Today was a big day for Kory. He didn’t take any pain medicine all day and he was able to get up on his own (using crutches) and walk around a little. He looks like an orangutan with extra legs as he has to walk leaning so far forward, but at least he wasn’t in pain. He even sat with us at dinner for a while before the grimaces in his face told me it was time for him to go back to his bed and lay down. There are so many people praying for him, I do believe he might be healed in half the time the doctor said. Many friends and family have been calling and stopping by to see how Kory is doing. It feels good to be so cared for.
Kaleb had a good day, spent entirely up at Skaathaugen, a neighborhood near here where all his buddies from school live. He just bops around from one house to the next playing with the kids. Often they all hang out together and he was pretty pleased to tell me wherever he is during lunchtime, he gets fed. He said the parents all just feed whoever is in the house and he likes that system a lot. (I had suggested I pack a lunch for him but he told me it’s not necessary.) Today he was at Toben’s house when his father was doing some yard work and Kaleb came up with the idea of helping him pick up all the cut grass on the hillside. It turned into quite the work party with several other kids joining in. Kaleb set up a type of conveyor system involving one kid picking up the clumps of grass and another putting them in the bucket, another kid emptied the bucket and another kid did something else but I forgot already. When one girl from his class showed up, they decided to set up a bar so she could bring them all glasses of water. They worked for about 90 minutes, rotating positions every five dumps of the bucket. The dad surprised all the kids by paying them 50 kroner each for their help (about $8) so then the boys decided to pool their money and see if they have enough to buy a game they can all share for their Nintendos. I love hearing about stuff like that so I am glad we’ll be here the rest of the summer. (School starts two days after we fly home on the 17th.)
I too had a somewhat productive day, but it wasn’t nearly as much fun. Ever since I drove those three longs days back to Norway (under a bit of stress), I’ve had a terrible numbness in my right shoulder, below my neck. Today I decided it wasn’t getting any better and a massage was in order. (I guess that might be an understatement.) My whole body has been one big tense muscle and I was nearing the breaking point. I was able to get a very effective Thai massage today that totally repaired the numbness, but now my neck is stiff from all the pressure she used to break up my muscles. I’m sure tomorrow all will be well and in the meantime the rest of my body is whistling Dixie, but she told me I might need another massage soon because I was pretty stiff (no kidding). After my massage I went to talk to the Aalesund Kommune about some nasty collection notices they’ve sent us recently about unpaid rent. They had their billing system all messed up so I had to go point out the error of their ways and after much explanation, the woman understood what they did wrong and apologized. Check that off my list. Then I had to order a new bank card, and a few other cards that were in my wallet that was stolen. Then I had to go fill out a form with the “folktelling” (people counters) to inform them of our plans to move out of the country. So many formalities and details to be tended to around here.
I made dinner tonight for everyone, trying to minimize our impact, but it’s pretty hard when Kory’s bed is set up in the living room and Kaleb and I are sleeping in their TV room. Turid and I went for a walk tonight over to our old neighborhood and she told me, “It’s easier for us to have you here, than for you to be here.” I appreciate that sentiment but I still feel like we are putting a crimp in their style. I guess this is a good way for us to transition back home because if we flew home this Friday, we’d leave here feeling like we didn’t have enough time to say good-bye to everyone and it might be a very sad day when we left. Now that we have a few more weeks, and we aren’t in a house of our own, it will make our own house feel all the more welcoming. I’ve long given up second guessing what God has in mind when things happen outside the ordinary because I’ve learned time and time again, there is a very good reason. I just don’t know it yet.
(The photo today is “classic Odd” – sitting out on his deck, drinking a beer….)
Kaleb had a good day, spent entirely up at Skaathaugen, a neighborhood near here where all his buddies from school live. He just bops around from one house to the next playing with the kids. Often they all hang out together and he was pretty pleased to tell me wherever he is during lunchtime, he gets fed. He said the parents all just feed whoever is in the house and he likes that system a lot. (I had suggested I pack a lunch for him but he told me it’s not necessary.) Today he was at Toben’s house when his father was doing some yard work and Kaleb came up with the idea of helping him pick up all the cut grass on the hillside. It turned into quite the work party with several other kids joining in. Kaleb set up a type of conveyor system involving one kid picking up the clumps of grass and another putting them in the bucket, another kid emptied the bucket and another kid did something else but I forgot already. When one girl from his class showed up, they decided to set up a bar so she could bring them all glasses of water. They worked for about 90 minutes, rotating positions every five dumps of the bucket. The dad surprised all the kids by paying them 50 kroner each for their help (about $8) so then the boys decided to pool their money and see if they have enough to buy a game they can all share for their Nintendos. I love hearing about stuff like that so I am glad we’ll be here the rest of the summer. (School starts two days after we fly home on the 17th.)
I too had a somewhat productive day, but it wasn’t nearly as much fun. Ever since I drove those three longs days back to Norway (under a bit of stress), I’ve had a terrible numbness in my right shoulder, below my neck. Today I decided it wasn’t getting any better and a massage was in order. (I guess that might be an understatement.) My whole body has been one big tense muscle and I was nearing the breaking point. I was able to get a very effective Thai massage today that totally repaired the numbness, but now my neck is stiff from all the pressure she used to break up my muscles. I’m sure tomorrow all will be well and in the meantime the rest of my body is whistling Dixie, but she told me I might need another massage soon because I was pretty stiff (no kidding). After my massage I went to talk to the Aalesund Kommune about some nasty collection notices they’ve sent us recently about unpaid rent. They had their billing system all messed up so I had to go point out the error of their ways and after much explanation, the woman understood what they did wrong and apologized. Check that off my list. Then I had to order a new bank card, and a few other cards that were in my wallet that was stolen. Then I had to go fill out a form with the “folktelling” (people counters) to inform them of our plans to move out of the country. So many formalities and details to be tended to around here.
I made dinner tonight for everyone, trying to minimize our impact, but it’s pretty hard when Kory’s bed is set up in the living room and Kaleb and I are sleeping in their TV room. Turid and I went for a walk tonight over to our old neighborhood and she told me, “It’s easier for us to have you here, than for you to be here.” I appreciate that sentiment but I still feel like we are putting a crimp in their style. I guess this is a good way for us to transition back home because if we flew home this Friday, we’d leave here feeling like we didn’t have enough time to say good-bye to everyone and it might be a very sad day when we left. Now that we have a few more weeks, and we aren’t in a house of our own, it will make our own house feel all the more welcoming. I’ve long given up second guessing what God has in mind when things happen outside the ordinary because I’ve learned time and time again, there is a very good reason. I just don’t know it yet.
(The photo today is “classic Odd” – sitting out on his deck, drinking a beer….)
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