Presenting a new family member - Geo!

If you have seen a barefoot man dressed in a bathrobe late at night in Ulricehamn it is not a flasher. Or, at least not if you saw him at Wallenqvistgatan. It is my hubby out on a night walk with our new family member Geo. Usually J is fully dressed but last night Geos needs were imminent and J had to run out with Geo in the middle the night wearing only a bathrobe. He hoped no one would be out and about but naturally he ran in to our neighbors who smiled friendly!

Geo is an 8 weeks old German Shepard that we will look after until he is 18 months old. He is part of a program to become a military working dog but until he is old enough to be tested he will stay with us. So far he has been with us for only 3 days but already we are all sold on him. When we first started talking about taking on a dog only for a year and a half the question was of course how we would deal with the parting. A dog is a family member but we are only hosting the dog and are not the owners so we cannot keep the dog even if we desperately would like to. If Geo is found suitable as a military working dog he can work as a mine detector dog or do other form or search tasks. The Swedish military service breed about 200 German Shepards a year and only 25% of them will pass the test to become military working dogs but even if he is not found suitable for the military he might be of interest for the police or other organizations using dogs. I like to think that we get to see him grow up and give us the pleasure only a dog can give and then he will move on to do important tasks for others. With the high amount of mines all over the world, causing horrible injuries to civilians every day, I think we need all mine dogs we can possible find.

Geo is still a really small puppy, sometimes scared and often curious of the world around him. Despite only knowing us for 3 days he is very obedient, constantly looking for positive feedback and wanting to do well. And we are all involved in making him fit well in with our family!

PS: Scroll down to "family films" in the right menu and you will find a film showing Geo!

Her tears will turn into warm memories - a summer with CISV

So finally I got my family back together under one roof again. Ingrid (12) spent two weeks on a CISV youth meeting in Austria and Elsa a month on a CISV village in Denmark. Last year, as Ingrid returned from her CISV village in the US she spent the first day begging nonstop that we would all emigrate to Australia and the second day crying. Elsa has been crying a little bit every day for a week now while telling us that despite that she loves us, she misses her new friends so much. She wants to go to her best friends in Colombia, Brazil and the Philippines. I love the concept of the peace organization CISV (www.cisv.com) and I have many wonderful memories from my own trips as a teenager but it breaks my heart seeing my girl so unhappy. For four weeks she has spent night and day with 47 other 11-year-olds from 12 different nations, speaking only English and learning about peace, tolerance and shared wonderful moments together. And suddenly it is over, all children return to their home countries and despite Facebook, twitter, e-mail and Skype I think they know that the chance of them all meeting up again is small. She can’t get in contact with her Chinese friends via Facebook as it is not allowed in China. She is in pain!

Are we doing the right thing sending our children out in the world, having the time of their lives and then taking it all away four weeks later? I do think so. When Elsa cries she also admits that the pain she is in is worth it. She wouldn’t be without this camp for anything in the world. It has changed her forever even though she does not see how yet. Ingrid enjoyed her camp as well but this year’s detox is less painful than last year as her new best friend lives in Amsterdam which makes visiting a lot easier. Both girls are hoping for more CISV activities next summer and I hope that talking about all fun activities, looking at the pictures, sharing the experiences makes these wonderful weeks stay as warm memories to last a lifetime.

People we have to leave behind or will never see again are neither forgotten nor lost. They live on as we cherish them and the joy we have shared is passed on to someone else. So we create a world of friendship and one little camp can make waves for decennia’s to come.