Just when life seems to be routine and ordinary, we have a day like today. The first shocker today was in my Norwegian class when I learned that it’s against the law in Norway to do laundry on Sundays or Holy days. I hope I don’t burn in hell for that one, as I’m sure I’ve done that more than once already. It’s also forbidden to have any clothes hanging outside on the line or mow the lawn on those days. (It sounds like we’ve moved to the town of Lynden, Washington!) I guess they take their “day of rest” very seriously here. I was thinking since none of the stores are open on Sundays, that it’s a perfect day to get housework and yard work done, but nope, that’s out of the picture now. I’m surprised we haven’t had a visit from the local police for surely we have violated all “day of rest” laws they have. But now I know, and we must obey. There is just no end to the surprises we encounter while living here.
But the biggest surprise of today was that Kory got a call from the Ålesund Kommune because they wanted to come out and look at The Sinking Houses. Kory had to scramble to get all the party mess from last weekend out of all the houses before they came. The attorney said he expects them to make an offer on Monday! The Kommune (county) will use them to house refugees. Kory has wanted to buy these places ever since he heard about them but many things prevented that from happening (mainly me). But now the dollar has gotten stronger so we aren’t as broke, the interest rates here have dropped, the sellers have reduced the price and we don’t want to be homeless! So we are working up a bid this weekend to present to the insurance company to see if we can buy them – cheap. God will lead as we often feel we are in over our heads when it comes to financial things but we trust God to open and close doors. We will be happy with whatever happens. If we don’t buy all six houses, we trust God the Kommune won’t kick us out before June so Kaleb can finish up school here. If we do buy them, we are pretty sure we have renters for all of them already as people have been asking us all the time if they can be rented out and we have a waiting list. I don’t think we’ll have trouble making payments to the bank but we may have troubles with the sinking ground under them. We shall see. God will guide.
Kaleb had another fine day at school and is now on his first Norwegian sleepover with Benjamin – the foster son of a second cousin of his. They are the same age and Kaleb can now speak Norwegian well enough they can play together. Kory and I enjoyed a quiet evening at home with me wrapping Christmas gifts and Kory drawing another scene of downtown Ålesund. I’m so not ready for Christmas, but I must plod on. I lost an entire week just preparing for Kaleb’s birthday party, so preparing for Jesus’ birthday came in second place this year.
The photo today was taken yesterday at high noon. The sun sets now about 2pm. We’ve had clear days with temperatures in the 20s for a week. The ground is frozen solid and finally today I bought some sandpaper shoe attachments that work well on ice. I’m so afraid I’ll slip and fall so I don’t go out much, but now I may. The moon was full tonight and just spectacular, lighting up the snow covered mountain tops that surround us. We feel like we are living in a storybook land as everything is just so darn gorgeous. We absolutely love living here. I was so dreading the “long dark winter” but now it’s only nine days until the winter solstice and the days start getting longer again. The time is going by too fast. Today would have been my dad’s 76th birthday but he died at age 62. It hardly seems possible he’s been gone that long. I’m glad we will have an “eternity” in heaven, otherwise when we get there I’ll feel like we got ripped off if we can’t stay forever.
The last surprise of the day came about 8:30 tonight when Sabina knocked on our door and told us the pizza was ready and we were to come over to her house to eat it. I just love the spontaneity of that family. Without even knowing if we are home, Sabina’s mom does something up big and calls us when it’s ready. Kory and I dropped everything and went over for a lovely evening of food, wine and visiting. They were the first to hear of our plans to buy these houses. Tone (Sabina’s mom) said the whole neighborhood would be supportive of it – hopefully because we are nice folks, not just because they don’t want refugees moving in. She’s sure I can go around the neighborhood with a collection plate and get everyone to chip in something toward the purchase price, as no one wants the Kommune to buy it. (Wouldn’t that be nice.)
But the biggest surprise of today was that Kory got a call from the Ålesund Kommune because they wanted to come out and look at The Sinking Houses. Kory had to scramble to get all the party mess from last weekend out of all the houses before they came. The attorney said he expects them to make an offer on Monday! The Kommune (county) will use them to house refugees. Kory has wanted to buy these places ever since he heard about them but many things prevented that from happening (mainly me). But now the dollar has gotten stronger so we aren’t as broke, the interest rates here have dropped, the sellers have reduced the price and we don’t want to be homeless! So we are working up a bid this weekend to present to the insurance company to see if we can buy them – cheap. God will lead as we often feel we are in over our heads when it comes to financial things but we trust God to open and close doors. We will be happy with whatever happens. If we don’t buy all six houses, we trust God the Kommune won’t kick us out before June so Kaleb can finish up school here. If we do buy them, we are pretty sure we have renters for all of them already as people have been asking us all the time if they can be rented out and we have a waiting list. I don’t think we’ll have trouble making payments to the bank but we may have troubles with the sinking ground under them. We shall see. God will guide.
Kaleb had another fine day at school and is now on his first Norwegian sleepover with Benjamin – the foster son of a second cousin of his. They are the same age and Kaleb can now speak Norwegian well enough they can play together. Kory and I enjoyed a quiet evening at home with me wrapping Christmas gifts and Kory drawing another scene of downtown Ålesund. I’m so not ready for Christmas, but I must plod on. I lost an entire week just preparing for Kaleb’s birthday party, so preparing for Jesus’ birthday came in second place this year.
The photo today was taken yesterday at high noon. The sun sets now about 2pm. We’ve had clear days with temperatures in the 20s for a week. The ground is frozen solid and finally today I bought some sandpaper shoe attachments that work well on ice. I’m so afraid I’ll slip and fall so I don’t go out much, but now I may. The moon was full tonight and just spectacular, lighting up the snow covered mountain tops that surround us. We feel like we are living in a storybook land as everything is just so darn gorgeous. We absolutely love living here. I was so dreading the “long dark winter” but now it’s only nine days until the winter solstice and the days start getting longer again. The time is going by too fast. Today would have been my dad’s 76th birthday but he died at age 62. It hardly seems possible he’s been gone that long. I’m glad we will have an “eternity” in heaven, otherwise when we get there I’ll feel like we got ripped off if we can’t stay forever.
The last surprise of the day came about 8:30 tonight when Sabina knocked on our door and told us the pizza was ready and we were to come over to her house to eat it. I just love the spontaneity of that family. Without even knowing if we are home, Sabina’s mom does something up big and calls us when it’s ready. Kory and I dropped everything and went over for a lovely evening of food, wine and visiting. They were the first to hear of our plans to buy these houses. Tone (Sabina’s mom) said the whole neighborhood would be supportive of it – hopefully because we are nice folks, not just because they don’t want refugees moving in. She’s sure I can go around the neighborhood with a collection plate and get everyone to chip in something toward the purchase price, as no one wants the Kommune to buy it. (Wouldn’t that be nice.)
