I counted out the days we will be living in Norway, and today marks the half way point to our departure. It’s not half way to our arrival back home however, but we are now on the downward slide here. The time is going just too darn fast and we only have 24 more Saturdays left. It’s hard to know what to do with all of them as I hate to waste a single one.
Today almost felt wasted as we had hoped to go for a hike in the mountains because it was a gorgeous sunny and warm day, but the wind was so extreme it wouldn’t have been safe. Kory and Kaleb tried to go fishing this morning but the wind gusts nearly blew them into the water so they had to cut it short and come home with no fish, which made Kaleb happy. He wasn’t too excited about going fishing in the first place because he wanted to play his Nintendo. We had to bribe him and say he was “fishing for Nintendo” and he could earn extra play time for every fish he caught. That was the only way he would get up the gumption to go, to think somehow he could earn more than his allotted one hour a day on the silly game. Tobias came over this afternoon and they both just wanted to sit and play Pokemon on their Nintendo and I said they couldn’t turn them on until after dark (about 4pm now). They couldn’t come up with a single idea on what to do on except play electronics indoors. I finally sent them on an errand to go to the store for me and later they went down to the woods and goofed around, but I swear, that machine sucks all the imagination out of their heads. Kory even gave them suggestions on things he used to do when he was a kid, but none were satisfactory to Kaleb (Tobias was up for anything however as he’s so easy-going.)
Kory and I walked over to Odd and Turid’s then Turid went with us for a longer walk around a little lake to get some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine. The path was still frozen over so it wasn’t too safe and the wind was so strong I was worried one of the trees lining the lakeside would fall over on us, but we all made it around without incident (except Kory did get a little angina pain in his arm – which isn’t a good sign). It was unusually warm today and if there weren’t still piles of snow in some parking lots, the occasional ice patch here and there, and the chunks of ice slapping against the shore at the lake, it would be hard to believe it is winter here as it felt almost like a summer day. I’m sure it was close to 60 degrees. The snow in the mountains has nearly all melted as well. It was good to be outside this afternoon as I spent the entire morning cleaning house and dusting – something I do back home just once a year whether it needs it or not.
Tonight we went to a special meeting at Agape Church because they had a speaker in from Bergen. I think he was a Christian stand-up comic or something as everyone was cracking up the whole time he was talking. I understood the words he was saying but somehow missed the point, so it wasn’t funny to me. Kaleb was also a distraction as he didn’t want to be there and he was very disruptive. We had a last minute change of plans with him as he was going to stay home while we were gone, but he was acting so disrespectful to me when I was talking to him about something, I took away that “privilege.” Sometimes I just want to cry, he exasperates me so much, so Kaleb and I left early so he could get to bed. We were all up until midnight last night playing games so that was probably part of the problem with him today.
Today almost felt wasted as we had hoped to go for a hike in the mountains because it was a gorgeous sunny and warm day, but the wind was so extreme it wouldn’t have been safe. Kory and Kaleb tried to go fishing this morning but the wind gusts nearly blew them into the water so they had to cut it short and come home with no fish, which made Kaleb happy. He wasn’t too excited about going fishing in the first place because he wanted to play his Nintendo. We had to bribe him and say he was “fishing for Nintendo” and he could earn extra play time for every fish he caught. That was the only way he would get up the gumption to go, to think somehow he could earn more than his allotted one hour a day on the silly game. Tobias came over this afternoon and they both just wanted to sit and play Pokemon on their Nintendo and I said they couldn’t turn them on until after dark (about 4pm now). They couldn’t come up with a single idea on what to do on except play electronics indoors. I finally sent them on an errand to go to the store for me and later they went down to the woods and goofed around, but I swear, that machine sucks all the imagination out of their heads. Kory even gave them suggestions on things he used to do when he was a kid, but none were satisfactory to Kaleb (Tobias was up for anything however as he’s so easy-going.)
Kory and I walked over to Odd and Turid’s then Turid went with us for a longer walk around a little lake to get some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine. The path was still frozen over so it wasn’t too safe and the wind was so strong I was worried one of the trees lining the lakeside would fall over on us, but we all made it around without incident (except Kory did get a little angina pain in his arm – which isn’t a good sign). It was unusually warm today and if there weren’t still piles of snow in some parking lots, the occasional ice patch here and there, and the chunks of ice slapping against the shore at the lake, it would be hard to believe it is winter here as it felt almost like a summer day. I’m sure it was close to 60 degrees. The snow in the mountains has nearly all melted as well. It was good to be outside this afternoon as I spent the entire morning cleaning house and dusting – something I do back home just once a year whether it needs it or not.
Tonight we went to a special meeting at Agape Church because they had a speaker in from Bergen. I think he was a Christian stand-up comic or something as everyone was cracking up the whole time he was talking. I understood the words he was saying but somehow missed the point, so it wasn’t funny to me. Kaleb was also a distraction as he didn’t want to be there and he was very disruptive. We had a last minute change of plans with him as he was going to stay home while we were gone, but he was acting so disrespectful to me when I was talking to him about something, I took away that “privilege.” Sometimes I just want to cry, he exasperates me so much, so Kaleb and I left early so he could get to bed. We were all up until midnight last night playing games so that was probably part of the problem with him today.
I found out tonight at church there is a certain protocol one must go through in order to deduct any charitable giving off their taxes here. To begin with, only 30% of what is given to churches or other charities is tax deductable (and there is a limit as to how much can be given), but NONE of it is a write-off unless the giver first registers with the recipient organization. Strange rule, but there are forms to fill out and filed within a certain time frame each year or else all money given is genuine charity with no tax benefits whatsoever. This is a big change from the way it was just a few years ago as no charitable giving was deductable at all. Many Christians in Norway don’t even tithe because part of their income taxes goes to support all the state run churches, so they feel they are already doing their part (even though only 1/10th of 1% of their taxes go for that purpose.) Makes me wonder how much money would be given to churches in America if none of it was a tax write off. The Bible says, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” It's strange they are so intertwined now that when you give to one, it robs the other.
