Oh, Denmark, we have had such a wonderful time visiting your beautiful spots and enjoying your scenery and culture. I can't believe it, but we will be going home in two weeks. To say that all of us are excited is an understatement. Home. Such a home-y word, and such a home-y place. So much comfort being in the place you are used to. I'm sure with time other locations could end up feeling like home, too, including Denmark. I'm thankful we got to have this experience of making Denmark our home for these past months. I won't say that I know a word of Danish, even still, after all this time, though I can read it better. But much of Denmark will stay with me.
I'm starting to mourn the bakery down the road from us already. I need to give the sweet lady who works there a word of warning when we go. Because I'm sure she must have increased their daily order to accommodate our family out here. Same thing with the grocery stores.
Last night I bought about twenty packaged salami snacks for the kids, one of their favorite snacks out here. Laughing, I told the girl at the check out not to worry, I left some in the store. Then I went back to the store last night and I almost bought another twenty salami snacks, since we had made short work of the ones I'd bought last night, believe it or not. But the very same girl was at the check out stand as had been here the night before, and I just could not do it. Some people have no shame, but I at least have a little.
On a totally unrelated note, this has been a great semester of homeschooling for us. Since my oldest is in tenth grade, it seems that it's taken me eleven years, but I think I finally have figured out what I like and what works best for our family. It's the first year I've felt comfortable with the curriculum I am or am not using. This year there's less panic (I said less, not none) and more confidence in what I'm doing with the children, as well as more faith in the entire homeschooling system. It took a while, but I'm starting to get it figured out. Isn't that the way with everything, though? Now that Ben and I have been married for seventeen years, we totally know what would make the first year of marriage awesome, how to survive the stress and trauma of a brand new baby, how to make it through those early arguments and disagreements. Too bad this wisdom has come to us a dozen or more years too late. Life. It's tricky to navigate, impossible to figure out. The moment you feel like you're finally in your comfort zone, everything changes and you find yourself in an entirely new scenario to have to navigate. Thank God for the Captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ. Not to sound too corny here, but I will gladly place Him at the helm of the ship of my life. No one better than Jesus to navigate those stormy seas.
