A Better Day

(Photos are from days past, since the storm still rages and I'm not going out in it!)

Well, Kory got out of his chair today and installed our new kitchen faucet, so that was something.  Kaleb went to school and didn’t come home in a sour mood, so that was even better.  The rain kept pouring down, so I ironed linens and listened to some sermons on the internet, and that was pretty much our day.

Tonight we went to Agape to attend a “dugnad” (work party).  The church is expanding and they have gutted the space they previously occupied.  The place that was the café, will now become offices, so the kitchen needed to be disassembled and all the things from the café, put in a storage container.

There weren’t many that showed up to do the work, so the three of us being there made a big difference.  Kaleb and I hauled chairs and tables down a flight of stairs and into the container.  Kaleb got to destroy part of a wall, which was good for getting out some pent up energy, and it saved all the other guys there from damaging any tender body parts.  We were at it for two hours, and thankfully, Kory’s wrist or back didn’t go out afterwards.  It’s the little things that mean so much.

Kaleb’s decided he’ll go back to school tomorrow to try it out one more day.  I gave him some Mensa books to work on today, so that lifted his spirits – to have something to challenge his brain rather than sit in classes and be bored to death.  He was very anxious to see how many of the problems he solved, I’d be able to solve as well.  I think I surprised him.

We feel so isolated right now with this weather keeping everyone indoors and the start of the school year being so busy for people.  I don’t like this time of year here as well as the springtime.  And with the rain, I haven’t even been out for walks, and even if I did, there wouldn’t be any good photos to take.  I’m getting as sour as this weather!  But tomorrow is a new day and still, we are blessed, so I will just thank God for the little things as well as the big.

I do have one “God thing” story to share that shows how much we can trust God with our finances.  We are watching every dollar now, as we only have so much left to last us through this month.  On Sunday, Pastor Mark asked each family to give 10,000 kroner (about $1,660) toward the building fund for the church.  They need to raise 900,000 kroner ($150,000) before the bank will loan them money to complete the work, so they were asking for pledges to equal that amount.

Kory and I had already given 5,000 kroner (our tithe from income here in Norway) to the building fund before they even asked for anything.  Last Sunday, when they asked for a specific amount, and it was twice what he’d given, we felt kinda bad we couldn’t even give the basic amount.  We prayed about it and Kory felt we should give another 5,000 kroner, even though it would cut into our food budget for this month, and it will cut into the money we need for the next year to pay the expenses on our condo while we are away.  But God always asks us to give out of our “living” not out of our excess, so as scary as it was to agree to give that much, we decided to do it anyway.

I came home Sunday night and transferred another 5,000 kroner to Agape’s bank account and just figured God would provide what we need, when we need it. Then on Monday, I was at the Bible study, and the host, Janne, gave me an envelope.  I had asked her last year to take my bankcard, and this year, when the exchange rate was favorable, I’d send her an email so she could pull out kroner and hold it for me for until we arrived so I wouldn’t have to worry if the exchange rate was bad when we got here (like last year).  She did this many times over the year when it was possible to buy at least six kroner with one dollar.  When we arrived in Norway, she gave me all the cash she’d pulled out and that money has been used up already.  Well, she found one more envelope of money she’d forgotten to give to me, so what she handed me was 3,000 kroner ($500!) so now we won’t have to worry about taking more out of the bank, since I can use up that cash to buy food this month.  I just thought the timing of everything was so GOD, that I had to laugh and shout HALLELUJAH!  He does have His ways of testing our faith, and I’m glad on this one, I passed.