First Day of School

(All the photos today are pictures I took in Trondheim, but my camera battery died so I was unable to download them a few days ago… but that’s good because I didn’t take a single picture today.  Imagine that.)

Since I was moving at a snail’s pace today, I still didn’t get all the “goods” put away.  Our place is a wreck with stuff strew everywhere, but no one is coming in the next few days as the cousins are all traveling to southern Norway to attend a wedding (Odd’s son), so I wasn’t too motivated to clean house.  Besides, I had to attend to Kaleb’s needs today and school officially started so I needed to get him focused on developing a schedule he can live with.

We are going light on schoolwork this year since he hit the books pretty hard last year.  I have a math program from Johns Hopkins University that he can do on the computer.  He has a writing program that will help him on the book he plans to write this year.  He has to keep up with his piano lessons, do a little PE and on Monday we’ll start in on some Spanish.  He can go at his own pace and do as much as he wants on math and writing, so he was at it for about five hours total today, which was plenty.

Since Tante Kari is so sick, I didn’t want Kaleb disturbing her with piano practice so we walked across the street to the Philadelphia Church and asked if he could use the piano there.  The office administrator, Liv, was on the ferry with us last year up the coast of Norway.  She was just fine with letting Kaleb use the piano so we had a good time chatting away while he practiced.  I need to keep an ear out for what he does because otherwise he just goofs off.  I wish that were not the case, but it is.

Liv told me a story that brought tears to my eyes when I retold it to Kory after I got home.  Liv was a missionary to Chile for many years.  At one point she acted as a translator and helped a Norwegian couple adopt a little boy from Chile in 1994.  That boy has always called her “Tante” (aunt) and he’s now in his 20s.  He asked his adopted parents if it was possible to find his birth mother and go visit Chile.  He was 3 ½ when he came to Norway.

Liv is still in contact with people in Chile and she put the word out and incredibly, the mother was found.  They made their initial contact through Skype.  She was an unwed 16-year-old when she had him, living with her mother.  Her mother died and she had to go to work to support herself.  She gave the boy to relatives, but they were unable to care for him so he went into an orphanage.  Because she hadn’t been to see him in a long time, he was eligible for adoption.  Liv was the one escorting the adoptive parents down to Chile to get him, and the day before they were to leave, the birth mother showed up.  The judge wouldn’t allow the adoption because she reappeared. 

 (photo below is of "modern art.")

Seeking God’s will in the situation, Liv asked God what they should do, and when she opened up her Bible she saw a verse that referred to taking children out of the land of their birth, and she knew God would be with them, so they went anyway.  And sure enough, the birth mother realized someone else could give her son a better life, so she agreed to the adoption.

When they were leaving the orphanage, Liv saw a young girl on the side of the road staring at them.  She felt in her spirit it was the mother, watching her son for the last time.  When they Skyped, nearly 20 years later, both women remembered that moment very clearly, as it was indeed the mother.  She is thrilled to be able to meet her son, now grown up. Liv is going with them in October to be the interpreter again and to spend time showing him around his native land.  How cool is that?  I know all too well how it feels to finally connect dots to parts missing from childhood. 

(photo below is of stickers plastered all over the city - it says "save Norway's freedoms... stop the Islamization of Norway!")

The sun was out when we got home and the deck was dry enough that I was able to FINALLY put a coat of oil on the second half of it.  We’ve been waiting forever for the weather to cooperate, and today we got lucky.  It was downright warm out there, and not two hours later, the wind whipped up and a huge storm came blowing through.  The rain has been constant since then.  I’m sure the deck won’t dry anytime soon but at least I got that job crossed off the to-do list.

This afternoon we went to see how Tante Kari is doing.  She has her ups and downs and never knows when she will be feeling poorly and when she’ll be fine.  She talked a lot about dying, as she knows it won’t be long.  Her grandson is getting married on Saturday and she wishes she could go there, but doesn’t want to steal any of the attention away from the big day, if she falls ill.  Her big concern was that she’d die before the wedding and ruin any plans.  It’s hard to think she’s really dying, but her days are definitely numbered.  So, so sad, as we just love that woman and all her bubbly energy.

I packed up one big suitcase tonight to see how much room I have to take things home.  There are a few “flea markets” coming up in the next few weekends and I’m itching to see what might be there, but also realize I can only bring so much home and our condo is quickly filling up.  I just can’t believe all these old handmade Norwegian, high-quality things sell for just a buck or two and I guess I feel the need to save them from the garbage dump.  One day, someone will be glad I did.  It probably won’t be Kory, however.

(Somethings just get lost in translation - the photo below is of an art school.)