Second Easter Day

I have yet to figure out why Norway has the day after Easter earmarked as a holiday, but they do – it’s the Second Day of Easter.  Yesterday though, was the only day Norwegians could fly their flags, even though Thursday and Friday were holiday’s also.  Go figure. 

All weekend long at the Philadelphia Church they’ve had special speakers and many guests in attendance.  Kory and I went today, for lack of anything else to do, because it was raining pretty hard and everything else was closed.  The guy speaking was pretty funny, based on all the laughter I heard, but he spoke so fast and with such a southern Norwegian accent, it was hard for me to understand the punch lines.  Uff.  It was good to have time afterwards to visit in the café with friends and family though.  They put on quite a feast for those in attendance for only 80 kroner (about $15).  Kory indulged, I opted out.  Most of the standard Norwegian buffet foods don’t appeal much to me.

Kaleb was supposed to have his buddy, Toban, over for the day, but when Kaleb called him, Toban had made other plans.  I’m hoping it was a misunderstanding about their time together and not that Toban is avoiding him.  I know Kaleb wears out friendships sometimes, so I’ve been praying for him all day that he’ll learn how to be a good friend and people will want to be around him.  The good news was though, that both Andre and Daniel called him asking him to come over to their places.  Kaleb initially turned them down, waiting to hear from Toban, but he finally gave up waiting and the three met together at Andre’s house and played together for the rest of the day.  He was there for almost eight hours straight.

Andre and Daniel both are addicted to electronics like Kaleb, but Toban is very physical and likes to play soccer, go jogging or bike riding, so I’m sure this is the age where those differences really impact the amount of time they decide to spend together.  Toban goes jogging just to keep fit (he’s 11!) and he is down at the soccer field every chance he gets, training and training.  Kaleb’s not that disciplined about anything in his life, but I sure hope that changes.

The rain finally stopped around dinnertime so Kory and I went for another long walk in a new direction around our neighborhood (see photos of all we saw!).  I love seeing different houses, yards, looking in windows, and enjoying the mountain views wherever we go.  Homes are all decked out for Easter with yellow flowers and candles in the window.  Norwegians use chicken and eggs as their symbol for Easter, instead of bunny rabbits, so many homes had such decorations in the window.  Tomorrow, it will all be gone. 

When I went to get Kaleb tonight, his classmate, Haavard, went jogging by where the boys were playing.  It seems he and Toban rode their bikes over to our place today to find Kaleb, but he was in their neighborhood, and Kory and I were still at church.  Oh well.  Kaleb had such a good time with Daniel and Andre, he said they are “moving up” on his friend list (previously, Toban held the #1 spot).  Kaleb, Andre and Daniel invented some game where they each have some kind of super power, so they were running around outside doing super human feats.  At least they were off the electronics for a while.

Kory has set up a little art studio in our bedroom so it’s kind of nice having him tucked into a corner, drawing away.  He’s been asking everyone he talks to about the art scene in Aalesund and how they market to the tourists.  It’s apparent, they don’t.  I think he has high hopes of changing that – telling everyone around here how Pike’s Place Market works, and pointing out ideal locations in town for such a gathering of artists.  I think he might even just stand on a street corner and sell his art, if he finds out it’s not against the law.  He’s very motivated to make money on his art now, after all the rave reviews he’s gotten from people who have seen it.  

I’ve asked many people how much they’d pay for one of his 11x14 copies, figuring the equivalent of about twenty bucks would make me happy as a clam.  Everyone scoffs at that amount, saying it’s way too cheap.  I try to explain the American marketing system, that if it’s cheap, it sells.  I don’t want to put the value of his art so high that people have to think twice about buying it, but everyone really thinks he could get $40-$50 for one copy!  They said if it’s too cheap, people will think it’s from China.  I’d stop complaining about Norwegian prices if he could make that kind of profit off a 32 cent print. 

As I am writing this, Kaleb is in bed and talking in his sleep – in Norwegian!  I find myself thinking in Norwegian and sometimes even talking to myself in Norwegian, too.  People keep telling me how well I speak it, but I know they are just being kind.  I have a long way to go, but I do like it that I know it well enough I can interrupt a story Kory is telling and either correct him, or give him the Norwegian word he wants to say.  He’s not too happy about that, but I consider it a sweet victory.

God Påske (Happy Easter!)

It didn't take Kaleb long to find his Easter Basket this morning.  Our place is small, and the basket was pretty large.  It was the only one I could find (it was designed for plants).  Norway doesn't do Easter baskets... they just give the kids a large cardboard egg on Easter Eve, loaded with candy.  I like the basket idea too much to give it up, even when in Norway.

I was up at the crack of dawn, ticking things off my to-do list for the big Easter dinner we had here this afternoon.  I once again had too much stress over that meal, but it all turned out OK in the end.  I planned to make cauliflower and asparagus, but when I went to the store last Wednesday to buy things (because the stores were closed Thursday and Friday), I realized our frig wouldn’t hold everything I needed, so I thought I’d just pop into the store Saturday morning to get the cauliflower since that’s a huge Norwegian staple and they surely wouldn’t be out of it.  Well, they were.  They were out of nearly every type of produce, since even the delivery truck drivers had the holidays off, too.  It’s so hard to plan a meal around here when certain items are never guaranteed to be available.  So I switched the menu and made carrots instead.  The asparagus I bought, I set in water, knowing it would be a few days before I used it, but most of it had gone bad before today, so I spent nearly $20 on asparagus that ended up in the trash.  I hate when that happens. 

We went to Agape Church this morning, mostly because their service started at 11 and I needed to get home as soon as possible to get dinner going, as company was showing up at one.  Philadelphia Church service didn’t start until 11:30 today because there are no busses that come out our direction before 11, so they changed their start time to accommodate all those who take the bus.  They also had several other congregations join them, with bus loads coming from near and far because so many other churches were closed today.  They provided a big traditional Easter dinner afterwards in the café, and it all sounded way too busy for me.  At Agape, they had about half the normal turnout since most people are still up in the mountains at their cabins, but it was wonderful time, just the same.

I rushed home to get the “ham” in the oven, but as it turned out, it was really just a huge pork roast, so I wasn’t sure how to cook it and I had a lot of stress about whether it was done or not since I’ve never cooked one.  It ended up OK and no one died from food poisoning.  The pineapple/brown sugar glaze saved the day.  The garlic mashed potatoes were a big hit, as was the corn bread.  I actually found cornmeal at the Asian market at the mall.  I couldn’t find creamed corn, which is required for my recipe, but I found a recipe on-line for homemade creamed corn and I took the chance and made it and used that instead.  The corn bread tasted a little different, but it was still good, so I was thankful for that.  The whole meal, actually, turned out better than I hoped as my hopes were dwindling with each minute.  Fortunately, our guests, Tobias and his whole family, are crazy about anything to do with America so I was in good graces to begin with.

At one point, during dinner, the kitchen was pretty hot so I opened up the window and a nice breeze blew in.  I made the comment that it felt like the Holy Spirit was arriving, but I guess my Norwegian isn’t all that great.  It was then that I learned that the words for “Holy Spirit” and “lucky duck” are nearly identical.  My pronunciation was a little off for what I intended to say, so everyone looked at me rather oddly, but Kory knew what I meant and cleared up the confusion.  Funny.

We had a genuine American Easter egg hunt when our guests arrived.  I put each kid in a different room just to make it a little more fair, since the age difference was from 7-18.  They all had a good time looking for the eggs.  In each room I put two eggs with numbers on them so after dinner we opened each egg in order and in it was a little prop along with a Bible verse about what happened to Jesus.  One had coins, and the verse about Judas selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver.  One of the twins wanted to know why there weren’t 30 coins.  Smarty pants.  Another had a sponge soaked in vinegar and the verse about Jesus being thirsty and given vinegar.  Another had nails and another a cross, etc.  Everyone took turns reading the scripture that went with the prop.  No one seemed to understand my pronunciation, though.  The last egg of course, was empty, indicating the empty tomb.  After we opened it we all shouted HALLELUJAH!  It was pretty fun to do that with kids who had never done it.  Kaleb’s done the Resurrection Eggs every year so the elements of surprise is a bit lost on him.

After the Bible story, I treated the kids to American egg dyeing.  I was smart to set it up out on our deck because they had a bit too much fun with that process.  Several of the last eggs ended up looking like they were dipped in chocolate, as they moved the eggs from one color to the next. 

We had a wonderful afternoon with the whole family.   We talked a bit about our trip to Turkey next week with them, which sounds all the more appealing after they told me I can get a Turkish bath and massage, a 2 hour pampering, for less than fifty bucks.  I told them we may need to start each day doing that.  Oh la la.

For dessert I made orange flavored cupcakes, used green dye in the frosting and coconut and put jelly beans on the top.  I twisted some pipe cleaners together and inserted them as a little basket handle and they couldn’t have been any cuter.  The kids loved them.  I had a few left over so I took them to Tante Kari and Tante Aslaug and they both squealed in delight upon getting them. 

After our company left, we decided to take a family walk around the neighborhood and ended up down by a lake near our place.  It was a warm evening and many were out “airing themselves” as they say here in Norway.  On the way back we happened by the Sunday store (just recently opened), so I popped in there to see which items are actually available on Sunday.  It was hard to walk through the small little space because about half of it was taken up by the line of people waiting to buy the few things they can’t live without today.  In looking at the prices though, I won’t be shopping there much.  Yikes.  But it’s nice to know in a pinch, as I often have been in, there’s a place that can save the day when company is coming for dinner on a Sunday.  Hallelujah!

(This is a gate to someone's yard down by the lake.)

Little Thrills

Kaleb is slowly adjusting to life without electronics. Last night his school had some big event we weren’t quite sure what it was, and Kaleb didn’t want to go. From what I could understand from the flyer, it looked like lots of games and activities so I suggested we go for just ten minutes to check it out. Kaleb drug his feet, but once we got there, he had a good time running around from one activity to another and then didn’t want to leave. It was like a school carnival, but without the prizes. It helped kill one more evening for him without his whining that he had nothing to do. The countdown is on until next Thursday when he gets his computer and Nintendo back and I’ve noticed he’s hanging low for fear he might blow it and get one more day taken away. He has been coming home from school and getting his homework done without a peep or being asked to do it. He’s been getting his own afterschool snacks and keeping his room clean. He sits quietly in the corner and reads when we are around. I like it to some degree, but it very much feels like someone pulled his plug. (I guess that would have been me.) Today after school he finally went over to a friend’s house with his Pokemon cards in tow. He was there all afternoon playing with Tobias (not the same one that lives in our neighborhood). Then Tobias came over here for a sleepover. We had another kid over and we played board games for a few hours tonight, so he’s expanding his horizons and finding out life isn’t as desperate as he thought it would be while he’s on restriction.

Kory and Kaleb both keep wanting to take away my computer “privileges” because I’ve become obsessed with finding every record available on my friend Paula’s family tree. It’s just so easy when there is such good documentation on the internet, I can’t stop until every rock is uncovered. Plus, it’s so cool now that I can read Norwegian better and can understand more things that I’m finding. I even found a fourth cousin of Paula’s in Oslo today – she has her own website with all her genealogy records on it so it was easy to connect the dots. I could call all this homework, but then it would take all the fun out of it as I’m beginning to hate school. I did one exercise today in class and I only got 4 out of 19 right and those were just lucky guesses. I understood absolutely NOTHING on the paper and nearly cried out of frustration. A few more people have dropped the class because it’s all just a blur now and no one understands this new level we have reached. Tante Kari thinks I should just go every other day so I have time to do other things before we move. I may take her advice.

Kory finally managed to hang up the awning today at our condo and Tante Ruth was thrilled to have it installed. Now Tante Aslaug wants one for her condo, so she’s going to be having a little talk with her kids about it. (I hope we haven’t stirred up trouble!) When Kory finished that job he went over to cousin Odds to work on his bedroom expansion. I didn’t see Kory until nearly nine tonight when we were assembling to have Family Game Night. And just as we were sitting down to play, two deer walked right in front of our house (see photo). They are much smaller than the ones we have back home, but it was so fun to watch them prancing around the neighborhood – not too frightened by anything.

It wasn’t a very exciting day today (unless you were Paula getting all my e-mails full of data on her dead relatives), but the sun was out and the view of the mountains nearly took my breath away a few times. I won’t ever get bored with the beauty of this place. The highlight of my day was when cousin Kari came by and asked if I wanted to go for a walk with her. My butt was pretty dead from all the sitting at the computer I’d been doing, so her timing was great. I guess she could have come by anytime today and it would have been the same situation, however

The Countdown is On

Three months from today we will leave. There is much to do, yet I find myself procrastinating. We haven’t even gotten our official green light from the Norwegian government to go. We applied the first of January 2007. They said it would be a few months. After five months, I called the consulate in San Francisco and they said it could take up to 8 or 10 months. So, we missed our window of opportunity last year to go as we wanted to line our arrival up with Kaleb’s school year. So we waited patiently. We have a six month window to occupy the country once we’ve been approved. I waited until February 2008 and then called again. The consulate was shocked it had been so long. She assured me this was not the norm. Isn’t that the way it is with God’s timing? When good things happen that aren’t the norm, we know God is at work. When things don’t make sense, even when they are perceived as “bad” – we still know it’s God at work. God’s timing - not ours. We planned last year to be the best year to go, and it didn’t happen. Now we face another summer, another potential window of opportunity to go and get all we can out of a year abroad. But we wait on God.

It will be challenging enough to have Kaleb move from America to Norway – homeschool to public school – but to have him arrive once school has already started is a bit much. So we wait. This is the year God planned this to happen – we assume. I do pray he closes the door hard if for any reason this is NOT a good idea.

I had a dream about a month ago. We were at Sharpe’s County Park and there was a platform built out over the edge of the rocks so you could look straight down into the water. Some daredevil guy was going to jump off it – assuming he wouldn’t be killed in the fall. Everyone tried to talk him out of it but I was there with a video camera, capturing the attempt. He jumped. We all watched him fall and in the dream the drop was much longer than in real life. As he was about 2/3 of the way down a wind came and blew him dangerously close to the face of the cliff and we were all aghast that he might be dashed against the rock face and splatter his brains all over the place. Then another wind came from seemingly behind the cliff and pushed him out away from the rocks as he continued his descent downward. Then, just when it seemed he would hit the water, another strong wind came from the right and blew him completely parallel to the water’s surface – all the way across Deception Pass and he landed safely near the beach at the park. The coast guard had to rescue him as he was unconscious but not hurt. And then I woke up.

I told Kory I had a dream and explained the details. First thing he said was “What does the wind represent to you?” And the fact is, in Greek, wind and spirit are the same word, so I said it could mean the Spirit. It then occurred to me we were planning to take the plunge, as it were, and move to Norway so this dream was about Norway. And after much prayer and consideration, it seemed that God was saying to go ahead and plan the move, and the permission would come at the last minute. The dream also came at the end of the week after I’d gone for prayer at church asking if “this week” I could hear something about moving to Norway. We were expecting to hear from the Norwegian government, but instead, I heard from God.

Basically God is saying to get ready to go, and at the last minute, the permission will come. So that’s what we are doing, but it’s new level of faith for me as I usually wait to hear from God before taking the first step, but now he’s asking me not only to take a step, but to jump off the cliff, and he’ll come and rescue me on the way down. Talk about faith!