We Missed 4th of July...

It's past 12 pm and I'm sitting in Maria Evermin's kitchen realizing that I will miss 4th of July this year!!! Peter and I moved to the States in September 2005 and have celebrated this very special holiday every year since then... I know that's not a whole lot of years, but anyway. First time we were in Yorktown Virginia and it was an awesome awesome celebration, we were at a former battlefield, there was a band playing and the fireworks went on for ever! There is something special about this patriotism that every US citizen seems to have... I must admit; I love it! And I will miss not celebrating 4th of July this year. Peter and I will just have to get some fireworks of our own here in Stockholm and celebrate anyway :)!

Ps. One thing that was special this year though, was that we were actually in Sweden for our own National holiday, June 6th! God is good!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 7:17 PM

Family Night!

We just came home from a wonderful evening with our SOS family. SOS Church met at Julia's place and bbq'ed and just hung out, it was great. I feel so rich to be a part of such a huge, loving, warm and fun family! I feel so blessed to have so many friends!

Right now Peter and I are staying with Ante and Maria in their apartment and we are loving every minute of it! Ante and Peter are tech freaks and talk about stuff like "the new XCTW"/TWR loudspeaker" like its breakfast cereal or something, ha ha... Our kids adore Maria, she was their nanny a couple of years ago, and they are having the time of their lives. I feel rich tonight, so many great friends/family, so much love, I have three precious kids asleep in the next room (thank God :)), a wonderful husband and a heavenly Daddy that loves me no matter what!

My three little threasures!!!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 5:46 PM

Great Advice!

Have you ever stopped to think about all the stuff that we have in our homes, cars, kinda everywhere, that we (I think especially moms and ladies) feel that we just cannot live without...? Alot of times we buy things that are totally unneccesary and we love to live by routines - does anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyway, the other day I was reminded of some of the greatest advice that I have ever gotten. It was from one of my best friends, Linda Zuniga.

Linda with two of her boys!

Linda is an amazing friend, woman of God, mother (of three boys), and missionary. She lives in Bulgaria and run SOS mission base there with her husband Walter. Linda has taught me so much about enjoying the simple things in life... This one thing that I'm thinking of now is when she had just given birth to her second little boy and she was on the road for quite some time. I asked Linda; how do you do this, you are always so content, happy, great mom, looks like you have all the patience in the world etc... And she replied: Well, as long as everyone is fed, clean and happy then I am happy... Wow - what super-great advice to all us ladies and moms that are so many times running through life, not stopping to see the little things or stopping to just be happy because everyone else is...

Linda - you are such a great example for me and so many others! I love you and so appriciate having you and your great advice in my life!!!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 2:49 PM

King of Pop is Dead...

Read in the paper today that the King of Pop music, Michael Jackson is dead... Not that I listen a lot to him today, but I did listen to him quite a bit in my teens and we all must admit that he created something, and has been the face of pop music a long time. His music can found all over the world, from New York City to the most rural little village in Africa, when he had his geatest years; his music was heard EVERYWHERE! People all over the world remembers him, and most people know at least 2-3 of his greatest hits, what's my point? We'll, it's a fact that our life here on this planet will end some day and what will we be remembered for? I pray that people will remember Jesus when they think of me, that I loved God, my family, tried to always do my best at everything, loved adventures and enjoyed life! What will you be remembered for?

Anna, Peter and I just listened to some old Jackson hits... (I'm sure that hundreds of thousands of people are listening to him today). Well, here's one of my favorite hits:



BTW... It's Martina writing this, not Peter :). Published: By: The Almqvists - 1:48 PM

The sun is back...

less clouds however...

This morning I enjoyed the sun! It has rained for two weeks straight here in Stockholm. Yesterday we packed up and moved out from the RV trailer that we have lived in for the past two weeks. We then drove an hour south and have the privilege to stay in our good friends Johannes and Maria's new house! Life is great! But we are homesick!

C U soon Published: By: The Almqvists - 10:06 AM

What beauty!

This morning I went for a prayer walk and quickly found myself in a beautiful setting. Sweden is such a beautiful country and once you move off the beaten track, there is such beauty! Thank you God for your wonderful creation!

The last week or so I have been reading the Gospel of John! Jesus is so wonderful! Take some time this summer and read the Gospel of John and fall in love with Jesus again. He is so beautiful!

C U!
Published: By: The Almqvists - 10:28 AM

Back in Stockholm

We are now back in Stockholm after a week of vacation and family time...

skip the water front, and this could be us...

At the moment we are staying in some friend's RV trailer and enjoying life. Our VISA extensions are not done yet so we are camping out here in Stockholm until we receive the required documents from the US immigration service...

Pray with me and my family that the process is finalized in the next couple of days... We want to go home. Soon I will have been living out of my suitcase for 2 months straight. And while traveling is FUN coming home after travel is even better!

C U soon!
Published: By: The Almqvists - 7:06 AM