The Dance

We leave 4 weeks from yesterday! I’ve been frantically cleaning and moving things from one room to the next trying to eliminate some of the clutter for the Starrs (our house sitters). Kaleb leaves a trail of destruction in every room he occupies. The piles of books on the coffee table and the pillows and clothes on the floor in every room of the house almost send me over the edge some days, but I try to keep it in perspective. These days won’t last forever and my yelling at him just might. It’s funny the tapes we play over and over in our heads when we grow up – and I don’t want his biggest memory of me being all the times I yelled at him. (But just my luck, they will be… and he’ll never know all the self control I used in keeping the yelling to a minimum.)

Kaleb finished up the last Weekly Puppy today (note the Puppy Dog pose in the photo). He’s been producing that dog pup-lick-ation for over a year now – every week! Amazing stamina. He’s going to a monthly format now to take some pressure off (and calling it The Weakly Puppy) – mostly because we won’t be homeschooling in Norway. I’m so impressed with all he’s done. Every cent he raised selling subscriptions he gave away – over $1,750 all totaled since he started in February 2007. I’m in awe of that child.

Kory and I attended a prayer meeting last night. Always so incredible to just sit in the presence of God and let him love on us. I had a vision while I was being quiet – one of a ballroom dancing scene and the couple was me and Jesus. It was so beautiful to watch as we gracefully moved around to the sound of the music that was playing in the background. I was asking myself “how do I do that?” (dance so well) and I heard the voice of God say, “I’m the one in the lead… you just need to relax and follow my steps.” It was such a lovely way to picture our relationship and a good reminder to RELAX a bit more these frantic days. Especially good to think about after I got the word from the shipper today that our boxes won’t arrive until the week of August 7th. Yikes. I wasn’t expecting that – he originally said they’d be there the week of July 28th… so I’ll just relax and trust God as I’m sure it will all turn out fine.

On one hand this move feels so completely out of control for me and there are many unknowns. The things I do know (like how expensive it is to live in Norway), are pretty daunting. But on the other hand, I’ve been walking this walk with God long enough to know He wouldn’t be sending us to Norway if he wasn’t coming right along with us and providing for all our needs as He has done so miraculously all these years. Apparently I just need to RELAX a bit more right now and enjoy the dance.

One Month To Go...

We leave a month from today! The time is going by way too quickly. If it goes this fast when we are in Norway it won’t seem like we were gone hardly at all. Maybe the long dark winter will help slow the time down for us.

The total for shipping our boxes was over $3,300. Ugh. More than a thousand over what I had budgeted. I can only think on the good side and realize that $3,300 won’t buy much in Norway so it was worth it to send so many useful items. A pair of Levis is over $100, a pair of running shoes, $200. I’m expecting to pay $3,000 a month just for food. I think Kory and I will do some serious fasting while we’re there!

I got an e-mail from the toll office in Norway answering my question about the taxes. We will owe 25% on anything new. There is no “freebee” when you ship things in – you only get the $1,200 tax free on things you hand carry into the county. Had I known that going in to this whole process, I would have only carried on the new items. Ugh. We’ll probably owe at least $300 in taxes and who knows what other fees there will be. This is all so educational! Oh the things you learn about the inner workings of a country when you try to move there.

Let me just say how much I’m going to miss the Dollar Store. Bargains everywhere you turn. I shopped til my heart’s content before the last box was packed up. In Norway it’s customary to bring gifts when you go for a visit. It’s way cooler to bring something from America than to buy something they can get over there… so I bought a year’s supply of hostess gifts. Lovely things, really. Nice Mary Engelbreit notepads and cards (okay, made in China, but still… they don’t know who M.E. is in Norway and they should), wonderful lotions and scrubs from a company in Canada (oh, that’s not America either… hmmm). But still, those items just made my heart sing… and you put a pretty bow on the whole thing and you’re stylin’! So I can’t wait to make new friends and impress them with my excellent taste in gifts (at bargain prices, no less) as well as my foresight in packing up something especially picked out for them before I even met them or left America! Woo hoo! (And note, this will be the last time I use the word “bargain” for awhile as NOTHING in Norway will be….)

Farewells...

We attended two “farewell” parties this weekend. It’s nice to be loved and it’s comforting to know we will be missed. Hard to believe we make that much difference in a person’s life, but then, I guess that’s the point of one’s existence. We’ve done our job well if we will be missed.

We belong to a “Dine with Nine” group at our church. We are all outstanding cooks and every dinner is like taking your mouth to paradise. I will miss the food, the conversation, the laughs and the lovely faces of all those in our group. It’s a great way to get to know others from church and the dramas that unfold are much better than any major motion picture.

We also attended a pool party good-bye from our home fellowship group. It was a congratulations party too for one member that just got her Bachelor’s degree. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day at a home that should be on the cover of every Home Beautiful magazine (see photo!). We felt like we were in a dream world where everything is perfect and the yard is meticulously manicured and the house as picturesque as it could be. Savannah, Georgia came to mind… except that we were surrounded by farm land and there was no moss dangling from the trees. Life is so good sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming.

Taxes!

I’m writing this from my new laptop, sitting in a cute little beach cabin on Camano Island. Kory and Kaleb and I are having a little family vacation, before we leave on our trip. This photo was taken last night after the sun went down. Kaleb got the idea that we should launch a burning barge out on the water (in the style of a Norwegian viking king burial ship) and then go roast marshmallows (probably not something they did back then). Funny boy. Adventurous mind.

I'd like Kaleb to have as much of a normal summer as possible. He’ll be going to Vacation Bible School, summer science camp and family camp all in the next few weeks. Gotta get while the gettin’s good. Summer is my best time to socialize him since there are so many day camps and fun activities to do. I usually have him tied up for 4 weeks each summer doing something to expand his horizons. School will start just a few weeks after we arrive in Norway so I want him to feel like he had a good summer of fun before he starts in with all the big changes.

I wrote an e-mail to the “toll” office in Norway. They got back to me about my concerns over our shipment – do we have to be in Oslo when the boxes arrive, etc. He said we can clear customs in Aalesund, which is hugely good news since it would be so expensive to get down to Oslo just for a formality. He said “once we pay the tax” our stuff will be released to us. I’m bracing for how much that will be.

I got a notice on our last statement from our Norwegian bank account that said any purchases made outside Norway using the ATM card will just automatically tack on their tax to the amount withdrawn. Good old Norwegian ingenuity… figuring out how to tax you even when you are out of the country! (Their sales tax is a whopping 25%.) So the amount of tax we will owe on what we bring in should be something to consider. Most everything is "used" so that’s tax free but we did have to buy some things and all totaled up was just over $1,000 of new items. If I read their website properly then we each should be able to bring in $1,200 worth of stuff tax free… so I’m hoping we make out OK, but you never know. Oh well, I say… it’s just money! And in Norway you actually get something for the taxes you pay – things like free medical, free education, guaranteed retirement… stuff like that. And they don’t have property tax. So when you think about all the different taxes we have and what the money goes for, I’d much rather pay high taxes in Norway and feel like there was some value there. But enough about that…

The sun is setting and I must go see what God will paint in the sky tonight.

The Boxes Are On Their Way!

Here's a bird's eye view of the area where we are moving. If you follow the line from the X you can faintly see a circle - and that's where we will live -- an area outside Aalesund called Moa. (The town of Aalesund is further out towards the water's edge.)

Kory and I drove to Kent today to deliver 28 boxes of all that our lives will consist of in Norway for the next year. I do pray they arrive safely. No final count yet on the cost but it won’t be cheap. Oh well… it’s just money. And we’ll have clothes to wear, books to read, towels to dry off with and pots to cook with, so life will be good.

I’m feeling quite relieved to know we have a car waiting for us and a house lined up. It’s a good way to start off the year. The only thing that would make it better is if the dollar made a comeback… but again, it’s just money.

Kaleb showed some sign of promise yesterday. He’s been completely against this move because he’s wanted to live in our condo, but now that he knows we’ll be so close to it I think he’s warming up to the idea of going. Yesterday he even said (with a dreamy lilt to his voice) “Oh I can’t wait til I can have gjeteost and mørepolse everyday – and we can have fiskebolle anytime we want!” (Norwegian foods that I think are disgusting but Kory and Kaleb really enjoy). So there’s always the upside to any change and I’m thankful he’s looking for it.

Cousin Turid registered Kaleb today at what will be his new school. It’s a small school with (I believe) only one 4th grade class so he’ll know all the kids, that’s for sure. We love the cousins! They are all pitching in to help us with the transition. God is good to provide such a wonderful family for us in Norway!

We have a HOUSE!

Another complete God Thing!

I've been watching the internet classifieds in Norway for months - and absolutely nothing has come on the market in the area where we want to live. Even the cousins were getting nervous. One suggested we just buy a house and sell it when we leave, as the opportunities for rentals are few and far between. Another cousin was going to run an ad for us saying we wanted to rent a place... but you know me, I just prayed.

I really wanted to live in our condo because of it's location - just steps away from everything you can think of but it's not an option with Aunt Ruth living there. Kaleb felt the same and didn't want to move to Norway if we couldn't live at "Moa" (where our condo is). Just a few steps away from our condo is the swimming pool and movie theatre, library, mall, banks, grocery stores, church, bus transfer station, bakeries, you name it - it's all there.

Well, God did one better than our condo - he got us a house as close to our condo as you can get! And it's 2 bedrooms (our condo only has one) and it has a huge yard (not so for our condo).... and best of all, it's in a neighborhood with seven trampolines (we took a sneak peek on google earth). So Kaleb will be right in the neighborhood with all the kids he's going to go to school with - which is far better for socializing him than living in a condo with a bunch of retired people and you have to go through security steps to even knock on our door.

So God heard our prayers and blessed us beyond our expectations... and how he did that was... a few months ago I sent out an e-mail to all our relatives and friends in Aalesund saying that we were hoping to get approval to live there soon but we wanted to get a jump on a rental in case anyone heard of anything coming up. And the cousins who were witnesses at our wedding had a broken computer at the time so they didn't get our message until last week. By then they thought we'd already secured a place to live but they talked to a friend anyway about her house. The friend had a temporary job across the fjord and had been gone a year and had some things done on her house while she was gone. Her job was now done and she was going to move back to Moa to her old job, but her son wanted to stay and finish out his last year of school across the fjord. She was contemplating staying away for an additional year for her son's sake but couldn't make up her mind... then the cousin told her about us and that Kory is a carpenter and the woman still wanted her kitchen remodeled... so she's willing to reduce the rent for Kory doing some carpentry work on the place (which is good cuz the rent is more than $2,000 a month on a house about 800 square feet...).

So PRAISE GOD that we have a place to land! She'll rent it to us starting August 1st (we arrive in Norway July 26th). Kaleb will start school August 18th and our life in Norway will begin. I can't wait to see what's in store.

And the house is about 700 feet from our condo, and just 1/2 block to the Filadelfia Church where we will attend and I'll hold a Bible study, and less than a block from the house where Kory and I got engaged and also on the same block as the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base where 2 "kids" from Seattle are living/working/involved in ministry there and we know their parents. So many connections on that one block it makes my head spin.

GOD IS GOOD! and all I can say is HALLELUJAH!

Marching Orders

Bible verses from my daily devotions this morning:
Acts 26:16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Yes, I feel we are being sent by God to Norway to be a witness of what we have seen of Him and what he will show us. Freaky scripture, as it speaks directly to my soul. But then, that’s how you know the Holy Spirit is talking to you – it gets you all flustered or excited and NO ONE else “gets it.”

Big milestone this week – all boxes are packed and ready to go! And now our house is surprisingly more comfortable. I guess we had enough stuff to supply two households all along because we certainly won’t miss a thing we’re sending to Norway (and not bringing back). The linen closet doesn’t have problems with closing now. I have room in my clothes closet to see what’s on the hanger without taking it out. The dishes aren’t falling out of the cupboard when I open the door. I guess I should have done this long ago, but purging is a hard thing to do. It’s much easier when I know I’m not actually getting rid of the things – just moving them to another location.

It’s also a bit of a shock to realize how much OTHER stuff I have that isn’t really an essential item. The stuff I’m bringing to Norway is just stuff I know we will need – bedding, towels, clothes, shoes, camping gear, basic kitchen items. And we’ll do fine living simply. Make’s me wonder about the purpose of all that other stuff we AREN'T taking….