I Take Joy | Family Trips

Richard the Lionheart and taking time to make memories afresh

March 5, 2012 by Sally 7 Comments

Today, I am home after 4 weekends away out of 5 weekends. Whew! So happy to have had the conferences, and speech tourneys and have finished the book–but now, even though my house awaits cleaning and mail is in stacks and suitcases need unpacking and cabinets empty of food, I know that if I do not regularly rest my body and soul and heart–I will not last well and I will burn out. Life pulsing through patterns of light and dark, spring and winter, busyness and laze–illness and health–disaster and mundane–whatever seasons come my way, I lean into them and ride their waves instead of fighting against their patterns of washing through my life.

And so now, weary to the bone, but content of soul, I ponder just how I might visit my daughter, Sarah, who is in Oxford, before she returns. I think I may have a free overseas ticket–of course I will find a way to justify my secret pleasure–time alone with my kindred spirit, who always fills my soul and inspires me, as do her siblings, and so I plan my course. As I was searching, I came across this memory–(doesn’t Joy look young! Oh, my–just a few years ago, and now gone!)

So, I am thinking, a trip to my beloved Austria would be just the remedy to this soul in need of fresh stimulation, pondering, dreaming and rest–so I share this memory with you today. And maybe this is the day you need to take a break and make a memory, too!

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All work and no play makes Joy, Sarah and Sally dull girls. Recently on our mission trip, we had spent an endless stream of days speaking and giving out books and then hopping on another train or plane to go to another group of women with whom we would speak, minister to, give out books and serve. My children usually have to take care of other children, help serve meals, haul boxes of books and wait patiently for me to be through.

How delighted we were, at the end of our trip, to find a whole day free to do as we please. Since we had one free ride left on our train ticket, we decided to take a train to one of our favorite little towns that sits right on a quiet curve of the Danube River. Durnstein is the name of the town. It was a medival town with one narrow road passing through the small, ancient houses. Even today, only one car at a time can fit through the narrow passageway. Once when Clay and I were very young, we visited this town on a free weekend and stayed in the home—(bed and breakfast) where a wine press, over 900 years old, filled the middle of the house.

We chugged along through prim and predictably orderly Austrian villages. Flowering bushes, tulips, and daffodils marked the roadways and pathways and towns. Finally, we arrived at our destination. Story has it that Richard the Lion Heart went to the Crusades through Austria. When he reached his destination, he unearthed Leopold of Austria as the ruler in charge of the Crusades. In retaliation, when Richard was on his journey back home, he was capture by Leopold and place in a prison cell in the castle at the top of the mountain in Durnstein. He kept the whereabouts secret so that no one could rescue the English monarch.

Blondell, Richard’s beloved friend and servant, was a musician, seeking to discover the whereabouts of his master. The story tells us that Blondell strolled throughout the Austrian countryside strumming his lute and singing songs that were familiar to his king. He hoped that his king would hear him through the cell windows and respond. Sure enough, as he climbed around the mountain castle of Durnstein singing, Richard heard and sang back as a sign of his whereabouts. Blondell was then able to bring a group of English soldiers to rescue the King and take him back to England.

The morning we started our hike up to the top of the castle was chill, but sunny. The hike was straight up and arduous to my worn-out knees. Yet, with the encouragement of my younger hiking companions, Sarah and Joy, I completed the hike one more time to walk among the ruins of the old, remains of the legend tale. The views were incomparable as we looked out over the budding vineyards and caught the curl of the Danube winding its way through the sleepy valley. Rewarding ourselves with a hot, marrillen (the small town boasts of its apricots!) and cream cheese pancakes, lathered in whip cream, satisfied our overwhelming hunger. Then, seeing that the time was late, we literally had to run at full speed, a quarter of a mile, fearful of not being able to run another step, to barely catch the last train of the day that would return us to our friends in Vienna. What an adventure to put in our memory books.

Filed Under: Beauty, Family, Family Trips, Food, Ministry, Music, Nature, Our Family, Travel

Grace undeserved

January 10, 2011 by Sally 11 Comments

Love a man, even in his sin, for that love is a likeness of the divine love and is the summit of love on earth.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Life in the contemporary is standing against my ability to be mature all the time. The pace of life, the interruptions, the lack of time by myself to become centered, and the constant flow of food and messes are the hardest for me or most stressful for my personality, I must say. Looking back at this post from a few years ago, I see that often the struggle with myself is still pretty much the same. But even as I see the beauty of His hands all around me, and His grace happens every day, so I know His grace for my frail humanity is constant and new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.

Everything is a rush and hurry and then a wait and see. Yesterday, I found myself sinning far too easily. After three attempts to confirm some seats on a plane going overseas, I finally got the auto response to go almost to the point of confirming seats, after thirty minutes of frustration. I did not find it humorous that a very soothing, recorded voice was placed precisely at one point of choosing an arbitrary host of numbers, to comfort me—though I know a machine cannot really feel emotion. “I’m sorry! I didn’t understand you. It must be my fault.”(Can a machine be faulted for making mistakes and can it feel sorry Does it really care for my frustration???)

Finally, a real and very surly woman answered my phone call. I gave her all the right numbers for our ticket and then told her I wanted to be sure to secure seats on our overseas flight, as the seat numbers were deleted from the confirmation I had received on the Internet.

“You cannot secure seats until the morning of the flight. It is company policy that once we book our flight more than 45%, we cannot give out anymore seats. And, by the way, I am the supervisor, and there is no one higher than me that you can talk to!” (Obviously, she had had a difficult day and didn’t even want to have to address the fact that there was no one higher up that I could talk to—and we had only just begun our conversation. Could there have been a hard phone call before she ever got to me?)

“I have never heard of an overseas flight where I couldn’t get my seat assignment. I am traveling with three of my children and would like to sit close together,” I said in my most authoritative voice.

“If your children are over 10, they can obviously sit anywhere on the plane by themselves, and I can’t guarantee that they won’t all be in different rows. You will just have to wait until you get to the gate. Obviously you haven’t traveled very much. It is always done this way.”

I raised to my full-bodied stature at this point, even though she couldn’t see my shock or my rising at such a statement. After all, I had been traveling overseas for over thirty years and had never come across this particular problem or such a definitively closed airline operator.

In a very irrational and immature moment, I asked the woman, “If I call back, is there a good chance I won’t have to talk to you again?!” Well, I had been on the phone a long time and she wasn’t very nice to me and I did have a hard day and……..

Immediately, when I had hung up the phone, remorse set in. The accusatory finger in my mind said, “Well, that was real mature! Bet you made that lady feel real good. I can’t believe you are a serious, committed Christian, and you actually talked to someone like that! The Lord is so disappointed in you. Probably He is eventually going to quit using you in influencing others, because you just keep blowing it!”

I must admit, when my own life is stressful, and I have had a hard day, I want sympathy, kindness, forgiveness, grace. I want someone to understand that I am doing my best and to tell me it is ok. It is what I want from God. It is what I want from my husband. It is what I want from my children.

My heart became open to the Spirit’s prompting. Just happened, my morning reading came across this verse: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Now this much I already knew and agreed with.

But the context of the verse was further explained, “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jew or Greek or the church of God. Even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many in order that they may be saved.” I Cor. 10: 31-32

So, I glorify God, not by knowing all the right theological answers, or by keeping a perfect house, or having quiet times every day, but by glorifying God by seeking the good of everyone else–even a stressed out operator.

My sweet children have taught me this. They see through false piety. They know what it means to be fair. They comment on other adults in our lives who speak loudly about piety but whose lives scream loudly of hypocrisy. But, they are also very willing to forgive.

Joy placed her arm around me and sat sweetly in my lap. At almost 12,(now almost 16) it is too rare of an occurrence, (but she still does sit in my lap on occasion), but oh so cherished. “Mom, we’ll get some seats. Don’t you worry. It always works out.” A kiss on my cheek and then she was gone. Suddenly I saw God’ s glory in an unsuspecting angel in my own home, who chose to give me grace, and then I felt He, the one from whom patience and love was given their meaning, had gently restored me to himself.

Filed Under: Family Trips, Ponderings, Travel, Trust in God

An Unexpected Adventure on my day with the Lord!

November 19, 2010 by Sally 17 Comments

Piles of snow, loss of pathway, and no one to help.

Thanks so very much to all of you who prayed for me yesterday. I have been quite blessed and am so excited about what the Lord has put on my heart. Your words and well wishes were of great encouragement to me and made me feel so very special and loved. I appreciate your taking the time to fb me and to write comments.

One of the reasons I am seeking the Lord for guidance at this point, is that at 57, I feel keenly that I need to make the next years of my life count. I do not have endless years of ministry and speaking ahead–but a limited time, realistically. And with my last child graduating from high school in May, I have been impressed by the Holy Spirit to really become intentional about my plans and priorities.

If you have read any of my books, you know that God have given to me an adventuresome heart. Many stories and lessons have come from walking, hiking, climbing mountains and getting lost! Yesterday, I was enjoying a wonderful quiet time where my heart was being filled with excitement for what is ahead. It seemed pretty clear what I needed to drop and what I needed to focus on in my life. (more on that next week)

After a couple of hours, I decided to talk a walk outside, as I love to walk and it provides a great time for me to think and pray and clear my mind. There is a small lake up from where I am staying. It has a pathway around it and our family has walked it many times. As a matter of fact, I walked it just three days ago by myself one morning.

So, I climbed the hill to the little lake, and began to walk around it, looking for some familiar benches where we have shot family pictures and sat many times before. Three to four feet of snow had piled up in mounds in many places just from the previous 3 days of snow. I thought I knew this path very well and so took off in the direction of what I thought was my pathway around the lake. However, as I ventured into the obscured path, I found myself deeper and deeper in snow. What had started out as sinking down 3-4 inches in snow, eventually turned into a foot of snow. Stomping my feet 12 inches down, falling with each step became very grueling.

I kept thinking I was on the path and would find a cleared out place to walk just a few feet ahead. But, eventually, I found myself in snow that was over my knees with each step. I had looked back after about 10 minutes to go back, but it looked like the clearest path was just ahead. Finally, I realized I had walked deep into the woods, as I could not see a path or the lake. It all happened little by little. All the while I was thinking I was going a familiar way.

Now, I hate to admit it, but I had no gloves on. (I know all of you moms who prepare for everything–I know what you are thinking.) But, I had walked this a million times and the sun was out and I have hot little hands, so I don’t generally wear gloves outside unless it is below freezing. But, I found myself falling every few steps (when you are sinking down below your knees in jeans with every step, the awkwardness of the snow and uneven ground underneath, caused me to fall numerous times.

Because I have lived in the mountains so long, I knew that I had to hurry and keep going as fast as I could to find a way out, as the colder and wetter one gets, the more danger of exhaustion and frost bite and inability to keep going. I was deeply out of breath, keeping a constant pace and climbing towards what I thought was a flat trail.

Finally, I found some footsteps where someone else had gotten off the train. Though each footstep was about 18 inches deep, it was a sure foundation from the packed snow and gave me the steadiness I needed to keep going forward. Of course the Lord was speaking to me the whole time.

“When you are searching for a trial in a difficult climb, it is always easier if you can follow someone else’s footsteps who have gone before you to lead the way.”

It seemed to me a paradigm of so many moms. Going on a pathway that is against the storms of culture, but without anyone to show them the way. I have forged this idealistic trail of life, to raise godly, moral, educated children in a culture that is challenging at every point. God had step by step taken me through the rough and dangerous turns and twists of a hostile culture and had been faithful to, by His grace and guidance, allow me to raise Whole Hearted children, healthy, alive and vibrant in their young adulthood.

The Lord really seemed to underline how much of a stewardship I had to be the footsteps in front of moms who need to find the way to go. I need to continue giving my life to help, to encourage and to show the way in the midst of all the cultural storms. Of course this was added to all He had been speaking to my heart earlier that morning when all of you sweet friends had been praying for me.

Finally after an hour and 40 minutes, I was able to climb up onto an abandoned ski trail. It was being prepared for skiing but was not opened yet. I saw flashing lights ahead of a ski patrol and so I walked about a quarter of a mile towards the light.

Finding 3 ski patrol staff, I explained my story, and they commented, “Oh yeah, I heard they hadn’t cleared the pathway yet and had piled snow against the former trail. It was too much snow in two days to clear.”

“Why don’t you hop on the back of my4 wheeler and I will ride you up to the top of the mountain and take you back over to the place you are staying.”

Of course she had gloves, a helmet and a snow suit. I had my coat, soaked jeans and was out for a leisurely walk with no gloves. And so she began to jet up the mountain. It was actually gorgeous and thrilling, when I stopped the beating of my pounding heart from overcoming my feat of bouncing off. We climbed all the way up to the top of the ski trail and over the mountain to the other ski slope. She, used to the mountain, was speeding over bumps and twists. I prayed, “Please don’t let me die now, Lord. Clay and the kids would never forgive me.”

After about 5 minutes, I began to enjoy myself and looked out over the sparkling snow and beauty of the sun shining through the trees. Again, the Lord reminded me what an adventure He had taken me on throughout my life, and yet how faithful He had been to provide and to help me along the way.

And so, I came home, took a very tall and hot bath, and sat down for my final alone hour. God poured out all sorts of dreams, ideas and ideals to follow in the next phase of my life to come. But, my day had been a little more interesting than I ever imagined it would be.

Filed Under: Beauty, Family Trips, Home, Joyful Life, Ministry, Nature, Ponderings, Trust in God

Getting back in the saddle!

October 25, 2010 by Sally 4 Comments

Welcome to my newly moved over site! (itakejoy.com) I am just beginning to fill out this blog, but am excited for the possibilities of having some new ways to be creative with my blog.

For those of you new to itakejoy, I have been on a wonderful history trip with 2 moms and 4 kids to Philadelphia, Boston, New York and ending up at a great blogging conference in Harrisburg, Pa. Great, great days!

However, it will take me a few days just to get back to my center in this home where I live. My sweet husband and children are my priority and so I want to provide for them as I get back in the saddle of life at home! Several weeks of traveling have fed my soul with beautiful memories, roused my mind with challenging and inspiring conversations, and invigorated my passion to keep writing and reaching out to so many women who long for a personal touch, voice of life and encouragement.

We are gearing up for the mom’s conferences, will be doing some new online book studies, giving some books and conference registrations away, so stay tuned and I will be back with lots that is bubbling up in my heart. For now, an omelette and tea with Joy are on my immediate agenda.

But, alas, my suitcase awaits, the refrigerator is empty and Joy and I need to get to the business of making this last year of her education at home the best one yet. So, I will post soon.

Peace and grace today!

Filed Under: Conferences, Education, Family, Family Trips, Home, Homemaking, Joyful Life, Mothering, Our Family, Travel

Great quotes! Louisa May Alcott’s home.

October 16, 2010 by Sally 1 Comment

Too busy talking to friends, so I asked Joy and Christie, (my daughter and her bf) to write the past couple of days as they share some of their impressions. What fun I am having and how blessed I am to have a few days of pure fun! Here are just a few of the great quotes we saw as we walked through Louisa May’s home–the author of so many wonderful books, including Little Women.

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
- Louisa May Alcott

So true.

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”
— Louisa May Alcott

“A faithful friend is a strong defense;
And he that hath found him hath found a treasure.”
— Louisa May Alcott

Great memories and tears coming to my eyes several times. What fun we have had running through halls of history, homes of great writers and talking, talking, talking as we go.

The girls brought tears to my eyes yesterday morning. “Who gets to have an education like this! To read their stories and then to see the lives these great people lived and to know the rooms where they lived and wrote, the places they fought battles–makes us so very grateful to have known and seen these things! It makes me want to think, “How am I going to live my life in such a way as to leave a legacy of faith or courage that will help and influence others.”

And so we have been busy every minute, and in the evenings we have had precious conversations with friends where we are staying and being treated to great meals, rousing conversations and heart-felt prayers. Such a blessing to me and a filling of my soul. All grateful to God for strewing my life with such blessings.

Deb, Jane, me and Shelley (below) staying up too late but having fun talking around the kitchen table. What great food and hospitality.

Off to see Paul Revere’s home! and then training to New York City for more fun and friends. Have a blessed day.

Filed Under: Classics, Family Trips, Ponderings, Travel

Boston In the Fall

October 15, 2010 by Sally 2 Comments

–We got to see Joel, so exciting! We’ve been missing you!

“And I’ve never been to Boston in the fa…”Oh, wait! I have!

Joy and Christie reporting from the home of our lovely hosts, listening to a song, giggling our faces off and thinking about History. Well, we really aren’t thinking about history. Actually, I just had to think about history to write that sentence, so I suppose we are. Yesterday, after hardly any sleep and several cups of coffee, we ventured out to explore the history Boston has to offer. We had lots of fun, ate a good deal, learned a lot, ate some more, saw the graves of several famous people, ate a muffin, stood on the very ground that our founding fathers stood–and some of them died on–and ate Boston creme pie. Eating was our favorite part. Overall, it was a great success.

Today, we went to Lexington and Concord, visiting museums detailing the events of April 19, 1775, the day the war truly began. We never knew that the fighting lasted all day, the colonists chasing the British all through the countryside, engaging them several times in various ambushes. Although the colonists began with only 70 troops against 700 redcoats, their ranks grew along the road until they swelled to 4000, leaving the redcoats at 1700, the day amounting to a good rout of the English by the farmers and ordinary men of America. They had no training, no supplies except for what they provided themselves, but they beat the British because they were driven to protect their families, and to fight for liberty. It makes me wonder, if we were forced into the same situations they were, would we respond as bravely?

Anywho, we will leave the pictures to speak for themselves and tell the rest of the story. Enjoy!

Our motley crew trooping along in Boston.

Wait…don’t stop! Click the “Read More” link to see more pics of Boston, and us…

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Filed Under: Family Trips, Friends, People

Silly Philly

October 13, 2010 by Sally 6 Comments

(Jack is strong, really.)

And we’re off!

Hello, it’s me (Joy). Reporting, most faithfully at the call of my mother, to all you bloggers and blog readers!

It took us a while to get the ball rolling forgetting this and that, we managed to be the last ones to get on the plane. That’s always exciting, and you know a trip is not fun unless it’s an adventure. Arriving in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, panting and exhausted, we fell into bed, fell out, and then went on our way! From The Liberty Bell to the Independence Hall, we trekked our way from place to place with smiles on our faces and our learning brains in position. I must say I can’t think of a moment any of us were silent, I like to think it’s because we’re intelligent. But it sure did make for quite a few laughs, from both us and the surrounding homo sapians. We all ate our first Philly cheese stake sandwich in Philadelphia, and our stomachs and mouths are in a state of bereavement now that we are done and know we will have no more for quite a long time. Food continued on as theme as we made our way to an enclosed market were we found all sorts of succulent dishes and delicious nibbles. We now sit happily, (and I might mention early, as we somehow mistook the time and thought we were an hour forward in time) waiting to get on our train. So we bid Philadelphia farewell, and look onwards to the exciting prospect of Boston. Especially us kids, as none of us have been to “Boston in the fall” (Veggie tales, look it up ), and soon we shall be! Well, much love!

Now some pictures, courtesy mostly of the faithful little blue camera and my (Joy’s) obsessive picture taking. Enjoy!

Click the “Read More” link to see more pictures.

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Filed Under: Family Trips, Friends, People

This and That–Australia, Relevant and life!

October 11, 2010 by Sally 10 Comments

I get to see my wonderful son,Joel, composer, and such a cherished friend, and studies in Boston! Can’t wait to squeeze his neck and plaster him with a mama kiss.

I do think this is the busiest time of my whole life–and I have said that many times. But, it really seems to be a new kind of busy—many wonderful ministry opportunities, finishing Joy’s last year well, and spending hours on the phone with my three oldest–still training, loving, advising, praying and keeping up, and searching for time with Clay alone, and my sweet groups of moms here and writing–and of course eating and drinking tea every day–and I just can’t seem to get on top of it all. I especially feel badly that I am not writing some of you wonderful friends back–my email boxes are full. Please forgive me if I do not write back–it is not because I don’t care about you, but I am just trying to ride the waves of this season and keep centered on the Lord and my family and somehow my correspondence seems to keep building and building. But I do read my comments and emails and you all keep me going-and I pray for most everyone who writes to me. So please forgive me, pray for me and know that I so appreciate every letter and comment I get!

History Trip

Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy! Going on a fun history trip with my sweet friends and Joy–less than 24 hours to pack and get my ducks in a row! It is a tradition with all of my kids to go on adventures to see the places of people we have studied. Last year we went to Sweden (really Kansas!) and this year to Boston, Philly and New York–Broadway play, statue of liberty, Louisa May Alcott’s Home, Freedom trail, tea at the Boston Library with my dear Joel, Minute Man museum, Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin’s house and such, Valley Forge, museums, and lots of fun and playing and of course seeing all of you who have written where we will be speaking for one night in Philly, Boston and New York City. Please pray we all stay well and healthy.

Australia

A sweet friend, Barb Somervaille, in Australia, wants Joy and me to come to do a Mom’s conference and a Mom Heart Leadership Training in Australia in June. We are praying about this and hoping something works out. What she wants to know is if there are other moms interested in this who would help her get the word out, come to the conference and or want to be trained in how to start a group. You can email her to tell her of your interest.

Relevant Conference

I am so excited to attend the Relevant Blogging conference in a couple of weeks. I love Sarah Mae and have so much to learn from the wonderful women who will attend. If you are a regular follower of my blog and you are attending, I would love to hear from you! Be sure to stop me when we are there!

I feel so very blessed to walk with God during these days. May His grace and love be real to you today! Please keep the letters coming–they keep me writing. You are all so very dear to me and make me feel like I have kindred spirits all around.

Filed Under: Conferences, Family Trips, Our Family

East Coast, Here we come! Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City!

August 24, 2010 by Sally 5 Comments

PHILADELPHIA, BOSTON, AND NEW YORK CITY–HERE WE COME!

Seeing, handling, touching, acting out, experiencing, reading outloud—these are the live experiences that make history feel real. Since my children were very little, I have purposed to plan ways that they could really experience what we studied.

Missions was not just be a story that someone else lived, that we read about. I wanted my children to experience being in a foreign country and eating foreign food and hearing a foreign language, while seeing the great needs of others.

Serving in a soup kitchen or babysitting at a single mom center for battered women makes needs more real, because children get to put a name to a face that they can pray for over months.Seeing how blessed we are as Americans is a nice thought, but when a child sees homeless children or feels what it is like to be hungry, they have a whole new understanding of poverty, or material wealth or whatever!

For this reason, since my oldest children were very small, I have intentionally planned and purposed to give them real life experiences so that they could really get a more realistic understanding of those we studied. It is why we have been such travelers. Reading about historical figures is inspiring, but seeing places they lived or built or battles where they were fought gives them a more realistic understanding of the issues of stress, physical limitations, issues in the lives of the people they have studied.

So travel has always been a central part of our lives. I could not do this in certain seasons of life, but I learned very early, that my little ones could be very happy in a car if I gave them things to play with, draw, munch on, or listen to and so we have traveled our whole lives. It started when my older kids were young. Clay worked for 3 weeks on our book catalogue every year and my friend’s husband had 3 very busy weeks with his animal husbandry business, so we planned a trip together every spring. Finding museums, battlefields, cafes, art galleries, and more were our goal. Always we would have 2 or 3 books on tape to listen to about the places or people we were going to visit.

This year, our little history group below, are planning a history trip to Philadelphia, Boston and New York City. We have been studying American history–early years for the last 9 months, saving our money and planning our trip. We will be in these three cities during mid-October. I would be happy to speak one evening in each city. If you have a support group or mom’s group that you would like for me to address, please send any requests to Sally@wholeheart.org and I will give them to my sweet two other mom friends and they will help me figure it all out.

As it has happened over the years, we have often stayed in homes of people, shared meals together and we have made many of our close friends just from meeting with people we found on my blog. It always makes Clay feel better to know we are not in a city without friends close by.

And just maybe we travel not so much out of philosophical reasons, but more because I love to travel and get away and am too adhd to sit still all the time. So I look forward to hearing from you.

Below is the trip we took last year. What great memories we have stored over the years. Our history group has shrunk over the years as our children have graduated and left home. We are down to 2 girls and two boys and 3 moms!

PS We are going to be on the train and will not have a way to go outside of the public transportation in each city—so I will speak to groups in the cities!

Deb Weakly, mom; Jack, 13; and Christie, 16; Shelley Rose, mom; Jackson, 13 and Joy, 15 and me.

“Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours.”

Swedish proverb

Not many people have driven to Sweden, but our history group has extraordinary powers! Well, really, we just drove to mini Sweden, AKA Linsborg, Kansas. Miss Sally, Deb and Shelley and their children hopped in a red mini van and began their seven hour adventure driving to Kansas. After much groaning, exciting wheat watching and about 50,000 cows and windmills to observe, we finally arrived at out destination. What followed was two days of good old fashioned Swedish fun. Bicycles built for five, Dala horses built for none, (but piled with four) and pickled herring. Yum! Swedish pancakes and hot chocolate, Swedish dancing, vikings on sticks (meant for eating) and one cold bleacher. If you have nothing to do two years from now for the Hylliningsfest, we strongly suggest you check it out. -Joy, 14; and Jackson, 12. (our next door neighbors for several years and friends for 10 years–the kids are like brother and sister or cousins.)

If you would like to view more pictures, I will post a website for you to visit.

Getting atop a Dala horse is harder than you think. Dala Horses were all over town.

(There is a legend that says that it was a young boy on top of a Dala Horse that saved the people from the bad trolls and elves. So Dala horses are always Scandanavian–primarily Swedish.)

Filed Under: Family Trips, Friends, Ministry, Our Family, People, Relationships, Traditions, Travel

Vienna–the home of my heart

June 4, 2010 by Sally 4 Comments

There is a physical place called home and it is the place family lives and traditions are celebrated and love and morality and righteousness taught. But then there is a home that feels like home. Vienna is that for me. It was here that I lived as a young single woman. I would board my underground or tram, walk the streets, see the flowers, buy veggies and fruit from my little market down the street and greet my little man who worked there every day. I would meet women to discuss Christ and purpose and the universe over coffee in the most delightful cafes, with little flowers on the table, usually sweet music playing in the background and always, always the coffee was served in a real porcelain or china cup. Everywhere I would walk and take in the beautiful crisp air, people would pass with a Grussgott–meant Greet God–but really meant good morning. I thought God lived in Vienna because that is where I learned to love, worship and trust Him all by myself when no one else was looking. So, going there with my sweet ones, yet one more time, and seeing old friends and old haunts was a much needed vacation for my soul. And yes, God still lives in Vienna, too.

Coffee and hot fudge cake at Heiners–an old favorite.

Coffee tastes more elegant in this the melauge or cappicino to you. And note the little flowers!

The buildings are old, beautiful, full of artistic detail, archways everywhere.

I had to take everyone to the Sacher Hotel for real sacher torte–the real one always has dark chocolate topping and apricot jam in the middle. Again, it tastes better when served in a pretty way.

We trained everywhere and took the trams and underground all over. Joel spared my ankle and carried my load. Sweet, wonderful heart. I cherish him so much and now miss him again. He was born in Vienna. Maybe that is why he is musical.

The beautiful Hoffburg Palace–the winter palace for the royalty–where Marie Antoinette and Maria Theresa her mother lived. The Hapsburgs ruled over the empire–the total rule in Europe for this great coalition between Hungary and Austria was over most of Europe and lasted for 600 years. Maria Theresa, a devout Catholic, felt it her spiritual duty to marry all of her children to leaders of other countries to promote faith.

Oh, how can one choose? I guess we will just have to come 3 times a day!

Elegance and beauty cared for with every detail.

The Gorgeous Musikverein in Vienna–an evening with Mozart and the New World Symphony with my composer son who was in heaven, the two girls and a precious old friend, Monica, from Vienna. What an uplifting evening.

The inside of the music hall looking at the ceiling.

Joy, in Salzburg, in the tombs where the Sound of Music was filmed and in the movie where the family hid!

My last meal with Joy before we joined the others and came home. Thanks so much Lord for giving me such a gift into my past with my sweet daughter and into the recesses of my soul. You are so good!