Seminary!

Along with the new school year also comes....Seminary!

In case you are unaware of this, Seminary is a program within my church that involves the youth ages 14-18. Typically in the United States this would involve the 9th through 12th graders. However, in Sweden there class system is a bit different so therefore Darby was able to choose whether or not she wanted to participate since she is, by U.S standards, an 8th grader. Every year there is a new focus of study that is rotated every 4 years. This year the focus is on the New Testament. Typically in the United States the youth gather every weekday morning (school days) at the church for 50 minutes to have their lesson. Here, distance of travel is much more of a concern so instead they only meet twice a week and then the other days are supposed to study on their own. Actually, on Mondays they do have Seminary on the Internet for the entire country to watch but since we have the language barrier my girls have been instructed to study on their own that day. 

Tuesday's lesson is taught by Louise Gleissman. I drop the girls off at her apartment at 6:15am. This is a photo that Ashtyn took in Louise's living room. Typically there are only 4 students that participate on this day and sometimes June will Skype into the lesson. 

Then on Thursdays I take the girls to the church. This lesson starts at 6:30am. Here is a photo of them by the church sign. 

Thursday's lesson is taught by Sissel Andreassen. Here is a picture of them in one of the classrooms. Typically there is anywhere from 3 to 7 kids that show up on this day. I feel fortunate that they have such dedicated and kind teachers. It must also be exhausting for them to go back and forth from Swedish to English!!! 

Kangaroo Burger?

Last week my friend Michelle and I heard about an International Market going on in the center of town for a limited time. I knew about this because some of my kids went during school with their classes. Yes, the benefits of small class sizes and being in the middle of it all! Anyway, so we decided we better check it out. 

Wasn't very big but one booth definitely caught our attention!

In hind sight I probably should have bought a burger but at that moment it did not sound appealing at all! Actually it does not even sound appealing right now!!

Service...then off to the Cirkus!

This past Saturday my girls were involved in an effort to raise money for an orphanage in Uganda. This was a young women's activity through our church and the idea was to sell things from home that we were getting rid of at the town flee market. Well, we already de-junked our house before we moved so instead my girls spent many hours making hair flowers to sell. I was worried they did not have enough to contribute to sell so I whipped up a big batch of Mrs. Fields Cookies and packaged them in 5's.

See the hair flowers on the left?

The girls said that one lady came by and bought some cookies then came back later on and said they were the best she ever had. She gave one of the leaders her email so I could give her the recipe! :)

Later that afternoon we drove up to Uppsala to see a "Cirkus". Aaron has a co-worker whose daughter is in the show. This is a youth circus and the kids get together many, many times throughout the year to practice and then have shows for a couple of weeks in the summer and one weekend in September (I think). It was very cute when we walked up to see the little tent and the booth they had set up to sell the tickets!

Aaron was selected to be in one segment of the show. I was really nervous because they probably didn't realize that he hardly knows the language. Fortunately that didn't matter.

They did a great job!

Winter is on its way...eventually!

A couple of weeks ago my family went into a sporting goods store looking at rain boots and jackets etc... knowing we were not quite yet prepared for winter. We had picked out a rain suit for Jaxon to wear over his clothes because at his school, they still go outside "rain or shine" to play. I was talking to one of the employees and saying to him that we just moved here from California and so were not sure about what to get for winter. His response made me laugh. He said..."Oh, our winter stuff isn't even out yet." Here we are in the middle of coats and boots and their winter stuff was not even out yet!!!Okay I am getting scared!!!

Along those same lines...At back to school night the Principal did tell us that if it reaches a certain temperature then the kids stay inside. The temperature has to reach -15C!!! That is like 5 degrees!!! And then he said but if its a clear day then they may still let them outside...oh great!

Speaking of Jaxon's class...here is a picture I took inside his classroom. It shows where all the students in his class come from. I thought this was pretty cool. The teacher said that this year however is not as diverse as it has been before.

Class Trips!

At Stockholm International School it is part of the curriculum to have the 6-10th graders each take a class trip. School had only been in session for a week and a half when Darby's class left for Sotenäs, Sweden (western part) and Melynn's class left for Gotland, Sweden (largest island in the Baltic Sea). Each class was gone for 4 full days. Mom was a little nervous but when the girls returned home they each had an absolute fantastic time!

Melynn (above) with some of her friends at the bus terminal before leaving on their trip

Darby (can you see her sitting down on the left with her knees up?) and her 8th grade class

I am glad to see that they have made some nice new friends and looking forward to getting to know them and their families much better!

Singing in Swedish!

Last week my girls sang in sacrament meeting with the young women of the ward. Needless to say the song was in Swedish. My girls practiced so as not to make a fool of themselves, especially Melynn. She typed the words out on paper the way they would sound, not the exact words themselves. 

They sang "A Child's Prayer".

Here are the young women that were there that day...I think 3 are missing. This picture was taken before church started....

Felicia, Ebba, Lisa, Melynn, Darby, Ashtyn and Christina

A wonderful group of girls!

Following that service we had the missionaries over for dinner along with our new friends, Pernille and Thomas Olergard. Pernille and Thomas are in the next photo down. We served hamburgers that day and the missionaries were so excited to have American food!

The Mission President is in our ward so these missionaries are the Assistants to the President and the Office Elders. We love our missionaries!

Friday Walking Group

Every Friday morning some of the SIS (Stockholm International School) moms meet at the school at the start of the day and after saying good bye to the kiddos we head out! We walk down to an area in  central Stockholm called "Djurgården" and walk around the island which is about 6 miles.

After our walk we always end it with a little coffee/snack break or here that is referred to as "Fika" (pronounced like feeka). 

 Here is a photo of our quaint little cafe..."Flickorna Helin Voltaire"

This is a rain or shine activity so I bought myself some good waterproof shoes, just in case!