The Lindahl News: Abroad Edition

While we may have spent a lot of time eating and fika-ing, there was just so much more that we did with John and Kari when they visited us in Jonkoping!  We walked. We talked. We played games like Rook and Yahtzee. They learned how to play Rummy 500. We hung around in our pajamas. We did some Christmas shopping. We got caught up with the lives of our Grandsons whom we miss so very much. Since these two became parents to three active boys, it's been a challenge just to have a conversation that goes from start to finish.  All very wonderful, to be sure, but a challenge none-the-less. So when I say we talked, it was just such a gift. These two mean the world to us and it was lovely to get to spend time with them! They are now back at home but their visit refreshed us. Just as the visit from Anne and E and M refreshed us. To be honest, there have been times here where my heart aches from loneliness of being so far away from my family....

Do you recognize the cute couple standing next to us? The day after we returned from our trip to Norway, our daughter and her husband joined us in Jonkoping! We had four days together and our time was sweet.  What did we do? We ate. Salmon dinner in our apartment. We ate kebab pizza here due to the closure of EVERGREEN for renovations.  Yum! A picnic lunch on a ferry to an island. At IKEA where there are still boiled potatoes on the menu. We explored. The downtown of Jonkoping and the bus system. The castle ruins on Visingso Island.   The SVF campus where Anne and Jed had been students in the past.. We played games. Rook and Gin Rummy 500.  Check out the cards we bought in Norway with mittens and ski poles!  We enjoyed this beautiful city. Note:  There may or may not have been tears when their bus pulled away and we were two again. It was simply wonderful to have our first visitors! ...