Three months ago today we arrived in Norway! It hardly seems that long, as time just rushes by, but then, it did at home, too. I was thinking the other day as we sat inside our cozy house - protected from the storm, how comfortable and similar that felt – all of us under one roof just doing our own thing. So even though many aspects of our life here are so different from our lives in Mount Vernon, the one thing that’s constant is that we are together and God is with us in all we do. Hallelujah! I think a lot of people suffer from homesickness after three months in a foreign land because they don’t have their whole family with them… and as long as Kory and Kaleb and I are together, life just feels right and “normal.” Sure we miss our friends, but we know we will be together soon enough. And we’ve often gone at least three months without seeing even our closest friends… so the homesickness has not yet settled in for us (maybe a bit for Kaleb, but Kory and I are doing fine.)The one thing I have been a little discouraged by is that I’m not feeling all that useful for God here yet. I hate to waste even a day and I’ve been wishing I could get plugged in a little quicker. But that feeling didn’t last too long as we went to Agape Church this morning and I felt much better afterwards.
This afternoon I decided to give my new rain gear a workout. It was pouring outside (but the wind let up) so we all got on our warm coats, put our rain jackets and pants on over our regular clothes, put on our boots and reflective vests, pulled up our hoods, put on some gloves and headed out into the wilds of the fall weather in Norway. (It felt much like bundling up for snow.) We tromped around the streets in the pouring rain just to see what it’s like to be a real Norwegian. Kaleb hopped in every puddle he could find and we plodded on. We stopped in to say “hi” to all the relatives in the neighborhood and just to show them we weren’t afraid of the elements. Kory’s 2nd cousin Bjørn is heading to America next week for a flight training session in Wichita and asked if we “needed anything.” I made a list. Then we stopped by cousin Axel and Kari’s house to hear how it went for them the last few weeks on their vacation to Israel. They couldn’t say enough wonderful things about it so we can’t wait to see their pictures. Then we ended up watching a little soccer on TV at Odd and Turid’s house (we’re trying to be as Norwegian as possible here – but I have to admit, we were real good at faking interest in that one.) We got home later than we expected as our little adventure took several hours. It was so liberating to not carry an umbrella and to be nice and snuggly warm while walking around in the rain. Now if I can just figure out how to put little wiperblades on my glasses, I’ll have it made.
