I think all of us would have slept half the day away if we didn’t have to get up so Kory and Kaleb could so skiing today. But fortunately, the ski slope is nearby and the days are short so there is still time tonight to catch up on lost sleep. Kaleb used ski poles for the first time today and Kory said he did very well. He doesn’t like to tack back and forth going down any hill – he prefers the fastest, straightest method down, so I’m glad he wears a helmet and I’m not there to watch him. (In the photo, he is on the left, Tobias is on the right.) One of Tobias’ twin brothers decided to stay home today so Kory just got to ski on his own all day while his cousin, Bjørn, taught the other twin the fine art of alpine skiing. Kory took a few video clips of the boys coming down the mountain so that was fun for me to see when they got home. All in all, it was a pleasant day for them as the weather was just fine and the ski slope wasn’t very crowded.
I spent the day doing almost nothing. I cleaned up a little and put away stuff from our trip. We got a few packages from home yesterday so I went through the mail, paid bills and read the news from the local LaConner paper. I also sat and tried to figure out how we might be able to get access to some money in our American bank account if Kory’s bosses need some help coming up with the down payment to buy The Sinking Houses. Kory wouldn’t mind being a silent partner in the deal so he wants to be sure we have money available if the opportunity presents itself. But with all the new banking rules that came into play since 9/11 it is impossible to transfer money out of America unless we go into the bank directly. We can’t request money be sent to us here, in other words, unless we fly home first and sign on the dotted line. I think that’s insane, but it is what it is. I can only pull $500 a day from the bank machine and it gets so old to get all the money we need every month in those increments, but it’s the only option available. We were even limited on how much cash we could bring into Norway, so having our main source of income outside this country and needing access to it every month has proven to be the biggest hassle in living here. At least we DO have money to pay the bills and buy groceries though so I’m thankful for that.
I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of the year already. My girlfriends back home have been e-mailing me with their New Year’s resolutions and I nearly forgot about that tradition as my mind has been on other things. I have no idea what the New Year will bring. There are so many gloom and doom predictions for the future of America that we hear about in the news over here, that I don’t even want to think about the future. I just want to live each day as it comes. Our plans are still to be home sometime in September and we expect to be leaving Norway by early July to travel around Europe before heading home, but we are up for whatever God has in mind so our plans could change at any time.
Cousin Turid called me today to tell me about a “situation.” She didn’t ask for prayer directly, but she thought it was a good idea when I offered to pray about it. Her good friend (who now lives in Oslo) just came into port in Miami yesterday from a week long Caribbean cruise with her husband and two teenage children. They were all lying around the pool at a hotel in Miami when their 14 year old son said he was going back to the room. When they went to the room, he was gone. He had taken his passport and cash and they had no idea where he was. He had been talking about his dream which was to go to Los Angeles and try his hand at being an actor so his parents were worried sick that he took off in pursuit of that – not fully understanding how far California is away from Florida. Needless to say, Miami is no place for a 14 year old Norwegian boy to be roaming about. They filed a missing person’s report and it was on the evening news in Miami last night, as well as on the news here in Norway. I prayed all afternoon for that boy and finally, several hours later, Turid called to say someone had spotted him and called the police – so he got reunited with his parents and he was in good shape. I was so thankful for that answered prayer and Turid said she nearly shouted “Hallelujah” too, but she is a Norwegian, after all. And I had one more occasion to shout Hallelujah today, as my classmate Sandra, sent me a text message on my cell phone to let me know that she is pregnant! I’ve been praying for her since September and it’s finally happened, so now we trust God to see her through this pregnancy. It’s her own Christmas miracle as she flew to Latvia just a few days before Christmas for in-vitro. (We dog sat her dog while she was gone.) What incredible news that is. So even though it was an at-home day for me, it was still full of thrills and chills. Hallelujah!
I spent the day doing almost nothing. I cleaned up a little and put away stuff from our trip. We got a few packages from home yesterday so I went through the mail, paid bills and read the news from the local LaConner paper. I also sat and tried to figure out how we might be able to get access to some money in our American bank account if Kory’s bosses need some help coming up with the down payment to buy The Sinking Houses. Kory wouldn’t mind being a silent partner in the deal so he wants to be sure we have money available if the opportunity presents itself. But with all the new banking rules that came into play since 9/11 it is impossible to transfer money out of America unless we go into the bank directly. We can’t request money be sent to us here, in other words, unless we fly home first and sign on the dotted line. I think that’s insane, but it is what it is. I can only pull $500 a day from the bank machine and it gets so old to get all the money we need every month in those increments, but it’s the only option available. We were even limited on how much cash we could bring into Norway, so having our main source of income outside this country and needing access to it every month has proven to be the biggest hassle in living here. At least we DO have money to pay the bills and buy groceries though so I’m thankful for that.
I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of the year already. My girlfriends back home have been e-mailing me with their New Year’s resolutions and I nearly forgot about that tradition as my mind has been on other things. I have no idea what the New Year will bring. There are so many gloom and doom predictions for the future of America that we hear about in the news over here, that I don’t even want to think about the future. I just want to live each day as it comes. Our plans are still to be home sometime in September and we expect to be leaving Norway by early July to travel around Europe before heading home, but we are up for whatever God has in mind so our plans could change at any time.
Cousin Turid called me today to tell me about a “situation.” She didn’t ask for prayer directly, but she thought it was a good idea when I offered to pray about it. Her good friend (who now lives in Oslo) just came into port in Miami yesterday from a week long Caribbean cruise with her husband and two teenage children. They were all lying around the pool at a hotel in Miami when their 14 year old son said he was going back to the room. When they went to the room, he was gone. He had taken his passport and cash and they had no idea where he was. He had been talking about his dream which was to go to Los Angeles and try his hand at being an actor so his parents were worried sick that he took off in pursuit of that – not fully understanding how far California is away from Florida. Needless to say, Miami is no place for a 14 year old Norwegian boy to be roaming about. They filed a missing person’s report and it was on the evening news in Miami last night, as well as on the news here in Norway. I prayed all afternoon for that boy and finally, several hours later, Turid called to say someone had spotted him and called the police – so he got reunited with his parents and he was in good shape. I was so thankful for that answered prayer and Turid said she nearly shouted “Hallelujah” too, but she is a Norwegian, after all. And I had one more occasion to shout Hallelujah today, as my classmate Sandra, sent me a text message on my cell phone to let me know that she is pregnant! I’ve been praying for her since September and it’s finally happened, so now we trust God to see her through this pregnancy. It’s her own Christmas miracle as she flew to Latvia just a few days before Christmas for in-vitro. (We dog sat her dog while she was gone.) What incredible news that is. So even though it was an at-home day for me, it was still full of thrills and chills. Hallelujah!
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