I got a break today (and tomorrow) from school! The instructors are having a conference for two days so all the Norsk language students get two extra days added to their fall vacation – woo hoo. It was nice to have a day home alone, as Kory went to work today (in the pouring rain) and Kaleb was back to school. I used the time to clean and organize. It’s amazing how quickly a house can get out of whack. I also took the bus over to Moa to buy a few groceries and to visit the aunts. I needed to talk to Tante Kari about the plans for Tante Ruth’s birthday on Wednesday. I got the idea today to just give Tante Ruth “love” for her birthday. Yesterday when we stopped by for a visit, Kory told her how much she influenced him in the area of gift wrapping. Kory’s gifts always look like works of art, and he gives all the credit to Aunt Ruth (she used to live with his family when he was growing up). He said she taught him the finer points of how to make a package look pretty. When he told her that, she not only looked surprised, but I could see on her face how good she felt hearing something nice about herself. So I had the idea today that all the nieces and nephews (she has no children of her own) should write on a big heart what they love about Aunt Ruth. I cut out dozens of bright pink hearts today and delivered them over to the other two aunts to have them call their children and grandchildren that can’t come to the party, and say what they love about Aunt Ruth and then each heart can say what each person feels. All those who can come to the party can write on their own heart and hold it up when she walks in, then later I’ll go tape them all over her condo. That’s the plan anyway, and I do hope, even in my limited Norwegian, I was able to communicate to the other aunts just what this plan entails. It feels right. There’s a good chance this is her last birthday and everyone will be saying nice things about her at her funeral, so it would be nice if she could hear some of it before she dies.
Kaleb had a fine day at school – which I’m so thankful for. He came home laughing at the level of math they are doing now, and thinks they are way behind in teaching kids what they are capable of. Today they learned how to borrow from another column when subtracting. He said he was bored but I noticed he didn’t do any of the algebra I put in his backpack for just such occasions, and I also noticed there’s a lot of doodling art work in his book, so at least he found a way to entertain himself.
Kory came home and jumped in a warm tub to soak his tired and very cold bones. I made him a cup of tea and he was soon back to normal. He had to work outside all day in the pouring rain, poor thing. There were spurts of sunshine through the clouds today though which made for many rainbows. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Norway was the Promised Land, as I’ve seen more rainbows in this country than anywhere else. I heard once that rainbows are only visible in the morning or afternoon in America, but they show up here at all hours – even high noon. It must be because Norway is so far north it can get the right angle of light no matter what… and they are always spectacular. The rainbows continue to be a good reminder of God’s promises to us – which we so need to concentrate on when our finances or government may fail…. but God never will.
Tonight we finally got to SKYPE Janet – our beloved “Grammy J.” We bought her a web camera before we left as she said she couldn’t bear to go a year without seeing our smiling faces. To tell the truth, it’s the other way around, as we love her smile and her laugh and we’d suffer far more to not see her. It was good to be half way around the world and have her face pop up on my laptop screen. Modern technology is somethin’ else. And the best part it – it’s free! She asked us how the current financial crisis in America is affecting us, and as sad as the whole situation is for so many people we know, it’s actually been really good for us because the dollar is finally making a comeback and we can now buy 6.3 kroner with a dollar instead of the 4.6 kroner we bought it for when we first got here (a 37% increase). Strange economics if you ask me, but that’s one computation that has me laughing all the way to the bank.
(The photo today is one I took from the ferry last week – I love those little fishing boats.)
