Quests....Great and Small

Today was a great day to walk to school!  We don't have the car on Tuesdays and I really enjoy strolling down the street.  We haven't been getting in as much walking in the past weeks because of snow and ice.  It is very difficult to break into to a good healthy stride when you are afraid of slipping on ice and breaking your neck.

Today it was warmer than freezing and all roads and sidewalks were clear of anything slippery.  On the way home from class, we stopped in to a couple of genbrugs....I probably misspelled that.  They are "used" stores and are everywhere.  They are usually little shops and some are as tiny as a large walk-in closet!  Others are much larger...maybe as big as a large family room.  They are crammed full of old used items like dishes, pots and pans, figurines, lamps, etc.

When you are wearing a heavy winter coat and gloves, it can be a delicate thing to walk through the narrow aisles of the store.  A lot of the used dishes might be Royal Copenhagen and it would be a tragic thing indeed for our pocketbook to break those.

We are looking for cheap used dessert sized dishes for the center.  We don't have any that size and when we serve dessert, we either use regular sized plates or small soup bowls, or the cheapest of all cheap paper plates....none of which are too satisfactory.  SK keeps advising me to wait until we know where we are going, but just between you and me....I sure love to look.  And if we were to find some for less than a dollar a plate, it would be a bargain and we could keep them at our apartment until we know where the center is landing.

I am also on a quest to find some pretty Royal Copenhagen dessert plates for our home in the States. For many years, I collected red dinnerware with gifts of money from my dear Aunt Adell.  Something that started out without much thought eventually became a sweet experience, and I found that the nearly daily use of those dishes brought her close to us.  Something so mundane has become a treasure of memories of her.

So, dessert plates that look Danish and are kind of special will be a fun reminder to my grandchildren of our time here in Danmark.  I have a small cache of cash :-) for that very purpose and will begin looking through the old stores for the beginnings of our new collection.  Isn't it fun to have such a small and satisfying quest?

We had a great time in Danish class today....but have been going over our notes for "THE TEST" which will be a little over 2 weeks from now.  Que Horrors!!!!....ahem, I mean Hvor Forfaerdeligt!!!

SK will pass it with his eyes closed....but then I could too....since it will all be oral.  But he really will not have a problem, and I might.  We'll see.

Let's see...the acquisition of a new language, the acquisition of new/old dessert plates, the acquisition of friendships with some of the finest young people in the world, blessings of associations with missionaries young and not so young.....a closer relationship with the Lord...oddly feeling closer to my family in many ways.....seeing answers to prayers more clearly and more immediately than ever in my life.....finding wonderful ways to serve....feeling more gratitude.

No wonder people talk about missions as some of the best years of their lives!