Schools out for Summer!

What's been going on with us? Well 2 weekends ago we had a family reunion with the Madsen family. Søren's dad has 5 siblings so it was a huge get together with all the kids and grandkids too! We were up on the north east side of Jutland close to the ocean where we had rented a big cabin. The place was huge and we had lots of room to eat and play games etc. We also had beautiful weather so we could be outside playing soccer or hide and seek! We don't get to see that side of the family so often so it was fun to spend time with them again!

Then just this past week I had the pleasure of participating in my first ever Saint Hans party! What is this? Well it is an old tradition in Denmark and maybe other parts of Europe to celebrate the summer equinox. Every year for this celebration people get together all over Denmark to grill out with friends or family and have a HUGE bonfire!! The special thing about this HUGE bonfire is that it is tradition to have a witch on top of the bonfire. When the bonfire is lit everyone sings a songs and watches as the huge bonfire begins to engulf the homemade witch! In the old days they actually did burn witches as a symbol of burning away the evil! But luckily now-a-days it is just made of wood and such! (see below)

Saint Hans Bonfire!


Other than that we been busy finishing school for the year. Søren had his final exam last Wednesday and it went well so he is officially on summer vacation and is done studying math forever! I am also done with school after a long week of teacher meetings, cleaning with the students and goodbye parties. Thursday I was at work from 8 am - 3 am! Crazy huh? But the day was filled with fun things. After cleaning during the day we had just enough time to get ready for the Galla Party. All the teachers and students get dressed up all fancy and eat amazing food.

My family group and I at the Galla Party

The evening continues with some funny skits and songs put on by the students and teachers. Then around 10pm we go into the nearest town for an end of the year Worship Service which is always powerful and such a special way to end the year. Finally around 12am we are back at school for some more food, hanging out and sports! This year it was a volleyball tournament and our teacher team was undefeated!!! Then on Friday we have a little party for the students and parents and say goodbye to all the students with tearfilled eyes! It is all emotional but at the end of the day we were happy for summer vacation now!

But yeah other than that not much else is new except that we just got finished making a Worship CD with our band at church. It was fun to be a part of the project and to now hear the final result!