The Heat is Off

We woke to rain this morning, for which everyone around here was extremely thankful. Friday the 93 degree heat broke all previous records in Norway. It was just too hot for Norwegian blood. And then yesterday in Oslo there was over 2,000 lightening strikes in one hour – freakish weather. So today it was wonderful to have a cool breeze and overcast skies as we hadn’t planned to do anything but visit with relatives, so it was perfect.

We had a nice breakfast with all of Reidunn’s family before we left Tønsberg at noon. Her sisters are a crack up. Some Christian Norwegian families say a prayer of thanksgiving after they have eaten a meal, but one of the sisters just said a little poem instead, that went like this: “Takk for mat og drikke. Vask opp vil jeg ikke.” It means, “Thanks for the food and drink. I will not clean up,” only it sounds way better in Norwegian because it rhymes. Edith, Reidunn’s daughter with the three boys, said they might come visit us next year in America, so that’s something to look forward to. She’s an obstetrician and was supposed to go to a medical conference in Seattle in April, so she flew to Copenhagen to catch her flight to Seattle, and they wouldn’t let her board the plane because she had the wrong kind of passport. Apparently she needed the passport with the little chip in it and she just had a normal passport. I think the anti-terrorism stuff has gone a bit too far when things like that happen. She had to buy a ticket back to Norway and couldn’t go to Seattle – even though she’d asked repeatedly before she left what documents she needed in order to go and was never told about the chip. A visa is now required for anyone from Norway (and probably all other countries) to travel to the U.S. Talk about overkill.

We headed north to Oslo to visit even more cousins on Kory’s dad’s side of the family. We had reserved a hotel for a few nights in the city, but Jens-Frederick and Anne-Marie insisted we stay with them. It was their son, Bent-Jarl, whose wedding we attended last week. It seems like it was a month ago. Kaleb isn’t too keen on all these family visits, unless there are children to play with, so he was a bit bored today as we sat the entire afternoon and evening and just talked about family dynamics and the little pieces of history that get passed down different branches of the tree. We all agreed there were some serious problems going on at the Slaattehaugen farm that made life difficult for several members of the family – and their descendants. Jens-Frederick (a pastor) also said anyone that believed anything other than what the State Church subscribed too was banned from the family. One of Kory’s aunts converted to Seventh Day Adventist and Kory’s father was Pentecostal. Both were outcasts because of it and never had much contact with relatives as a result. It seems the spirit of Holy Ole, the Viking King that killed those that didn’t convert to Christianity, has lived on. Up until just recently the parents had full responsibility and control over their children – even into adulthood. The Church dictated that and ignored the scripture that said a man should LEAVE his father and mother and CLEVE to his wife. So the adult children had to obey their parents and do as they said, long after they were out of the house. It was only when their parents were dead, could they decide things for themselves as long as it was in line with what the church dictated. So for an adult “child” to disobey their parent’s and leave the State Church – meant they were as good as dead. But now the rebellion is well under way in Norway because of the State Church’s abuse of power and morality has taken a hard swing in the opposite direction of the Bible’s teachings. It breaks my heart that all of this dysfunction has gone on in the name of God – when the fact is that God LOVED us so much he sent his son – to forgive us so that we’d NOT be condemned, but that we’d have freedom and new life. It amazes me that point was lost on them. Where was the love and forgiveness in the Church?

So we had some interesting discussions today and I had a good time looking through some of Jens-Frederick’s family history paperwork. Kory told a story about “Strong Nils,” a guy that lived in Telemark that could lift giant boulders. They once had a contest and put handles on a huge rock to see if anyone else could out lift him. No one could. That rock still sits in front a church in Telemark as a tribute to his strength. One time Nils lifted one end of a log that took three men to lift the other end. The men conspired to drop their end and in doing so, broke Nils’ back. The legend of his strength is now mixed with the weakness of his bladder that came as a result of his injuries. He had to wear a skirt the rest of his life. Some legend. I’m so fascinated by personal histories and want to do nothing more than search for details and then write about them. Kory thinks I spend way too much time with the dead, but I think they are much easier to deal with than the living.