Fun, sweet days with Miki

These past few days have been such a fun, sweet time with Miki and her friend.  They are the easiest guests EVER!!  Their motto was, "I'm just happy to be here."  Absolutely no expectations or needs, it seemed.

On Friday morning, while I got some of my own work done, they had fun at Walmart.  They were beyond thrilled with all the things they were able to get there that are not as available or affordable in Sweden.

In the afternoon we went to Anthony and Lori's.  Lori gave them the grand tour, then while I went grocery shopping, they settled in for a quiet afternoon there.  Miki is starting to write a children's book series, complete with her own illustrations.  I can't believe I did not get any picture of her working on the illustrations.  She's such a talented artist.

Dick came after work, and we had a cookout. It's so peaceful there, we were all a bit tired and very relaxed, and we almost felt like we could have just fallen asleep sitting there.

Austin is afraid of spiders, and of course there are plenty of them in the woods.  So Miki took a lot of time with him, looking for spiders, talking about them, turning them into something fascinating instead of scary.  It was fun to listen to them.

Saturday was an amazingly relaxing day.  In the morning Miki, Kicki, and I sat on the front porch with our coffee and talked for a long, long time.

When Dick came home he enlisted their help to move the basketball hoop towards his pickup truck.  A neighbor man helped him to get it up onto the truck, and he took it to Anthony and Lori's.  Now Austin will be able to practice his skills whenever the mood strikes him.

We ladies went to Giant for some groceries.  Again they were like kids in a candy store, snatching up all kinds of snacks they are unable to get in Sweden.

I was hoping Dick would be able to do chicken breasts on the grill, and I even had things set up to seat seven people on our side porch. But storms came though and we needed to do everything inside.  Anthony, Lori, and Austin joined us.

After they left we pulled out the Scrabble board.  I play Scrabble on my phone (against the computer) EVERY NIGHT.  I consider myself pretty good.  Dick is even better.  You would think that we'd have a good chance to win over people who regularly speak Swedish, right?  

Wrong!  Miki won, and declared that she can now cross something off her bucket list - beat Mom and Dad in Scrabble!!  Waaaahhhh!!  She said she plays Worly Word on her phone, and apparently is keeping up her English language skills!

This morning they went with us to both churches, and Miki and I sang the same special we did last year - I Bless Your Name.  I just love singing with her, and I realized more than ever, as she shared how she has lived the message of this song in the past year, that she is an anointed minister.  Here's the video Dick took with his phone at Fillmore.

After church at Houserville we ate lunch at a new place,  Fuji and Jade Garden.  We got good Chinese food and Miki got some sushi.  It just took long.  I don't know if I'd go back.

Miki and I were practicing for when I'm old, haha!

They shopped at nearby Goodwill, which is the reason we ate lunch where we did.  Miki was thrilled to find two very nice suits, one with pants and one with a skirt.  

We came home then, they packed up, I drew them one of my trusty maps, and they were on their way to Manheim.  Of course she was very eager to see Bjorn, but I'm so thankful she took the time to spend with us.  

We've been having rain and storms off and on all afternoon and evening.  I took a really good nap and have been working here at the computer ever since. 

Have a good week!