A Warm Welcome

We were late for church this morning. We were out of bed in plenty of time to make it there before the service started, but we didn’t factor in that Kory is MUCH slower these days. We slipped in during one of the worship songs while everyone was standing, so it was an almost unnoticed arrival. But then our pastor spotted us and welcomed us back from the pulpit and said how much he missed Kory’s HALLELUJAHS. Based on the round of applause we got afterwards, it does seem we were missed. I forgot how many friendly faces I look forward to seeing every Sunday, so I must say, I missed everyone more than I realized and it was good to be back at Bethany. HALLELUJAH! I was also encouraged by how many at church have been reading the blog. It’s a good thing we didn’t spend our year in Norway back in the dark ages before the internet was invented. It’s been a great way to keep people informed on all God has done for us, but also a good excuse for me to write everyday (my dream job).

Kory went for prayer after the service. He had been standing up on his crutches a little too long talking to people after church and he was in pain, but once he was prayed for, he felt better and didn’t take any pain pills or aspirin the rest of the day, so HALLELUJAH for that! He even popped popcorn tonight – standing at the stove without using crutches. I certainly don’t want him to do too much moving around, but if his pain level can go down, it will help me tremendously. I can do many physical things for him – bring him food and mow the lawn – but I can’t do anything about making the pain go away and I tend to stress out about situations I can’t control. Imagine that.

Our home fellowship group had a pool party this afternoon to welcome us back home. We so missed those folks. Some of them are very funny and I forgot how much they make me laugh. I found out that one member of our group (Gail - the one on the left in the photo) spent all day last Saturday at our house, spiffing up our yard for us – edging, pulling weeds, raking and trimming things back a little just so it would look impeccable when we returned. What a gift that was, and so appreciated. I think if I had to do any yard work now it would push me over the edge, as there is enough on my plate for the next several weeks. God knew just what I needed, and He found just the right angel to get it done. Hallelujah! That might be one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. Timing is everything. It ranks right up there with having meals made for us after Kaleb was born. I thought childbirth was almost worth it for not having to even think about cooking dinner for two weeks. Now I’m sure our yard will stay looking pristine until Kory is back on his feet. Thank you, Gail!

We had a wonderfully warm day today to sit out around the pool with our group and watch the kids have fun splashing in the water. We also got lots of time for catching up on what’s happened since we left town. In the midst of the conversation Gail said she noticed our van had expired tabs. It never even dawned on me. Not only have I been driving around without a driver’s license, now I’m driving around with an unregistered vehicle! All our vehicles have expired tabs - duh. How could I have forgotten about that? (I’m pretty sure we have insurance, however.) God has certainly protected me from the police, as I can’t even imagine how I would go about explaining all the circumstances around my unlawfulness. Ignorance was bliss but now I’m afraid to go anywhere. Fortunately I can order the new tabs over the internet, so I’ll be sitting at home this week waiting for the postman to deliver my tabs and set me free.

Kaleb played all day with his buddy Carter then went to his house afterwards for a little more play time. While he was gone I opened a year’s worth of mail. It took me three hours and I didn’t even read a thing – it took that long just to open the envelopes, pull out the contents and decide which pile to put it in. I filled three paper grocery bags with papers to throw out and the pile of papers to keep was half way up to my knees. I understood the expression “knee deep” in something because tomorrow I will be knee deep in paperwork as I begin working on our taxes for 2008. (We filed for an extension but they must be done by the first of September.) Now I feel like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” when they said, “Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore….” But it’s like this: “Mickey, you’re not in Norway anymore...” because I actually had to make a “to-do” list tonight and get out the scheduler. American life is not a simple.

Busy Day For Some - Not So Much For Others

The past ten years we’ve had no schedule, no alarm clock, no rushing out of the house in the morning. Now our lives are everything BUT that. Too funny. Especially when you consider that our lives are so scheduled out and we are living in Norway - a pretty laid-back country. No one is ever in a hurry for anything – “This is Norway,” they say, like it’s Shangri-La. A lot of businesses close at three o’clock during the week. The dump is only open until one o’clock on Saturday. NOTHING is open on Sunday. You can’t even make hotel reservations on Sunday because there is no one to answer the phone. Everyone only has a 37½ hour work week, they all get at least four weeks of vacation every year and a few weeks of holiday breaks.

I know we kept pretty busy in Mount Vernon, but it was different. Most every day we’d sit and have a leisurely cup of coffee and talk about what the day will bring. Sometimes when Kaleb and I did school work, we stayed in our pajamas all day. I’d go to town and do grocery shopping maybe once a week – maybe not, as we always had food in the pantry and freezer. Now we have to plan each day carefully – do we have clean underwear for tomorrow, has Kaleb done his homework, do we have food to pack for lunches and something to eat for dinner? (Our frig is small and won’t hold a week’s supply of anything, nor will the freezer.) We’ve had to put a clock in every room of the house because now we have to catch a bus or get to school or work on time. I know it’s like the rest of the world, but it’s all new for us. Kaleb seems to be adapting the best but it sure made my Saturdays busy. All day today I just did “life maintenance” things: I did laundry, cleaned house, went grocery shopping, finished mowing the lawn, and I arranged the cupboards and closets now with all our stuff in them. I’m beat. Kory and Kaleb spent the morning fishing in hopes of avoiding a trip to the store to buy something for dinner – but they didn’t catch anything but seaweed. (I think they left a bit too late – they both wanted to sleep in til after eight and I don’t blame them.)

They have a saying here in Norway, “Everything is bigger in America,” and that is SO true. Oh how Norway needs a Costco to really shake things up. But I do see a lot of wisdom in the smallness of things. The washing machines are much smaller and as a result, don’t hold as many clothes, therefore, you have to do laundry more often and as a result, you need to buy less clothes, which is good because the closets are smaller and don’t hold much. The refrigerators are smaller and that’s good because you never lose track of anything in them so nothing rots, therefore saving money on your grocery bill, which is otherwise HUGE. The sizes of things you buy in the store is MUCH smaller than in America. I buy Oxi-clean at Costco in a two gallon bucket - here it comes in a container the size of yogurt. The cookies are also in a much smaller pack – which has worked to my advantage because when I get stressed out and eat a whole package – it’s not nearly the same number of calories.

So, we’ve celebrated two weeks in our house now and nearly a month in Norway. We are about as settled as we’re going to be and I like it here a lot. I could use a few more pieces of art on the walls, but that may come in time. We actually have more room here than at home – strange as that might be. We have extra room in the closets and cupboards because we didn’t bring too much of anything, so it’s nice living this simple life. We have all we need and for that, we are so thankful. Next week we will investigate signing Kaleb up for scouts and the sports center (YMCA equivalent) and getting started in a home fellowship group or Bible Study. After all, we’re on a schedule.