It's almost over, what have we gained?

   Well I couldn't end this journey without taking time to be thankful for this adventure. As I sit here on this plane squished between Jimmie and a little elderly woman from Oregon who seems to be passing gas, I have a mixture of feelings. I am happy to be landing on the same land where my family and friends live.  I miss the welcome I get every day at home from my little king Louis ( my Shitzu dog)  who always loyally loves me and wants to be with me all the time. I miss Bella our giant old dog who has been such a faithfull member of our family for nearly twelve years. I miss rio, my favorite horse, who teaches me the value of trust and letting go and gives me so much peace and comfort. So of course home is good and I want and need to be going home now, but I don't look forward to things just being the same as they always are. The kids will go back to wasting countless hours on video games, Jimmie will be completely immersed in work, and I'll be heading to Oregon and dealing with the sadness Parkinson's disease has brought our family. My heart sinks to think that maybe dad won't know who I am.

   Will our life will slip into the same monotony it had before?  Change . Oh how I love change. It's the only consistent thing about me, I never get bored of change.

  But as I said, this is a page about being thankful. How can I not be thankful that we had two monthes to spend together without all the distractions of daily life. We were able to see so many beautiful and interesting places. We opened our minds and hearts to new ways of thinking and doing things that can only be gained by exposing yourself to new people and places. Travel helps you to grow in a special kind of way. The faces of people we met on our travels are stamped into my heart forever.  My kids have true friends on the other side of the globe and saw firsthand as one of Jehovah's witnesses we can have family wherever we are at. Visiting bethel heightened our appreciation for all of the work that goes on behind the scenes.  There is so much to be thankful for every day. Even the bad days are an opportunity to learn and grow. The simplest things are what I remember the most, for instance the sunsets or playing in the sea with the boys and quiet candlelight dinners in our luxurious trailer. You don't need a two month European tour for these things, but I highly recommend it anyhow. 

   So as I walked through my front door I was both happy and sad at the time. Happy to be home , because we have a good life here filled with wonderful people but sad the journey is over. 

Stockholm

   We said our final goodbye to italy feeling content that we had been there long enough. It was wonderful to have three weeks to get acquainted with such a warm endearing culture.  We had enough pizza pasta and gelato to last us a lifetime.  Our minds and hearts are filled with beautiful memories that will last a lifetime. But all good things must end.  

   So last but not least we found ourselves in one of the worlds most beautiful cities, Stockholm.  Our flight was pretty painless, our luggage weighed to much, but typical to all the other Italians we've come across the guy just winked at us and said " have a nice flight."   The draw for us in Stockholm is people . We have the best of friends there.  Jarmo and Eila we met through my Swedish friend at home and they are very special people. I've been told once you have a Swedish friend, you have a friend for life. They are actually Finnish people, but that's irrelevant they live in Sweden and will surely be our friends for life. We stayed at their eldest daughter and son in laws house with their three sweet little children, the first night I was so happy to sit with a girlfriend and talk I kept Isa up till almost 2:00 in the morning. At home, I have the best girl friends in the world, and being the mother of three boys I need my girl time desperately. So after nearly two monthes without my female companions I was overjoyed to have the company of a cool chic who spoke English. 

   It's fun having friends in other countries because you really get a true sense  of the culture and for us we get to experience city life.  There is some marked differences culturally. I spoke with one of jarmo and Eila' s  friends who after visiting a while asked why we seemed different from other Americans they had run across. He felt we were more open. The ones he met before seemed uptight if I could put it into one word. He talked about the Finnish sauna and how natural it is for families and friends to use the sauna together. We both agreed it's Americans who are the perverts.  Our culture is so much more sex oriented and makes natural things seem more dirty. For instance, the house we stayed at was full of nude art. It was a Mecca for boobie lovers. Coles eyes about popped out of his head when he first noticed all the boobies everywhere. I explained, this is art. It didn't bother us at all ,Infact I found it amusing, but in our culture many people I know wouldn't see it as art but be offended. So I love traveling and seeing and experiencing the variety of things people enjoy and I love the exposure my kids have had   to different ways of doing and thinking about things. Another interesting difference is the things we get used to and see as completely necessary, for instance a car. Our friend Marcus is a painter. How on earth does he do his job without a car? He goes to work with a bike. Yes a bicycle. He has to pedal it. He carries his ladder and brushes and buckets all on his bike. Snow and rain and winter darkness doesn't stop him. Amazing really.  We would self combust if we had to do this, but he happily works this way. He even comes home in a great mood, with a houseful, of guests. Another difference, it's illegal to spank your kids. Whooa now this one may be going to far. I'm a huge fan of spanking. But this is another interesting thing, our friends have have eight grand children and they are not spanked but they all are so well behaved and adorable. They don't fight with each other that I could see, they were kind and gentle and well mannered. Also they survive in the city. I used to wonder how children survive in cities and don't get run over by cars but these kids are well trained and learn from a very young age to not run in the street. They also have plenty of time outside in nature with plenty of parks and it sounds funny but there's a lovely cemetery right around the corner that is perfect for the kids bikes and scooters or just playing. They certainly won't have the people living their complain of noise and the kids can't hurt anyone for sure. After staying with them, I have an itch. Brace yourselves. I want to move to San Francisco. At least it's not Europe family and friends so don't worry. 

   I am not a fan of staying with people. I love having people stay with me, but when it comes to me staying with others I cringe at the thought. I'm so afraid of imposing or annoying my host I usually won't go in the first place. This is a grievous thing for Jimmie. It drives him nuts that I'm like this. There's only a handful of homes I'm comfortable enough to stay with. But as I get older I'm trying to balance this out a little. When you have friends there are five ways you can show them love. Each of us have our own love language. There is a book written on this subject that I love. My love language, the thing that makes me feel loved ,is primarily two things, first on my list is time, second is touch. You can tell me you love me all you want, but if you don't have time for me or don't hug me I'll never believe you. So here is where I'm trying to find my balance, if I don't make time for people I claim to love then that makes me a hypocrite, so I have to step out of my comfort zone in some cases and plop myself on someone's sofa, or in this case guest room. 

   Now the the thing is these friends of ours are so amazingly hospitable and comfortable and we were having so much fun I never for one moment felt like we were imposing. On the contrary, we were treated so lovingly I felt so embraced and happy that we made the right decision to go to Sweden again.  We didn't need to be entertained . The city is a glorious place just to mozy  around and soak up  the creative open environment, but truly the best part was our friends and all their awesome kids and spouses who made us feel so special.

   The kids had an amazing time. Our friends introduced them to a group of teenagers from their congregation and we hardly saw them after that. So now they have a whole new slew of Swedish friends their age that they really loved. We met so many lovely people this week it's hard to know where to start. What was so impressive was the time and energy people gave of themselves. 

   By the time we left we had tears in our eyes. Why must the ocean be so big? 

  The Juintenen  family are the the kindest gentlest family I have come across but are also incredibly fun to be around. That's a great mix. It's hard to find people that have both of those features. So in summary, it was a perfect end to our journey. We were no longer lonely or homesick for those last few days we felt like we were with family. 

Rome in a golf cart

   Camping fabulous is the name of the sight in Rome we stayed at. By the time we got there , rushed to change , find food and make the meeting I was pretty beat.  So when Monday rolled around I sent jim and Tristan into the city to get some of the sightseeing out of the way because the younger boys and myself didn't have the energy to chase daddy all over Rome.  So I arranged to meet up with him later in the city. Now for me , this ment I had to put my big girl panties on. I am so used to just letting Jimmie figure stuff out and we all just follow him so for me to figure out the bus and train all by myself was a big deal. But you know what? I did it just fine, we all made it with no problems at all. We even had no trouble finding Jimmie and Tristan.

  So Jimmie tells me he knows what we are going to do. We are going to rent a golf cart and ride it around Rome. You can park it anywhere for free, drive on the narrow streets and it will fit us all, well mostly fit us all. It's designed for four people but we will just squeeze in. Sounds legit. So here we are cruising around Rome in a golf cart. At first I was scared to death, were driving in the streets, through intersections and round abouts. Busses and motorcycles and cars are all around us. Were completely exposed really. When jim rents it he says they just gave him the keys and basically sent him on his way. No safety instructions, no guidance. The only warning was written in the dash board, it literally said" don't fall out, or tip the cart over, this may cause death." Hmmm. That's reassuring. So with one butt cheek hanging off the side, we just zipped all over the city. It was so much fun!!! We got to see so much this way!! We could take this thing anywhere!! There were absolutely no rules at all. We saw several police and thought we might get in trouble for exceeding the limit. Nope. They just giggled at us crazy Americans. We did illegal u turns , drove on side walks and streets and the cobble stone roads around the colleseum. It was one of the funnest nights we had for sure. Rome is absolutely an amazing place. I love it!!!!  I really can not put into words how incredible Rome is, I could definitely come back again and again.

  The kids made up a game to see who could get the most high fives. Again I was touched by the heart of Italians.  Cute guys would go out of their way to high five the loco American kids. Cole won for sure. Who can resist his cute freckly face and smile? 

  We found an Irish pub to watch the World Cup. France won and the whole place cheered. I don't really care, but I enjoy being in a room full of people who do care. 

  We crawled into bed exhausted but happy. Once again , just as a family of five we were able to have an amazing amount of fun together.  We have got to hang on to these memories and hold them very close to our heart, you just don't know what tommorow brings. Financially speaking, leaving to tour Europe for two monthes may not be the most responsible thing to do, but I think it's memory's like this that would come to my mind if I were on my death bed, I wouldn't be thinking about how much money I should have kept in the bank. You just can't put a price tag on the time we have had together. I'm very greatful we have had not only the circumstances to do this but the gypsy heart  it takes to throw caution to the wind and just go. 

   I owe it all to my husband , my best pal , my soul mate who always makes his dreams and mine come true.  All who wander are not lost......

Rome bethel

   Monday we were invited to lunch at bethel by the brother we met at the Rome Kingdom Hall. This was a real privledge that we weren't about to miss.  To be honest though, I was a little scared to join them with my family. As we walked in to the lunch room I almost had a meltdown.  I drilled the kids ahead of time, don't forget they say a prayer together so don't take any food until it's passed to you, don't talk about knives,video  games, movies farts or anything of the like. if you fight I will positively die of a heart attack on the spot.  It went fine and I relaxed after a little bit.  They were all very sweet and made us feel welcome and miraculously the kids behaved and actually enjoyed themselves. The bethel in Rome serves wine with lunch that is made by a watchtower farm outside of Rome. They also produce their own olive oil,but unfortunately not for to much longer.  Soon they will be selling that land. They only serve one small bottle for a large table so it is not enough to slow anyone down. I tasted it. It was very good. 

  The tour was lovely. We have seen three of them so far. London, croatia and now Rome. We took the tour with a few others, some very sweet people from Delaware and a Giliad couple from Dominican Republic but originally from San Francisco. By the end of the tour we were all pals and exchanged numbers.  I'm always impressed by the willing spirit of the people who work there. Bethel life runs a tight ship and these people work hard. It's not a life for everyone, but they are very happy people. They deserve to be, they have made really good choices for their life for a long time in order to be able to work there and they are blessed for that. The boys really get a chance to see our international brotherhood and all the hard work and self sacrafise that goes on behind the scenes.  One thing that impressed me that our guide, a circuit overseer for many years, told us was that everyone, including him, when they first come has to do every job for atleast one day so that they will appreciate the work. That means that he spent a day in laundry, a day scrubbing toilets and so on. He said he was supervised by a sister who had him get on his hands and knees to scrub the bathroom properly. This is done to ensure that everyone stays humble and no task is greater seen as than the next. 

   Well were on to Sweden now.  We have very dear and wonderful friends there and it's the perfect end to our journey. I don't care about seeing anything  at all. This is all about being with friends. So we will enjoy whatever we do because we will be in good company and I'm not sure we will ever have a chance to do a trip like this again so I am trying to remain greatful and enjoy every moment. 

   Stockholm look out... Here come the grimes.....