Backyard BBQ

Yesterday we had a going-away BBQ at our house for a friend who will be leaving Sweden this week. It was probably the biggest guest list I've ever had. I usually get stressed out if I even THINK of inviting a bunch of people over for a meal. But for some reason I was calm, cool and collected yesterday. It helped a lot that we cleaned house and I did as much of the cooking as possible the day before. We had 17 people total! I was so worried that we wouldn't have enough food, but today I have tons of leftovers. Better to have too much than not enough, I guess!

We organized our back yard to be the hang-out place. The trampoline was there for all the kids to jump on, we had our badminton net up, and we set up the old Swedish/Viking yard game called Kubb, (pronounced "koob.") Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cool, around 55-60 degrees. I had to bring out a coat for one lady who forgot to bring hers, and then I started bringing out blankets. We decided to head indoors for dessert and coffee. It was time to warm up, and since I was serving homemade ice cream, we definitely needed to get out of the c-c-c-cold!

One of our guests was an elderly Swedish man, who goes to our weekly Bible study. He was watching me scoop out the ice cream and commented, " Dessert is important, but the coffee is MORE important!" Swedes just looovve their coffee, morning, noon, and night. They like it strong too-- one scoop of coffee per CUP! When we first moved here I had to fill my cup almost halfway with milk and then add the coffee. I don't need quite that much milk now, but I worry that my teeth are going to be nearly black when we leave Sweden!

Today we took our truck to the shop and had them remove our studded snow tires. Yippee! Everyone else will be doing the same thing, as I think its a law that they have to be removed by May 1-- or you'll get a friendly reminder from the Polis, in the form of a ticket!

Dirty clothes have been sorted and carried down to The Pit (our laundry room is in the farthest reaches of the house) and clean ones are making their way up and back into their rightful places. I think everyone is out of hole-less socks in this house!

May your day be blessed with all the simple joys of life!

"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come..." Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Rejoice Evermore!
Marla