school before it ended, and he loves it! I think his life will be so much easier when he starts there! Things are looking better! I love life! I love God. He´s so cool.

The kids and I are making Swedish cardamom rolls to fill the freezer for Summer fun!

Family get-together

Lived 14 years away from family. 14 years with most major holidays and family traditions by ourselves. It was ok. I wasn't very homesick living abroad-until I went home. Going home (to Sweden) to visit was always very emotional. Coming back to our house was hard too at times, but then once we got back into our routines it was fine.

We realized that living away from family has its good sides too.... never having to think where one would go for major holidays, never having to hurt anyone b/c we wouldn't choose THEIR house, b/c we wouldn't come to anyone's house..... but as the kids are getting older they realize that most people have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins around. But they didn't. So, now we can happily offer our kids that. Family get-togethers. Extended family get-togethers.

For three Sundays in a row we have been hanging out with my sis' family, and a variety of other people from our church. At our house. LOVE it! Last Sunday as the lunch guests were leaving, Andreas' cousin and his family, including three kids arrived for coffee. Having cousins and second cousins is a totally new concept for our children, and we all love it.

We chose to buy this house based on the entertainment possibilities. And our plan has worked out. Yesterday we had our immediate neighbors over for brunch, and finally our kids could meet. They have two boys in our kids age, and now they finally have friends they can walk to, by themselves!

Albin started off soccer-season a week ago, and Noah joined the local scouts last week too. Ridingschool started last week, and all kids are now involved in activities locally so hopefully they will soon make lots of friends here where we live. (They go to school in the city, not the local school)

This blog-post is really pathetically positive, but we are just really enjoying Gods blessings right now!

Have a good week! And please leave a comment, here or at FB. (about 100 ppl read my blog and don't know who you are!)

Just realized.....

......something through my friend Amy . Funny how hard it can be sometimes to connect the dots! Here goes:
On Sunday, we had baptism in our Church. We are involved in a Church-body which seems to be the only or one of few growing churches in this VERY secular part of Sweden, so a Baptism is really huge!

He had no family present to join him in this happy occasion, which reminded me of the time we presented Albin for Dedication in our Church in Geneva, Il. It was just us. No family. No one to celebrate with afterwards.  I felt very sad that time.  SO, in case he would do the same, (and because he happens to be really great guy) we had him over for lunch on Sunday, together with three other families, one had planned to come, and the two others came along, just because. Wonderful. So a celebrational, spontaneus lunch together at our house today. Love it.

In Geneva Switzerland we lived like this most of the time. Specially for Sunday lunches. A bunch of us would go out to lunch or go to someones house and cook together. But not once did it happen in the US, not on a Sunday.

I made a comment on Facebook about Sunday's events, and my friend Amy (who is indeed American) replied to my comment that if it never happened like this in the US that  wasn't very unexpected, because Americans are not very spontaneus often times as it doesn't fit into their busy schedule. The more I think about that statement, the more it makes sense! So very true! I know few people who are so busy as Americans!

Funny because Sundays sermon was on time-management. And the challenge was to liberate time to be able to act when God prompts us to be there for others, or whatever it might be.  A very valuable lesson, to liberate time, to not keep a so busy schedule that there is no time to listen, to be there, to act.

Again, I am not complaining, just reflecting. Please, if you do take offense, I appologize. Deeply.

Transitions.

Hi.... long time no....see? read? hear?

Hubby gone again. The transitions are the worst. The actual time he is gone, is ok. When he has just left, sucks. And then after him being gone two weeks, one finds routines and ways to do everything by oneself and then it is time to re-introduce the helping hands again. Transition again. Not just easy, that transition either. One would think I would be happy to have him back, and I will definetly be happy to have him back, it is just not always easy. I am bracing myself for it though. Being pro-active is one of best new found talents! How else would I survive life with three? Life abroad? Life back home? and ALL of the transitions included in all of life's changes.

Life goes on. I like my new workplace, and I enjoy working. A lot of challenges included in my new job, and life would be pretty boring without challenges. Still not 100% sure of what I will be doing this fall. I have a million ideas! Turns out living in Sweden opened a lot of doors and possibilities that I didn't even know I was missing living elsewhere. Which also means I was content. And am still content. But playing with the idea of doing other things also.

Kids are doing well, Emma started school SCHOOL in January and she loves it! Boys are getting more and more acclimated too. I am playing with the idea of maybe joining the kids in their horseback riding lessons when they resume again in March.... or maybe we should make Andreas join in too? The riding family. Hum...

Andreas has promised the kids to build a chicken-coop this spring. So I guess we'll be having fresh eggs here soon! That will be an interesting transition.... for Ginger! She howls at everything and everyone she wants to play with! Yes, she is a beagle. A true beagle. She will chase the chickens.

Say en extra prayer for me these two coming weeks, please. I admire single-moms!

Going, going, GONE!

BIG weekend in the Jansson-house! We got visitors from Linkoping to help us organize and assemble.... our house is MUCH more organized now! YAY! Beds are put together, kitchen makes sense, wrapping/packing material has been disposed of! AND Andreas got the furnace to work! It has been a big issue of stress in our lives lately, we couldn't get the house warm! But now, no problem!

But the BIGGEST news of them all, a deal on our house just came through! I am so happy I can cry! And a lot of stress has been lifted off of our shoulders! God is good. All the time.

Almost Christmas!

We just got our first ever invitation to a Glögg-party in Sweden! I am used to hosting it myself, I will quite enjoy to "just" attend this year! Which prompted my to take a closer look at the current season;

In America people decorate the tree this Friday, as soon as they have swallowed the turkey, traditionally eaten this Thursday which is Turkey-day to all Americans. It is also a day to express thankfulness, or to give thanks for the crops for the year. Neither is done in average American homes today. Although there is a lot of food consumed, and all Weight-Watcher's classes last week brought up the subject of How to survive Thanksgiving and not gain weight, and they also taught their visitors/clients how to deal with different food situations this upcoming Thursday. It is a time to get together with family, and soon made it to my favorite American holiday. Just hanging out, (and eating!) no gifts involved!

In Sweden no one gives thanks,OR eat turkey this week. Accept ex-pats. We are happily un-aware of the amount of calories in cranberry-sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with brown sugar, pecan pie and pumpkin pie.

BUT we are getting ready for Advent! It is really dark here now, almost  dark at 4 pm, and we still have another month to go before it turns around and gets lighter. Anyway, Advent is the time when Swedes decorate their houses with lights, electric candles and candelabras everywhere. The most popular thing right now is Advent stars. I have bought 8 Advent stars for our new house! We won't have our new house for the first Sunday of Advent, but close enough, three days later!


First Sunday of Advent is the most visited for churches in Sweden. In America that Sunday is Easter, but here it is an old great tradition of going to church on this Sunday and sing Advent songs, and also a few Christmas songs. SO, no thanksgiving here this week, but Christmas season begins Sunday, and ends on January 13th (20 days after Christmas) with a big "through out Christmas-party"! And in between we have Lucia on the 13th, and Christmas is three days. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day. That's roughly 7 full weeks of Christmas. Almost as long as the Summer-break! We need it up here though, it is really dark out, and we sure could use some cozy lights on the inside.

We will be giving our kids a white house with a pool for Christmas. As long as our house in the States won't sell, that will be it! But quite frankly, they will be very content. They are SOOO excited to move in to our house and unpack all their belongings. And Christmas this year will be celebrated with family! YAY!

Lucia-decoration

Classic Advent candle holder

Modern Advent candle holder

Classic Swedish window in times of Advent

If you wish to see pictures of Swedish Advent windows, gyou can google "adventsljusstake, image" and then scroll down! Enjoy!

Sugar beets- the on going saga!

A sugar beet contains 18% sugar. 40% of the worlds sugar consumption comes from these beets. The only remaining sugar plant in Sweden is not far from here, about 10 km (7miles or so). We live along the main road that leads to the sugar plant, and according to statistics, there are about 300 trucks A DAY passing our house with sugar beets! Each truck weighs about 60 tons (metric tons).

The beets has lead us to jokingly glance through the window when we here a truck passing and excitingly exclaim, "Hey! Look, beets!"  There is also fields of beets (almost) surrounding our house! There is no sidewalk along this road, so I have got together with a couple of neighbours to collect names and try and get one! A journalist was here two weeks ago and took pictures of our little village and the kids in it to try and help us get publicity in the matter. So, we were in the paper! Andreas is convinced I will end up doing local politics..... we'll see.

I started working last week, and I LOVE IT! I am exhausted by the end of the day, but it is sooo much fun! I have my own class of 5-6 year olds in a tiny little school, there are 48 students in the school, and 15 in my class. I am only doing this job until Christmas, and then switching over to another place after Christmas. BUT, guess where this little school is located? 2km from the Sugar-plant! (feel free to laugh here).

As I sit here and compose this little text, it is 9 pm and the beet trucks are zooming by outside the window. They do have a break from about 11 pm to 4am.... and they go from November to mid-January! Welcome to the country side!

I spoke to a man in church on Sunday about his wife's new store, and then I went back to ask about him, and if he was done with the crops for this year, "No, the beets have still to be taken out" (-Aaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!) "Don't tell me YOU have beets too!?"

The sugar beets are following us where ever we go! I look forward to February!

Sugar beet, still in ground

Photo taken by the journalist

So Long!

You are there....

7Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,

   for darkness is as light to you. 

Ok, now you think I am super serious, but here is the truth: The house we are renting do not allow for any alone-time. I feel like I am living with God in this house, because there is NO WHERE I can hide!! Or no where I can go to just sit and be. Or enjoy a book, or be quiet. Not even the bathroom! There is only one bathroom in this house, and  there is five of us. AND it is located right next to the kitchen, so no alone time for mom. The bible can be quoted at ALL stages in life!

Anyway, I started a new job this week! It is sooooo much fun! There are plenty of jobs available for pre-school teachers in this area, I got 3 out of 4 positions I applied for, but now I have my own class in a school, so I teach Kindergarten! And there are not as many jobs in schools for a pre-school teachers available. But it is so much fun! I think I could do this forever! I am only subbing for someone until Christmas, but I would jump to the opportunity of having my own class for next school year!  The kids are soooo cute, and they are so motivated and eager to learn! And being part of the pre-school but in the school building and all, really gives me free hands! 

Noah, Albin and Emma really enjoy the occasional participation in the after school care program too. 

Everything (almost) has fallen into place in our lives concerning the move. I've been praying to find a dogsitter for Ginger while I am away during the day, and on Saturday (two days before I started working) we found her! She is great, and has a very playful dog herself, which is a perfect match. Again, God is never early. 

We are still trying to sell our house in the US. Keep praying, please!

Making sense

Different things make sense on different continents. (please, different continent readers, do not take offense, this is not to be considered critisism, only observations.)

Dressing like a cowboy wouldn't make sense in Europe. Listened to a radio show this morning featuring a man who loved horses and everything cowboyish that you can think of surrounding horses. The reporter asked if he also dressed like a cowboy, "No, no, no I don't. That wouldn't make sense". And, no it wouldn't. Here. In America it would.

Getting a job in a preschool and try to juggle kids and work, wouldn't make sense in America. Not as a Europeen at least. But it does here. Sweden has fabulous before and after school care, and here my degree counts, and I am recognized as an academic here. In Sweden we pay very high taxes, but we make decent salaries in ANY occupation. It makes sense. Here.

Halloween, is almost here and we are happily unaware of the ghosts and goblins, demons and graveyards that Americans so willingly invite to there home this time of year (again, try not to take offense... please). But I do miss the cuteness of Halloween, the candy and the cute outfits for kids, the trick or treating and the neighborhood traditions from our old house, pumpkinsoup with friends and pumpkin carving. There are a few Halloween parties that occur here too, and most of them are about spiders and witches, blood and mummies, but at least I can choose to be or not to be involved. In America this time of year I couldn't take my kids into a regular grocery store without them getting nightmares. Not to talk about the Party-stores! It makes sense there, but not here.

Different things makes sense in different places. What do you think? Leave a comment, here or on Facebook.

"Livet är fullt av möjligheter, Stig-Helmer"

The above is a quote from a very classic Swedish movie, and is about the possibilities in life. There seems to be a lot of possibilities in life. It is crucial to see them, and grab them.

I had my forth job-interview yesterday, I quite enjoy going to different schools to see them from the inside. We signed the contract for the House of our Dreams last night too. Not completely without anxiety, I have to admit. It is a big commitment, and we still own a house in the States..... but as we stepped out of the agents office, they called me from one of recent interviews and offered me a job! YAY! Possibilities and choices. Not only fun, but also scary.....

Celebrated with a Falafel.

Took Emma to the ER yesterday. I picked her up the usual time, and she had then been crying nonstop for over half an hour over pain in her shoulder (!!???). Nothing in particular had happened in school, and there were no marks. But she is not typically the complaining type so I took her to the ER and it took about 2 minutes in line to be admitted, and within 10 minutes we were in waiting for the doctor. She then starts moving her arm again, and stops crying. Starts talking, asking questions etc. I then decide it is time to leave. It was pick up time at the boys school and Andreas had to take time off of work to go there. We left, the nurse just chuckled and agreed we might not need care. hm....

Later that day, she complained of pain in her back, and her neck. Pinched nerve maybe? Strained muscles?

Today is a COLD and sunny day, it snowed last  night and it is time to look into getting winter tires. Andreas had to defrost the car-doors with hot water this morning. (we don't have a garage where we rent).


Wish you a good day.

A time for everything.....

It is poetry time in the Jansson blog:

A Time for Everything

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
       and a season for every activity under heaven:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
       a time to plant and a time to uproot,

 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
       a time to tear down and a time to build,

 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
       a time to mourn and a time to dance,

 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
       a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
       a time to keep and a time to throw away,

 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
       a time to be silent and a time to speak,

 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
       a time for war and a time for peace. 

There is a time to own, and a time to sell. Time to sell is here. If you are a praying person, please pray our house in the USA will sell. It is getting increasingly stressful to have two costs of living. We have taken a step of faith and placed a bid on a house here in Sweden, we trust in a higher power, The Highest Power as a matter of fact, to sustain us in that decision. In my little tiny human mind, I do not understand why our house in the US is not selling, but I can only choose to trust...... it is crucial the house sells THIS YEAR!

Thanks for reading, thanks for helping, thanks for understanding.

Picture-time!

Albin and his best friend Ryan, day of departure

First day of new school!

Happy birtday Emma!

Cake from Mormors bageri! Yum!

Emma at b-day breakfast

Emma's aunt (my sister) and family came for cake!

Noah at the beach yesterday

Availability and choices

One of the main reasons we wanted to move to Sweden, was so we could offer the proximity of family to our kids. Having lived without extended family around, our own little family have created pretty strong bonds. We have created our own family traditions and never really had to deal with others expectations. Which is both good and bad. Good part is, very few conflicts in the matter. Bad part is, sense of loneliness at times.


Our children have not really realized what they were missing out on until we went home last year in the spring for my niece's wedding. That's when they realized, "Hey, we've got cousins! We've got aunts and uncles!" And everywhere they went, they felt a sense of belonging and felt loved, even if these were in many cases people they had never met before.


Andreas and I saw the move coming already then, so we went to visit the school they are now in, just to have something to refer to in case the move would become reality. And good thing we did. Because here we are.


The house we are working on buying right now is situated on the plain of Skåne, wide open view of farms and fields. It is located exactly 10 miles from Landskrona and 10 miles from Lund. Right in between work/school and family. My sister and her family lives there, and since proximity to family was an important factor when we moved back, we might just as well be CLOSE. We love the country side, horses and plains.



When we had been here just a few weeks, my  dad suffered a minor stroke. My mother in law got on the train to watch the kids (Andreas was on a business trip) and my sister and I, niece and her baby, were able to go see him for the day. (4 hour drive). We since then have been with Andreas' parents one weekend, my parents one weekend, been able to attend two weddings and are getting ready for our next weekend trip next weekend! We love it here. And we have 14 years to catch up on.



We do realize that Christmas can be a stressful time when you have family in at least two different cities, and as we have never had to deal with that before in our married life, we have now announced that we are going to be staying put for Christmas. In our new house!!! YAY! Anyone who'd like to visit will be more than welcome to come stay with us!


Today is a beautiful autumn day, and we are getting ready to go for a photo shoot outside. Pics available later.

Kids "helping" to put the trampoline together

Job hunt. (AKA fitting in to Swedish society....)

I have lived in the US for all the years my kids were little where most moms in my secluded part of the world of Suburbia were home with the kids. In America, taxes are lower and it is ok to make more money, generally.So plenty of moms to hang out with during the day.

In Sweden taxes are higher and higher incomes are pretty unusual,( meaning high enough to be able to live off of one salary). On the other hand we won't have to save for college here, healthinsurance is included in your taxes and I have maternity leave to use up for two of the kids, even if they weren't born here! All parents also get a child allowance every month. But in general both parents work, if not for the money then so she won't be oppressed. (I do have the right to be a little bit cynical in both directions..... don't take offense!)

So, most other moms work from when the child turns 1. The maternity leave pays for one of the parents to be home with 80% of income until then. Hence not so many activities for stay at home moms as in the US. I do hang with a couple of other moms from the boys school who also are home. They don't really have a choice though as they are all from other countries, and it is much harder to find work for them than for me.

I have been exploring my options for  a couple of weeks now. I wanted the kids to land properly in their schools and activities before I started looking around for something to do. Because honestly, there is only so much laundry and cleaning to be done in a day, and the kids are all in school until at least 1.30 pm. I have been to three job interviews now, been offered one job and am waiting to hear back from the most recent one. There is a HUGE demand for pre-school teachers so the ball is definetly in my court. I am looking to work part time ,when the kids are in school anyway.

I have been going back and forth on whether I am ready to commit to a job, or if maybe I am just spoiled having lived in a society where you are almost expected to be home, now having moved to a place where I am more expected to work. I think I have decided, all by my self, no peer pressure, to get a job.
(you probably think this is the easiest thing in the world, OF COURSE I should look for a job, or OF COURSE you should stay home). Not that simple.

Anyhow, today is Thursday, the kids love Thursdays, its Horse back riding- time!