Jens finshed school in may and continues to work on his feature film script. He is planning on finishing it this spring, and after that he will start contacting production companies and TV-stations to have it made into a movie or a TV-series. He is still driving buses for a living. It's not a job he particulary enjoys, but it does pay the bills. When he's not working he helps out around the house so that his wife can go to school. Last spring he went to a mission reunion in SLC and met up with some good friends. He also had the opportunity to attend General Conference. He really enjoyed that trip! He is a passionate road biker and can brag about having broken his collar bone riding down a mountain in the French Alps. Not many can top that.
Toini enrolled at the University of Stockholm in August to study translation. She has classes a couple of days a week and studies as much as she can at home. She loves it and feels as though she finally got it right. She will be done in december of this year. During the year she underwent two surgical procedures to her lower back, but unfortunately still isn't pain free. She continues to try and lead an active life nonetheless, road biking and running as much as her body allows and is looking forward to biking in the French Alps again.
Alvin 7 started 1st grade in the fall and is enjoying school and all of his friends. He is quite the ladies' man. During the year he had three girlfriends. At one point he had two at the same time. He is a sociable kid who likes to talk (wherever did he get that from?), and spend time with his siblings and friends. He loves to create and is, among other things, a skilled lego constructor. Together with his brother, he goes to swimming classes and is getting better and better at swimming. His goal is to be able to swim all by himself when we go back to Öland this summer.
Ivar 7 is also in 1st grade and he loves to read and write. But his favourite subject in school is maths. This is a mystery, because neither one of his parents have ever been any good at it. Ivar is pensive and thoughtful child. He loves to write little notes of appreciation for his mom and dad as well as stories. One of his stories goes something like this if translated:
"Once upon a time there was a big sea monster that lived deep down in the see and it devoured people it loved meat and ate loads of fish. But one day another sea monster came, and this sea monster was good. And they started to fight and at the end both of them had died.
And everyone in the city lived happily ever after!"
Lovisa, almost 5 is a happy and outgoing girl. She loves playschool and has a whole bunch of friends there. During the year she has grown more and more interested in letters and numbers, and is now able to write quite a few words and read signs. Lovisa loves to bake and cook. She also likes to play shop. She sells everything from cereal to underwear. Lovisa loves inviting friends over or going to their houses. She especially likes birthdayparties - especially those with a princess theme.
Egon, 2.5 is a very sweet little boy. He is very good at expressing himself and loves to talk. He wants to do everything himself, no matter how hard it is. Right now he is either a puppy or a kitten. One morning at about 3.45 we heard the door to our room open and in comes Egon, on all fours, meowing! Even half asleep he was a kitten. The other day Egon stumbled on the edge of the livingroom carpet and fell down. He cried for about 15 seconds and then he looked at me, teary-eyed and said: "I didn't hurt myself. I just broke my leg. It doesn't matter."
As a family we enjoyed several trips last summer, the camping trip to Öland probably being the highlight. Jens and Toini of course enjoyed their trip to the French Alps in May. What a beautiful place to go road biking! Meanwhile, the kids had a good time, staying with cousins and grandparents back home.
Another exciting thing is that we got our first pets: rabbits Teo and Emilia. They live in our back yard, in a house/cage that Jens built for them.
At the end of the year we went through an exciting adventure called "Water damage". Jens and some kind helpers had to tear out our entire kitchen and hall way, cupboards, floors and all. For a couple of weeks there was nothing but concrete floors. The family moved in with Jens' parents, where we ended up staying for over three weeks. Jens worked day and night the entire time, and we were able to move back into the house the night before Christmas eve. We were so grateful to be able to spend Christmas at home.
