A Sunny Sunday

We made it to the second service at church today. Good thing we had two services to choose from. The relaxed lifestyle we enjoyed previously in America is swiftly returning. No more alarm clocks or schedules, we are back to our wonderfully uncontrolled (but somewhat hectic) life. We wake up when we wake up, have a cup of coffee and wonder what the day will bring. Today it brought a few challenges.

Kory’s back pain continues to diminish but the shooting pains in his legs are getting worse. I think he’s decided to go see an orthopedic doctor soon just to find out if there’s something he should be doing differently. I’m praying there is no nerve damage as that might mean back surgery and he’d rather live with the pain than have that. I do hope it’s nothing serious as he really needs to be back on his feet soon. We’ve had one call after another today about problems down at our apartment building in Seattle and he’s helpless to do anything about them. One water heater went out and he can buy a new one for under two hundred dollars and install it himself, if he were able. Since he is not, it will cost nearly a thousand dollars to have a plumbing company do it. So that’s the worst part about him being laid up. We both HATE to spend money like that. We also had a flood in the laundry room down there today but our on-site manager was able to clean up the mess and diagnose why it happened and stop the water flow. Ugh. I so want to sell that building, but Kory’s dad built it in 1968 and he’s very sentimentally attached to it. (They say it’s never a good idea to be married to your investments, and this is why.) We have two vacancies now too which makes the building not at all profitable for us, but God provides what we need, when we need it so I have faith the right tenants will come along in due time. We are pretty picky about who we let in there so the building doesn’t get trashed. The rental market is incredibly tough right now though. If we allowed pets or smokers, we wouldn’t have any problems keeping them full, but then we’d have other problems when they moved out. Did I mention how much I want to sell that building?

Kaleb and I spent the afternoon putting his clothes back in his closet and drawers. I had to check to see which ones he’s outgrown and which ones he still hasn’t grown into. I like to buy clothes on clearance, even if they are too big for him because one thing I’m certain of – he’s going to grow. I always have a full wardrobe just waiting in the wings and never have to go shopping after a growth spurt. It helps that he could care less what he wears (he prefers to wear nothing at all). I showed him how to properly fold all his clothes and pointed out all the labels I put on his drawers and which clothes get hung up in his closet. He will soon start doing all his own laundry, including folding and putting his clothes away. We are working on a lot of “life skills” this year for school. He may be a little behind in this area but he made me fried eggs this morning for breakfast, so I was impressed. He didn’t clean up the mess however, so there are still some things he needs to learn. He set his own school schedule for the Fall and he very much wants to move upstairs for a time and be completely in charge of himself (our upstairs has its own kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom). I’m all for that, as long as he doesn’t take any electronics with him. He didn’t like that restriction so we still have some negotiating to do before we turn him loose.

Our church had a baptismal service and pot-luck out at Big Lake later this afternoon. Five kids got baptized, so that was cool. It was even hot and sunny and not a bad day to be dunked. It gave us another chance to visit a few more friends from church and catch up on things that have happened while we were gone. Many have asked if I am going to give a “Powerpoint” presentation (a speech, complete with photos) on our year in Norway. I hadn’t planned on doing it, but it wouldn’t hurt to put something together, so I’ll add that to my to-do list after October first when Kory is back on his feet, literally. (I forgot to take pictures today so the photo is of my favorite saltwater beach very near our house.)

Tonight I began some very cursory work on preparing for a class I’m going to be teaching at a home school co-op we have here in Mount Vernon at the Baptist church. Kory usually teaches woodworking but that’s not going to happen this Fall, so that leaves me. I decided to teach 4th-8th graders about money management. I’m calling the class “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” I have some pretty fun ideas on how to make an impact in their impressionable little minds. If they don’t learn young, they might not ever learn how to be good stewards with their money. It’s a subject near and dear to my heart but I’m glad it’s only an hour long and only goes for eight weeks. Working with children is NOT in my area of “giftedness.”

Perceptions

Kaleb’s Chicken Pox are on the down side now. Every spot is looking a bit old and crusty so I guess he won’t be getting any new ones. His face was spared, so with clothes on, it’s impossible to tell he even had them. At least there won’t be any scars. He got off pretty easy, but now is wishing he could be sick longer because we’ve started to restrict his Nintendo use. He’d enjoy being sick everyday if it meant unlimited Nintendo time. Ugh. He actually went over to his friend Carter’s house today for the afternoon because he was bored at home and feeling fine. I think they played Nintendos together. Carter’s mom said she has the same addiction problem with him. What’s a mother to do?

It was supposed to rain today, which was going to motivate me to head to the basement and start bringing up all the boxes of clothes we have down there, but it never rained, so the clothes are still in boxes. (We emptied all our closets so our house sitters had a place for their stuff.) Instead, I ran into town this morning to go to the Farmer’s Market for fresh produce (oh, how I missed that in Norway), and to run a few more errands. This afternoon I tried to connect all our computers up to a wireless network router, and nearly broke down in tears from the sheer frustration of it all. Fortunately the place where I bought all the equipment talked me down off the ledge, as it were, and got me hooked up and running. I can now access the internet with my office PC and both our laptops – woo hoo. Kaleb will be doing a lot of his school work on the internet and I can’t be without mine all day (talk about addictions!), so I hope this is the right solution. I can’t believe how dependant we’ve become on electronics.

Kory keeps wanting to add things to my to-do list, but I’m holding him off until I make a little more progress on my own list – which, as of tonight, has 56 things crossed off it and just 29 more to go. Several of the things yet to do are half done, but that doesn’t count. It will be a race this coming week to see if I can do them all before Kory’s cousin arrives from Norway on Saturday. I work best under pressure. Kory is quite the opposite – he needs a lot of time to do anything and shuts down totally if he has too many things on his list. He spent a lot of time being horizontal today. (The photo today is one I took last week of Kaleb’s playhouse, suspension bridge and tree fort… all built by Kory. Kaleb is dangling from a pulley swing he hooked up himself.)

Yesterday when I went to the chiropractor, I recognized the receptionist from somewhere. It took us a while to figure out where we knew each other from and finally we connected the dots. She is one of the AWANA leaders at the church where Kaleb attends that Wednesday night kid’s program. She asked who my son was and I told her his name. It didn’t ring a bell right away (he hasn’t been there for a year). We began talking about other things and then the light bulb went off and she asked, “Is your son the high achiever?” I had to laugh. That’s certainly not how I would describe him, but AWANA is a competitive program and they get points for memorizing Bible verses. He always wants to complete the most sections in the book each week, so I knew she must be referring to him. He likes to be called forward at the end of the program and be recognized for his achievements. But I don’t think of the words “high achiever” when I see the trail of destruction he leaves behind him as he moves around the house; nor do I think of those words when I see the piles of clothes on his bed waiting to be put in their drawers or him curled up on the couch with a book or any hand held electronics. Will the real Kaleb Slaatthaug please stand up?

I find it curious how different people can have different perceptions of us, depending on the task we are involved in. It made me think about how people might describe me. Other than “curly hair and glasses,” I’m not sure what adjectives would be used. I know I’ve done things that have hurt people over the years so some would use less than flattering words. I’m thankful though that God is my only judge and He has no problem with forgiving me, even if others do. I try to live each day to make Him proud, but some days, it’s not all that easy. I find comfort in these words out of the book of Revelation, “I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first…” So there is hope. I may not now be the person I wish I were, but I’m sure thankful I’m not the one I used to be. Hallelujah!

Pain Free

My right ankle has been killing me for over a month now. It started hurting when we were on our road trip, walking around all day in large cities. One night I noticed it was horribly swollen, which was appropriate for how much pain I felt. When I got back to Norway and showed Dr. Odd, he said it was from being over used and the only cure was to stay off my feet and keep it elevated. Well, that wasn’t going to happen, so I had to opt for plan B, whatever that was.

My friend Carol just had foot surgery and she told me about a miracle working chiropractor in Mt. Vernon that uses something called a “cold laser” to speed healing to injured muscles. It sounded like just the ticket, so I called today to schedule a time as I’ve been tired of hobbling around in pain everyday - plus it was making me crabby. I was able to get in to see him this afternoon and sure enough, the pain disappeared. But as it turns out, Dr. Odd was wrong in his diagnosis. I think that’s the first time he’s been wrong – he was able to diagnose Kory’s compression fracture over the telephone, and one other time he pulled off an amazing diagnosis which elevated him to saint-like status in my book.

Kory had gone in for a general check-up in Seattle about ten years ago. The doctor noticed a strange lump on his collar bone. He wouldn’t say what he thought it was (bone cancer) but we were sent to three specialists and he had several tests. After nearly a month of being stressed out wondering what all the fuss was about and imagining the worst – we learned that Kory was born with an extra rib – some weird physical anomaly that he hadn’t been aware of before. I was pretty ticked off we’d spent over four thousand dollars on doctor visits and tests, but I’ve come to the conclusion the American medical field isn’t about healing people – it’s about making money. So a few months after that whole episode, we were in Norway visiting Odd and Turid. I wanted to see how much Odd knew – since he is just a general family doctor with no particular specialty. We were in the car and he was driving us out to a nearby island for a hike. I suggested to Kory he ask Odd what the lump was on his collarbone. Kory was sitting next to Odd in the front so Odd took his right hand off the wheel, reached over and felt the lump. He got a puzzled look on his face, felt it again, and then said, “Well, I may need to use both hands, but I think that’s an extra rib. I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve read about them.” And that was that. Kory and I were amazed. We could have bought airplane tickets to visit Odd in Norway cheaper than going to see all the specialists in America to find out that diagnosis. So it was a huge shock to me today that Odd’s diagnosis of my ankle was incorrect. As it turns out - my foot was out of joint! I know spines get out of adjustment, but never have I heard of feet needing adjustments. So with one swift “pop,” by the chiropractor, my foot bone was back in the place God intended it to be, and all my pains went away. It was incredible. Hallelujah! And I really didn’t need the cold laser treatment after all, but the chiropractor did say it would help Kory’s back a lot, so he’s going in on Monday.

I continued to scratch things off my “to-do” list today, including our taxes – woo hoo! I even started cleaning up my office – double woo hoo. I’m actually looking for my car keys. It’s one thing to misplace them on a daily basis, but it’s a whole other problem when I can’t remember where I left them a year ago.

Kory was in his shop this morning tearing apart the pump for our pond and the regulator for the bar-b-que. He likes to find the exact little washer or nut that failed, but often those littlest of parts aren’t for sale so then he gets all crabby when he has to buy a complete unit of something for replacement that costs more money. That guy missed his true calling. I know he’s a good carpenter, but he’s really an incredible fix-it guy. And he’s great at fixing things with whatever is handy. If he has duct tape and bungees, he’s good to go. So I had to drive him into town today so he could buy the replacement parts to get the pond and BBQ back up and running. It’s important he feels useful but I’m worried about him moving around too much in the process. The seat in our Honda goes completely flat, so he did okay and was happy to be out of the house for a while.

Kaleb won’t be out of the house anytime soon, I’m afraid. He sprouted a few new spots, which are easy to see because he hasn’t had on any clothes all week. He walks around naked with a polar fleece blanket wrapped around him because he said, it doesn’t itch. I bought some speakers for his laptop so he was glued all day to his computer watching cartoons via the Netflix “watch now” feature over the internet. I guess if we had TV reception, it would be easier for both Kory and Kaleb, but then the rest of my to-do list might never get done.

(The photo today is the view from our yard.)

A Wonderfully Warm Day

I used today to do many things that aren’t even on my “to-do” list. I thought about writing them on there, just so I could cross them off, but I heard somewhere that’s what compulsive list-makers do. I have enough other compulsive behaviors, I didn’t need to add that one to my list (oh, that’s funny.) So I spent the day doing things like laundry and yard work. Once a year, when the temperatures are hot enough to dry things quickly on the line, I like to wash all the blankets, comforters and mattress pads on all the beds in our house. (It’s kind of like my obsession to dust once a year, whether it needs it or not.) Today just might have been the hottest day we will have the rest of the year, so I had to strip the beds and wash that bedding now! I can’t believe how fast a load of laundry gets done – like thirty minutes! In Norway the machine would go for two and half hours and it only held half as much volume, so I was enjoying that time/motion thing doing laundry American style.

I was looking for an excuse to be outside today because it was so warm and wonderful, so I trimmed back some ivy and set up the sprinkler and periodically moved it around the yard. The garbage is piling up and we don’t have garbage service – Kory always fills the van with the garbage cans and takes them off to the dump about every six weeks. It only costs five bucks, so it’s the cheapest way to go, but not the most convenient – especially since he can’t do it now. All the garbage cans are full but I found one that was full of beauty bark left over from last year when I put a fresh coat of it over all the planting beds. I decided today was a good day to distribute the bark since I need the can for garbage. That was a good work out and a good reason to be out of my office for a while. But then afterwards I really needed to sit down so I used the break to add up the sales tax on all the receipts I saved from last year. I love that we can now deduct sales tax, but I hate that I have to add it all up, and surprisingly, we paid way more in sales tax for the half year we were living here than the IRS allows for a standard deduction for the whole year. I guess it’s worth saving the receipts.

While I was outside today I remembered how much I miss all the wildlife we live with. Friends don’t stop by often because we live so far out of town, so that’s the downside of country living, but the upside is all the encounters with nature. A chipmunk bounced along the fence rail as I was watering today; a rabbit hopped in front of me as I walked down the driveway to get the mail; a squirrel came within just a few feet of us as we were sitting out on the deck; a whole flock of Canada geese flew low over head, honking all the while; a hawk circled out in front of our house; a great blue heron squawked before it landed in a nearby tree, and several frogs hopped out of my way as I moved around on the lawn. We also have song birds galore, the occasional owl and every once in a while, a deer or two in our yard. Most of the eagles have flown to Alaska for the summer, but in the winter they return and eat up all the neighborhood cats. A few times I’ve seen rats, mice and moles in our yard, but thanks to the mole “death mix” I made up yesterday, the moles, at least, might become extinct around here as there were no new mole hills this morning – Hallelujah! I’m also not fond of the slugs or the spiders. I have to walk through our yard this time of year with my hand up in front of my face so I don’t get a face full of spider web at every turn. I hate spiders in my hair – especially since I don’t find them right away as my curly hair provides lots of camouflage.

Kaleb’s been itching his hair a lot today as the two pox on his head are giving him the most grief. He’s still only got a handful of spots on him – not a bad outbreak at all – so I’m thankful for that. I keep giving him Vitamin C, Zinc and Echinacea to boost his immune system, so I think that’s helping. He’s happy as a clam to be “sick” as he is still glued to his Nintendo and I’m sure doesn’t even realize he has the Chicken Pox. Kory talked him off the Nintendo for a few hours today so they could watch a movie together in the cool of the basement.

Kory was up and about a little more today – fixing a few things that broke while we were gone. His pain is manageable but he doesn’t like the electrical shooting sensations he gets down the inside of his leg when he moves a certain way. I supposed he’ll be calling Dr. Odd in Norway to see what he suggests. I’m glad he can at least get his own food now. Yesterday he was on his own and I survived on cold cereal and milk for dinner as I was so focused on getting the taxes done. Today at least I made a real dinner, but then had to clean up the mess afterwards myself because Kory needed to lie down. I sure hope he makes a full recovery because I can see this whole back thing playing out to his advantage from time to time. He’s come such a long way in the domestic department, I hate to lose any ground.

Chicken Pox, Anyone?

I can see the wood grain on my desk! I made some serious progress with the taxes today as the piles of paperwork began to disappear into the three inch binder marked “2008”. Hallelujah. I still have a couple tedious tasks before me, but I’m taking a break for a few days as I’m almost done and I don’t want to miss the last few days of summer. Besides, my butt is dead from all the sitting. I still have piles of paperwork on the floor that need to go into the three inch binder marked “2009”, but I am not even thinking about that now. The pressure is off so I can come up for air.

Kaleb woke up with ten pox this morning and by bedtime tonight, had a total of thirty. So it’s official – he has the Chicken Pox – woo hoo! He says they don’t itch, but rather, “sting,” so he’s not touching them. I don’t know how he could touch them anyway since both his hands have been wrapped around his Nintendo all day playing one of his friend’s games. He swears he’s “helping” him out by getting past a difficult spot in the game, but he was non-stop on that thing for 12 hours today and still hadn’t reached the spot. I only let him go so long because I needed quiet time and he wasn’t feeling well. Kory kept the DVD player occupied watching movies so my options were limited, but it worked and Kaleb never made a peep all day. He actually has more energy today than yesterday though, so I’m thankful for that.

Kory puttered around a little this morning and watered some outdoor plants, but then I think he felt he overdid it and was flat on his back the rest of the day. He did take the Lexus out of the garage though, only to discover the spot I feared was a mouse nest on the floorboard was just a pile of dried up pine needles all bunched together. Whew. I had draped the tires with Bounce dryer sheets before we left, as that is the best mouse repellant there is, but I worried it had failed me because it was on there so long, but apparently not. Mice hate the chemicals in the dryer sheets and even after a year, it seems they can still smell them, thank goodness. (We've had mice move into the Lexus before when it sat a long time so that's why I was so paranoid.)

Yesterday when I was in town I was looking to buy a few things we’d intentionally left behind in Norway. I had no luck finding most of the items because so many stores are no longer there, but today my brain came out of the fog and I remembered the beauty of internet shopping! We all left our Crocs in Norway (very comfy shoes that are nice to wear indoors on hardwood floors) and I was able to buy them cheaper from their website than if I’d bought them in a store, so now I’m glad I didn’t find them. Scratch that off my list. I also used a little time today to call Olympus and report my defective camera. I have been so bummed to NOT have a working camera. The one I bought in Prague goes into focus as I press down on the button, but at the last minute goes fuzzy. I haven’t been happy with any of the pictures from it, so they said I can send it back and get a new one – woo hoo. Things are looking up. And I even found a website where I ordered a few pieces of my silverware that went missing this past year. I think the forks and spoons ran away with the socks. Once I counted all the stray socks I had stuffed in the drawer, waiting to find it’s mate and there were 49 of them! When Kory folds laundry and finds stray socks he just bundles them up with other stray socks of the same color – never mind they don’t really match or that one might be mine and one might be Kaleb’s. I’ve even unfolded every pair of socks in all our drawers trying to find the mates, but no luck. Just where can 49 socks go, anyway?

I didn’t talk to Kory or Kaleb much today as I was so focused on getting the taxes done, but I did manage to cross off several more “to-dos” on my list. My count is now 43 completed and 42 to go (several things got added today). At least I’m over the hump and heading toward a less frenzied pace. Hopefully things will calm down next week.

I was only outside briefly today, which was too bad because it was such a beautiful day (see photo I took a year ago of Seattle on a nice day). I stretched my legs a few times and moved the sprinkler around the yard so our rhododendrons don’t all die. I lost all my biggest ones while we were gone – not sure if it was the cold winter or the hot summer – but I sure don’t want to lose anymore. I also made up the “Mole death mix” (equal parts of oatmeal, sugar and concrete). I put two little packets down two different holes and I’ll see if their tunnels grow anymore overnight or if they eat the deadly concoction and die a slow and painful death. They have been ripping up new sections of the lawn lately and really ticking me off – so I have passed judgment on them and decided it’s time they die. After doing taxes all day, I have no mercy.

Eating an Elephant

Preparing taxes is like eating an elephant – it’s best done one bite at a time. But then after a while, it gets pretty nasty no matter how small the bites. I had to go slow, take little bites, and face the fact I can’t do it all in one day, maybe not even two or three days. But today I did make some progress, so that was good. I found it much more satisfying however to cross off other things on my to-do list, so that literally ate up the day. Many things couldn’t wait until the taxes were done anyway, like posting an ad for our vacant apartment unit in Seattle. Time is money. I also needed to get Kaleb lined up with a piano teacher for this year before she was fully booked out. I now have 28 things checked off my to-do list and only 53 to go. It was a much better day today than yesterday.

Kory’s back seems to be doing okay as he hasn’t taken pain pills for a few days now. He said he feels a knot in that spot so he’s super cautious when he moves around, but now he’s feeling some tingling in his legs which is the most worrisome thing. I hope there is no nerve damage. For the life of me I can’t figure out if he is getting that tingling sensation because he’s moving around too much, or not moving around enough. I keep reminding him to get up every hour and stretch and tighten his muscles a little, but today was a two movie day (Netflix to the rescue), so he didn’t move much off the couch. He may need to go to a doctor, but he’s not too keen on that route just yet.

Our friend Bonnie came to my rescue and took Kaleb for the afternoon to play with her kids so I had some quiet time in my office playing with numbers and running errands. The tabs for the Lexus came in the mail today so I intended to drive that car into town to get a new driver’s license, but when I opened the door of the Lexus it seemed a mouse might have moved in while we were gone, so I closed the door and I left it in the garage. Maybe there is no mouse (the lighting was bad) and I’m just being paranoid, but I sure didn’t want to find out there was one while driving fifty miles an hour down the street. I took my chances and drove our Honda, with expired tabs, and no signs of mice. It feels good to be legal again – as I now have a driver’s license AND tabs for the Honda. I almost feel above the law.

I called a place in town today to find out about my internet options and I just had to laugh at their automated phone system. I’ve been in that place many times and there is usually just one person, maybe two employees in there. When I called, I got into the voice jail system and had to “press one for…” blah blah blah, “press two for…” something else… and surprisingly there were six options to select from. That office doesn’t even have a place for six employees, I’m sure. It reminds me of the time I was in Norway, trying to figure out which slot to stick the mail into as they all had different labels. The guy told me it didn’t matter which one I picked because they all went into the same box. I wonder if the guy answering the phone at the place I called today changes his voice, depending on which button I push.

When I went to pick up Kaleb tonight at Bonnie’s house, he said he didn’t feel too well. He had been lethargic most of the afternoon, according to Bonnie. I took his temperature when we got home and it was 101 degrees so I checked him for Chicken Pox. I’ve exposed him four times to Chicken Pox in the past and he’s never gotten them. (They call them “vannkopper” in Norwegian – meaning “water cups” because that’s what the spots look like when they first appear.) It’s been over two weeks since he was exposed in Norway so I was sure he wasn’t going to get them this time, but I think I may be wrong. He has one small little blister looking thing on the nape of his neck. Time will tell, but now I feel bad for all the people he’s been around this past weekend, as he’s most contagious before he comes down with them. I do hope he has them though as I want him to be done with them and not get them as an adult. The timing is pretty good assuming I can keep him quiet long enough to get my taxes done before next week, otherwise the bites on that big elephant might be tough to swallow.

(We’ve had beautiful weather since we’ve been home, and only sunshine in the forecast, but I can tell Fall is fast approaching. I took the photo today of Mt. Baker from our deck at 6:30 this morning. The fog settles in over the valley as the nights become cooler.)

Not Enough Time or Motion

I like to think of myself as a time/motion kinda gal. If I’m working on a project, it needs to be moving along at a pretty good clip, or I get very creative or very cranky. Today I had the ominous task of working on our taxes for 2008 and I opted for cranky. I didn’t get far because it wasn’t very satisfying in the “time/motion” department, and I ran out of patience as I need to gather so many little numbers to complete it. I immediately switched over to another of the 71 items on my “to-do” list. By the time I had crossed five items off the list, I had added eight more. That wasn’t very satisfying either. I got smart and at least had Kory make some phone calls – even though he’s not the world’s best communicator and he hates to talk on the phone, I knew the bulk of the time would be on hold anyway, and being on hold in no-way fit into my “time/motion” plans for today. He actually was a tremendous help getting three things crossed off my list by making those painful calls. Kaleb winched when I gave him his own to-do list as he was certain I couldn’t expect him to do all five of those things. When I told him I’d swap any of them for any five on my list, he changed his tune after I read him the items on my list. It was a production kind of day around here with spurts of fits by me when my patience ran thin.

This is an example of how things went. I signed up for Netflix (a movie rental place) so Kory can watch movies while he’s lying around the next four weeks (we are at the half-way-to-healing point today!). After the tedious signing up process, Kory wanted to see a “watch now” movie that streams over the internet right onto the laptop, rather than wait for a DVD to show up in the mail tomorrow. I gave him my laptop and some brief instructions and headed up to my office. He was unable to get it to work apparently because of the same glitch I encounter when trying to open my mail on that laptop. He called me on the intercom so I left my office and went down to hook up Kaleb’s laptop and get him set up on Netflix there. When I plugged in that computer I saw the power cord was from Norway. I found an adapter, but it was too wide to fit into the extension plug along with all the other things plugged into the outlet so I had to find another extender. When I went to plug THAT in, the electrical wall outlet is so old and worn out, the entire extension plug with all the cords just fell out of the socket and wouldn’t stay in the wall because it was so heavy. I had to find a small bench to push up against the outlet to keep everything plugged in. When I set the laptop on Kory’s lap and clicked on “play,” it was obvious the volume wasn’t loud enough for his ancient ears. I went looking for headphones. The first set didn’t work. The second set worked, but the volume still wasn’t loud enough for his liking even with the computer’s volume turned up all the way. As I was trying to figure out why the volume was so low, I bumped the laptop and all the cables were so tight that they came cascading out of the electrical outlet, as the internet modem also came unplugged and fell to the floor. I slammed the laptop shut, let out a high pitched scream and left the room. So much for trying to help Kory watch a movie. I thought it would take five minutes and it was a half hour wasted out of my day.

I had no better luck when I later took the internet modem to my office to see if I could get my trusty old office computer fired up and functional so I could print things. I discovered my printer had been disconnected from my computer and I needed Kaleb’s help to run the cable under my desk to reconnect it. I found out the ink was empty and a new cartridge was needed. The paper was also out of stock. When I got everything loaded up, the printer needed a bit of time to align itself, test itself and clean the roller. When I was able to actually send the 1040 form from the IRS website to my printer to print, it came out with little squares and lines and no words because apparently I don’t have the latest version of Adobe Reader. After installing that update I finally had some luck but then found out I needed to update my version of Windows and my Virus protector software had expired. It wasn’t fun. During the forced technological pauses today, in order to keep the time/motion thing going, I did things like pay bills and get Kaleb signed up for school activities. I had to call a friend to even find out how much stamps are these days, as I had no clue. I also wrote “2008” on all the checks for some reason, as I haven’t written a check in over a year. They seem so archaic, cumbersome and time consuming now that I’ve been paying bills on-line for so long. I also discovered not a single pencil eraser in the house works. They all dried out over the course of a year and none of my mistakes could be removed. Lovely. My mouse clicker takes three clicks to work and my keyboard is gritty. It’s like a bad movie, only this is one no one would enjoy watching.

On the upside, Kory felt well enough (or hungry enough?) he made a simple dinner tonight. Smart man. He knew not to ask.

A Warm Welcome

We were late for church this morning. We were out of bed in plenty of time to make it there before the service started, but we didn’t factor in that Kory is MUCH slower these days. We slipped in during one of the worship songs while everyone was standing, so it was an almost unnoticed arrival. But then our pastor spotted us and welcomed us back from the pulpit and said how much he missed Kory’s HALLELUJAHS. Based on the round of applause we got afterwards, it does seem we were missed. I forgot how many friendly faces I look forward to seeing every Sunday, so I must say, I missed everyone more than I realized and it was good to be back at Bethany. HALLELUJAH! I was also encouraged by how many at church have been reading the blog. It’s a good thing we didn’t spend our year in Norway back in the dark ages before the internet was invented. It’s been a great way to keep people informed on all God has done for us, but also a good excuse for me to write everyday (my dream job).

Kory went for prayer after the service. He had been standing up on his crutches a little too long talking to people after church and he was in pain, but once he was prayed for, he felt better and didn’t take any pain pills or aspirin the rest of the day, so HALLELUJAH for that! He even popped popcorn tonight – standing at the stove without using crutches. I certainly don’t want him to do too much moving around, but if his pain level can go down, it will help me tremendously. I can do many physical things for him – bring him food and mow the lawn – but I can’t do anything about making the pain go away and I tend to stress out about situations I can’t control. Imagine that.

Our home fellowship group had a pool party this afternoon to welcome us back home. We so missed those folks. Some of them are very funny and I forgot how much they make me laugh. I found out that one member of our group (Gail - the one on the left in the photo) spent all day last Saturday at our house, spiffing up our yard for us – edging, pulling weeds, raking and trimming things back a little just so it would look impeccable when we returned. What a gift that was, and so appreciated. I think if I had to do any yard work now it would push me over the edge, as there is enough on my plate for the next several weeks. God knew just what I needed, and He found just the right angel to get it done. Hallelujah! That might be one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. Timing is everything. It ranks right up there with having meals made for us after Kaleb was born. I thought childbirth was almost worth it for not having to even think about cooking dinner for two weeks. Now I’m sure our yard will stay looking pristine until Kory is back on his feet. Thank you, Gail!

We had a wonderfully warm day today to sit out around the pool with our group and watch the kids have fun splashing in the water. We also got lots of time for catching up on what’s happened since we left town. In the midst of the conversation Gail said she noticed our van had expired tabs. It never even dawned on me. Not only have I been driving around without a driver’s license, now I’m driving around with an unregistered vehicle! All our vehicles have expired tabs - duh. How could I have forgotten about that? (I’m pretty sure we have insurance, however.) God has certainly protected me from the police, as I can’t even imagine how I would go about explaining all the circumstances around my unlawfulness. Ignorance was bliss but now I’m afraid to go anywhere. Fortunately I can order the new tabs over the internet, so I’ll be sitting at home this week waiting for the postman to deliver my tabs and set me free.

Kaleb played all day with his buddy Carter then went to his house afterwards for a little more play time. While he was gone I opened a year’s worth of mail. It took me three hours and I didn’t even read a thing – it took that long just to open the envelopes, pull out the contents and decide which pile to put it in. I filled three paper grocery bags with papers to throw out and the pile of papers to keep was half way up to my knees. I understood the expression “knee deep” in something because tomorrow I will be knee deep in paperwork as I begin working on our taxes for 2008. (We filed for an extension but they must be done by the first of September.) Now I feel like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” when they said, “Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore….” But it’s like this: “Mickey, you’re not in Norway anymore...” because I actually had to make a “to-do” list tonight and get out the scheduler. American life is not a simple.

Feeling Loved

One of the reasons I loved living in Norway was because I felt so loved, appreciated and included. I hadn’t felt that way so much since moving to the Skagit Valley ten years ago. I left all my good friends behind in Seattle when we moved here and the distance has taken its toll. I haven’t made any friends here on the same level in all this time. It’s been pretty lonely. I didn’t even realize how isolated I felt until we lived in Norway and I remembered what it was like to have friends and family nearby. But as I found out today, there are more than a few folks in the Skagit Valley who really did miss us and were glad we came back. Our church had a casual pot-luck Bar-b-que for us (at our house – see photo) so people could give us a hug and welcome us home. It was just what I needed.

It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Our friend Willie came over early this morning to help me set up a few things for the party. He also mowed the lawn and showed me how to use the mower, since Kory won’t be doing that job for a while. I mowed the lawn for the first six years we lived here, using a push mower. It took about 45 minutes to do the whole thing. When I finally felt overwhelmed with too many household chores, I asked Kory if he could start mowing the lawn. He said he wouldn’t do it unless we bought a riding lawn mower. We don’t even have a half acre of grass, and he wanted a riding lawn mower!? We “discussed” that situation to no end and just before we moved to Norway, I caved and bought him one for his birthday because the push mower died. He had been telling everyone, “I only want three things in life, and Mickey won’t let me have any of them. I want to ship our Honda Odyssey to Norway, I want a riding lawn mower and I want a shower in the basement.” Well, I figured the riding lawn mower was the cheapest and easiest compromise to make because I couldn’t let him be right about me not giving him anything he wanted, so I bought the mower. I have never used it until today when Willie showed me all the buttons and levers and pedals and what they do and when to use them. (I’m thankful I didn’t have to learn it from Kory.) And about the Honda in Norway – that became a moot point when we bought a mini-van over the internet before we moved there. And as for the shower in the basement – that won’t ever happen. Kory put a dry sauna in the basement last year but really wanted a wet sauna with a drain in the floor as well as a shower right outside the sauna. The basement is BELOW ground level AND below the septic tank. It doesn’t take much imagination to think about what the basement would smell like if anything ever happened to the pump that would need to be installed if any kind of drain were down there. When Kory was installing the sauna, he cut a hole in the subfloor insulation the size of a drain. I happened to be down there just as he was covering it up and I asked him why he cut that hole. His response: “In case I live longer than you.” That speaks volumes about Kory and our relationship.

About an hour before the party began today, the couple who lived in our house for the year we were gone, called from Minnesota to tell us our Bar-b-que was broken. We had just figured that out and Kory was in the process of trying to fix it, but couldn’t. Fortunately our neighbor loaned us his grill at the last minute. It would have been pretty funny to have people coming over for a BBQ with no working grill. Stuff breaks. Now maybe we should get a riding grill. Imagine the possibilities.

Kaleb felt much better today and even made the lemonade to help out. He was thrilled to have friends over for the Bar-b-que, but he got a little carried away with all the fun he was having. The pump on our pond broke while we were gone. Kory set a bilge pump in there as a temporary measure just to keep the water from turning green. Kaleb stuck a stick down the main spout of the fountain during the party, which caused the bilge pump to burn out. He swears he was just experimenting with water displacement. Now I guess he’ll be experimenting with cash flow displacement as he’ll need to buy a new pump with the money he’s been saving for a Nintendo game. It was an otherwise lovely party, and we felt very honored to be the center of such lavish attention (and the food everyone brought was good, too!) I’m usually the one having the parties and inviting people over, so this was a definite roll reversal for me, but I liked it! And one of the best things was - I didn’t have to clean up. The last handful of people here prayed for Kory’s back - for quick and total healing. It was a perfect ending. It’s good to have friends.

Funeral for a Friend

It was a somber day today. I drove Kory down to Seattle to attend the funeral of Kjell Harjo, his friend who died last Saturday in a roll over car accident. In an instant, everything changed. It’s such a shock to us and sometimes hard to understand, but it says in the Bible that our days are numbered and God knows the day we will die before even one of them comes to be. It’s reassuring to know that when it’s our time to go, we’ll go, but if not, God will send angels to protect us. As Kjell’s wife said during the service, “God takes the ones that are well polished. Apparently the rest of us still need a little more work.” If that’s the case, I might live to be a hundred.

Kjell’s brother-in-law flew in from Norway for the service. He gave a wonderful speech (in Norwegian), while Kjell’s wife translated to English. I felt like I had entered some secret language society as I understood everything he said and both Kory and I cracked up at a couple of funny parts when the rest of the church was silent. When they heard the translation, then they all laughed, but it was a bit awkward that we laughed seemingly prematurely. I also slipped out a few AMENS and HALLELUJAHs before the rest of the audience as he made some good points and I couldn’t wait for the translation to speak my mind. It was so fun to understand what was being said!

I was worried about Kory’s back today, knowing he’d be up and around more than is recommended. He doesn’t seem to realize he can do some damage if he’s not careful, but he wanted to go to the service no matter what. It seems the only time I’ve been to the Philadelphia Church down in Ballard is for funerals. It’s where Kory attended church as a child and young adult. He’s so old now that his friends are all dying off, sadly enough. It was a bit comical today though at the reception afterwards as Kory went to greet so many old friends – they had to coordinate the placement of his crutches with their canes in order to get a hug. It looked both pathetic and hysterical at the same time. (Okay, some of them were the parents of his old friends, but still….)

There were many people at the funeral that have been faithful blog readers of our year in Norway. One friend of Kory’s told me I needed to make a button to give to people who read the blog everyday that says “I read every blog!” or something like that. Others found out about it through friends and told me how much they enjoyed it – so that was fun to hear. Who knew there would be so much interest in our lives in Norway? I guess I should get busy and try to market it as a book. If I ever get settled back into our house and ever clear a path to my desk again, I might just do that. Right now, that feels like it won’t be anytime soon.

I was so missing Norway today when we were stuck on the freeway in Friday night rush traffic. It took over an hour to go about ten miles. We stopped in Shoreline to visit our dear Grammy J (Janet Johnson) at the rehab center she is at recovering from a broken leg. It was the highlight of the day to see her, even though she’s in such a state. But from that place, to our house, it should take 45 minutes to drive home and it took over two hours tonight. I wanted to cry. I was so tired and not happy because sitting in traffic is my number one pet peeve. In Norway, at most, we had traffic “moments” where there would be a few cars lined up waiting to get through a round-about, but there would never be such traffic jams as we experienced today. I guess that would be because there are no freeways that could even compare to I-5, and if all the people in all the cars sitting on that stretch of freeway from Seattle to Mount Vernon were totaled up, it would be a number greater than all the people in all of Norway. Or at least close, I’m sure. So yes, everything IS bigger in America – including the traffic jams. Unfortunately.

Kaleb stayed home alone all day, reading books and blowing his nose. We didn’t want to contaminate anyone and we aren’t sure if he’s going to break out were Chicken Pox anytime soon so we were extra cautious. He was thrilled to have the whole day at home with his “library.” He fell asleep tonight on the couch just before his favorite neighbor dog, Duchess, came over for a visit. Even her licks to his face didn’t wake him. We are slowly entering back into our old routines – get up – drink a cup of coffee – and wonder what this day will bring. It’s good to be alive – aches and pains and all. (See photo of our house!)

Settling In

It was a crabby kind of day. We all had our reasons to be short tempered and we pretty much maximized them. Kaleb started coming down with a cold so even though he had his best friend, Timothy, spend the night, by late morning he was sitting in a swinging chair outside, reading a book. Someone pulled the plug on his energy level so Tim went home early. Kaleb was a bit too whiny after that so I couldn’t even get him to pick up all the messes he’d made earlier in the day – which was the root of some of my crabbiness. He loves nothing more than curling up with a stack of books, so after Tim left he got a blanket and headed for the couch with at least ten books (which he can read in a matter of hours). I heard him sneezing so I brought him a box of Kleenex. He appreciated being waited on so as I handed him the Kleenex he said, “I kinda like being sick – except that I feel so miserable.” I thought that was pretty funny.

My goal for today was just to get the living room, dining room and kitchen back up and running. Our house sitters boxed up many of our things and put them in the basement, intending to put them all back the way there were before they left. They took photos of every wall in every room, but then lost their camera so they were unable to recreate the house in that special “Mickey clutter” style I like so well. So today I got reacquainted with all my treasures as I hung them back up on the walls and placed them on shelves. All the while I was doing that I was making food for Kory and Kaleb, watering different sections of the yard, doing laundry and hanging it out, and talking on the phone or visiting with friends who stopped by to welcome us home. My feet were killing me by day’s end so I was fairly crabby by sunset.

But on the upside, it’s been so nice to have such a great homecoming. Our friend Nancy stopped by with some fresh baked cookies, bread and wine. Our neighbor and friend Priscilla came by for a visit and several people called today from near and far to welcome us back to the States. I so didn’t expect that, but I think it’s God’s way of keeping the depression at bay. Yes, it’s good to be home.

Kory was pretty crabby all day, too, not from the pain in his back, but from his inability to do much. He didn’t take any pain pills all day today and he said his pain was manageable, so Hallelujah for that! He got up and walked around more than I thought he should have, but he did hang a few things on the wall for me, so that was nice. I found some little jobs for him to do while he was lying down so that helped him feel somewhat useful, but one of them ended up pointing out just how horribly we communicate at times.

I bought some crystals from old crystal chandeliers at a flea market when we were in Rome. I asked Kory to put some fishing line on them so I could hang them in the windows. I have one already upstairs and I like how when the sun shines on it, little rainbows sparkle all over the room, so I wanted more (why am I never satisfied with just ONE?) I gave him the crystals and fishing line and scissors and told him I wanted them to hang down about “this much” and showed him with my hands, but then, knowing him, I also said, “about six inches,” just to clear up any confusion. I thought that was a pretty simple and understandable request, but in Kory’s mind, when he hears “six inches” his carpenter brain takes over and what I got were crystals with fishing line attached alright, but if measured from the top of the fishing line to the very bottom of the crystal, it would have been dead-on, six inches. Which, considering each crystal is three to four inches long, left only the tiniest little fishing line loop at the top – so short I couldn’t even loop it over a window latch. Sometimes I wonder just how in the world he comes up with these conclusions. When I reminded him I wanted them to “hang down” six inches, (meaning, six inches of fishing line from the top of the crystal) he still insisted he followed my instructions to a tee and they were indeed six inches, and he offered to get out a measuring tape to prove it. This is why neither of us ever wins an argument – because we are both sure we are right. At least it gave him another job to do as he laid there and added extension loops to all the crystals. Uff da.

Summer's Here!

The last week and a half we were in Aalesund, it rained like the dickens. I think they had more rain in those ten days than we’d seen the entire year. Everyone began saying that Fall was in the air, but that is now a land far, far away and we have landed in the middle of summer here in the Pacific Northwest! It’s been hot since we got home but we live in the shade of some very tall evergreen trees so our house has been wonderfully cool and inviting. It’s been perfect for unpacking and putting things away but if I move around a bit too fast, I break a sweat. I hate to sweat so I’ve been moving pretty slowly.

Poor Kory, he has to just lie around on his back, all bundled up as he apparently has poor circulation compounded with no meat on his bones or fat to insulate him as he says the house has been too cold with all the windows wide open. He’s finding all kinds of things to be crabby about. The worst thing is that projects are calling his name and he can’t respond. He feels it’s his duty in life to fix everything that’s broken. Fixing them gives him a reason to live. He’s managed to fix a few of them already from the recliner chair but now I’ve suggested he needs to get a bigger project going, set the timer for one hour and get up and work on it in five minute increments every hour throughout the day. He needs to move every hour to keep from getting blood clots, so if he just focuses on little easy things, at least it will give him a sense of accomplishment while he’s healing. He liked my idea but realizes many things require lifting or bending and he’s not able to do either of those things just yet. He’ll find a balance somewhere, I’m sure.

Kaleb came home early today with his friend Tim, as another friend, Riley, wanted to see him before she left on vacation tomorrow. So the three of them hung out at our house today, keeping Kaleb well occupied and out from under my feet while I unpacked all our luggage and all the boxes I’d shipped home. Now I have to deal with the piles I’ve made as a result, but things are starting to get back to normal. (See photo of Kaleb with his pals from yesterday. Today I took no photos. I couldn’t find the camera in all the mess. Uff.)

I made a run into town and needed to stop every so often to absorb all the changes that have taken place since we’ve been gone. New houses popped up, old houses torn down, roads changes, stores closed – so much isn’t the same. But enough was that I didn’t get lost, and I completely enjoyed driving our very nice Honda Odyssey with automatic transmission, automatic steering, air conditioning and a backup camera – all things I sure would have enjoyed in our van in Norway. And I nearly cried when I pulled into a parking spot at Costco because they are so HUGE. It was just so easy. I used to have to jockey back and forth and back and forth to even get into one spot in Norway with our big Chrysler van, so indeed, everything is bigger in America. Hallelujah.

Both Kory and I have been touched by how many calls, messages and visits we’ve gotten from people welcoming us back home. I guess we can’t be missed if we don’t go away, but we sure weren’t expecting it to be like this. It’s nice. Very nice. Timothy’s mom, Cindy, stayed a while this morning and helped me with a few things while I cleaned out the refrigerator. It was nice to be distracted from the task. And all the prayers that got us home were so appreciated. Kory cut way back on the amount of pain medication he took today and will try just taking aspirin tomorrow to see how it goes. I do believe he’s healing quicker than expected as he’s sure come a long way in three weeks.

We haven’t spoken a word of Norwegian to each other since we’ve been back. I think many thoughts in Norwegian now and at the grocery store I kept saying, “Unnskyld” (excuse me) as I passed someone. I’m also not totally back up to my American English. The way I spoke English in Norway was very guarded with simple words, no slang, and easy concepts so I knew I’d be understood. I haven’t fully relaxed yet in just letting the words fly out of my mouth, but I’m sure that won’t take long to get back.

(A special thanks to everyone who has been reading the blog to keep up on what’s going on with us. I’m so thankful I won’t have to find all the words to describe to everyone what happened while we were gone. It was truly an incredible year and we are so thankful we had the opportunity to go. The blog helped me feel more connected.)

Everyone should dare to dream such dreams and then sit back and wait for God’s timing to make them come true! Hallelujah!!!

Home, Sweet Home!!!

We’re back! We got in to Seattle a late last night. My step-mom picked us up from the airport and thankfully took us to her house to spend the night. We were all so tired it wouldn’t have been safe to drive home. We totally felt the answers to prayers yesterday as every flight had its own miraculous way for Kory to remain horizontal and out of pain.

Cousin Turid drove us to the airport yesterday and helped us with the luggage. We checked six bags each weighing 55 pounds, and had six carry-on bags, none of which were light. I felt like a pack mule. The carry-on was the biggest problem because things were so heavy Kaleb couldn’t even help much, so I was having to schlep everything. The first little miracle was that the pastor of the Filadelfia Church in Aalesund was on the same flight to Oslo and he offered to help carry on some of our luggage! What a blessing that was (he helped carry it off, too.) That flight wasn’t full so Kory got to lie down in the three seats behind Kaleb and I. Whew. A wheel chair was waiting at the gate in Oslo with two men to carry all the luggage and to wheel Kory to the next gate. No problems there. We had four hours to wait for the next flight and there was one place in the waiting area where there were no arm rests between the seats so Kory could lie flat the entire layover. I was still stressed about what was to come, but so far, so good. The flight to Iceland was totally full and the seats where we were sitting had arm rests that wouldn’t fold up so there was no way Kory could have even laid across Kaleb and I. I explained Kory’s situation to the flight staff but they really couldn’t do anything as there was no place to put him. I noticed that first class was completely empty and I asked if we could buy an upgrade so he could lie down there but they said they don’t allow last minute upgrades. I saw there was a lot of empty floor space at the back of first class so I asked if he could just lie on the floor there and they thought that would be okay. Hallelujah. They gave him some pillows and blankets and it was a whole lot better than him sitting next to us.

When we got to Iceland there was another wheelchair waiting and more help with the luggage. The flight to Seattle was eight hours long and completely full – including first class. I felt hopeless at first when they told us there was nothing that could be done, but then miraculously, two people didn’t make the flight. There were two empty seats a few rows behind us so the woman sitting alone in that section got moved to Kory’s seat next to me and Kory was able to lie down the whole flight! It was truly a gift from God. The seats weren’t even curved, they were totally flat, and the arm rests went up, so he had a very comfortable flight and was no worse for the wear by the time we hit Seattle. He slept more than Kaleb and I did so he was even in a better mood when we landed.

My step mom made us BBQ chicken and potato salad and we sat out on her deck and enjoyed a warm summer evening before we crashed early for the night. My worries were all for naught as we made it home safe and sound and Kory had no pain! The seats in our Honda recline all the way back so traveling in our car wasn’t even a problem for him. (I forgot what a nice car we have!)

This morning I was awake at five and took off to the hospital to meet my friend Ann and pray for her before her hip replacement surgery today. She’s been taking care of our apartment building in Seattle so I was glad to be able to see her for a few minutes before she’s laid up. I then made a quick trip to Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart to get some things I thought we’d need back home, said good-bye to my step-mom and we headed north.

It was the strangest sensation to come back to our own house after so much time. Our house sitters left the place spot-less and the yard looked perfect. Flowers were even in the pots on the deck and vegetables had been planted in the garden. Oh, it was good to be home. We all walked around the yard with a sense of awe, picked some plums off the golden plum tree and had our first bite of an old familiar memory. There was a WELCOME HOME poster on our door, a huge plant our neighbor left us, and the phone started ringing right away. Neighbors stopped by, friend’s from church came over with their kids and even the neighbor dog took up residence with us for a while. (Kaleb started yelling for her the minute we got off the freeway, “Here I come Duchess!!! I’m finally coming home!!! – it was so cute.)

Kaleb already went home with his best friend, Timothy, to have a sleepover tonight. I have bags to unpack, groceries to put away and a house to get back in order, but I’m taking my time. I don’t want to get back on the treadmill too quickly. Plants need watering, Kory needs feeding, mail needs sorting and I need sleep already, but we made it home in one piece and that was my only goal for this day. Everything else can wait. Hallelujah!

More Good-byes

No one here wants to say “hadet” (good-bye). They all insist on saying “paa gensyn” (see you later). It works for me. The eight months we will be gone from Norway will go so fast everyone will even wonder if we’ve left. But Kaleb was pretty low today – very solemn and trying to figure out if he should be sad he is leaving, or glad he’ll be going home to a house full of books, dogs in the neighborhood and all the cool toys Kory has made him over the years. He likes where we live in Skagit County, and I do, too. I keep thinking about my nice soft bed, but that I need to buy a pillow before I sleep in it because I am leaving my pillow here, knowing we shall return. Such are the things that occupy my mind.

We had a nice long visit with the Tantes today over at Tante Ruth’s apartment (our condo). It was good to see them all and tell them a little about our road trip. Kory hasn’t been able to get out much so they were glad he made it over for one last good-bye. Tante Aslaug made us lunch and it was easy to see none of them wanted us to leave. So many of their kids and grandkids have left the area, I think we are a good substitute. They are comforted by the thought we will be back. So are we.

Kory’s cousin Linda just got back yesterday from three weeks at her condo in Turkey so we dropped by there to say good-bye to her and her family as well. Then Kaleb dropped by all his friend’s house for one last hug and to leave them with his contact information in case any of them want to write to him (see photo). He stayed for a few hours at one of his friend’s house before I picked him up so we could go to church tonight where we said our last good-byes and got lots of hugs. Kory went to church with us, but could only sit in the chair for a few minutes before he had to go to the back and lay on the floor. It didn’t stop him from shouting HALLELUJAH now and then, so I think he was glad to be back in the House of God. I do hope he makes it okay tomorrow with all the moving around and sitting. I can’t think about it, or it will stress me out.

I got an e-mail tonight that a good friend of Kory’s (Kjell Harjo) was killed in a car accident yesterday near Bellingham. What a shocker! We had just been talking to him as he was here in Norway last month visiting family and we tried to find a time to meet up, but it didn’t work out. His wife was also in the car at the time of the accident and should recover from her injuries, but I can’t imagine her life without him. Kjell was a pastor of a church up in Ferndale and an incredibly nice guy. I know life is fragile and our world can turn upside down at the drop of a dime so it makes me all the more thankful that our problems are so manageable and not anything life altering. We are so blessed.

Kaleb had a hard time getting to sleep tonight. He was pretty wound up and said he couldn’t relax. I finally had to lie down with him and have a contest on who could hold still the longest with their eyes closed. I think I fell asleep first, but at least it worked to get him to sleep, too. But then I had to wake up to finish my blog. I guess I am a blog-a-holic, but the addiction may soon end. As long as there is something to write about, I’ll write, as many in Norway want to know about our adjustment back to life in the U.S., but this late night writing just has to stop.

We leave for the airport in seven hours. We had challenges getting to Norway, and we’ve had challenges getting home, but everything in between has been beyond our expectations and blessed by God. Hallelujah! Life is good.

Some Sad Good-byes

It felt like all we did today was say good-bye. I guess it’s inevitable, but it still hurts. Kaleb said, “If I could just bring all my friends with me to America… but then all of Norway couldn’t fit in our house.” He was pretty sad when I picked him up from Toben’s house. Three other chums from school were there playing so he gave them all a hug and said he’d see them in eight months. I’m sure they won’t miss him as much as he’ll miss them. They still all have each other. All Kaleb will have are neighbor dogs and the occasional play date with a friend. I tried to cheer him up by reminding him his friend Timothy will be coming over this week for a sleepover. It seemed to help a little as he began to reminisce about their “Secret Boy’s Society” and all the mischief they secretly plan to pull on us when he comes over, but I know he will still really miss his pals here.

Kaleb and I went together over to Tobias’ house so we could both say goodbye to that family. They are already checking out ticket prices to come visit us next summer. Tobias is going to come home with us in June next year and then his parents will come later and bring him back with them, so he’s got a big summer to look forward to. He’s an easy kid to have around so we are excited to have him around.

I drove out to my friend Sandra’s house this afternoon to meet her new little miracle. Karl Alexander came home from the hospital earlier than expected as he was born seven weeks early (see photo). He isn’t even supposed to be born for another month but already he’s doing incredibly well and looks like any other healthy newborn. But that baby had a lot of prayer surrounding him – both coming and going and everything in between. I prayed for Sandra when she flew to Latvia to conceive through in-vitro (because she’s 45 the Norwegian health care system won’t pay for such procedures). We even babysat her dog over Christmas while they were gone. She’s been trying for ten years to have a baby and has tried in-vitro many times. She’s gotten pregnant several times but miscarried time and time again, even up to five months. But this time she made it. She had twins at first, and lost one early on but the other one held tight. Then her water broke nine and a half weeks before her due date. She was admitted to the hospital and sent me a text message while we were on vacation letting me know what was happening. I prayed for her several times a day that the baby would hold fast as they wanted it to stay in as long as possible. After two weeks and three days, she developed an infection so they gave her a c-section (a rarity here), and unbelievably, little Karl Alexander is as healthy and perfect as can be. I’ve never seen so many answered prayers all wrapped up in one little bundle. So it was a sweet good-bye to Sandra, knowing when I see her again, Karl Alexander will probably be crawling all over the place. I can’t wait to watch that kid grow up. His parents are about as “gob-smacked” as it comes (Sandra is from England and that’s the word they use for “completely overwhelmed.”) I feel particularly attached to this kid because of all the prayers I’ve said for him so it was a good day for me to finally meet him even if the “hello” and “good-bye” were so close together.

After dinner tonight I drove out to say good-bye to My Pal Vestina. Now that was a tough one. She’s doing very well in her “salon” school and I was so impressed with the big report she’s already written in Norwegian. She was a much better student than I in learning Norwegian. But, I was able to impress her nonetheless with some of my wits by fixing her computer so she could print. Her old boyfriend accidentally deleted all the printer drivers off her laptop so she couldn’t print a thing, and she really needs to print now that she has a report due on Monday. Some of my old computer knowledge came back to me and I found a new driver on the internet, installed it in under five minutes and she was up and running. I think she thought that was as much a miracle as I thought Karl Alexander was today. She’s had several friends try to help her out, but none were successful – even the ones that are “very good” with computers. She thinks I’m a genius. Tee hee. So now she is happy and productive and swears she will miss me like crazy. I’m a bit worried she’ll be living elsewhere when I return, so that makes the good-bye all the more difficult for me but we both agreed we were good for each other and are thankful we are now friends.

Kory didn’t say goodbye to anyone today as he was flat on his back for most of the day, which was a good thing. He did sit a little longer at the dinner table tonight as he’s trying to see how long he can hold out in a chair before it becomes intolerable. Dr. Odd thinks if he takes enough pain pills and drinks enough red wine – he’ll make it home just fine. I think I might need to do the same.

A Better Day

It was a pretty boring day. Kaleb left before 9am this morning for a sleepover with his “best friend” Toben. He’s been looking forward to it for weeks and couldn’t even wait until his breakfast was fully swallowed before he was out the door heading to Toben’s house. I hope he gets some sleep. I know I will sleep well now that he’s not sleeping next to me, but it sure has been quiet around here, so I do miss him. Kory’s been quiet today, too. He’s been holding still, staying horizontal and pumping up on all the pain pills. He’s taking two kinds from the doctor and Valerian (a muscle relaxer). He said today the pain is tolerable so thank God for that. He is bored out of his mind though and just lays in bed doing Suduko for hours on end. At least he’s not moaning or tossing back and forth like yesterday. I don’t do well watching him suffer.

One of Kory’s cousin’s daughters came by for a visit today. She just had a baby two months ago so we got to meet the newest member of this side of the family. He’s a cutie pie. She already has an almost three year old daughter and she’s a single mom at age 25 – never married. In Norway, it’s one of the best paid jobs you can have. She gets her apartment paid for, childcare paid for, education paid for and two thousand dollars a month cash, all from the government, plus she gets money from the fathers of her children which doesn’t get deducted from her other income. She actually makes more money than most people working full time. She said she knows many young women that get pregnant just because they can make so much money off it. Incredible. Some of the support from the government stops when the child is three years old, so that turns out to be a good time to have another child so the support will continue three more years. She has things well planned out and will have her bachelor’s degree in economics by the time some of her support stops so then she can get a good paying job. She just bought a car, which is a total luxury here because of how expensive they are, but she can afford it. She’s a great mom and her kids have her calm disposition. She was in shock as we explained to her what her life would be like in America if she had two children and no job. She is living in the right country, that’s for sure.

I called the airline today and ordered “assistance” at all the airports for Monday, so that took a load off my mind. Kory can travel in a wheel chair and I won’t have to schlep around all the luggage. I also found out that all the flights we will be taking have plenty of empty seats so there shouldn’t be any problem with Kory being able to lie down across three seats and be horizontal for most of the day. That was a HUGE relief, and a much cheaper solution than flying first class.

Odd came home early from work today and decided to hike up to the top of the mountain behind their house, rain and all. He was gone nearly two hours. Just after he returned, Turid got home from visiting her mother and invited me to run up to the top of the same mountain. I had to laugh and then decline. When we’ve gone up as a family, we take about two and half hours to get to the top and at least an hour to come down. Turid can make it from her doorstep to the top in 39 minutes and then use about 20 minutes to come down. I knew there was no point in me joining her since she’d leave me in the dust, or rather, mud, as it was raining hard all day (besides, my rain coat was stolen!). And I had no motivation to reach the top since there wouldn’t even be a view to enjoy (see photo of the view on a sunny day). But they do this kind of stuff every day to keep in shape - and that’s why they are in shape and I’m not. My only consolation was that we all took our blood pressure today with Odd’s little doctor kit and Turid’s blood pressure was sky high (157/97) and she should probably be on medication. Mine, however was 101/68 with a pulse of 61. Turid said I have the numbers of an athlete. I’ve been told that before. (One time a doctor asked me if I was a long distance runner and all I could say was, “Do I LOOK like a long distance runner?”) It has to be the luck of the gene pool. I then laid on the couch and took a little nap and didn’t feel the least bit guilty about not exercising. At least I didn’t need to eat chocolate today to relieve any stress.

Showers of Blessings

Kory is not doing so well. He has so much pain last night he was actually crying. I feel so helpless. I don’t know if it’s his back pain as much as it is other parts of his body reacting to all the laying around he’s been doing. His thighs and his butt are just killing him. His cousin Odd, the doctor, is worried he might have nerve damage. Turid, his wife, and also a physical therapy nurse, thinks it’s just muscular pain from lack of use. Who knows, but Kory sure is miserable. It’s so hard for me to be around him when he’s moaning so much as it affects my mood something terrible. But then I hate to leave him alone when he’s so bad also. There is no good situation right now. Odd is sure he won’t be able to travel on Monday, but we really need to get home as it seems he won’t get any better lying here. The flight is a bit worrisome for me as it’s a small plane and I’m praying it won’t be full so he’ll be able to lie down. I can’t think about it too much or it will stress me out, so I just have to trust God it will all work out fine. I did fill the prescription for pain pills today. Kory was hoping not to have to take them but at this point, he’s pretty desperate. He said they didn’t do much, but at least he’s not moaning like he was last night. I hate that he hurts so much.

We’ve had incredibly hard rain all day today. There have been a few sun breaks as the clouds move in off the ocean, but the downpours have been impressive. It makes it easy to be inside during such weather. At least Kory isn’t missing out on “summer.”

Kaleb was with his friend Toben all day and sure cried when I went to pick him up. He was hoping to have a sleepover with one of his friends tonight, but it didn’t work out for anyone so he was pretty upset. I hate to think about him having to say goodbye, but he has said himself that time goes by very quickly, so hopefully the eight months we will be gone from Norway will just seem like a few weeks.

I went to a prayer meeting this morning with The Praying Women. I’m so glad I went because they all prayed for me! I needed it. We “soaked” a little before we prayed and I got pictures in my mind of different shaped things and it sure seemed like God was telling me that help was coming, but it would take many forms. So I’m on the lookout for that! My friend Kristen read me a Bible verse from Isaiah that was rather appropriate: “Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,… He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom… “ I needed to be reminded of that as all this stuff going on with our delayed return isn’t really my problem – it’s God’s. I felt so much better after that meeting.

I also had a farewell cup of coffee with The Good Teacher Inga today. I told her about our trip (in Norwegian) and she told me about her vacation to France. Things didn’t work out exactly as she had planned either and she said to me, “But now I’m thinking like you, and realize there must have been a reason for it all,” so I took that as a huge compliment coming from her. We had a great visit and she was so impressed that I spoke Norwegian “perfectly.” It wasn’t really perfect, but she understood what I was saying, so that was good. It was great to have a chance to see her again and say “Paa gensyn” (“see you later”), as “good-bye” is too hard to say right now.

Kristen, one of the praying ladies, is also involved in a Bible study I’ve gone to a few times so she invited me tonight, also. She was double dipping with me today. I didn’t know it, but it was a little farewell party for me. Kristen is quite the poet and she wrote me the sweetest poem to thank me for being here this year and Tina also wrote me a wonderful note of thanks. All the women I’ve met seem to like me, for some reason. I’m not used to that. Maybe the language barrier works in my favor. The women tonight were saying prayers of thanksgiving to God for sending me here as they all felt deeply impacted by the things I’ve said in the group. It was nice to hear. I felt I was being showered with prayers, blessings and scripture as they each gave me something special along those lines. I felt so honored, but it was pretty humbling at the same time. I guess God had a plan afterall.

Tying up Loose Ends

Kory and I were home alone all day as Kaleb was with friends, Odd was at work and Turid was at her art studio. I used the time to go through a bunch of paperwork to decide what needs to be in the U.S. and what needs to be left here. I also repacked a few things, weighed the bags to be sure we aren’t over weight and filled out insurance forms. It was a pretty boring day until I picked up Kaleb and we went over to cousin Axel’s house for dinner.

Axel and Kari had a little going away dinner for us with their entire family so that was the highlight of our day. I got to show them the photo books I’ve created and the ones I’m working on. The kids all ran around together and it was as noisy as it could be and just how family gatherings should be (including good food). Everyone wanted the recipe for the cake Kaleb made yesterday (we took the leftovers with us). He was pretty proud. It was a great evening and we all agreed that time has gone too fast this year.

Kory was in a lot of pain today and even with pain pills I hate to see him wincing so much as he tries to move around. I sure hope this flight on Monday doesn’t do him in. So many are praying, I just have to trust God’s judgment on this one and try not to stress out these last few days – especially since the latest photo book I finally finished last night of our road trip has mysteriously vanished in cyber space and now it seems all my work this past week needs to be redone. I take back the high recommendations I’ve given this software program! Ugh. I want to cry.

It’s late and I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well last night. I had a dream we were on vacation in South America and we got taken hostage by some guerillas. We were put in a place from which we could not escape – no kidding – I really dreamt that. I hope it’s not some kind of prophesy. I love Norway but now that I’ve wrapped up all the loose ends, I’m ready to go home and start untying a few there.

People keep asking us what we will do when we get home, and I have no answer for that, other than “normal life stuff.” We will homeschool Kaleb, go to church and get back in to our old routines. This Fall already feels overwhelming as we have a cousin coming from Oslo for a few weeks in September so I’ll need to show her around as Kory won’t be driving until at least October plus we have two vacancies at our apartment building in Seattle to deal with. I think I will soon be longing for Sunday’s off and the simpler life we’ve had in Norway. But I am looking forward to Costco, Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart. I’ll just try not to go there on Sundays.

A Rainy Day in Norway

Kaleb wasn’t able to go to Skothaugen today to play with his friends from school because of his actions yesterday, but he didn’t suffer any as a result. Tobias called and asked him to come over for the day so the two of them were cooking up a storm over at Tobias’ house. After several hours, Tobias’ mom drove them over to us with a plate full of warm Svela (they look like pancakes but they are different - they are eaten rolled up like a burrito with jam or sugar or goat cheese inside.) And as fast as they arrived, they left again to go bake a Snickers Cake. Tobias has been wanting to bake us a good-bye cake so Kaleb was happy to help with the process. He didn’t get home until 9pm. I think it’s so great they both love to cook. It’s probably the new male bonding thing for the upcoming generation in Norway, as this land is so into equality. But the older generation will probably never change, as Turid was at work tonight and I made dinner for Odd and Kory and both of them immediately left the kitchen to “slappe av” (relax) after they ate, leaving me to clean up the mess. So much for equality. But I don’t have a broken back, nor did I work hard all day at the office, so such is life.

After finally finishing the photo book for our road trip, I made a second attempt at relieving my stress today and went to get another massage, but it was with a woman who also does other forms of non-traditional healing. She wanted to give me acupuncture, but she could tell by my reaction to that suggestion that maybe it would cause a little more stress than I was already experiencing. She did something, I’m not sure what, but when I left there I felt like I was floating. Strange. My neck is still sore, but my back feels great. She was a little spooky as she just felt different parts of my back and started telling me things like I eat too much bread and I shouldn’t eat chocolate when I’m stressed (how did she know that?) She also said I don’t drink enough water and I don’t take enough time for myself every day (she was correct about that, also.) She told me I need to do a three month detox when I get home which should include a cup of ginger tea every day. Ok, then. As she was massaging my back I thought it was rather ironic that Kory is the one with the back injury and I’m the one seeking help. This is how the “two shall become one” thing plays out in our marriage. He gets injured and the pain transfers over to me rather quickly.

Kory was pleased to get out of the house again today as Synnøve, the leader of our small group at Agape Church, invited us over for a little farewell luncheon and prayer meeting. She wanted to pray for Kory’s back so she invited her mom, who is an incredible prayer warrior (and also the woman who has a spot on Christian radio here), and pastor Mark and his wife, Unni, (see photo) and Bente, another woman from our small group. It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours and Kory felt much better afterwards. (He was in a lot of pain last night and this morning because he walked too much yesterday.) I can’t say enough about the wonderful people we have met here in Norway. It’s also so encouraging to be around people who love God so much and who are completely sold out for living their life for Him. That’s the cool thing about the family of God – we can go anywhere in the world and find relatives (as if all the cousins in Norway aren’t enough.)

Kory has spent a great deal of time trying to figure out why we are still here. It’s a mystery to me also but I’m sure there’s an explanation. If Kaleb breaks out with Chicken Pox before next Monday when we are supposed to fly home, and the airline won’t let us on the plane, Odd says it’s a sure sign from God we are NOT to leave Norway. It would certainly make one wonder if that’s not the case.

Gone Fishin'

I felt so much better today after I finally gave up trying to find all of Kory’s things that are in locations he no longer remembers. It’s one thing when I forget where I put something, but it’s a whole other thing to try and second guess a spouse. Talk about stress. But today there was none of that. I was a free agent. I finished my big photo book of our year in Norway and got it ordered and then began the impossible task of filling out insurance forms for Kory’s accident (I’m hoping we get money back for our unused airplane tickets.) I also did a little grocery shopping and ran a few errands. It was good to have some time for myself. Kaleb was with his friend Toben all day and Kory was horizontal, except for the few minutes he dared to go for a walk to see his limits and when he found them he spent the rest of the day in bed.

When I left the house this morning I waved to Kory’s (ex)boss’ wife walking along the sidewalk. When I got to the library I ran in to Tante Kari and visited with her a while. When I was in the mall I ran into Tobias’ mom and Bjørn (Kory’s second cousin). They invited us to go fishing tonight out on their boat, so that was something to look forward to. When I was downtown I waved at someone else I knew and when I stopped at the grocery store I visited with a guy I went to school with. That’s how it is around here. There is no way to go anywhere without seeing a handful of people that require at least a “Hello” if not a full blown conversation about what’s happened since the last time we met. And there’s no rush. It feels like everyone has all the time in the world to just chat and catch up. I love that.

When I got home I called up to Toben’s house and left a message I’d pick Kaleb up earlier than expected because we were invited out on a boat trip. When I arrived at the prescribed time, Kaleb was incredibly upset with me that I came to get him before the day was over as he was far from done playing with Toben. I understood he had expectations of being there all day, but I didn’t expect him to act so disrespectfully to me in the process. (I don’t even want to write down what he did because I’d just as soon forget it, but needless to say he won’t be going to Toben’s house tomorrow as a consequence for his behavior.) He gets so focused on what he wants sometimes, he completely loses his good sense to act proper. He apparently needs a little more training on what to do when the apple cart gets upset. I was quite disturbed by his behavior and even more so that Toben’s mom witnessed it all. Uff da.

After dinner Kaleb and I went down to Tobias’ house to go for a ride in their boat. Poor Kory wanted to come along but that would be about the worst thing he could do right now so he had to be satisfied with seeing the pictures when we got back. Kaleb surprisingly caught the first fish – a mackerel. He didn’t even know he had it on the line as he thought his line was caught under the boat. Another time he had a huge fish on his line and was screaming for help because he was worried he’d lose his grip on the fishing pole, but that fish got away. That’s the story he talked about the most when the day was done. I had my line in the water the whole time but only got one bite, and no fish. Tobias’ mom caught the biggest fish and the most fish and Tobias didn’t fish – he just wanted to be the terminator. He had a knife and he knew how to use it. Bjørn didn’t catch anything either, so at least I was in good company.

The coolest part about the whole thing was being out in the middle of the fjord, watching the boats go by (big and small). It felt a bit like sitting in the middle of a freeway but with the bonus of some nice rolling waves every once in a while. The clouds were already hanging low when we began the trip but slowly they ate away at the mountains and one by one the mountains disappeared as the rain clouds moved closer and closer. There were more shades of gray than I thought were possible, so the whole thing was very dramatic and haunting. Finally when the rains came, Bjørn just put up the cloth cover and we continued on fishing with our poles sticking out of the back of the boat and us nice and dry and warm inside. It was all very cozy and we could have stayed out much later than 10pm but Kaleb was getting stir crazy (see photo of the ride back with him standing on his head and Bjørn sticking his head out of the boat in order to see where we were going). It was all quite memorable, especially since it was my first boat ride this whole year we’ve been here. I think we need more friends with boats!