A Red-letter Day....What Does that Mean Anyway?

Over and over again, I am reminded of one of my father's favorite sayings, "This too shall pass."

How does it happen?  I worry and prepare and worry some more....and mercifully....the day comes, and the day leaves.  Now it is a memory and the stuff blogs are made of.

The great and wonderful Danish test is over.  Our regular teacher Heidi and another teacher sat together in the classroom and called us in one by one.  When it was my turn, Heidi had me pull a piece of paper from a little stack.  The one I selected asked me to describe our apartment.  I did....and I did OK.  I lived through the question and answer part.  No one's jaw dropped, and no one said, "My goodness!  What are you doing in a Danish class....you speak Danish so well!"

But at the end of the interview, they said "Tillykke....du bestået prøven."...or Congratuations...you passed the test."  They didn't go into detail about what sentences I may have butchered or even what I might have done right....just a simple congratulations...you passed.  And that was quite enough.  I left happy.

SK was quite nervous on the way to the test.  YES...that is what I said.  I was dumbfounded.  All of the other class members who were there were teasing him, because he was visibly nervous!  I can't imagine why.  He speaks and understands so much!  And his pronunciation is excellent.  I think the problem was that he had a reputation to uphold and he couldn't bear the thought of making even one little error in speaking.....whereas I went into the test knowing I would mangle the pronunciation and the grammar.

It was nice seeing everyone one more time and visiting with them.  I hope our paths will cross again.  We all promised we would stay in touch on Facebook, so I had better actually figure out how it works.

The meal tonight was the easiest yet.  We fixed White Chicken Chili.  We shopped til we found some grapes on sale, and I piled a platter high with purple and green grapes.  The Chili is served with tortilla chips, grated cheddar and sour cream.  It looked nice on the black table cloth.  Dessert was brownies that I made last night.  I was short 2 oz. of baking chocolate on a double batch and decided to just go with it.  The result was a sweet milk chocolate brownie, and if I (being the dark chocolate purist that I am) like them, then I think that most people would like them.

I made enough for 40 to 50, reserving ingredients enough to throw extra in during the last hour of cooking if it looked like we had more than 50.  But we found out that 2 missionaries have completed their missions and have come home and were having open houses ...so that took a lot of our regulars away.  We ended up with not quite 30, and the soup is all gone!....and the brownies are going.

One of these times, we will have 50 or more....and then I will be crazily adding all kinds of things to the soup at the last minute.  But then, if there were that many...everyone could only have one helping instead of several.

I loved the visits with YSAs tonight.  Every evening here, I find myself in a little island of space and time where a young person and I can converse....about school, about health, about relationships, about church, and about life.  To me, it is an incredible gift that they are willing to share their lives with us. It is a sweet thing, and I am grateful for those little treasured moments.

The evening seemed more peaceful than usual.  Since we are on the upper story, the sloped windows transmit the sound of the rain magnificently.  It has rained on and off throughout the day and when it would pick up, the drumming of the water on the panes of glass made it feel even cozier in here than usual.

I know what you're thinking....Is this the best she could do for pictures today?  Look at this sky!  It is a Michelangelo sky!.......snapped from the center window.

The really good news of the day is that the new center has been approved!!!!!!  This is such a happy relief.  We will have a place to move to....we will all still be together.  We expect that we will move out of here sometime in July.

Did I tell you that we will be in this apartment for the rest of the mission?

Last day of Danish class
Passed the test
Found out we have a new center to move into
We have this lovely apartment in Copenhagen until we finish our mission

Is this a red-letter day or what?