The Sun Has Returned, Sort Of...

At seven this morning I was awoken with a heretofore unknown bright light shining in my face – it was the sun!  What a shocker.  We haven’t seen much of it since we got here – just one day in fact, and I was inside the whole time.  But before we could even get breakfast in our bellies and take a trip to the library to post my blog, the clouds started moving in again.  At least it didn’t rain.  I guess we are fairing better than those back home, so I won’t complain.  I wouldn’t complain anyway, because I’m in Norway, and even in the rain, it’s a wonderful place to be. (see photo of view from our deck.)

I helped Kory load some new games on his I-pad, since he sits endlessly playing a stupid jumping frog game I loaded before we left home – just to see how downloading worked on that contraption.  I think he wastes more time on electronics now than Kaleb does.  I so want him to draw Norwegian landscapes, or even get some exercise, but he sits in the corner of our living room for hours on end, staring at that electronic pad.  I guess I do the same to my laptop, so I have no room to talk, but at least I’m writing or reading the news so at least it’s somewhat productive, but we both need more exercise!

Kaleb was invited to spend a few days at a mountain cabin with three of his pals from Thursday to Saturday. They will be cross country skiing as well as downhill skiing, so we headed over to the thrift store to see what they had available in the line of ski equipment.  It also provided me with an opportunity to feed my addiction and buy a few more things.  We then came home and tore apart our storage unit in the basement looking to see what ski equipment we already owned.  Turns out we had it all, and after Kaleb got home we found out he still fit in both sets of boots, so he is set.  It only cost us several hours of going through every box we had to find it all, but at least now we know what we left behind.  I even found a few Easter decorations, so that was timely.

Cousin Odd happened by while we were in the basement, so he invited us up for coffee and cake with his mom, Tante Kari and his daughter, Hege.  They were all in a celebratory mood because it was the first day of the year the weather was good enough to sit out on the balcony to have coffee.  I wasn’t even wearing a coat.  Everyone was almost giddy with excitement, thinking the worst of the weather is behind us now and the hopes of a warm and sunny summer is just around the corner. 

We had a nice chat with Hege.  It was the first we’ve seen her since we arrived.  She plans to attend college in America or England, so her English will get better, but she’s already perfect, so I’m not sure what she hopes to achieve.  She’s quite the achiever, that girl. 

Cousin Ketil stopped by also (Odd’s brother), so he joined us all.  I love the Norwegian system of just getting cozier and cozier around a small table.  The closer people sit, the more they seem to enjoy it.  It works for me just fine when I’m here, but in America, it would seem a bit odd.

Kory picked up Kaleb right before dinnertime.  He wasn’t happy at all about leaving his friends, but we’d invited Sabina and Tone over for dinner (our old neighbors), so he needed to come home.  He had a real shiner tonight (see photo).  He was goofing off with Toban, throwing things back and forth from a balcony and down to the ground.  Toban threw a toy airplane and Kaleb didn’t see it coming and it konked him on the forehead something good.  Kaleb said Toban cried more than he did because he felt so terrible he’d hurt Kaleb and he was worried I wouldn’t let them play together so much.  That Toban has the softest heart of any kid I know.  Kaleb has a pretty good sized bump on his head, but at least the swelling in his split lip has healed.  He’s lived a very sheltered life, so this is as good as place as any to get roughed up, I guess.  

Sabina has been looking forward to playing GOLF (a card game) and eating Kettle Korn popcorn with us since we moved away.  We had plenty of both tonight after dinner.  Sabina and her mom have decided to come visit us in September for three weeks, so they will be getting popcorn every night then, since that’s Kory’s routine.  They were hoping to come earlier this year but they couldn’t find out contact information.  Tone would have bought the tickets on the internet while sitting our living room tonight if she would have had her passport and VISA numbers with her.  She’s pretty anxious to come.

Kaleb’s friend Daniel called and asked if Kaleb could have a sleepover with him, but since Sabina was here, we asked him to come to our place, so he did.  The three kids interacted well together.  (See photo) They were outside playing hide and seek til after ten o’clock tonight, making all kinds of noise in the process.  I hope we don’t get any complaints about that, even though normal bedtime is sometime after 11pm.  There are only old people that live in our building so the sound of children would hopefully be a welcoming thing. 

Kaleb commented the other day on just how many things he’s noticed that are so opposite from our life in America.  In the U.S. we live out in the country; here we’re in the heart of a business district.  In America he’s with us all the time; here, we rarely see him.  In America all his friends are such a long drive away; here, they live so close he can ride his bike to everyone’s house.  In America he’s homeschooled; here, he goes to school.  In America, it’s not safe for him to ride his bike far from home alone; here, it’s very safe.  Back home, we just get groceries once a week; here, we go to the store at least once a day.  In America our phone rarely rings and no one ever stops by; here, we get non-stop company and our phones ring several times a day.  At home in America, we don’t get TV reception, but here we have cable.  (That hasn’t proved to be much of a difference though since we haven’t watched it yet this year.)  I guess I can count his observations as some kind of comparative writing assignment, and call it good.  At home, I’m much more of a task master; here, not so much.

A Quiet Day

We decided it best to have a day of rest today. We all slept in (which felt so good) then went to church at Filadelfia. None of the aunts were at church so it wasn’t quite right. They all live just across the street from the church so we stopped in to visit them afterwards and see how they were doing. Tante Aslaug, the healthiest one in the bunch, has had her hands full keeping tabs on her two sisters. We are so thankful they all have been able to live next to each other for the past ten years. This is just what we had in mind when we bought the condo for Aunt Ruth to live in – that none of them would have to be alone should anything happen. It turns out Tante Aslaug just slept in and missed church because she was so tired. Tante Kari is still in a lot of pain from her broken hip so we prayed for her again and visited with her a while. She still smiles and lights up a room, even when her eyes tell the story of the pain she’s feeling. Tante Ruth was feeling a bit stronger today as she was able to eat a little food yesterday and keep it down. Kory made fish soup for dinner last night so we took her the leftovers. She was so impressed he can cook (as am I). She also managed a little smile when he told her we bought an awning to cover the deck so she can go outside on sunny days. Her skin is the color of Elmer’s glue, so a little fresh air might do her some good. She’s had better days. We had a nice visit with her too as Kory told her of his plans to go up in the mountains and re-visit the farm he remembers from his childhood. (The photo today is of an isolated mountain farm I saw yesterday – it’s only accessible by boat and by foot.) Tante Ruth loves to hear about all our plans. All the aunts are so impressed with everything we’ve been able to accomplish in the time we’ve been here. It will be a sad day when we leave. We only have nine weekends left and I’m already starting to pack. Paula took a big duffel bag full of our Christmas and Easter decorations home with her and we’ll get them from her later this year. I’m starting to sort through things I want to keep and things to get rid of. We’re definitely on the downward slide.

It was a bit chilly today with dark gray clouds threatening overhead, but no rain came. We all bundled up and went for a late afternoon walk and stopped by Odd and Turid’s for a quick visit. They invited us to attend the State church with them next Sunday as Hege will be baptized – State church style – by sprinkling. She was never baptized as a baby so she must do it before she can be confirmed in June. It’s a strange tradition here and even stranger that it doesn’t have a whole lot to do with a personal relationship with Christ. Turid says it just signifies she is “entering the church” – somewhat like becoming a member I guess, so it seems it has more to do with tradition, than religion. It’s ironic that the Christian tradition in Norway doesn’t have much Christianity in it. Kory struggles with these traditions because they don’t exactly line up with what he believes the Bible says, but I say it’s not his place to judge. For over a thousand years this country has revolved around Christian traditions and we don’t fully understand everything. I’m just excited we are invited to a baptism and get to experience more of the culture. And I’m sure there will be cake.

Tonight Tobias came over and we played Mexican Train with him and Kaleb. Kaleb is learning a lot about getting along with others through his daily relationship with Tobias. They get on each other’s nerves, they push each other’s buttons and they still keep on being friends. Kaleb had his feelings hurt yesterday and swore he’d never play with Tobias again because Tobias called him some name he didn’t like, only to find out Kaleb had called him Toe-bee-ass, with an emphasis on the last syllable. Kaleb got in a bit of trouble with us over that one. He’s having to learn what’s right and wrong in a relationship and how to forgive and ask for forgiveness. We’ve noticed a real nasty trend with him in that he doesn’t take any ownership in things he does wrong and he likes to blame us for his troubles. He told Tobias today he lost another day of electronics for no reason, but there was a reason – he disobeyed. He cried for about an hour over that one because he felt the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Kory told him to stop doing something and he didn’t stop. We’ve tightened the leash on him with the whole disrespect/defiance/disobedience thing so the consequences hurt him terribly. I’ve so enjoyed him the last several days though as he’s doing his darndest to stay out of trouble.

I missed Paula today. She has several stops on her flight back home so she’ll be one tired puppy when she gets there. I’m so thankful she came for a visit and I sure wish more friends would come over. It’s a shame to keep this beautiful place all to ourselves but I’m glad so many are reading the blog and keeping in touch. There wasn’t much new I could tell Paula as she kept saying, “Oh yeah, you wrote about that in your blog.” It’s nice to have readers! Thanks everyone.