Not Your Typical Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is a new thing in Norway. “That’s American,” I’ve heard more than one Norwegian say about the day, right after they let off a big huff. They are sure the retailers have only picked up on the idea because there is a profit they can make from it, which disgusts the Norwegians even more than the fact it’s one more American tradition invading their country. The fact it’s a day to celebrate LOVE is completely lost on them. Oh well. What’s interesting is that red hearts are the traditional Christmas decoration here so I was curious how Valentine’s Day would play out in the stores, and the answer is – PINK. They only use pink hearts for Valentine’s Day, which distinguishes it from the left-over red Christmas heart things still being sold for a 75% discount everywhere. Too funny.

Our trip to Rome on Thursday is my Valentine’s Day present and romantic enough for me, so I just the let the day slide so Kory’s off the hook (as am I). Kory doesn’t do well showing his affections on prescribed days of the year like anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas or Valentine’s Day. He feels too controlled by the calendar and he’d just as soon choose the moments he does something special for me, so I’ve had to make peace with that. A trip to Rome works well though, even if I did have to plan it myself. But I got the best Valentine’s Day gift today from Kaleb, and he doesn’t even know it. I went to Agape Church this morning to hear a special speaker that came in from England to talk on church growth (I mostly went because I just wanted to hear a sermon in English.) Afterwards, the pastor’s wife (who is a teacher at Kaleb’s school), told me something about Kaleb that filled my heart with pride. She said that this week at school the kids were rehearsing a song for an Easter production. It is a Christian song and one of her favorites. The kids were supposed to be raising and lowering their hands during different parts of the song but Kaleb was so in to it, she said, that he just kept his hands raised, closed his eyes, and began worshipping God while singing it. She said all the teachers saw it and talked about it later. That’s my boy! It does my heart good to know he’s not afraid to love on God like that outside of church. Every day I pray for him before he goes to school that he will be “a light in the darkness,” and my prayers are being answered. Hallelujah!

Kaleb spent the entire day with four of his classmates that all live on the same street, quite a ways from where we live so Kory had to drive him over there. Kaleb said they built snow caves, had snowball fights, rolled down the hills covered in snow and dug each other out after they jumped off a cliff into a huge pile of snow. I’m sure he’ll remember this day for years to come. I want him to connect with as many kids as he can while we are here so when we come back every year he has friends to hang out with. Today was a good day for that as the snow provided so much entertainment. I hate that so many kids are hooked on electronics these days, so I’m glad there was something else to do besides that. Kaleb had a lot of fun, but it wasn’t so much fun for us when we went to pick him up tonight and got stuck up on the hill where he was. Kory and I both had to dig out the van, which took about 30 minutes, and the snow keeps on falling, but I still love it! (The photo today is of Kaleb and Tobias’ snow cave from yesterday.)

This afternoon Kory and I went to a concert at the local high school. Cousin Linda’s son, Rasmuss (age 18), played the piano for several songs. That kid is incredibly talented so it was nice to hear him perform. The concert was to promote the use of “fair trade” products. I think it’s a pet project for some of the high school kids – their shot at doing something to help make the world a better place – as there was quite a long presentation on the state of food production around the world and what a difference it makes for the farmers when they are able to sell their foods at a “fair trade” price. It was interesting to listen to that talk on the same day I heard the talk about church growth. Everyone has their “product” to sell. On some level, I hate that church is a “business,” but it is. The speaker at church today said that church isn’t a country club where we pay our tithes as dues and then expect to have our say about the worship style, how long the sermon lasts and the color of the carpet. He said church is supposed to be about helping people connect with God – and not about making it what WE want it to be. I also liked that he said if we want to focus on other people’s sins, then we should just focus on one – their sin of unbelief - and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. When the church hand selects which sins get more attention than others, then they become known more for what they stand AGAINST, rather than what they stand FOR. And what we are supposed to be standing FOR - is the love of God. Now THAT’S some good lovin’. Happy Valentine’s Day!