Järna, Sweden

Well, today I was sleeping and got woken up by the Torres clan and my family coming in and waking me up! I gave everyone a big hug. We talked about Sweden's Princess marrying a commoner and what we should go see next. Di was carrying a video camera so she could catch the surprise on tape for Hannah, Paul and Carrie were not feeling well, Robert was suggesting Mom and Cindy take a hike, roughly translated from German, "narrow path on a cliff"...and then I woke up for real.

We have just spent the last two days in Järna, Sweden. It is a quiet, peaceful, beautiful place to be. We arrived at the tail end of a conference, Sense Festival, hosted by YIP - The International Youth Initiative Program (www.yip.se). We were able to participate in parts of the conference and have enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of it's participants to bring change out into the world. Last night they had a wonderful closing where participants sang and shared their various talents, all of which were very heartfelt. Here in Sweden it is the midsummer celebration so at midnight (Hannah was already fast asleep at Ani's home) we took a hike through the fjords and forest. Some of the YIPs had dressed up as elementals and did an enchanting job of bringing the essence of this celebration. During the hike we were able to see the sun set and rise, all within two hours, and it never quite got dark. At the end of the hike there was a bonfire and we gathered round to keep warm and sang songs from around the world. It was a lovely evening/morning.

While here we visited a school that is Waldorf inspired but has a large stream of outdoor education (no desks, spend all your time outside, etc) Here are some pictures of the school.



Hannah and I have been spending a lot of our time walking around the beautiful grounds and land. Today we spent some time drawing our trade cards down by the water.


Ani's home.


We have also found some playgrounds which is becoming a theme for us. At one of the parks there were two little girls playing. They kept checking us out from a distance, then they decided to come up and speak to us. They came over and in Swedish in turn were saying, "You ask her." "No, you ask her." One then spoke up and asked me a question and I replied that I spoke English. Both girls then looked at each other, than turned around and walked away back to their house (which was across the street). They soon came out again and continued playing.


Overall, it has been so wonderful getting to see Ani and what she is doing with her life right now!

Tomorrow we spend the day in Stockholm.