Mocha Day

We must have gotten at least six more inches of glorious snow overnight. I’ve never experienced anything like this. They say it’s been a long time since there’s been this much snow for so many days around here. I feel it’s a gift from God just for me, as I love it so much! It is quite difficult to walk through however, up over my knees, and if I fall, it’s nearly impossible to get up, but at least it’s a soft landing (my knee is much better). I tried to make a few snow angels and as much as I loved lying in the snow, getting up was a whole other story as the ground was farther away than my arm could reach and there was nothing firm to push up against. It gave Kaleb a few belly laughs, but it proved to me just how out of shape I am. I did however get a work out today as I shoveled all the snow out from around our van and cleared a spot all the way to the driveway (no small task). Our neighbor sweet-talked the snow plow operator to come down our driveway, which now made it possible to get vehicles in and out, but in the process, blocked our van off completely with the snow berm, so I had to take care of that problem. If it rains, the snow gets too heavy to move, and if it freezes, it becomes a solid object. I had visions of missing our plane to Rome next Thursday because we couldn’t get our van out of the driveway, but I managed to clear the snow and move the van to a level spot. Kory was at work all day and I wanted to spare him from doing any shoveling, but now I can barely move a muscle. Uff da. I found out today they have one word for “shoveling snow” in Norwegian and it sounds exactly like the word “mocha” (“måke”). Everyone’s been talking about “mocha” this and “mocha” that and now I know firsthand what it is – and it’s not a drink to be ordered from a coffee bar. (So if ever in Norway and someone asks if you wanna mocha, you are warned.)

I skipped school this morning so I could go to a prayer meeting with The Praying Women from Filadelfia Church, and I’m so glad I did! We had an incredible time of soaking prayer and then praying for each other. We also took communion together which was amazing. I love how God moves in that group and He did a lot of things in those hours so I gotta say, Hallelujah! (The photo today was taken from the balcony of the house where we met.) One of the women, (in her sixties) invited me to go for a little swim after the meeting. Nearly every day she goes down to the fjord and jumps in – totally naked. She does this year round and says it’s the best feeling ever. She can’t stay long in the water in the winter, but it’s just enough to satisfy her. It sounds a bit crazy to me but she swears by it. She’s one hardy Norwegian, that woman. I told her “maybe next time” because today I didn’t have a towel with me. Whew.

The sun came out for quite a while today but we still managed to have a few good snow showers mixed in. When it was snowing, the sky was a steel gray and all the world was pure white – I’ve never seen anything like it. I just wanted to go throughout the whole city and see everything, from every angle. I took a lot of photos again today as I’m noticing my memory isn’t what it used to be and photos help me remember. Today is a day I don’t want to forget. What’s most incredible to me is that life just goes on like normal - the busses even run on-time and nothing gets canceled or delayed. Everyone knows how to drive in this stuff and no one misses a beat. All the roads and walking paths are starting to look like bobsled runs though as walls are being built along the sides of everything. It’s so exciting because it is all just temporary and we could wake up tomorrow and most of it could be gone, or more could arrive. The weather changes so fast here that this many days of consistent snow is almost freakish. And it feels warm – just hovering around freezing – so it’s very pleasant to be outside.

Kaleb and Tobias played in the snow all afternoon building snow caves over at Tobias'. After dinner and a game of Aggravation with Tobias tonight, the boys insisted I go see their caves. They were worried the snow plow would ruin it by morning. So I took the spark over to Tobias’ house and felt very much like the ducks on those carnival games that move steadily along as someone with a gun shoots at them. As I was gliding by Tobias’ house on the spark, I was assaulted with all the snowballs the boys had hidden in their caves. They only managed to land a few on me before I took aim in return. Nothing like a good snowball fight. As we were getting ready to leave I told Kaleb, “Let’s go, Bub.” Tobias asked me, “What is bub?” I told him it’s just a nickname people call each other sometimes. He told me in Norway it’s the word for, “The stuff up your nose that comes out,” so Kaleb and I had a pretty good laugh over that one. For once, an English word that sounds funny to a Norwegian.