Denmark's Past...

Good Evening! Brian leaves tomorrow for a one day trip to Germany for work. This will be our first time here alone. I think we will be fine. No Chick-fil-A to bail us out at dinner time, though! That has been a big adjustment for us: our genuine love of eating out. Not that I don't cook at home, but we do go out at least once a weekend and usually the kids and I stop in at CFA for lunch weekly and Starbucks or Sonic for drinks once or twice a week. I was spoiled! Here "Fast Food" is a hot dog stand and eating out on Friday night is reserved for SPECIAL occasions! We have managed to go out every Friday night since we have gotten here in search of an affordable, family friendly restaurant. Well, we have given up. They don't exist. After spending up to $200 at one meal (because I didn't understand the hostess explaining to me that the buffet was priced by the hour for a 2-3 hour minimum!)we will no longer be eating out. I joked with Brian that we could at least go down to IKEA and have their in-store buffet on Friday nights where kids eat for $5, but we realized nothing is opened on Friday nights. I am planning to check into it though. I just get tired of cooking! Oh well, I really can't complain, I heard from one lady that she hasn't been out to eat in over a year! One thing I will say: a guy at Brian's work told him that since eating out is so expensive they opt to invest in high quality kitchens instead. I believe this because I have seen more kitchen stores than anything here! Makes sense!

Above is a picture of where we ate last Friday night. Good thing we are getting a cost of living stipend or we'd already be broke!

In other news, yesterday we went to the Moesgard Museum just outside of Aarhus. It had both inside and outside exhibits. The highlight is the 2000 year old corpse of a man found preserved in a peat bog near here. Apparently there have been several of these finds because of the tannins in the peat actually turning the bodies to leather. Sounds creepy, but was very interesting. Also had some exhibits on the Vikings and some outside reconstructions of Viking buildings. It's cool teaching your own kids because I have never really known why things are taught. For example, when I learned about the iron age in school...it was from a book and meant nothing to me. But because we are involved in a hands on learning process we see something interesting and all of a sudden there is this desire to find out, "What is this all about?"..."Let's find out!" It's like I can see the way one event transforms into learning about something else and so on. I didn't even have that concept in college! I wish I could go back and absorb all the things my professors lectured about that I listened to with minor interest or out of obligation for a grade! I don't know how long we will home school, but it really is a different way of learning and I hope it empowers my kids (and me) to not do things just because, but to really think about things and look at them in a fresh way. There are so many things that I find myself just doing, thinking or saying that have no real thought or feeling put in them. Especially, I am discovering I do this about religion. Sometimes,(rarely) I can be reading something Jesus said and it is so new and fresh to me I am awed at the fact that I get the privilege to know Him personally and to think about the kind of man he was and I could go on and on...I want to be compassionate, forgiving, kind, true and then life comes back and I'm thinking about myself again and snapping at my kids and blah blah blah! I guess that's the dilemma, huh? It's the fight we're up against. Well, at least I know it now! I have been memorizing Collossians 3:12-17...it will probably take me a year! :o) But it speaks to how I should get dressed every morning: with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and especially love. If I ever get to the point where I can stay dressed in these clothes all day I'll let you know. At least I'll always have something to work on! Hey! Maybe that's where my dreams come from where I am walking around naked in Publix and don't realize it...then I look down and ...well, you can imagine! I have lost my clothes! Hmmmm...


Here are the pictures from the museum and the kids in bed with Oliver. Everyone is doing good and we really miss dinner at my Mom and Dad's!!!! Thanks, Sara, for the package and as we told you we love it all! Nana, Papa Mike and Lili will be visiting in November for a week (we can't wait!) Note to self: next time write about storytelling... Love, Amanda