Close to Home

None of us ventured far from home today.  Kory started working on the deck (below), as it desperately needs to be re-oiled, and one thing led to another and the next thing I knew he had taken the whole thing apart and was cleaning the roofing material underneath it.  He “wanted to do a good job” he said, so what could have been a one or two day project now turned into a least a week’s worth of work.  That man always needs something to do.  But this is the perfect thing for him because it is working outdoors, and working with wood – two things he loves the most - and he is as close to home as he can get.  He even managed to get some social time in with the neighbor downstairs, leaning over the railing and chatting, and visiting with Tante Aslaug on the other side of the balcony wall.  So that was pretty much his day – just chatting, brushing and scraping old oil off the wood and “improving” how the deck was put together.

Kaleb took his bike up to Skaatthaugen again today (a VERY steep hill a few miles away) to see if his good friend, Toban was home, and he was, so we didn’t see Kaleb until dinnertime.  He hung out with all his old classmates up in Toban’s neighborhood and had a good time reconnecting with everyone.  He was beaming when he got home.

Kory is trying to start a routine he can keep going while he’s here, so he was up and out the door this morning on a jog around our “block.”  He does it three times for a total of 30 minutes so he comes home good and sweaty.  Each time he passes our condo he shouts out a loud HALLELUJAH and I can hear him even when the windows aren’t open.  When he leaves, I leave for my morning trip to the grocery store to see what’s on sale and to buy fresh bread.  I ran into Turid’s daughter, Sara, today, as it also turns into a social outing for me.  I always have to stop at the library too, to post my blog and check my mail.  Only a few more days until we have internet in the condo though, so my routine will change a bit.  Woo hoo for that.

At lunchtime today, Josef Kloven, a guy from Seattle, came up to eat his lunch with us.  He’s now a sheet metal worker and his company was awarded the job on our condo development to replace all the sheet metal flashing around the windows and doors.  We see him working on the building across from us every time we leave our place, so we just gave him an open invitation to come on over whenever he wants.  It was nice to catch up with him since we haven’t seen him since last year.  His father and Kory’s father were best friends back in the 50s and 60s, long before he was even born.  And since we were here last year, his wife had a baby, so that was news to us.  We invited him over for dinner next week when my 3^rd cousin, Amanda Eneberg will be here visiting us, as they are long time friends as well.  Josef came to Norway to work with Youth With a Mission, but has since married a Norwegian woman and is now just working and living here, and well entrenched in Norwegian life. 

I had to go to the mall a few times today to get supplies for Kory and buy more chicken (on sale,) since we’ll be having guests soon.  (I’m limited by what I can buy since I have to carry everything back.) Kory invited his Tante Berit over for dinner on Saturday night.  She lives in Spain but is here for the summer, so she’ll be our first dinner guest of the “season” we are here.  I’m a bit nervous about cooking fat-free food for Kory, that people will like, but if I supplement with some meat and he just doesn’t eat it, maybe they will never know.

Toban, Kaleb’s friend, and another classmate, Haavard, (above) stopped by tonight on their way to see a movie at the cinema that’s practically in our back yard.  They had to arrive an hour early to get the tickets, and had some time to kill so they came up to say hi to Kaleb.  I thought that was pretty sweet.  We treated them to a little pop and some candy, just to make it worth their while.  They are looking so grown up and acting more like teenagers, than Kaleb.

Our old neighbor kid, Tobias Kjerstad (above), also dropped by tonight after the other boys left.  He stayed for a good long chat.  It was great to see him, but he’s growing up too fast, too!  His voice has changed and he’s so much more mature.  I still want him to be 12.  His family is just back from a few weeks in Turkey, where they have a condo, so he brought us some “Turkish Tea” which we all love.  It’s some kind non-sweetened powder they put in water and drink hot or cold, but it has the best kinds of flavors and is a real treat.  He brought a year’s worth, at least, so Kaleb was jumping for joy and now wants to get a machine that carbonates water so we can make our own flavors of “pop.”  He’s always thinking, that kid.  We invited Tobias’ family over for dinner next week so we can get even more caught up on what’s happening with them.  And we need to thank them properly for taking care of our condo while we were gone.

Kaleb informed us tonight at dinner that he’s started noticing girls.  Actually, just one girl in particular.  He said it’s been a few months now and he’s surprised I haven’t caught on.  He’s been buying her gifts, but hasn’t given them to her, and has been hinting we should have her and her family over for dinner.  It’s a little tough now that we are in Norway, since they are in Mt. Vernon, but I thought it was pretty cute how he blushed when he talked about her.   He says she doesn’t know how he feels about her, so I’ll be praying for his tender heart, should he ever tell her.    I’m not sure I’m ready for this.

All I’d done all day is clean things – windows, cupboards, drawers, floors.  So tonight Kory and I went for a walk around ten o’clock, just before sunset, (it made for some nice photos, huh?) so I could get out and smell the wild flowers.  It was time well spent.  And now another day is done.