Our Last Day in Aalesund

If we hadn’t extended our time here in Aalesund by one day, I’m not sure how we would have made it back.  We used the entire day for just cleaning and running things down to the basement to store them for a year.  Kaleb was gone all day so no new messes were made, but between washing the floors and windows, wiping down all the cupboards and changing all the bedding, it was a full and exhausting day.  At least now the condo is clean as a whistle and should be in good shape for anyone that wants to use it.

We had a bit of stress though as I was doing the last load of laundry. Our washing machine started making a horrible grinding noise during the spin cycle.  It sounded like someone put rocks in there.  I stopped the machine and had Kory look at it.  When it started up again it did the same thing.  We were in a pickle since we had no time to have Kory tear it apart, or even call someone to fix it, but it’s definitely going to be needed by anyone who rents the place.  We had no other choice, but to pray.  Kory was very sarcastic and said, “Go ahead” – like that was going to do anything, but I laid my hands on it and told God this is His washer and His apartment He needs to take care of His things.  He has the power to fix all things and we needed Him to help us!  Kory joined me in prayer and when I was done, I turned it on again and it worked like a charm!  I’m claiming it’s a miracle, since I’ve had God heal my car before, so I know mechanical things aren’t out of his jurisdiction.  I never want to short-change God on anything I have prayed for, so now our washing machine works again. HALLELUJAH!

Tante Aslaug, who lives right next door to us, invited us over for dinner tonight.  She correctly assumed we’d be too busy to make it.  What a sweetheart.  She made fried white fish, boiled potatoes and carrots – about as Norwegian of a meal as it gets and it was just the ticket for the three of us, who have been eating odd combinations of things out of the frig and cupboards, trying to use up all the food we had left over.

We stayed a while and visited Aslaug – showing each other our photos of our different trips to Israel and Turkey, but then we had to get back to cleaning.  Tante Kari had invited us over for dessert, so we used the little time between those two events to be productive.

Tante Kari lives downstairs from us and she made a strawberry “soft” cake as it’s called, because it has a whipped cream filling.  She invited over all her sons and their wives, Cousin Odd and Turid, Cousin Rune and Sol, and Cousin Ketil and Lise.  Odd’s daughter, Hege, was also there.  It was a houseful and so much fun to get together with all her family in one fell swoop.  She even made dinner for us all, but since we’d just eaten, we had a taste and her boys were happy to wipe the plates clean.  We are so going to miss our family here, and based on the sweet good-bye we got, I think the Tantes will miss us, too. 

We talked about sad news tonight though, Tante Ruth’s upcoming demise and the fate of Odd’s first grandchild.  His daughter Camille is overdue with her first child, but the baby has so many problems it’s not expected to live.  Camille is in Oslo now waiting for Monday when they will induce her.  Odd said the plumbing between the baby’s hearts and lungs are mixed up so the only oxygen it’s getting is from Camille.  They are surprised it’s lived this long already, but they fully expect it to die at birth.  Camille has gone for many prayers and is hoping for a miracle, but we don’t know God’s plan in it all.  It’s definitely a sad situation.

I was complaining to Rune tonight about the high price of speeding tickets here in Norway.  He said 2,600 kroner ($500) that Kory had to pay for going six miles over the limit was cheap.  He got a ticket a few years ago for 7,800 kroner ($1,560).  Kaleb figured out it’s about $82 per mile over the limit, and they do stop people for only going three miles an hour over the limit.  Rune said if he would have been going one kilometer more, he would have lost his license, as he was going 35 kilometers (about 20 mph) over in the highest speed zone they have.  Yikes. 

When I picked up Kaleb today from Toban’s house, all his buddies were there for one final time together.  It wasn’t long enough, Kaleb complained, and when he got in the car he was crying buckets.  He said it’s not right that he has to wait for a whole year to come and go before he sees his friends again.  I understand perfectly.  But I pointed out that Andre will be with us until August 10^th and probably in the middle of June next year either Daniel or Toban’s family will come visit us in America, so it’s really only about ten months between those two visits, and time always goes so fast.  He liked the thought of that, but I know it’s hard on him to leave them all behind.  He’s going to miss his freedom too as life in Norway isn’t nearly as restrictive or routine as it is back home, so we are all facing some big adjustments.  We need another miracle.

Tomorrow we take the bus to Oslo, spend the night with family there then fly home on Saturday.  I’m not sure how much internet time I’ll have so this might be my last post.  My other blog, postcardsfromtheridge, will be updated periodically.  Thanks to all my faithful friends who keep in touch with me through this blog.  I guess it’s why I never get homesick!

A Perfect Summer Day

After a much needed good night’s sleep, we had breakfast with Morgan and Ruth and headed to the beach with them again today. But this beach was something special. We took a small walk-on ferry from downtown Arendal out to Merdø, the southern most island in this area. It’s a pretty quaint place with no cars or vehicles of any kind. All the streets are just walking paths that in most areas two people couldn’t fit side by side. The houses are all hundreds of years old and it’s received much recognition for how undisturbed everything is from its days of glory. The island’s occupancy has been dated back to the 1300s but it reached its peak of importance during the sailing ship years in the 1600-1800s. Ships from all over Europe would use the island as a stopping point along their route. (It’s about 150 miles from Denmark.) Smaller islands dot the coastline between Merdø and the mainland of Norway, and often ships would be docked side by side for such a distance out from the dock that they would form a bridge from Merdø to the next island over.

When we got off the ferry we headed west out of “town” past the summer houses where people were sitting in their lawn chairs sunning themselves – a common sight in Norway. We walked through an area that was a genuine fruit tree jungle – completely impenetrable except for a small path to the sea that was constantly being bombarded with the new growth of blackberry branches. There were so many wild cherry trees in one small little area they would be impossible to count. I’m sure someone had quite the orchard there at one point but now it’s madness as future generations of the trees have popped up in every conceivable place. Honeysuckle vines had equally gone wild and entangled the plum, cherry and apple trees to the point it’s just downright scary. I’ve never seen anything like it.

We first planned to take a walk around the perimeter of the island but by the time we made it to the beach overlooking a majestic lighthouse on another nearby island, we decided to sit down and have a cup of coffee. The beach was full of more interesting boulders and rocks of all kinds so Kory and Kaleb couldn’t wait to continue honing their rock sculpture skills (see photo). Even Morgan decided to give it a try and came up with a pretty impressive tower of rocks himself. There were only two groups of people that passed by in all the time we were sitting there and they were mightily impressed with the art work. Maybe it will start a trend and others will give it a try, as the supply of rocks is phenomenal.

After several hours of sunning ourselves while chatting the day away, we continued on along the shore, then cut across the island to the central hub – a small café located next to a museum and the only sandy beach around. One of the three year-round island residents is a fisherman that owns the local café. He has two items on his menu – something that looked almost like fish and chips, and fish soup. People come from far and wide for a bowl of his famous fish soup (to the tune of $20 a bowl). Morgan and Ruth treated us to this local delicacy, which was well worth the trip and expense. We dined in the outdoor patio in one of the funkiest spot I’ve seen so far in Norway. It was more like a place that would be found in the San Juan Islands, than in Norway, but it was kitschy and cute and a perfect place to eat. Afterwards we took a tour of the museum – a home once owned by a successful shipping captain. The house has been completely untouched for over 150 years and the portrait the owner had done of himself sitting in his living room, showed the room to be exactly the way it was back then – including the now well worn imported silk wallpaper and every stick of furniture. It was almost eerie. The whole house was like that.

The last ferry off the island left at 5:30 so after a little more coffee and cookies on the sandy beach, we headed back to Arendal. Kaleb was so well behaved today that we thought it was OK to leave him home alone to watch TV while we all went to an outdoor restaurant beside a large river on the outskirts of town. (Kaleb was happy to stay home with a bowl of risgrøt – rice porridge.) The evening was so warm and wonderful none of us wanted to be indoors. We continued our non-stop chatting - Kory and Morgan are first cousins but have never gotten to know each other so that was the point of our visit. All the while we were entertained by watching all the boats coming and going up and down the river, kids diving into the water from nearby cliffs and seeing the setting sun change the colors in the sky. I haven’t had a day like this that felt so much like summer in a long time. I like it. I love it. I want some more of it!

Happy 18th Anniversary to US!

It was the kind of day that had something perfect in it for all of us. We got to spend the entire day visiting with Kory’s cousin Morgan and his wife Ruth. We hadn’t gotten to know them before because Morgan moved away from Aalesund when he got married 34 years ago. He is a brother to Axel and is much like him, as we found out today. There’s nothing I like more than chatting the day away, so it was good for me to hang out with someone who hasn’t heard any of my stories. Kory was pleased to have time with his cousin and to not be rushing here and there. Morgan and Ruth took us around their town and showed us all the beautiful places and then we spent the entire HOT afternoon down at the beach, which couldn’t have been better for Kaleb. We didn’t have a plan, or a schedule and both Morgan and Ruth had the day free from work to spend it with us so it was wonderful– which was just what we all needed.

When we were walking around downtown Arendal, there was a group of six young people singing in a square, asking for money. They were part of a youth group from a local church trying to raise money to go on a mission trip to Africa to help install a well in some remote village. They group split into two and each half was working a different side of town, competing to see who could raise the most money in a short period of time. Ruth gave them all she had, and Kory, ever longing for a good prank, told them if they ran to the top of some high steps nearby, raised their hands toward heaven and shouted HALLELUJAH as loud as they could – he would give them money. The whole bunch of them raced off to the top of the stairs, raised their arms and shouted loud enough I’m sure the whole town heard. And then when they returned to Kory, he asked them to do it again. And they did. It did Kory’s heart good as he hasn’t heard many other people in this country shouting Hallelujah and as Kaleb says, “He’s just crazy about those Hallelujahs.” So the youth group got 200 kroner from Kory (about $35). Some guy was filming the whole thing so I’m sure that little stunt will be long talked about. Kory was so proud. Morgan thought he was crazy.

After we left downtown we headed off to one of their favorite beaches that surround this coastal area, but the sand was missing. Apparently the sand comes and goes, and today it went. The rocks were not too inviting so we stood around a while and let Kaleb explore. I laid back on a larger rock and soaked up some rays with my eyes closed, as Kory was busy talking to Ruth. All of a sudden I heard Morgan yell something and go running off past me so I sat up to see what was going on. Kaleb was inching himself along a crack in a very large rock (see photo), walking further and further out over the water. One slip and he would be in for it – and surely we’d be heading to the hospital. Morgan saved the day by talking him off the ledge and pulling him up to the top of the rock where it was much safer. Kaleb thought it was exciting but from where I was sitting, it was anything but that. Why he insists on these daredevil stunts, I have no idea. I’m sure if he didn’t get a reaction out of me it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun for him but it was all my heart could take for one day.

We ate lunch outdoors at another beach that was much safer, but Kaleb decided not to swim in the water since the stinging jelly fish were a bit too abundant for his liking. He skipped stones and found beach treasures and thankfully entertained himself in a less daring way while we all visited. On the last beach we walked to, there were so many cool shaped rocks that Kory got the idea to start stacking them. He didn’t stack them in a logical way with the flattest and biggest parts on the bottom – no – he had to be artistic and balance them on their narrowest point and then stack addition rocks on top. How he did it, I don’t know, but it got Kaleb motivated to do the same so we were there much longer than expected as the two of them made rock tower creations. They were quite artsy and impressive.

Morgan and Ruth grilled us a yummy dinner tonight about 10pm – as we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. Kaleb picked a wild daisy for the occasion and gave it to me. He also found several heart shaped rocks on the beach he insisted I keep as tokens of his love for me. Sweet boy, but at times a challenge. I had to sing him “his” song a few times today (it it sung to the tune of “You are my sunshine.”) It goes like this – “You are my son, my only son, you make me happy, when you obey. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take that good boy away.” Ruth said she’s never heard that version before. That’s because this was our first visit. Hopefully I won’t have to sing it so much tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary!

One of my favorite sayings is: “Attempt something so big that without God it will surely fail.” Well, that’s how life is these days. This trip to Norway certainly wouldn’t be on its way without God opening all the right doors at the right time. We are already two thousand dollars over budget to get there and at least a thousand a month over budget once we are there, but I have a God that supplies all my needs, so I’m not worried… just curious how he will do it! And yesterday Kory and I celebrated 17 years of marriage. Without God, that just wouldn’t have happened either. We’ve come a long way and we have much to be thankful for. Our God is an awesome God!