We’ve had heavy rains all day. It’s been so nice to have a fire in the fireplace and a comfy home in which to escape it all. It was the kind of day it would have been nice to just stay indoors, but we ventured out to go to church at Filadelfia – Kory’s choice. Kaleb was distraught over that decision as he much prefers Agape Church, but we all can’t have our own way all the time, now can we? Filadefia had the teenagers running the show today so there was a lot heavy metal sounds during the worship. I noted a lot of the old people chose to stay home today. (I’m sure the rain was a good excuse.) Actually, the service was quite inspiring. During this past week’s vacation from school, Filadelfia sponsored a youth convention and had in special speakers and musicians targeting the teenagers in the area. It was quite a success by all measures and several kids shared their testimony. There is a very young man from Oslo that lead the conference and he gave the sermon this morning. He’s the leader of the “New Generation” Christian movement in Norway and he was quite dynamic, even if I didn’t understand all that he said. And so young… for some reason I don’t feel like I’m the least bit old until I see someone so accomplished, that’s so much younger than I. Uff da. I kept having thoughts like, “he was Kaleb’s age just a few years ago… I sure hope Kaleb is this influential in a few years…” stuff like that. And when I didn’t understand what he was saying, I just tuned into the sing-songy nature of his speech, as I always find the way Norwegian is spoken almost as interesting as the words that are said.
We stopped by Tante Ruth’s after church (Kory’s aunt that lives in our condo) to see how she is doing. She felt some new lumps in her back so she had some tests done before we left on our trip and she got the results back while we were gone. She seemed rather chipper considering her prognosis. She said she is full of cancer – that it’s back with a vengeance and her lungs are completely consumed by it, plus it has spread to many other areas. She will be 85 on Wednesday and the doctors told her if they do anything, it will kill her, so she should just enjoy her life and it may yet be a long one. Apparently cancer grows slowly in old people, but she told us today she thinks she’ll be lucky to make it to Christmas. She is pretty much a loner, but she always seems glad to see us. We tried to talk her into having some kind of celebration for her birthday, but she doesn’t want to be around too many people. She has never liked parties, but it’s a strong possibility this will be her last chance for one. We finally got her to agree that we would all go to her sister’s condo next door and she could just come over for ten minutes to greet everyone. She agreed, but whether she shows up or not is yet to be seen. I hope she does.
Kaleb spent all afternoon playing with Sabina. The Pokemon cards he got from his cousin Tobias seemed to be a common love for the two of them and kept them entertained for hours. I was surprised, in listening to them talk about each card, just how much Norwegian Kaleb can speak. Kaleb was talking to her in Norwegian, and she was answering in English. They were both trying to expand their foreign language skills so it was very fun to listen to. Kory and I just spent the day cleaning up, doing laundry and putting things away. I helped Kaleb and Sabina make “High Five” soup for dinner (see photo) with all the organic vegetables we bought yesterday. That was some good soup. I so want to encourage Kaleb’s culinary skills so I get a big thrill out of him wanting to be in the kitchen (he is SO not like his father in that area.) I think part of his love for cooking is having me around to be his assistant. He takes great pleasure in running the show and telling me exactly what to do (he is SO like his mother in THAT area.) Uff da. (It's good to be home.)
We stopped by Tante Ruth’s after church (Kory’s aunt that lives in our condo) to see how she is doing. She felt some new lumps in her back so she had some tests done before we left on our trip and she got the results back while we were gone. She seemed rather chipper considering her prognosis. She said she is full of cancer – that it’s back with a vengeance and her lungs are completely consumed by it, plus it has spread to many other areas. She will be 85 on Wednesday and the doctors told her if they do anything, it will kill her, so she should just enjoy her life and it may yet be a long one. Apparently cancer grows slowly in old people, but she told us today she thinks she’ll be lucky to make it to Christmas. She is pretty much a loner, but she always seems glad to see us. We tried to talk her into having some kind of celebration for her birthday, but she doesn’t want to be around too many people. She has never liked parties, but it’s a strong possibility this will be her last chance for one. We finally got her to agree that we would all go to her sister’s condo next door and she could just come over for ten minutes to greet everyone. She agreed, but whether she shows up or not is yet to be seen. I hope she does.
Kaleb spent all afternoon playing with Sabina. The Pokemon cards he got from his cousin Tobias seemed to be a common love for the two of them and kept them entertained for hours. I was surprised, in listening to them talk about each card, just how much Norwegian Kaleb can speak. Kaleb was talking to her in Norwegian, and she was answering in English. They were both trying to expand their foreign language skills so it was very fun to listen to. Kory and I just spent the day cleaning up, doing laundry and putting things away. I helped Kaleb and Sabina make “High Five” soup for dinner (see photo) with all the organic vegetables we bought yesterday. That was some good soup. I so want to encourage Kaleb’s culinary skills so I get a big thrill out of him wanting to be in the kitchen (he is SO not like his father in that area.) I think part of his love for cooking is having me around to be his assistant. He takes great pleasure in running the show and telling me exactly what to do (he is SO like his mother in THAT area.) Uff da. (It's good to be home.)
