Coffee Talk

(I didn't take any photos today, so these are all ones I took last Sunday.)

Hallelujah!  We sold the stuff we put up for sale and got a total of $500 for everything – more than we asked!  It was pretty overwhelming, the number of calls, texts and e-mails we received this morning.  Rather than ship the stuff and go through the hassle of packaging it all up, we sold it to a person in a nearby city who left her job to come over and pick it all up, she was so excited.  Incredible.  So God sure blessed us today.  I was downright giddy, and then so thankful I could take the ad off the internet so the communication channels would dry up as it took up our entire morning just dealing with everyone.

We had coffee waiting for the buyer when she showed up with her husband, so we were able to tell them how they were used by God to bless us.  That was kinda fun, and I trust God used something we said to turn on some spiritual light in them.  The husband is childhood friends with the pastor of the Philadelphia Church next door, so who knows what may happen as a result of our contact with them, but we prayed for them after they left.

It was another massively rainy day today so I avoided going out in it, but Kory and I went to buy a few groceries before Kaleb came home from school, then met him at the bus stop just outside the mall.

I ran into a woman from my Norwegian class that I was shocked to see.  Last year when I was here, I heard that she was on death’s door from cancer and had been sick for a long time.  Yet, here she was looking as beautiful as ever.  It was miraculous, especially since she told me what happened.

When she first started feeling bad she went to the doctor but he didn’t take any tests at all, he just reasoned (in her mind) that she’s an immigrant who is taking advantage of the free health care, so he told her to go home and she’d feel better soon.  But after a while, she started getting huge bruises all over her body, so she called to make another appointment and had to wait TWO MONTHS to get back in to see him.  By then, she was so bad, that he did a blood test and immediately sent her on the air ambulance to Trondheim, where she stayed for almost two years!  She was full of cancer and had to have many treatments and was close to dying so many times.  She couldn’t say enough good things about the treatment she received in Trondheim.  She said she would never go to the doctor here in Aalesund again as everyone here is clueless.  So, that’s one more story of how socialized medicine works, I guess.  Good or bad, not sure, but she’s still alive, anyway. 

It was ironic that I ran into my former classmate, and ten had to cut out of the conversation early to drive into the city to meet up with our Good Teacher Inga to have a cup of coffee and catch up on what’s been happening in the last year in her life.  I was able to tell her about this other student, as Inga is the one that had told me she was dying, so Inga was as surprised as I was to hear this bit of good news.   Inga also told me they are now trying to pass a law that the most anyone would have to wait to see a doctor is five days, since it’s common to have to wait months for an appointment for anything.  She’s not sure how that is going to go over since there aren’t enough doctors to go around, but at least they are recognizing there is a problem with the system.

Valesca, my friend from Brazil, also joined us for coffee, so we had a nice long chat over coffee and cookies.  I so need to be in contact with people each day, otherwise I just get too lonely, and it was nice to spend time with them.

I stopped at a few thrift stores in town before I met up for coffee, but the prices of things were more than I could bear to pay.  Inga told me that the Norsk Tinn/pewter is coming back in style, so here I have been buying it for a song, and now I see that the price on many items is almost twenty bucks, so I believe her.  I might be sitting on a goldmine with all the pewter stuff I’ve bought over the years.  I kept telling Kory it would be worth something some day and maybe the day is coming sooner than I thought.  I really won’t have trouble parting with it if I can get a good price, and based on some of the stuff I just sold, it might happen.  Woo hoo.  When we were in Trondheim, I saw several of the exact pewter pieces I own that I know I didn’t pay more than 40 kroner for (less than $7), that were priced at 500 kroner (about $60), so I’m on to something here.

Agape Church had a kind of pep rally/prayer meeting tonight in preparation for the conference being held this weekend.  It’s a national conference so they are expecting people from all over Norway to attend.  Steve Kelly, a mega church pastor in Virginia is the mainline speaker so at least I’ll fully understand what is being said, since his English have to be translated over to Norwegian.  Can’t wait for that event.

Kaleb had a pretty good day again at school today and is still so excited about the book he’s writing.  I think he’s gotten 14 pages written but won’t let me read it just yet.  He likes building up the anticipation, I guess.  He’s also been doing homework when he gets home so he’s keeping up with his schoolwork fairly well without complaint.  I guess if he can’t spend time with his friends, at least he’s getting something constructive done.  Which is more than I can say for Kory!

Nothing got done again today on the to-do list so Kory’s been real hit and miss with his “duties.”  He’s hopefully going to start building some shelves for our bedroom tomorrow for more of my treasures.  There are these cool small “souvenir” trays made out of tin that I’ve been buying for less than a dollar.  They have an image and the name of different Norwegian cities on them.  If we’ve been to that city, I buy the tin, and now I need a way to display them.  I have a lot – no surprise there.

Kory worries me sometimes, as he sits for hours on end with his I-pad.  Not that I don’t spend time on the computer myself, but I’m always getting something done on it whether it’s writing, communicating, paying bills, researching, etc.  And I can’t sit for long before I need to get up and move around.  Kory could be in the same position all day.  I’m surprised he hasn’t worn holes in the screen from all the pushing of buttons he does just playing chess or checkers with that darn thing.  At least it keeps his brain alert, as I hear that becomes more and more important as we age, and he’s sure aging fast. Lord, give me patience!