The Last Hoorah!

As much as I would have liked to go for a walk or hike or bike ride today, we had too much cleaning to do, so I didn’t. Bummer for me; good for the condo. And it was sunny and beautiful today, too. Can I whine just a little bit more? I don’t want to be going home. Period.




Kory bought me a t-shirt when we were on our honeymoon and traveling around North America for two years in a motor home. He bought it in the Florida Keys, as we had parked ourselves there for several weeks in the middle of winter and just soaked up the sun. The t-shirt had a picture of a woman reclining in the sun wearing a visor that said Key Largo on it. Underneath the photo it said, “Sell Everything – I’m never coming home.” I think about that t-shirt from time to time, and even though we haven’t soaked up much sun here, we certainly don’t come to Norway for the weather. The only consolation in leaving is knowing we get to come back whenever we want. That seems to help us and everyone else say goodbye because “time goes so fast,” we heard over and over again today. Yes, it does, unless you are standing in line in a grocery store in Norway waiting for someone to finish bagging their groceries. Tee hee.



We double dipped today at church, going to Agape for the sermon, then to Philadelphia for the coffee hour afterwards. We had many to hug and wish well until we see them again. Then we headed back home to finish cleaning, moving things around and giving away things like plants and food and clothes Kaleb has outgrown.



Andreas, the leader for the young boys as Agape, told me today he really thinks Kaleb needs to go to school in America and be involved in several activities with other kids. He said he’s seen a huge improvement in his social skills from when we first moved to Norway in 2008, but that he has a ways to go. He said he interacts with adults way more comfortably than children and he’s worried about that. He said he can’t “read between the lines” on social cues. (I think he gets that from his dad.) I sat during the service half listening to the message, half wondering and praying what to do with Kaleb this fall. I’m so torn, and of course, only want to do what’s best for him. He is adamantly against going to school, but that’s not for him to decide. If we didn’t have this life here in Norway, it wouldn’t be nearly as complicated, but we do, and it’s God ordained, so I’ll continue to pray for wisdom.



Cousin Axel and Kari invited us for dinner tonight, which was a real blessing so we didn’t have to make dinner out of the weird assortment of food still left in the kitchen. Henrik’s mom picked Kaleb up at the bus stop and dropped him off at Axels (they live just down the street from each other). Kaleb talked non-stop about all the laughs they had and all they did this weekend. One of the moms told me the kids all got woken up at 1am this morning to smuggle Bibles into Russia (just pretend, of course), but somehow Kaleb got caught and ended up in jail. He was so groggy from doing something in the middle of the night, he didn’t even know what he was doing – he just said he ended up in jail. Not something you want to hear from a kid whose been gone for the weekend. I think he had fun.



Even after spending so much time at the car bureau the other day, asking questions about letting our tabs run out, etc., we apparently didn’t get the information we were looking for. Thankfully, the subject came up tonight at Axel’s house. Axel’s son told us as long as the license plates are attached to the car, we must pay for the tabs and insurance (about $2,000 a year). We thought we’d just let them both expire in July, but their system isn’t the same here. We must physically remove the plates, deliver them into the car bureau, and then we can call and cancel our insurance and not renew the tabs. Good to know! So Kory took off the plates and walked them down there tonight (it’s not far from where we live.) They have a drop slot for such things. I had a nagging feeling about that whole car thing so I’m glad we found out what to do. It’s tough when you don’t know what you don’t know.



We stopped by Tobias’ house tonight to drop off some Pecan Squares. I happened to have all I needed to make them in the fridge. Tobias’ step-dad, Bjørn, is taking us to the airport in the morning. He used to fly to America every few months to train people on some specific pilot skills he has. I made them for him every time he brought me back pecans from America, so I made him some tonight as a thank-you. We arrived at their house just as their extended family was leaving – both sets of Tobias’ grandparents, aunts and uncles showed up to wish him well and send him off to America with a little extra money in his pocket. He is so excited, I’m sure he won’t sleep a wink. We’re excited too, as it will be a much easier transition for Kaleb to have someone with us when we arrive. I’ve talked to the parents of Kaleb’s other friends to try and line up one friend every summer to come home with us, so our summers might be pretty exciting from now on. Woo hoo.



Now I’m hearing the words to The Carol Burnett Show in my head again, as she signed off every week singing, “I’m so glad we had this time, together; to have a laugh or sing a song. Seems we just get started and before you know it, comes the time we have to say, ‘So Long!’” This is the last post for a while on this blog, but I’ll try to update my Postcards From the Ridge blog daily – just in case anyone has withdrawl symptoms. Well, the truth is, Tobias’ parents want to keep tabs on him. I’m sure he’ll be a good boy.

Packin' Up

Boring, boring, boring day. It rained and drizzled all day while we were hauling stuff down to storage and running around dropping things off here and there. The boredom was punctuated only briefly as we stopped off at Tobias’ house to pick up some things Kaleb left there. It was then I realized Tobias needed a note from his parents in case he needs medical attention while in America, and then it dawned on me he might need more than that just to get into the country. I sat for a few panic stricken moments checking different websites to see how to assure the officials he was not being kidnapped from Norway and taken home to America to become my child slave. I’m not sure we are totally out of the dark on this one, but I’ll be praying hard when we arrive that all goes well. All I could find out was that he needs a notarized letter from his parents giving us permission to travel with him, for which dates and where he will be staying. I hope that is enough. It never even crossed my mind that we could have any trouble getting him into the country, so I do pray we don’t.




Kory and I bickered all day as to what to leave in our condo and what to put in storage. He wants our place looking more like a hotel; I want it to feel personal and like it IS someone’s home people are staying in. We couldn’t disagree more, but since we don’t have any rentals lined up, I didn’t want to pack up our whole household of clothes, kitchen and bathroom things and decorations, only to have to unpack again in nine months. I absolutely hate packing and moving anything, so this was not a fun day for me.



One thing that’s been on my mind lately that I haven’t written about is how incredibly patient and quiet Norwegians are. (You’d never know Kory and I have any Norwegian blood in us at all if that were the only criteria.) I’ve seen this behavior in action time and time again. For one thing, no one EVER honks a horn for any reason. I guess it would be considered rude and obnoxious. One time we were walking on the ferry past all the cars that were lined up waiting to load. Several cars had already driven onto the ferry, but there was one car in line with a woman driver, and she was digging for something in her purse. All the cars behind her could have easily gone around her as all the other lanes were empty, but no one did. They must have sat there waiting for about two minutes. Not a single horn was beeped and no one cut in front of the line, they just waited, and when she was done, they all drove on. It was such a foreign experience for me to see that kind of tolerance. That was definitely an event that would never take place in America.



Women love to stop and chat with each other when pushing these incredibly large baby carriages around. Often times they block an entrance to a store, or an entire aisle. I’ve never seen anyone try to scoot past them, or say “excuse me” and try to get by – they just stand there waiting for the conversation to be over, and then they proceed. It’s so weird! And at the grocery store, customers have to bag their own groceries, so the entire line of people have to wait until the person is done with all the bagging and move out of the way before anyone else can get checked out. No one complains or lets on they are in a hurry. Sometimes that inefficiency drives me nuts, but waiting one’s turn is obviously part of the socializing that begins in the mandatory pre-school they have in Norway and it’s definitely part of the tempo of life here.



A few times I’ve been in the grocery store and I’ve seen someone I know, so I hollered their name to get their attention. Every single person turned their head and just stared at me. No one hollers to get anyone’s attention in Norway – they simply go over to the person and speak softly. I felt like such a moron the first time I did it, so I had to do it again. The next time I saw someone I knew, I hollered their name just to double check the experience, and sure enough, the room went silent and all heads turned to see who in the world would yell in public like that. Now I know, and my moronic days are behind me. I’m learning to adapt to this foreign land, just in time to be leaving it once again.



(The photo today is the backyard of our friends that live out on the island of Valderøya – their view is of two neighboring islands - Godøya has the mountain which has a lake at the top and that’s where their drinking water comes from. The flat as a pancake island to the right is Giske where the most powerful Viking king in all of Scandinavia once lived. I love their yard because it’s NOT boring.)

Saying Our Goodbyes

The day was completely scattered with packing, good-byes to some, fetching things Kaleb’s left at every house he’s spent time in since we got here, and continuing to tie up loose ends. Cousin Axel’s wife, Kari, said she would be our contact person should we rent out our condo. She said she’ll contact a temporary employment agency she knows about that places doctors and nurses in this area for short periods of time. She felt it would be no problem to get our place rented, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m just glad she’s in charge, and not me. We have to take out everything we care about and put it in storage in the basement, so I’m not real fond of that part, but at least it will only take a few hours when we return to get all settled in again. Everything else is staying put.




Kaleb had the camera with him at school today so he took some photos of his pals, but mostly of his teacher. She’s a cutie, and as sweet as can be, so I’m glad he captured her smile so many times. He went right home after school with Andre. Kaleb, Andre, Daniel and Henrik all signed up for a Pentecostal children’s retreat this weekend so once the rain and wind stop, they should be in for a good time – I hope. I only saw him for the few minutes I was driving him to the bus stop. I’d picked up his other friend’s too and they all sat in the car with their noses in comic books. It was pretty funny looking. I’m sure it’s some form of male bonding I’m unaware of.



Kory took Kaleb to school this morning and didn’t notice he wasn’t wearing a coat. The bus terminal where the boys caught the bus to go to camp is right at the mall where we live. We were ten minutes early so I had Kaleb run home and get his coat. I’m not sure what took him so long, but he nearly missed the bus, as they had a ferry to catch and they weren’t about to wait for a little boy. Uff da. I was in such a panic, but he got there just in the nick of time.



Now that I’m nearly done packing our suitcases for home, I realized we had a little extra space in our luggage (thanks to all the stuff we’ve been able to off load on Tobias’ parents.) So I ran to my favorite second hand store to buy a few more treasures. I like to have unusual gifts on hand and for those interested in Norway. The old handmade items I’ve been able to find are something special – I think anyway. Cousin Kari says she hates all the pewter stuff I’ve bought, but I think it’s the coolest. I guess she’s not alone in her thinking, and that’s why it’s all so cheap now in the second hand stores. Yipee for me.



Yesterday was Tante Aslaug’s 85th birthday. She had some of her kids and grandkids over for a party (we were invited but couldn’t attend), so today she invited us and Tante Ruth to come over to eat the leftover cake and goodies. We were next door at her place for a while this afternoon – Kory longer than I. Aunt Ruth was there in body only – she was so lost and unable to communicate or see anything going on. I rubbed her shoulders as she’s been complaining about a pain she has there, so all she really kept saying was how good that felt, while others carried on a conversation around her. I got maybe one last photo of the three sisters together (see today’s photo – Kari is standing, Aslaug is kneeling next to Ruth). I hope Aunt Ruth is still around when we come back next year, but who knows what the future holds. She’s pretty frail right now, but she sure perked up when Aslaug gave her some licorice.



I was actually alone in the house tonight for a few hours while Kory visited his Tante Kari downstairs. Except for the sound of the wind whipping around outside, it was pretty quiet here. I even took a break to sit down and rest and watch a few minutes of television – the first time I’ve done that since we’ve been in Norway. I haven’t been missing much. What a bunch of junk.



It certainly feels like we are winding down now. There won’t be enough time to say goodbye to everyone this weekend so I’ll just have to send text messages and let my friend’s know I’m leaving. Everyone sends text messages here, rather than make a phone call. I even saw one girl riding her bike with no hands the other day because they were busy “texting.” I guess my blog could just be considered one heck of a long text message… but as my Daddy used to say, “This too, shall pass.”

Rain, Rain Go Away

Kaleb’s last day of school is tomorrow and then he is off to a church retreat for the whole weekend with some of his best friends. He’s like a stranger in our home as we haven’t seen him much this week, or since we got here, for that matter. Lord only knows what he’s being exposed to. He now knows all the Norwegian swear words, but fortunately, has the good sense not to use them. I think he knows the American ones now, too, as they are used quiet often around here. Uff da.




I picked him up from a friend’s house around dinnertime tonight so we could take the ferry across the fjord and have dinner with another relative that has a granddaughter three months younger than Kaleb. It’s so nice they can now communicate. They were sharing a crib the first time we were here visiting with Kaleb when he was five months old and they’ve been together every year since then, but this was really the first time they’ve played so well together. Kaleb’s Norwegian is very good and I finally got to hear him speak it. He won’t talk Norwegian around us at home, so it was fun to eavesdrop.



I went to my last prayer meeting this morning with The Praying Women. I’ll be back in the loop next April when we return, but it’s always sad to say goodbye. They are a good bunch of women who really do love God and want to be closer and closer to Him. We spent a half hour in soaking prayer. I fell asleep for a few minutes as I was so tired, but it still felt good. When I woke up I got a picture in my mind of all the books stacked around my desk containing all the family history for my friend Stuart. I thought how nice it was it was all written down, just there for the taking. Then I thought of the Bible verse that says God has written all our days on earth down and before one of them comes to be, he knows which one is our last. It was then I got the idea/picture of a book with several blank pages and I thought how sad it would be if I came to the part of the farm history book that contained information I needed, and the page was blank. I felt it was the same with my life, and my relationship with God. When I DON’T spend time in prayer or Bible reading or just being quiet and listening to God, it’s like that day passes and there was nothing written in the book – it was just left blank. I got very convicted of that thought because I’ve spent so much time reading the farm history books, that the last few days, I’ve neglected my Bible reading time. Oops. It was a swift correction and a good image for me to think about so I’m glad I took the time to listen to God today. I don’t want any pages missing from my book, that’s for sure. As much as I love journaling, I imagine God does too, so I need to give him something to write about.



I found out today that all the security personnel are on strike right now in Norway. I had no clue how that would impact me, other than some of the airports have shut down because there are no security workers. I also discovered later that all the cash machines are out of cash as there are no security people to bring more cash to them, so the whole country is feeling the impact. Maybe by Monday we can’t fly home, who knows. But these strikes tend to be over fairly quickly, so I’m not too worried. I’m just glad I have some extra cash right now, or I’d really be hurting, not being able to use our cash card from America to take out money. Ouch.



Cousin Odd’s daughter, Hege, was in the newspaper a few days ago because she was the first student in the history of her junior high school to EVER get “straight As.” They have a different grading system here, it’s from 1-6 (so it was all 6s). Most everyone is quite satisfied to be a 3 or 4, as that is average and what is expected. It’s rare to get a 5 and if that ever happens, a party usually ensues, but a 6 is almost unheard of – even in just one subject. It’s so opposite from America where everyone is expected to get straight As if they want to do anything with their life. Norway doesn’t have a prestigious university system, so there is no motivation to work hard to get into a good school. But Hege, she is driven by a force unknown. She loves to study and she is very smart. Last year she got nearly all 6s so this year she set her mind to trying to accomplish the ultimate goal, and she did. Everyone was astounded. The headline read, “The Queen of Sixes,” (she got 14 of them) and there was a photo with her smiling face holding up her report card. But the funny thing is, as we have been bragging about her to everyone we’ve talked to lately, they are all very concerned that she’s not well rounded enough, not social enough, not spending enough time with other kids her age, if her grades could possibly be so good. She spends too much time studying, in their opinion, and that’s not good for a happy life here in Norway. Socializing is everything. And now, our socializing is soon over. Sniff, sniff.

One More Time...

I was up early this morning, finishing up another talk I gave on Christian radio today. I should have prepared it earlier in the week, but I’m easily distracted. The talk went pretty well I think, and I heard good things afterwards, so I’m thankful for that. Synnøve (see photo) is the best translator ever, but she swears it’s because I use easy words. I must confess, I think Norwegian when I prepare, so maybe she is right. I don’t use big words or any slang, so that helps. I want the message to be clearly understood. Kory was listening in the car as he was driving around and he said my voice sounds really great over the radio because I talk slow and steady (not like in real life). He didn’t hear the whole hour I was on, but he heard enough to be impressed. It’s rare I can impress him, so I’m even more thankful for that. I talked about soaking prayer and spending quiet time with God. Oh, how we all need more of that.




Kory had a meeting today with the top doctor and manager in charge of the care center where Tante Ruth now lives (we know him from Agape Church.) Kory had a few questions for him and he got the answers he was looking for. He found out the management there can take over the responsibility for handling Ruth’s money, so that was good to know. The care center takes 75% of all her income to pay for her living there, so it doesn’t leave much for her to use on other things, but there really isn’t much she needs. She just wants to be sure God gets his ten percent, and she’s happy. I guess if a person had a lot of income, they would decide not to go to a care center in Norway, but it’s a pretty good deal for those who don’t have much, like Tante Ruth.



I was out running errands today when Kory boiled up the fish he caught last night. The house still smells fishy. I guess I’m glad I missed that meal. He said it tasted OK. I guess if it were fresh from the sea, it might have tasted better. It’s not like he did anything wrong in cooking it. Boiled fish is boiled fish. He boiled up some rutabaga and potatoes to go with it. He is Norsk to the core.

We didn’t see Kaleb until dinner time as he went home after school with his friends. I picked him up in time to go out for dinner at some of our friend’s house, who also happen to be Kory’s third cousin and his wife. They are so fun to spend time with, I always look forward to an evening with them. And Anne-Grete is a fabulous cook, so the food is always extra special. (The expression “I look forward to” in Norwegian is “jeg gleder meg” – which literally translated is “I glad myself.” I always chuckle when I use that phrase because it sounds so funny – like, “I peed myself.”)



I completed my shopping for bedding today and began the process of packing things to take home. Oh, it’s so sad to think about leaving here. Everyone agrees the time has gone by just too quickly. I’m a little bummed that we didn’t have more time for hikes in the mountains or just relaxing a bit, but there is always next year to look forward to as we now plan to spend every April, May and June here in our very own home in Norway. It’s mind boggling to think we’ve been blessed so much that we actually have such a place. And our little 725 square foot condo is now worth way more than our 2,900 square foot house in America, so it’s a good investment to have as well. The condo right under us (which is not nearly as nice as ours) just went up for sale (the owner died.) There were over 50 people attending the open house. It sold for $76,000 more than they were asking. It shocked everyone who lives here. I think the harsh winter they had last year really put the spotlight on the convenience of living in a place attached to the mall. We only have old people for neighbors and most of them use walkers to get around. Of course for us, this place only impacts our bank account in a negative way, unless we sell it, and we don’t plan to do that anytime soon.



I designed a very hip flyer today to advertise our convenient “short term rental” at the mall. I was hoping to go around the neighborhood tomorrow and talk to different businesses, trying to get some kind of arrangement set up before we leave, but I can’t get my stupid printer to work. I hate technology. Maybe the condo will stay empty and just word of mouth will fill it. There is such a housing shortage right now a friend of mine told me she answered an ad for an apartment and the owners got over 40 applications. They had to go through an interview process before they were selected. She felt like she hit the jackpot. So with that kind of housing situation, it would be a shame to leave this place empty, but I also don’t want to have to deal with things breaking or needing attention and we have to fix it from America. Calling in any kind of repair person could easily cost a thousand dollars just for them to show up. Prices in Norway are pretty scary if Norwegian labor is involved, so that could eat up any money we’d receive in rent fairly quickly. Living in Norway is not for the faint of heart. Our pockets are not nearly as deep as they used to be, but God always provides.

Gone Fishin'

Kory and I spent the day trying to wrap up some loose ends. It felt like the first days we were here, trying to get settled. Now we are working on our exit strategy. We went to the car licensing place to find out what happens if we just let our tabs expire, and various such things like that. Norway has so many different systems that unless we ask, we can end up paying lots of money for the silliest things. So we’ve learned to ask. It took all morning.




The biggest (and most expensive) challenge I face now is the Norwegian bedding system. In America we use matching sheets, a few blankets and a bedspread. Norwegians just use a fitted sheet over the mattress and a duvet cover with the down filled comforter tucked neatly inside for the top half. They have thick down for winter, thin for summer. The bottom sheet shows (but never matches the top half), and they just fold the duvet/comforter in half the long way, and call it good. It’s easy to make the bed, that’s for sure, as there is no tucking and straightening involved, but I like what I’m used to. We haven’t switched over to the Norwegian system because we like sleeping under the same covers so we can snuggle. In Norway, every person has their own duvet, so even couples sleeping together in a bed, don’t share the covers. Kaleb likes to crawl into bed with us in the morning, so that system would leave him out in the cold, as there are no covers in the middle of the bed. We brought our American bedding with us, but now that we are leaving, we need to convert all the beds so if we rent this place out, people get what they are used to. There are a lot of pieces to buy, so I’m back to shopping again, but it’s not the kind of things that can be found at a second hand store. Poor me, literally.



Kory was able to finish putting oil on our deck, so at least that task was completed this afternoon and the wood should be well protected for another year. I pretty much wrapped up the search for dead relatives for my friend Stuart. He’s got to be one of the best documented Norwegians there are. It helps if someone comes from a long line of farm owners that don’t move around much, because the records are then so easy to find. I’ve been trying to find information for two other friends with Norwegian ancestry too, but they come from the poor side of the tracks. There was a definite class system at one time in Norway and the farm owner’s children would NEVER marry into the family of the farm workers. The farm owners are well documented because they’ve paid taxes since Viking times, but the farm workers were just workers who owned nothing to tax (they were like indentured servants, or slaves on the farm) and they often moved from farm to farm, so their records are pretty sketchy. But it was a big thrill for me to have such a phenomenal run of luck in finding so many of Stuart’s ancestors, I just couldn’t stop myself. I wish I had such a complete family tree. There is no doubt where that man comes from or that his roots run deep around here.



Kaleb was restricted from going to his classmate’s neighborhood after school today because of how poorly he behaved this past weekend, but lucky for him, Tobias doesn’t live there. Tobias called and asked him to come over, so they spent a gorgeous afternoon sitting inside playing a new Wii game. What has childhood been reduced to?



Tobias’ step-dad, Bjørn, invited us all out to go fishing this evening on the fjord, so at least we all got some kind of authentic Norwegian experience out of the day. It was a gorgeous evening. We went out around eight o’clock and got back around eleven. Norwegians do a lot of things late at night, especially in the summer when it’s still light out. Kory brought along his short fishing pole (see photo of Kaleb using it), but never caught any fish with it. Bjørn used just a fishing line wrapped around a hunk of plastic and he caught five fish at a time with it. No pole required, he just pulled the line up out of the water with his bare hands. It was so basic, but it worked wonders. They just get down to business around here when it comes to fishing. It’s not about the sport, or comfort and convenience, it’s about results.



All in all there were sixteen fish that bit the dust tonight (see photo of Tobias with one of them in one hand, and his fishing line in the other.) I felt bad for them as they squiggled and squirmed in the bucket. I hate watching things die, especially if I’m going to eat it later. According to Bjørn, they make great “kvelds mat” (night food). He said as a kid they used to go out and catch these “Sei” fish, clean them, chop them into three chunks, boil them, remove the bones and skin, then spread the meat out on bread and top it off with a little mayo. Nothing could taste better, he says. He licked his lips after he told me that. It was too late, and we weren’t hungry enough to do it at midnight tonight, but I’m pretty sure I know what we’ll be eating tomorrow.

At Last!

Two great things happened today. I finally got to spend the whole day with My Pal Vestina, AND I finally found the family connection I was mystified over on my friend Stuart’s family tree. I feel quite satisfied in both arenas.




I had hoped to go for a hike up the nearby “bird mountain” to see all the Puffins nesting there with Vestina, but she was so distracted by the latest drama in her love life that she just needed to spend the day talking. I thought we could talk and walk at the same time, but apparently she doesn’t do that. She also needed to find a model for a big haircut test she has to do for school on Wednesday, so that preoccupied her as well. Fortunately, we are well connected here, so I could at least solve that problem for her. The other one wasn’t so easy.



Vestina and I hung out in town for a few hours then I took her to lunch (an expensive proposition) and ran a few errands. We spent the rest of the day at our place, talking and walking a bit in the neighborhood. It was like having a daughter home from college, talking about all the boys. I used to know a thing or two on that subject so both Kory and I gave her our opinions. Her latest boyfriend just told her last night that he’s being somewhat of a gigolo to some older, divorced woman from Thailand with a lot of money. He swears Vestina is his true love, but he’s making out pretty well with this other woman that likes to buy him things. He cares so much for Vestina, he says, he couldn’t keep it a secret any longer, but he in no way said he would stop this other relationship. She was in a quandary as to what to do because she really likes this guy. Both Kory and I told her to dump him. She just wants him to dump the other woman. Oh, to be young and stupid. I love spending time with her. She makes me laugh, and I always need more of that.



Kory spent the day with Tante Kari and Aslaug going through the last of the boxes belonging to Tante Ruth. Mostly it was photos and personal papers they sorted through, but it was good to be done with that task. Kaleb spent his time after school with Tobias, who is anxiously counting down the days until he comes home with us to America. At the very same time, we are dreading how quickly the time is passing until we return home. Kaleb also attended a late night grill down at a local beach with other boys from church, so I only saw him a few minutes today. Keeping our distance helps sometimes to keep the stress level low in our house.



I finally found the books I needed to help me understand the missing link in this search I’m working on for my friend Stuart. I was giddy with excitement when I figured out the problem, which had to do with a father dying and the mother remarrying another Ole, so there were two batches of kids I was dealing with, some with the same name. Ugh. But now I know the man I met last week on the Sandes farm is Stuart’s (half) third cousin, once removed. It’s amazing they look so much alike with that kind of distance between them, but that gene pool must be pretty strong.



I also saw in one of the books that Stuart’s grandma, Gertie Frøyset, was one of eight kids and only three of those siblings ever married. The other five lived and worked on the family farm (see photo of their house I visited last week). One of the kids that got married, never had kids, and the other one that got married had two daughters and neither of them ever married. Gertie was the only one with descendants from that branch and they all now live in America, so there was no one left to take over the farm after at least ten generations living there. I found ancestors as far back as 1585 on that farm. The church/government (they were the same thing back then) didn’t start keeping meticulous records until the 1600s, so I have nearly all of Stuart’s branches at least that far back (there are now over a thousand names in his database on my computer.) On one of his farms though, it was so well documented, I could go back 18 generations from him (and he has grandkids, so that’s 20 generations back), to the late 1300s. It really is mind boggling to think about. Kory doesn’t understand my fascination with this stuff, but I think it’s cool to know a little about those who came before us. My little office nook in our condo looks rather messy with dozens of farm history books stacked in piles all over the place, but I love it.



Those two girls/women who never married (nieces to Gertie), lived together, and when they died in the early 1980s, so said the book, they left over half a million kroner behind (over $160,000). That was a hefty sum of money back then, especially in Norway. I also read that Gertie’s father became a widow at age 49, and when he was 53, he fathered a child with a 28 year old hired worker on his farm. Seems like there was a little hanky, and a little panky going on back then, and as I found out today from My Pal Vestina, nothing has changed in that department.

Life in a Cave

Kaleb couldn’t have been more difficult this morning. I would have thought after 14 hours of sleep, he would have woken up refreshed and ready for a new day, but it was just the opposite. He was sour, defiant and downright disgusting. It sure made it hard for getting to church on time since he wouldn’t cooperate with a single thing. He wouldn’t get dressed, he wouldn’t eat breakfast. It was one of the worst mornings we’ve had with him and I nearly lost my mind in the process. It’s not the kind of experience that prepares one for worshipping God. Kaleb sat out in the car for the first half hour of church, with Kory calmly talking to him about who knows what. Finally Kory gave up and came in just as the singing was over. He asked Andreas, a young guy at church that Kaleb really likes, to go out and talk to him, which he did, so Kaleb came in a few minutes later like nothing had gone on all morning. I want what Andreas has.




After attending Agape Church we rushed over to a summer kid festival being held at Philadelphia Church so Kaleb could do some fun stuff with other kids. I was pushed for time so I left Kory and Kaleb there while I headed into the city to pick up My Pal Vestina. We’d planned to go explore a cave today that I’ve been wanting to see for over ten years. It’s on an outer island and I thought it was quite a walk to get to the entrance, but as it turned out, it takes only about fifteen minutes, so I had more time than I thought. They have done many archeological digs in that cave and it’s well known in all of Norway as being the oldest establishment in the country (that they know about, anyway.) It’s a real ‘cave man’ kind of place as people have been living there since the ice age. My Pal Vestina brought along her boyfriend, so they were disappointed Kory and Kaleb didn’t join us (see photo of Vestina’s boyfriend doing the Hallelujah pose at the mouth of the cave).



Kory decided to invite some people over for dinner tonight so he stayed at church a while chatting with all kinds of folks. I was back home in plenty of time to make another batch of that yummy seafood chowder (it’s quick to assemble) and we invited Odd and Turid over, along with Helge, a guy that Kory used to play with as a kid here in Norway. I guess their parents were good friends and he remembers Kory well. Last year Helge gave us fairly new (but used) tires for our van before we took our road trip. (He owns a mechanic shop.) I’ve been wanting to payback that favor for over a year so I’m glad he loved the chowder.



Kory also invited Charlie, an artist from England, who went deaf twenty years ago when he was eighteen from a bout with meningitis. He was married to a Norwegian woman and has a daughter here, so he doesn’t want to leave Norway, even though he doesn’t see her often. He loves children so he’s always drawing sketches of them and befriending them quickly, but as we found out tonight, his life is terribly lonely. He can’t hear a thing in a crowd and while he can read lips, he can only read them if someone is speaking English. He longs to hear a sermon, but can’t. He comes to church every Sunday just to be in the house of God, alongside other Christians. He’s not been included in a whole lot of things because he’s so difficult to communicate with. Oh, how I ached for him. He has hearing implants but he turns them off unless he is in a quiet room with just one person speaking at a time because otherwise it’s all too amplified and he can’t understand anything. His Norwegian is difficult to understand, but his English is perfect. The sad part is, he’s like the woman mentioned in the Bible that “suffered at the hands of the physicians.” (Kory thought it was more like A Series of Unfortunate Events.) After he got the implants, he developed epilepsy from the surgery. They gave him medicine to control the epilepsy and that caused him to have a heart attack (he’s only 38), and now he can’t taste or smell because of all the drugs he must take. Because of his epilepsy he can’t share custody of his daughter anymore. He’s on one heck of a downward spiral.



It was very sad to hear we are the only people who have ever invited him to dinner in the twelve years he’s been attending church. We prayed for him tonight as he was nearly in tears talking about how desperately lonely he is and how he just craves some kind of meaningful fellowship with other Christians. I so wanted God to give him back his hearing right on the spot, and I have enough faith to believe it could happen, but God has His own plan in His own time.



My problems are nothing compared to Charlie’s problems, but I’m glad we have a God big enough for both of them. And whether God chooses to heal the things in our body that don’t work properly or not, He can change our heart so it’s easier to accept. I’ll be continuing to pray for Charlie.

A Good Day To Be Indoors

I don’t think I took one breath of fresh air today, as it was so dark, dreary and wet outside, I had no desire to be out there. I had to run to the store for a few things and I used the underground passage to get there so I stayed nice and dry. Our condo has its advantages.

Kaleb played with his friend Daniel all day so at least we didn’t have to deal with him telling us how bored he was because I’m sure he wasn’t bored at Daniel’s house. When Kory went to get him at five o’clock, Kaleb called me crying his eyes out because he didn’t want to leave. I could tell he must not have slept much on his sleepover.



We invited our ex-neighbor Tone, and her daughter Sabina for dinner, along with Kory’s cousin, Ketil, and his wife, Lise. I knew Sabina wanted to spend time with Kaleb, so I had to be rather firm with Kaleb that he needed to come home before everyone arrived at our house. Kory took nearly thirty minutes trying to get him in the car because he was so overly tired, he was impossible to deal with. Kory is way more patient than I. Once Kaleb got in the car, he fell right to sleep. Kory let him sleep for thirty minutes then went and got him down in the garage. Kaleb came up the stairs, went in the bathroom and fell asleep in there with the door locked. I had to bang on the door to get him to open it and he then stumbled to the chair in his room and slept all curled up with his head resting on the arm. I’m thinking he didn’t sleep one little bit last night as it was impossible to wake him for dinner. I felt bad for Sabina, who sat in our living room patiently listening to all the things grow-ups talk about when they are at a dinner party, with no one to talk to herself. Poor thing.



Kory worked all day on rewiring different lights and lamps that weren’t working. He’s handy that way - he can fix anything. He even tore open the alarm clock to see why the second hand wasn’t working. He’s got some kind of gift. Me, I just made dinner and tried to find the piece of a missing puzzle on this family tree I’m working on. I’m totally perplexed as to why I can’t find the information I’m looking for. I need to think more outside the box. But this is the very challenge I crave when I go searching for the names of dead people. They don’t give me any grief, but they sure cause me to lose sleep at night.



My biggest challenge in this ancestral search is that a hundred years ago, parents named their kids the exact same thing. We think it’s weird that George Foreman named all his kids George Foreman, but he wasn’t the first one to come up with that idea. The Norwegians have been doing that for generations. It was most common to name the next child after the family member that had most recently died, so if a child died in infancy, the next baby would have the same name as the baby that died. That is not too tough to deal with because at least the first baby doesn’t have other records on file – like confirmation, marriage and census records. But when parents name three of their living daughters Sogni, and they are all known as Sogni Olsdotter from the same farm, and they are born within a few years of each other, it’s nearly impossible to tell which child is which. Such is the problem I’m facing now as I think the discrepancies I’m finding in birth years and husband’s names is that two sisters have the exact same name. Ugh. I sure hope they had nicknames when they were growing up so it was easy to tell them apart.



Last year Kaleb met a man on a hike we were taking up the mountain. He had two golden retrievers and he named them both Seiko. My grandma named all her dogs from 1954 to 1983, Pete, but at least she just had one at a time. But why someone would name their only two dogs the same name is beyond me. It’s the same with these parents naming their kids the same thing. What are they thinking?



People here often ask me, “What kind of name is Mickey?” like it’s a disease or something. They understand the concept of nick-names, but no one uses them. Once I tell them my real name is Mary, they all want to use that instead, because Mary is a traditional Norwegian name. No one seems to like the name Mickey. They like traditional names and hyphenated names like Tor-Arhild, Gunn-Bente, Per-Helge, and they use both names when talking about and to the person. No one would ever consider just using the first part of someone’s name as a nickname. That just wouldn’t be proper, and Norwegians are very proper people.



There was a time in Norway when all baby names had to be approved by the government before a birth certificate was registered. They didn’t want anyone feeling weird because they had a strange name – maybe that’s why they used the same name over and over again – because it was safe and had the government’s seal of approval. But that law changed about fifteen years ago when all the immigrants started infiltrating this land. I think some of them were named Mohammed.

Reservations

We met up with cousin Kari this morning to talk about “our” mutual interest in taking the Hurtigruten (Norwegian coastal ferry – see photo) up to the top of Norway and back down again next year. It will be our 20th wedding anniversary (isn’t that incredible?), and Kory has always dreamed of taking such a trip. Personally, I feel we’ve seen the best of the Norwegian landscape already when we took a three day trip on that same ferry almost two years ago up to the Lofoten Islands, but Kory often sees things differently from me. Unless I have family or friends to visit, I hate going back to a place I’ve already been on vacation. I like to visit new places every chance I get.




Kory likes to play victim from time to time, complaining that I call all the shots in our relationship, but he fails to remember the times he won’t budge an inch. This is one of those times. (And the time we bought a certain apartment building in Seattle. To this day, I still don’t want to own it.) This trip next year is very expensive and there is nothing I hate more than “cruising.” This isn’t exactly a cruise, but in a way, it is. Nine days on a ship doesn’t provide enough action for me, and even though it’s stunningly beautiful scenery, I’m not looking forward to it all that much. The only thing that makes the trip tolerable is that we are going with other people (the more, the better), so at least I’ll have someone to talk to, should the opportunity present itself. (Ha! There will be nothing else to do!) After twenty years of marriage, Kory and I have pretty much talked about everything there is to talk about. He likes to sit and drink coffee, relax and watch the world go by. This is the perfect opportunity for that. But me, I’ll be like a caged animal, pacing back and forth, wondering when I can get out. I might need a vacation after we get home.



Cousin Kari and her husband Axel are coming along on the trip, which is nice because they flew over from Norway to be witnesses at our wedding way back when, so it sort of connects the dots for them. We also might have some second cousins and a few other folks from Norway and America joining us. We get a ten percent discount if we have over ten people go, but otherwise it’s high season, full fare, and that is also not my idea of a good time. I like bargains, even when I travel. But this is Kory’s deal and Lord knows, there won’t be any changing his mind. We picked out our dates (June 11-20) and which boat we will go on, and I’ll be making the deposit next week. (Oh, to have such problems. Sometimes I admit, I lose perspective.) Kaleb will stay with his school chums that week, I’m sure, as he’s already made it clear, he’s not going.



While Kaleb was at school today, we ran into town for a couple errands. I did a little more second hand store shopping and bought some wonderful treasures, none of them costing more than $1.40 each. It lifted my spirits. I also went to the library to find a particular book pertaining to the family farms I visited yesterday, but I couldn’t find it. That bummed me out. We rushed back to get Kaleb from school and head out to Solevaag to have an early dinner with Kory’s mom’s cousin, Oddrun, and her husband, Oskar. That filled me up. We were there for five hours, talking Norwegian non-stop. That wore me out.



Kaleb had a sleepover tonight with his friend, Daniel, so Kory and I were home alone all evening. Kory vegged out for the first time in front of the TV. I tried to use the internet to help find the missing piece of information I need to connect the dots in this family tree I’m researching, but I had no luck. It’s been rainy and windy all day and night and when I sat outside to try to get the wireless signal from the library, the wind was blowing the rain all over my keyboard and the gusts were so strong it nearly blew my laptop out of my arms. I had to give up and go inside to do something else, so I worked on editing my blog from last year. I am nearly out of “inventory” for my feature column, “Nuggets from Norway” in the LaConner newspaper back home, so I need to get busy and catch-up. For some reason I thought I’d have nothing but time when we were here in Norway to work on that project, and maybe even be done with a book by now. Ha. What was I thinking?

A Little Road Trip

I picked up Turid and Hege after I dropped Kaleb off at school this morning, and we hit the road, heading east. Our only goal for the day was to visit three of the family farms where my friend Stuart’s grandparents came from. It was one of the prettiest drives I’ve been on in Norway and we had an incredibly sunny day in which to enjoy it.




All four of Stuart’s grandparents came from our neck of the woods in Norway. Many of the farms are within a two hour’s drive from here, so I had to go see them and find out if any relatives were still living in the area. I think I hit pay dirt, but I’m not 100% convinced just yet. We found the farms alright, but I also wanted to find second or third cousins to introduce him to when he comes to visit us next year. We made it to the Lange farm, which is where is last name comes from, but no one was home. We talked to a neighbor and it’s pretty certain a second or third cousin still lives there, but we couldn’t verify it. The farm was still being worked and it sits inland a little ways toward the end of the fjord that goes past Molde, the city where Kory was born. I took a ton of photos. It’s a nice place.



The Frøyset farm is where Stuart’s grandmother came from farm, but her mother came from the Sandness farm, just right next door. They are both about a twenty minute drive from where his grandfather lived. The farms are right on the edge of the fjord and have a stunning view of the snow capped mountains that lie behind the foothills across the fjord (see photo). The church where everyone from that side were baptized, confirmed, married and buried lies just across the water, and it’s one heck of a pretty church. It was a very peaceful and out of the way kind of community and the people couldn’t have been any friendlier.



Norwegians love it when Americans are trying to find their roots, so they are especially helpful with the process. I interrupted one guy’s lunch (his name is Kaare, same as Kory’s Norwegian name) when I banged on his door to ask about his ancestral roots. He didn’t mind a bit. He said they had a huge family reunion just last year and many came from America to attend. He knew his family tree names back two hundred years without batting an eye. I’m pretty sure he’s a second cousin to Stuart, but I have conflicting information between church book records and the farm history books, so I’m not saying for certain what their relationship is just yet. But based on how much I thought they looked alike (see photo), I’d have to say they share some DNA in there somewhere.



It’s so fun to meet total strangers in Norway and talk about dead people. I took a lot of photos, which I’m now anxious to get back home and share with Stuart. I took photos of the Frøyset farm too, but there was no one to talk to there, so that will have to be saved for our visit back to that sweet spot next year.



We got home just in time to make it over to The Good Teacher Inga’s house for dinner. What a lovely evening that was. It took me a while to relax around her because I still think of her as my teacher (she’s younger than me.) I remember once as a kid when we ran into one of my elementary school teachers in the store and I was in shock. Somehow I thought she lived at the school and had no life outside that place. It was a bit like that going to Inga’s house. It might take a while to transition her from being The Good Teacher Inga, to My Friend Inga, but I’m going to give it a shot.



Inga’s house sits high up on a hill looking smack dab across the fjord to where Kory grew up. It’s easy to see his old childhood school and even the house they lived in. Kaleb was bored to tears, all evening, but fortunately, didn’t make any of us miserable because of it. Maybe he was just too tired after his all day bicycle trip during school today. This Norwegian life is something else.

On The Radio

I’ve had several dates penciled in on my calendar to speak on Christian radio since I came to Norway this year, but the dates kept shifting. I’m still not that great speaking the native language, so I need a translator. The woman that hosts the radio spot has a daughter that used to live in America, and her English knowledge is fantastic. I need her, but she’s a very busy working mom with five kids and one with severe medical challenges. Today, however, things lined up and our schedules collided so that we could be together on the radio. I had prepared a talk using simple words, and she translated, line for line perfectly. It takes more patience listening to tell a story using a translator, but from what I heard, it was still powerfully received. Hallelujah!



I finally got to tell the story of how God provided us with free housing last year. I also told of all the challenges we faced in moving to Norway and how God provided through them all. And finally, I wove in the story about Kaleb’s two buddies accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior last week. Woo hoo! From the people I know who were listening, I got some great feedback. They all said it was a very powerful message. One guy even phoned in afterwards and said he had to take the radio into the bathroom with him because he didn’t want to miss any of my talk and he really needed to sit on the toilet. I thought that was pretty funny. So, if things go well for my translator, I’ll be speaking again next Wednesday. We’ll see what God has in store then.



Kory only heard half my talk on the radio because he was busy doing other things. He said he hears me enough, already. He made me a little towel rack to hang in the kitchen and he fixed a broken light switch and repaired a valve stem on Kaleb’s bicycle. He didn’t sit down much today.



After I picked Kaleb up from school, we both went over to see our old neighbor, Tobias. He cleaned out his closets and had some clothes he’d outgrown he thought Kaleb might like. He was right. I also asked Bjørn, his step-dad (and Kory’s second cousin) if they would mind bringing some of our things with them to America when they come visit us this summer. Bjørn told me they were bringing empty suitcases over because they want to buy many things in America because it’s so much cheaper than here. It took awhile for that comment to sink in, but when I realized I had several boxes of things I was setting aside to bring home, I put two and two together and thought they could help us out. And they can. Whew. I also talked to Bjørn a bit about our vacation plans for when they are with us in July. We’re all very exciting they are coming.



Kaleb stayed on to play Wii with Tobias. He finished his last science lesson with Johns Hopkins University today, so he was feeling pretty good. He still has to take the final when we get home, but he’s pulling at 95% in the class, so I’m pretty proud of his scientific knowledge. When he came home he was spouting some theory he has on time/space dimensions and it was so bizarre I had to record it. He even said he doesn’t understand all that he said, but it was one of those things that sounded very intelligent but certainly meant nothing. He likes to use scientific terms as often as possible, so I need to nurture that gift in him and act interested.



Tonight I hosted our “ladies only” home fellowship group with Agape Church. I had a little “restemat” (leftover food) from last night so I let all the women have a small bowl of that yummy seafood chowder for “kveldsmat” (night food). They all agreed it was the best soup they’ve ever had. I must confess, it was heavenly. I need to make it again.



I belong to three different women’s groups here and I have now hosted them all in our new home. Everyone agrees we are richly blessed by God, as they all love our place. I find it funny however, that the thing that gets the most comments about our condo is the cupboard doors in our bathroom that conceal the washer and dryer. Every single person just raves over that and says how smart it is. It’s so common to see a washing machine in a bathroom that I’m sure no one thought to hide it away – it would be like building a wall around a toilet. But I’ve had several people now say they want to redo their bathroom so they can put a closet around the washer. Funny. I’ve also heard a few people say our bathroom is their “dream bathroom.” It doesn’t even have a tub, but it’s big enough for two. I’ll start dreaming about one.



I can’t even say enough how blessed I feel that we have this place. But honestly, it doesn’t feel quite like home just yet. When we were at Odd and Turid’s last weekend, THAT place felt like home. We’ve stayed there so many times for so many years, that I’m even more comfortable there than I am in our own condo… but ten years down the road it might be a different story here. I guess it all just hasn’t sunk in yet that we really do have a permanent place to stay in Norway. Hallelujah! And next year, we’ll be all set for visitors!

Another Beautiful Day

I feel guilty staying inside to do ANYTHING when the sun is shining so brightly outdoors, but I had things to do, so I can’t complain as I enjoyed the sunshine through the window. Kory, on the other hand, was invited out to go sailing with the husband of one of The Praying Women, so he scored big time today. He had to set aside his to-do list and take part in the rough life on the sea (see photo.) I’m glad he had a good time.




I drove Kaleb to school this morning because he slept in so long he missed the bus. When I drove out to pick him up, I told him he had to come home and do his science homework before he could go play with his friends. “I knew you were going to say that,” he said, “so while the rest of the class was watching ‘Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang,’ I went to the computer room and did my homework there, so now I’m done!” Oh, I love it when he outsmarts me like that. I drove him right up to his friend’s neighborhood and didn’t see him again until dinnertime.



There were only three of us Praying Women this morning at the prayer meeting, but boy-o-boy was it a powerful time in prayer. Kristen, the usual hostess, has had a bad headache for about eight weeks now. She saw the doctor and they ordered up a CAT scan or something, but she must wait several more weeks before her appointment (such is the ways of socialized medicine.) We prayed for her and then spent a good deal of time just thanking God afterwards because her headache was totally gone and she felt infinitely better. Hallelujah! I love to pray with those women.



We invited some friends over for dinner tonight – one of the couples owns the cabin we just borrowed (an old childhood friend of Kory’s), and the man from the other couple is a third cousin to Kory. They are so fun to be around as they have a great sense of humor and they just think we are the cat’s meow. For dinner tonight I made the best seafood chowder I’ve ever tasted in my life and I can only attribute it to the fine dairy products available here in Norway. I’ve made that soup many times before, but never has it tasted so good. They all thought so too, so I was pleased to satisfy their palate. If there weren’t so much cream in that recipe, I’d make it often, but Kory is trying to eat “heart-healthy” so I gave up making that soup a few years ago. When he asked me this morning what I was making for dinner I told him, “Something I hope won’t kill you.” He didn’t appreciate the snicker that followed.



I had to shop a bit for all the ingredients today and it was then that I realized why I don’t need a pantry or large freezer – everything is nearly at my fingertips with the mall attached to our building and all. Of course, it’s not open as often as I’d like, but still, it’s pretty darn handy. Tante Kari says she just keeps her groceries in the cart, puts the cart in the elevator and wheels it right on into her kitchen to unload the groceries, then takes the cart back later. Talk about the ultimate convenience.



One thing that’s different here from America is that many things are sold in standard packaging sizes. Take sour cream, for instance. Every company that makes sour cream sells it in the exact same size container. Sour cream sits on the table for nearly every meal here in Norway, so many other companies make a very fancy wooden container that conceals the standard sized plastic container purchased from the store. That way, the table looks fancy and formal, without the hassle of taking out the sour cream and putting it in its own dish (like they do for jam and many other things.)



Ice cream has that same feature. It comes in a plastic box with a nice fitting lid, (which is often used like Tupperware afterwards) but the container itself fits inside a decorative wooden box purchased elsewhere. When ice cream is served in the living room, sitting around the coffee table after dinner, it looks very nice and all the ingredient information and bar coding is hidden away. Often those decorative boxes are carved or painted with Norwegian patterns. Norwegians like things to look nice, which I appreciate, but having been raised in a trailer court, I can’t fully adjust to. I just put things on the table as they come from the store. There is a constant battle raging inside me between the Norwegian half, and the Ozark Mountain Hillybilly/Trailer trash half.  It's not clear just yet who is winning.

Happy Half Birthday, Kaleb!

I’m in love with my dishwasher. Not just because it washes all the dishes up AFTER a dinner party, but because it gives me a place to put the dirty dishes BEFORE the company arrives. I had such a tough time keeping the kitchen looking clean before I had a dishwasher. All the dirty dishes just gathered by the side or in the sink, but now, I can have a sink full of dirty dishes, and just stuff them away in my secret hiding place and the kitchen looks sparkling clean. Oh, what a lovely invention that dishwasher was.




We had Cousin Axel and his wife, Kari over for dinner tonight, along with the new pastors (husband and wife) of the Philadelphia Church. We also invited Tante Aslaug (Axel’s mom) at the last minute when I realized I made way too much food. None of it was leftover, however, as it all tasted so good everyone had seconds. Whew. I always get a little nervous when I cook American food, not knowing if the Norwegian palate can handle anything other than salt as a seasoning.



We love to have company, and we feel so blessed to have such a great place in which to host the events. Fitting eight around the table in our little kitchen here is way more comfortable than squeezing eight around our dining room table back home. And fitting eight around our coffee table for dessert here is actually possible. At home, it is not. Hmmmm.



I made salmon, pasta, cauliflower and a salad for dinner. I steamed the cauliflower and put a cheesy curry sauce over the top. Boy did I get compliments on that one. Cauliflower is a standard food here in Norway, but it’s always just steamed, served with no sauce or other flavorings. I was a bit worried that I dressed it up a bit too much, but everyone loved it. It was in the discussion of all the foods that are steamed here in Norway, that I found out there is a new appliance now available for purchase – a steamer oven. Just put the food in, and the oven somehow steams it right in the serving dish, and out it comes, ready for the table. It’s the latest thing and all the new kitchens being built now have one. Go figure. I’m not sure that would be a top seller in America, but the women tonight were pretty excited about it.



I woke up with a huge to-do list today and only accomplished half of it before I had to start getting dinner ready. Kory accomplished much on his to-do list but was a little disappointed he didn’t do more. He recaulked the kitchen counter and bathroom shower door and put new grout in some missing places in the bathroom floor. He also finished putting up all the trim pieces on the new wall and bought all the material to make me a little towel rack for some cool retro towels I got from Tante Ruth. He still has several items he feels rushed to get done, but such is life. One step at a time.



We are still unsure what we will do with our condo when we leave. We found out the hospital would be happy to use our apartment for visiting doctors, but they want us to have individual agreements with each one, as they don’t want to be responsible for its use. That’s not exactly what we want, so we will keep putting the word out there until something fits. The Good Teacher Inga told me her friend is living in England for a year and she just up and left her house, all the furniture as is, and got an agreement with an air ambulance company to rent it out for about $2,500 a month and they will only use it every now and then. That kind of thing would be EXACTLY what we are looking for, so we just trust God to drop something like that in our laps. But the clock is ticking. I’m not stressing about it though because based on past experience, I know that God is rarely early, but He’s never late.



(The photo today is one I took holding my arm in front of the windshield while Kory was driving last Saturday. I couldn’t even see what I was aiming at, but I knew what was in front of us. I thought it was a better picture than another one of us sitting around the dining room table with our company.  It's hard to take a bad photo in Norway.)

Sunny Days and Sundays Always Make Me Smile

The house still isn’t in order after bringing in all the things from our time at the cabin. It’s incredible how much stuff has to be packed up, then put back. I didn’t have enough time or energy before heading out to church this morning to get it all done, so now it sits waiting for me tonight, when once again, I’d rather be sleeping than cleaning.




We would have gone to Philadelphia Church this morning, but Kaleb called and invited Toban to come with us to church, and since he agreed to go, we went to Agape Church. It’s closer to his house and would be easier for him to attend after we are gone. He’d never been to church before so he didn’t know what to expect. On the way there I overheard Kaleb telling him (in Norwegian, of course), “You’re really going to like this church, Toban. It’s not like other churches. You can feel God there.” Toban responded with, “Oh?” and I saw his eyebrows rise up a bit. Kaleb warned him the music was loud, “like a concert.” I think he liked it.



Agape Church sings a lot of English songs so all throughout worship time Kaleb was leaning over and translating the words to Norwegian for Toban, so he would know what we were singing about. I wish I could have heard some of the words he used, as “Christian-ese” sometimes is pretty hard to understand, even in English. They did just fine and dismissed out to children’s church while we heard another wonderful sermon from Pastor Mark. Mark stopped in the middle of his sermon, after Kory shouted out a loud and appropriate, “Hallelujah!” and he said how wonderful it was to have Kory back at church so he gets some immediate feedback. He also said he hoped somehow our trip back home would be delayed so we could be here in Aalesund longer. I shouted a loud, “Amen” to that!



Kaleb spent the rest of his day at Toban’s house just hanging out, being buddies.



After church, I packed up a backpack with an “enganggrill” (one time use grill) I bought yesterday, and some food leftover from the cabin trip and Kory and I met up with My Pal Vestina and her new boyfriend, and we all headed for the beach. Unfortunately, the place she wanted to go to was the same hike I’ve been on two times already in the last month, but she’s never been and wanted to know how to get there. I would have preferred another place, but it’s never a bad time spent out on the island of Vigra. As is true with most cool places in Norway, unless someone points out the trailhead or even how to get to a park, it’s impossible to find. Norway is seriously lacking in the sign department, so almost every place we go to, we had to be shown how to get there by someone the first time. I guess it’s how they keep the foreigners out.



My Pal Vestina also wanted my opinion on her boyfriend from Lithuania. She likes that she can speak her native language with him, but otherwise, she’s not really thrilled with him, and it shows. I told her he was nice enough, but I didn’t see any spark between them. Who knows how long this one will last, but for now, she’s just happy to have someone to pal around with (see photo of them on the beach.) She was on her best behavior with him around, so we didn’t have the usual “chick time” together where we crack each other up. Kory was along too, so the biggest laughs Vestina had was watching the two of us interact. We planned one more get-together before I leave, so hopefully we’ll have a little chick time then.



We were supposed to have dinner tonight with The Good Teacher Inga, but we rescheduled to Thursday because she had to leave town today for a meeting. That woman is busier than any I know as she is on several educational boards throughout Norway. I had to reschedule a road trip I was taking with Turid on Thursday, so I could fit in dinner with Inga. Our last two weeks here are completely booked, and now it’s just juggling schedules if one bump hits the road. I think I’ll start praying for the volcano in Iceland to act up in a few weeks, so we have a little more time here. It beats the heck out of Kory breaking his back last year and giving us an extra two weeks. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Alt for USA

All the boys were awake before Kory and me this morning. I’m sure they only slept about four hours. They were up playing a board game before we even had a cup of coffee. It’s was another gorgeous day, for which I was very thankful. Keeping those boys inside all day would have been no fun at all, as Kory was worried sick they would do something to hurt that otherwise unblemished cabin. I had them eat and drink everything out on the porch, and even then, I needed to wash down the deck. Boys can sure be messy.




I brought some props to the cabin to create a kind of birthday party feel for the weekend. Normally, for Kaleb’s huge birthday parties back home, we have several games and competitions. I didn’t plan anything ahead before we came to Norway, so I had to make do with things I found in the boxes we had left here. It worked out pretty well. I decided to copy some of the ideas from that “Alt for Norge” TV show and also do some standard American games. It took several hours, so it was good to give them a focus, and I think they had a lot of fun in the process. None of them liked losing, however, especially Kaleb.



I called it “Alt for USA,” and they competed in a watermelon eating contest, an egg toss, water balloon throwing, shooting hoops with balloons, English speaking competitions, little wind-up car races, a scavenger hunt and a lot of other things too difficult to explain. We never did have time to go for a hike. One boy, Henrik, was way behind in points, so that’s when I thought of doing an English speaking contest, because he’s very good at that. I took each boy aside and spoke to them very slowly in English, “If you can understand me, say ten words in English, not using any numbers.” One boy looked around and said things like, tree, rock, house, lake, sky, birds… things he could see. Another boy just repeated back my sentence, which I thought that was pretty clever. When I gave the instructions to Henrik, he responded in English, “Oh boy, this is going to be easy!” Then he proceeded to rattle off some story he had read, using very old and difficult English terms. It was pretty funny. There was such a difference in the boy’s English skills. As it is, Henrik’s parents are divorced so he watches a lot of TV, being that he’s home alone a lot. Most all of the TV shows here come from America and they have Norwegian subtitles, so the kids who watch a lot of TV, learn quickly. (For that portion of the contest, I made Kaleb give me ten words in Spanish, even though he’s never studied it. He did just fine.)



After serving them a standard party lunch of hot dogs and brownies, Kory took the boys down to the lake (see photo). Some jumped in the ice cold water with all their clothes on. I stayed behind to clean the cabin. We got on the ferry to come home at five o’clock, then had to rush to get to the store to buy food for tomorrow, clean up, and get over to Odd and Turid’s for dinner.



I was so thankful I didn’t have to cook, as I was pretty tired. Turid is such a good cook too, so it was a special treat. Kaleb fell asleep just as we were sitting down to eat, so he missed out on dinner. He curled up on the couch in Odd’s living room, and that was it for him. We all huddled out on the balcony, drinking wine and talking for several hours. Odd’s opinion is, “If it’s summer, we sit outdoors,” (no matter what the weather.) This is why their household has wool sox and wool blankets at the ready. It helps.



They days are so long now that when we were driving home at midnight tonight, there was a bunch of kids playing volleyball in the sand by the beach we passed. Summer in Norway does have its advantages. I’m so sad we are leaving in two weeks.

A Long Awaited Day

About three years ago we were invited for coffee up to Kory’s friend’s cabin. Ole-Petter showed Kaleb all the secret passageways and hiding spots and Kaleb has been dreaming ever since then, of having his friends over to see that place. Today was the day he’s been waiting for. He talked about this cabin every time we talked about Norway. He’s riding high right now, and probably won’t sleep much. Five of his friends all brought their sleeping bags and hopefully a toothbrush to spend about 30 hours up in the mountains with us, at a very quaint and lovely place. Life is good.




All morning I spent planning, packing, loading up the car and shopping for last minute things like fresh bread and frozen pizza (our freezer is so small it won’t hold a single one.) Kaleb set the menu and schedule of activities and at the last minute, invited one more friend. We had room for Kaleb and two of his friends in our van so we picked them up right after school and another parent drove the other three kids over around dinnertime.



We had nothing but blue skies and sunshine today so that was a good thing. I am now sitting out on a covered porch, surrounded by snow covered mountains, the lake’s edge at the bottom of our driveway. The ground is still wet from winter’s snowmelt and little white flowers are smeared like frosting in every little nook and cranny among the rocks and trees. Every since we got here, there was only about fifteen minutes I didn’t hear the background chatter of children, because they took a little trip down to the lake to throw rocks in the water. I sunned myself and enjoyed the quiet. I heard the birds and felt so warm and comfy, I fell asleep. Kory said he heard me snoring, which must have been pretty loud because he’s hard of hearing. It’s nice to have a little piece of quiet.



Kaleb has been in hyper mode all day. It’s not the norm for him to hang out with a gang of kids back home, as he just plays with one boy at a time in America, so I’m thankful he has that group dynamic experience here. Fortunately for Kaleb, Norwegians are trained to be very tolerant, and that works in his favor, otherwise I think sometimes he’s a little too irritating to be around, but the kids here just sluff it off.



I bought “Kubb,” an outdoor game that was invented by the Vikings and has been played non-stop since that time. It’s made of wood and it involves throwing sticks from one side to the other, trying to knock down the opponent’s square blocks. It was a surprise for Kaleb but he didn’t appreciate it because it interfered with the schedule he’d worked up. All the kids here love to play it and they immediately started a tournament, which took way more time than Kaleb wanted. It was good for him to not be in total control.



All the kids brought their Nintendos and Kaleb was pestering me all day to play them. I told him he could play it “later,” which ended up being around 11:30. It was still light outside, but the kids came inside anyway and went up to the cozy loft, covered with foam mattresses. They spread out their sleeping bags and settled in for the night, clutching their hand held games, which they were able to “link” together so they were all playing the same game. Kory and I are now heading to bed (it’s one in the morning) and they are still hooping and hollering as they play. We are all going to be pretty tired tomorrow, but no one is complaining.

Preparations

Tomorrow is the big sleepover at the cabin up in the mountains, so a lot of energy and time was spent today getting things ready for that. Kaleb had a hard time settling down to sleep tonight, even though he was super tired, because he’s so excited to show his friends this very cool cabin. All the boys are riding high, according to the parents I’ve talked to, so it should be interesting. I’m just praying it doesn’t rain.




Some of the women that attend the night time Bible study I held at our place last night, are also part of the Praying Women group I attend. Last time I was there I offered to have the next prayer meeting at our place so everyone could see where we live, and to give Kristen a week off. I didn’t realize until after ten o’clock last night, that I would be hosting it at ten o’clock this morning. The house was already clean, so that wasn’t the problem, but what to serve for lunch - now there’s a perplexor. I thought the grocery store opened at eight o’clock, but I was off by an hour, so that meant I had less than an hour to shop for food, prepare it, present it properly on the coffee table, and get several pots of coffee brewed and in thermoses in preparation for the seven women that were to come. I was scrambling, but I put on a pretty good show. It was almost as good as Kristen does every week – I even had fancy serving dishes and fancy little spoons and serving knives (all from the second hand store.) The candles were burning when they walked in. They presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers (see photo), all nestled in a tight bouquet with what looked like a bird’s nest surrounding it. It’s so Scandinavian looking, I love it, but it was then that I realized I didn’t have a vase in the house. Somehow I missed shopping for that. It’s now on the final “must have” list.



We had almost three hours of soaking and praying this morning, so it was time well spent. Kory came home toward the end and was able to meet the women I call my friends here in Norway. How lucky I am to know such fine women.



After they all left Kory and I hurried into the city because I saw a locksmith place yesterday that I thought could solve a few of our problems. We only have one car key, so we needed an extra one made (I thought $15 was a bit much, but those are Norwegian prices). I also have a built in lock on my bike, but the key to it was stolen last year when we were in Prague (along with that extra car key). The bike has been helplessly locked up since then. I went to a bike shop to see if they could help and the guy’s response was just to chuck the whole bike and buy a new one because mine is about 20 years old. Right. I thought the locksmith could help pick the lock, but he tried for a few minutes and gave up. It was a bit too rusted inside so he suggested just taking a hacksaw to it. That’s now on the “must do” list for Kory.



While we were in town I wanted to show Kory a large needlepoint piece of art that I saw yesterday at the second hand store. Kory loved it more than I, so we bought it today. It cost more than most things we’ve purchased so far (a little over a hundred dollars), but it really is incredible. (See other photo.) We had one bare spot on our living room wall that needed something, and this was just the ticket. We only have a few more things to buy and do, and then I think we can call our second home complete, but I’m sure we’ll be working up to the bitter end.



Kaleb stayed home today after school to get some homework done and to help with the sleepover preparations. He wanted to go to the grocery store with me to be sure I bought the right kinds of pop (pear flavored is his favorite), and all the right snacks. He wanted orange colored napkins. It’s kind of his half birthday party celebration, so I’m letting him call the shots. Tonight I made a kind of white cake (not at all like we have in America), that tomorrow I’ll top with some kind of creamy vanilla pudding stuff and fruit. It’s my first attempt at a Norwegian cake. I also made brownies as a backup, and I made “boller” (sweet rolls with cardamom in them.) I had a package mix for each thing I made, as it was quick and easy, but nothing really turned out as I expected. The rolls taste heavenly, but look terrible because they stuck fast to the plastic wrap I put on them while they were rising (the directions never said to butter the plastic!). It felt like the episode last week on “Alt for Norge” where they had the contestants making fish cakes and the best chef in Norway was the judge. He spit out everything he tried and gave them quite the lecture on how bad of a job they did. I’m hoping the kids tomorrow won’t notice that what I made looks NOTHING like boller, but the taste is right on. Maybe we’ll play some kind of blindfold game at the cabin, and then they’ll never know.



Tonight was the final episode of “Alt for Norge.” The guy from Seattle won so he got to meet his Norwegian relatives (most of them were fourth cousins – same as I have here.) In his dialog afterwards, he made many of the same observations I made when I first came here, like how amazing the bread is and that Americans have no sense of a rich heritage that provides so many traditions. Being the melting pot that America is, we gain a lot, but also lose a sense of identity. Here in Norway, it’s all about identity. I just hope mine isn’t that I made some weirdo looking cardamom rolls.

A Better Day

I had to redeem the feeling that I can’t afford to buy anything in Norway, so I went shopping today at three different second-hand stores. I got so many lovely things for such cheap prices, it was a fine day for me even though it rained non-stop. I so love buying all the handmade Norwegian “pynt” (decorations). I even scored on a 19” second-hand flat screen TV. It wasn’t at one of the stores, but was advertised in Norway’s version of Craigslist (finn.no). I paid less than a hundred bucks for it and I couldn’t be more pleased. Now assuming tomorrow we get it hooked up, we can watch the final competitions for “Alt for Norge.” I’m not much of a TV freak, but that show has me hooked.



Before I headed into the city this morning, I managed to unpack a few more boxes I’ve had stuffed down in our storage unit. I still have plenty of boxes to unpack that are earmarked for Kaleb’s room, but his space is limited, so I’m not sure how we’ll handle that. Perhaps our storage unit can become his annex.



I had a few things to do downtown, so I spent the afternoon there shopping, having coffee with The Good Teacher Inga, and going to the bank. It was great to see Inga again. We only had an hour together, but she invited us over Sunday for dinner, so we’ll have more of a chance to catch up then. Her life is pretty busy, and today she had an appointment to be Vestina’s model for a haircut. Inga loves to keep tabs on her students.



Kory worked on house projects all day. He got some of the trim up around the new wall and he met with an electrician (his cousin, Ketil) to figure out why our bathroom floor doesn’t heat up. Turns out, it was a bum control panel. We are thankful for Ketil’s expertise in the matter and his ability to buy the new part at wholesale prices for only a hundred bucks. He did the work for free, but Kory promised him a good dinner before we leave. Fair enough.



I only saw Kaleb for a total of about ten minutes today. He got up late for school and ran to the bus stop, then came home while I was away, and went right back to his friend’s house. He didn’t get home until after ten tonight because I had a Bible study at our condo, so Kory and Kaleb needed to be gone. Kory went to a men’s small group meeting and Kaleb went to Andre’s house, since Andre’s mom was at the Bible study with me. He’s going to be super tired tomorrow but he sure loves hanging out with his friends.



At our Bible study tonight I asked the women what it meant to have “childhood faith” (barnetror). It’s a common expression around here that I’ve heard a few people use and I didn’t fully understand its meaning. I’m not sure I even understand it now, but it was a good discussion. Tante Berit, in Spain, was talking about her husband dying two years ago and she sounded almost proud when she said that, “He never lost his childhood faith.” Tante Kari said almost the same thing about her daughter that died over fifteen years ago. Her daughter was not in a good place with God when she died, and Kari has been haunted by that a lot, but her son, Odd, reminded her that his sister “still had her childhood faith” when she died.



Basically, what the women at the Bible study told me, was that people are looking for some way to be comforted in their grief. They know that each child raised in Norway, attending public schools, has been taught that God created the universe and then sent His son to die on the cross as forgiveness for our sins. They were taught that, therefore, it’s assumed they believe that, and having that knowledge, somehow makes them think the deceased are now in heaven. Weird. If that’s the case, then every person lucky enough to be born and raised in Norway, is in heaven, but unfortunately, that’s not what the Bible says… so I was even more confused after the conversation. I guess those grieving are just glad someone told the person who died, about God. Whether they had a personal relationship with Him or not isn’t really the point, it’s that they died, knowing there is a God who loves them. Okay, then. That’s not a bad thing to focus on - God loves everyone - but what we do with that love, is the point. We live with all kinds of choices, but when we die, there are no more.