Fall is Here!

No better way to start the day than in prayer with friends.  Kristin held her weekly prayer meeting today and we prayed like never before.  That woman is the most dedicated prayer warrior I’ve ever met.  She’s been having these weekly meetings in her house for over a decade – and always serves lunch to those in attendance afterwards.  I so love hanging with her and I love hearing about all the answered prayer afterwards.

After my morning flew by, Kory and I took a walk down to the bank and over to a new grocery store at the mall.  The fall colors are popping out everywhere and there is a huge “nip” in the air.  The snow level has dropped in the mountains so they all look like they have been dusted with powdered sugar. It wasn’t raining and we both needed some fresh air, so it was a nice walk.  Kaleb was home from school by the time we got back and time flew by once again as I made dinner and ran some errands for my friend, Tina.

Tina’s son, Daniel, had his birthday this year in America while they were visiting us.  I threw a big American style birthday party for him, but it’s customary to celebrate birthdays with his classmates, so tonight was the designated party for his friends here in school.  I offered to help Tina out, since her husband was still hunting.  It was then I learned that Norwegians never ask anyone to help them with anything.  They feel it’s a sign of weakness.  I insisted, in the way that I do, so Tina was ever so grateful to have a little help with 20 teenagers roaming through her house.  One girl from school is in a wheelchair so she couldn’t come upstairs where the kitchen is, so we had to split the party in two and keep some kids downstairs so she wouldn’t be alone.  It was a lot of running back and forth and I don’t think she could have done it without someone else there.  I was happy to help.  The party lasted until 10pm – on a school night!

I spent time this afternoon looking up some games the kids could play at the party.  Usually Norwegian parties are just “hanging out” with friends, but I decided to kick it up a notch and play a few games.  They were pretty fun and the kids really enjoyed them.  There will be lots of new photos posted on Facebook tomorrow, I’m sure, as I had them put a cookie on their forehead and try to get it in their mouth without using any hands.  To see their facial expressions was a total crack up, so we all had some good laughs – except Kaleb, who felt I totally wrecked the party for him by being there.  He didn’t appreciate me curbing his candy intake or my “helpful” social skills tips about how to behave and how to let others go first, etc.  Oh well, sometimes life just isn’t fair.

Thankfully, Kory got a few things done on the condo today, so that was good, but he’s started sniffling with a runny nose and would rather have just sat and moaned all day about how cruddy he feels.  He attended a men’s home fellowship group tonight and was happy to hear them say how encouraging he is to the group when he’s there.  That made him feel better.

I checked the Internet to see if my grandmother’s obituary was published yet, and had to laugh when I found it.  It’s pretty sad when I’m so estranged from my family that I’m listed as a survivor, but my name was completely wrong!  I’m at least listed, as that surprised me, since I’ve been disowned for so long.  To list me as “Mary” was just laughable since I never go by that, and secondly, my last name was listed as Kory’s last name, which it’s not, and even then it wasn’t spelled right. Now that was funny, especially since I’m pretty sure my own mother wrote the obit.  Just goes to show she doesn’t even know who I am. But the funniest thing is that the survivor that was listed, that’s supposed to me, is a person that doesn’t even exist – which is, I guess, their deepest desire.   I’m waiting for the day when we can put the FUN back in dysFUNctional.