Seven Days and a Wake Up...

I debated about whether to go to class today or not because My Pal Vestina wasn’t going to be there, but The Good Teacher Inga was. Since I had a prayer meeting to attend at ten o’clock, I thought I might as well go for the first two hours just because Inga was there. Turns out, I was the only student in the whole class for the first half an hour! The students are dropping like flies. When another student came (one from the class we combined with), I decided to leave as she needed some one-on-one help with writing a cover letter for a job. I expected to be late for the prayer meeting with The Praying Ladies but I was able to take an earlier bus so I was right on time, so that was good.

Oh, we had quite the time in prayer today. It was amazing – which I am especially thankful for since it’s the last meeting I can attend. I love the power of combined prayer. We all had a half hour of “soaking” time first, and after I had a few poignant visions and a “message” from God, I fell asleep! I have been so tired lately it’s only been coffee that keeps me awake. I needed the sleep and apparently I didn’t snore and disturb the rest of the group, so that was good, too. But I got the distinct message from God today that life is all about separations – we must separate from our parents, from our children when they are grown, from our friends when they move away and eventually our spouse if they die first. I’ve been grieving over the move from Norway and separating from all that I love here. I saw many images today of the process of separating. Then I thought about my nightly routine with Kaleb, how when I kiss him goodnight he wraps his arms tight around my neck and won’t let go. He clings to me with a passion and it’s only when I tickle him can I get him to release his grip. I saw that same vision, only it was me clinging to the cross. Then I saw a sword attach itself to the cross and since the Bible says God’s word is a sword, it is that which I must cling to during this transition back home. I can hang on as tight as I want to that and it will never leave me, nor will God, so I don’t have to fear the separation anymore because Norway is just Norway, but God is God and that’s a much better thing to be attached to. I know all that on some level, but it was good to be reminded of it today - so I feel much better now.

Kory was over at Odd’s again today doing some repairs to a wall Odd tore out and Kaleb had an all day bike ride with his class from school. After school Kaleb brought home a few friends to see what they could build with all the toilet paper and paper towel tubes I’ve been saving all year. Kaleb likes to create things with everyday objects and as fast as we go through toilet paper (they don’t put so many sheets on a roll as they do in America), I thought it would be fun to see if he could make a castle or something creative with a year’s worth of toilet paper tubes. All they made was a mess. They had great ideas but no way to properly execute it so I talked Kory into taking them to the local indoor playland for a few hours (it was raining) while I cleaned up and got dinner ready. I even had time to fold the napkins in a fancy way. These Norwegians know 101 ways to fold a paper napkin to make the table look nice. I’ve learned a few methods from friends, but I rarely have time to put it into practice. Colorful, patterned napkins are a MUST when having guests for dinner.

We invited our neighbors to come over tonight- Erling lives just across the street and Marit and her husband are two doors down from him (we see both their houses from our window). I ride the bus everyday with Marit and she’s very good for me because she doesn’t know a word of English so every morning I get to practice my listening and speaking skills on her. They are all old folks who have lived on this street for nearly forty years so they had a good time telling us the history of the piece of land where we now live (but not for long.) Marit’s husband (I can’t remember his name!) told us about the problem he had with moles at their cabin up in the mountains (they call them “earth rats” here -jordråter). He tried everything anyone told him to try to get rid of them, and finally he found the thing that worked – which got Kory’s attention since it’s his daily battle in Mount Vernon. So the secret is, equal parts of sugar, oatmeal and dry cement mix! He puts a handful in some wax paper and twists it shut, then shoves it down in the hole when the ground is good and dry. Apparently the moles chomp away at the mixture and die soon afterwards when the cement turns their gut to stone. It sounds like an awful way to die, but apparently it’s quite effective. He cautioned us to only make as much of the mixture as we will use at the time because all animals will eat that stuff – dogs and cats included – and it will kill them all. So now Kory is anxious to get home and give it a try. If it works, it will certainly free up a lot of his time every morning as he’s up at the crack of dawn each day assessing the damage and walking around the yard looking for a fight. Better the moles than me.

Eight Days and Counting...

My Pal Vestina sent me a message this morning saying she needed to sleep so she wasn’t going to school today. The Good Teacher Inga is in Northern Norway for something to do with her job, so she wasn’t there today either. I couldn’t find any reason to go, so I didn’t. I stayed home and in the same course of time I’d use to go to school and come home again, I was able to put together another one of them fancy digital picture books. I sure hope it turns out okay. I can’t read all the technical Norwegian words, but it looked fine to me on my computer. Soon I’ll have a show-n-tell photo book from our Easter vacation road trip along the southern coast of Norway. And I was so excited it took less than five hours to produce it, I ignored my dead butt and completed another one by dinnertime for the vacation we took in February to Italy. I’m on a roll. Of course, the only reason all that uninterrupted computer time was possible today was because Kaleb went home with Andre after school and Kory was over at Odd’s again completing the installation of his new bedroom ceiling. We were all so productive today! I wish I would have known about this digital photo album program months ago but I just learned about it last Friday, so the rush is on to get something done with all these photos I have taken before we leave Norway. I also wish I would have gone out and enjoyed the sunshine that came our way today because tonight the clouds have moved back in and it looks like rain. Oh well. The sun was shining in many of the photos I used today, does that count?

School isn’t out in Norway until the 23rd of June – way too long if you ask me. These last two weeks could have easily been knocked off in both my school and Kalebs. There is only eight weeks of summer break in Norway – not long enough. Kaleb had to turn in all his books today so he was whistling Dixie that his backpack was so light.

I would be packing up a few more things now except that we have more people coming over before we leave and I need the house to still look somewhat presentable. The closets and Kaleb’s room are pretty well packed away, but I can’t pack stuff we’ll need for the next week, or the decorative stuff. I hate living in a house that looks empty so I need to keep the things on the walls until the last minute. I hope I’m not sorry I’m waiting so long to do everything.

Kory and I were talking today about the incredible experiences we’ve had since we’ve been here and how lucky we feel to have been given this opportunity. It boggles our mind that we’ve been able to live here for free for so long. The entire year we’ve only paid a total of a thousand dollars for these last three month’s rent, and we’ve never paid a dime for utilities or electricity, just telephone and internet. I can hardly believe it – living in the most expensive country in the world for a year for a thousand bucks. Only God could orchestrate something like that. Most couples in Norway both have to work and one of their incomes just goes to pay the mortgage. Many homes also have apartments in their basements because any income made off renting out any part of a person’s residence is tax free money here and many families need the extra income it provides. It’s even expensive for Norwegians to live in Norway– not just Americans, but we’ve had it pretty good! The money we are going to be using for our European road trip was money I thought we’d be using to pay rent, so it’s a real treat that we get to use it on such a luxury instead. God is good!

I’m so thankful we’ve made new friends here, and hopefully not worn out our relatives. God’s used us to encourage others in their faith and to help connect a few people back up with God. We hope our lives here have made a difference. Kaleb has been able to enjoy an independence he’ll never know living in America. He’s free to ride his bike miles from home, be gone all day to a friend’s house and come home at supper time – just like Kory and I did as kids. He’s had to learn about schedules and getting up and out the door to get to school on time and he’s had to forgive time and time again when kids at school do things he doesn’t like. He’s grown up so much this year! Other than social skills and learning Norwegian, I’m sure he hasn’t learned a whole lot academically, but that’s not why we came. I can tell his brain is ready for a new challenge now though, so it’s probably good we are going home. One more year in school here would do him in. Now that he’s fluent in reading, writing and speaking Norwegian, he is bored out of his mind with the busy work he must do. He says he’s glad we are going back home, but I wonder for how long, once we are there. But in our little world now, we will have two places we can call “home.”

(Today’s photo was taken last Sunday – some of the tropical green algae color is still visible near this park in Aalesund.)

Nine Days To Go

Guilt was a big factor in me going to school today. I tuned out a long time ago and haven’t learned many new things lately, but I have this problem of needing to complete things I commit to, even when it makes no sense. Also, My Pal Vestina sent me a text message saying she missed me yesterday and she really needed to talk to me. I have become her “second mother” she says and she has no one else to help solve her problems. She doesn’t really need any help, as she’s quite capable herself, she just likes confirmation she’s doing the right thing. The Good Teacher Inga wasn’t there today so I needed extra motivation to get out the door. Vestina had “news” to tell me, so I just had to go find out what it was.

Her “old” boyfriend was in town over the weekend. She didn’t come to our class party last Friday because she wanted to be with him. She thought she was done with him, but he poured out his heart and love for her and asked her to be with him again. He got a new job awhile ago about 15 hours drive from here and the separation has not been good for him. Vestina is still wanting a little more time apart before she decides if she should follow him and his new job. But that wasn’t the news. It seems for the third time in a two week span, yet another man has fallen for her. This time, it is her neighbor – a guy from Holland. Apparently, he couldn’t wait any longer and seeing that her “boyfriend” was once again out of the picture, he declared his undying love for her. He asked her to move in with him and promised her the moon – said he’d cook and clean and treat her like a queen. As he was going on and on about how he’d quit smoking if she wanted him to, or start working out if she wanted him to have a better body, or quit drinking if she didn’t like it, Vestina just looked at him and said rather rudely, “Blah, blah, blah.” I thought I’d bust a gut laughing when she told me that. Vestina said the guy said, “No, it’s not blah, blah, blah – I really mean those things!” Here is yet another guy whose heart has been broken by My Pal Vestina. She now wants me to meet the guy so I can tell her what I think of him. I told her I didn’t need to meet him – I’m certain she made the right choice. What’s with all these guys that haven’t even been on a date with this woman – and yet they want her to move in with them? It’s certain they are not Norwegians because Norwegians hold out the longest time before ever even saying they love someone, and then, maybe just saying it once in a lifetime. These other guys just slobber all over her, totally humiliating themselves. I just love how she sets them straight. I laughed for a good five minutes over that whole situation. What a hoot. It was worth the trip into town.

When I got home today I began another project I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help myself. Once I got all the best photos together from our trip last Fall up to the Lofoten Islands, I decided to order up one of those fancy self-published coffee table picture books. I checked all the places I knew I could order them over the internet, and found a place here in Norway that had the coolest software available, even if I couldn’t fully utilize it because I can’t read all those technical Norwegian terms. The book, hopefully, will look fabulous. I was able to spend every remaining minute of my day on that project and send it off for printing before midnight. Kaleb went home from school with his friends so he wasn’t around all afternoon and Kory was over at Odd’s putting new wood on the ceiling in his bedroom. I had the house to myself and it was raining and I needed no more excuse than that. Of course, I did have to take a four hour break to eat, as we were graciously invited over to Andre’s house for dinner. Andre is one of Kaleb’s good buddies and his parents attend Filadelfia Church so we’ve gotten to know them a little better these last few months. Andre’s mom, Janne, was at our house last night for the Bible study group so it was very cool to be invited over to their house for dinner tonight. And we had my favorite food – which is always any food I don’t have to cook. But actually, it was an incredibly yummy meal and we had a wonderful evening visiting with the adults while the kids ran around the house playing hide-n-seek (a favorite game in these parts). Kaleb will surely miss Andre. He even missed him today because Andre stayed home from school to recover from an injury. Yesterday, on his way home from school, Andre tripped and landed on a rock about the size of a football but shaped more like a wedge. He put one heck of a gash in his shin so deep it didn’t even bleed. He passed out from the pain however and needed eight stitches. When he thinks about it, he limps and needs sympathy, but when running around the house with Kaleb tonight, it would be hard to tell anything was wrong with him. Too funny. Janne and I talked about how much we do to protect our kids from harm, and then something like this happens. What’s a mother to do?

The Countdown Is On

Another sleepless night last night made for a good excuse not to go to school today. I tried to sleep in, but couldn’t. I had to get up and make Kaleb’s lunch so I just stayed up and enjoyed a good cup of Starbuck’s coffee. It helped only a little. I’ve been in a daze all day. I don’t know why I’m not sleeping, but it’s definitely a trend I hope stops soon.

Kory’s employer didn’t have work suitable for him today (meaning, all the work they had would kill his back), so he got to stay home today too, except Odd’s bedroom remodel was calling. Kory didn’t think he’d have time to drop the ceiling before we left, but since he had today free from his other job, he was able to put a smile on Odd’s face. He was gone all day.

Once Kaleb was off to school I used the quiet time at home to get a few projects done. I updated all our “exit instructions” I call them – what to do if we both die at the same time. With all the unrest in the world, venturing out into Europe might not be the safest thing we can do, so I want to be prepared just in case. The last thing I want to think about if I’m on my way out – is that I didn’t tell anyone what to do with my grandmother’s china. Ha ha, but kinda true. Once Kaleb was born both Kory and I updated our wills and wrote as much information as we thought would be helpful to someone that might have to clean up after us, as it were. So at least that task is off my plate and I have a few more years before I have to worry about updating that file again. I also used the time to sort through some pictures. I’m sure I’ve taken over ten thousand photos since being here and I’m trying to pick out some of the better ones in case anyone is interested in seeing them. What a job. They always say computers make our lives easier, but I think it’s way more labor intensive to sit and sift through photos I wouldn’t have taken in the first place if I knew I had to pay to get the roll of film developed. It’s just too easy to point and click with a digital camera, when it’s “free.” But the time it takes to sort through them afterwards is way more costly than photo processing. We can always get more money, but we can’t always get more time. Time is a finite thing and we never know when ours is up. Ugh.

I wanted to pack up Kaleb’s room today but realized I needed his input to do it since I don’t know what he wants to take home, what can stay here, what he needs for the road trip and what he wants to get rid of, so that project had to wait until he was home from school and done with his homework. But now his room is nearly empty so I feel good about that. He came home pretty excited today as his homework plan showed no homework after Tuesday, so he sat at the table and did all of today’s and tomorrow’s work and then let out a whoop and a holler that he will NEVER have homework again because it’s back to homeschooling! I’m glad he’s looking forward to that.

I had to use a little time today to clean the house because tonight I hosted the Bible study group I started attending just recently. They are a fine group of women from the Filadelfia Church (see photo – taken at 10:30pm tonight – notice how light it is outside) and we had a nice time together tonight, “soaking,” praying for each other and reading the Bible. They all wanted to pray for me to thank God for having me in their group – then they prayed God would bring me back to Norway soon. I wonder how God handles those prayers when I know there are some in America praying we come back there and don’t leave again. It must be a tough job to be God.

Kaleb and Kory went over to visit the Tantes tonight while I had a house full of women. Kory offered to take Kaleb bowling or swimming or to the movies or fishing, bike riding, for a drive… he kept on and on with the suggestions and Kaleb didn’t want to do a single one. Finally Kory said if he wouldn’t pick something then he would decide himself, so he decided they would go visit the aunts. Kaleb flipped out. He screamed and slammed doors and carried on like it was the end of the world. He absolutely, positively did NOT want to go visit the aunts, but he had to anyway. Ya snooze, ya lose. He brought along a couple of books for entertainment while Kory was busy chatting away. Kaleb was not a happy camper.

We have just ten more days here in Aalesund before we drive out of town. I’m wondering what the next chapter of our lives will be like and just how much we’ve been changed by this experience, without even realizing it. Hopefully it’s all for the good.

Party, Party, Party...

Filadelfia Church had a big party day today for all the children. The sermon was a childish drama to emphasis we are all disciples of Christ. Children lead the worship songs and the whole service took half the normal time – talk about kid-friendly. Afterwards there was a big carnival set up in the parking lot complete with bouncy house slide, cotton candy machines, game booths and food stand. Kory said, “Hey, it looks like one of Kaleb’s birthday parties here,” and it sure did. Kaleb was pretty pleased with the whole event since one of his buddies from school was there also and they could run around together. And then tragedy struck. Kaleb was a little hyped up by the whole thing and as usual, wasn’t being as cautious as he should have been. On the last slide down the big inflatable slide, all the kids decided to go down together. Someone stepped on Kaleb’s sock so he wasn’t able to go freely, rather he fell forward and was then pinned under all the kids that ended up piling on top of him on the way down. He was face first and got the skin rubbed raw off his forehead and according to him, he nearly suffocated as he couldn’t breathe all the way down. Oh was he ever devastated, and hurt, by the whole thing. He got what was the equivalent of a rug burn above his eyebrow but he acted like his whole face got ripped off. He’s such a drama king sometimes. So we had to leave church as all the fun was ruined for him. But luckily for us, Tone, Sabina’s mom, sent us a text message that Agape Church was also having a party in a park this afternoon so we decided to go to that because I had so much food left over from yesterday’s Confirmation, I was looking for a way to share it before it went bad.

Tone and Sabina rode with us to the park as it was at a place we had never been to – and it was quite a beautiful beach very close to the city. I love finding out about all the nooks and crannies around here. The sun even peeked out every so often so that made it nice. But most of the time there we were saying our good-byes to people and answering the ever present question of why we can’t stay longer and what will Kaleb do when we get back home. Kaleb was busy trying to learn how to ride a unicycle, climbing on the rocks by the beach and/or playing keep away with the pastor and assistant pastor of the church. At one point Kaleb tried to wrestle the ball away from the pastor and the pastor fell on him, which brought back all the trauma of his earlier experience today so he just lost it and ran off into the woods to cry and console himself. He was gone a long time but I’m glad he worked through whatever he was feeling without being in my face while doing it. There is no consoling that kid when he gets worked up, so he has begun the journey into the “cave” to sort out his problems. He’s soon on his way to becoming a man.

Our neighbor girl, Sabina, really wanted to come over to our house after the beach party to play Golf (a card game) and eat Kettle Corn (popcorn with sugar). Her mom, Tone (pronounced Tone-ah), and Tone’s friend, Tor-Arild, also came over so we spent the entire evening playing cards and snacking. It was, in my estimation, the best way to spend an evening. If I had one night of that per week, I’d feel complete. I love having friends over for just a casual get-together without a lot of preparation or expectation. We all love that card game as it’s easy to learn and it provides enough time to chat as we play, so it makes for a fun evening. Kaleb and Sabina had to take wrestle breaks every now and then because they were all sugared up on the candy Tone brought with her. A few years from now it won’t be quite so entertaining to watch them wrestling on the couch together, but tonight, it was pretty funny. They are a matched set with the same energy and strength level and Sabina is one tough little cookie. And it was fun to have Tone and Tor-Arild here together because I’m sure something is brewing between the two of them (see photo). If something does develop, we can take the credit for it since we arranged their meeting, in a way. We invited Tone to church with us, and then to our Connect Group, and it was there she met Tor-Arild. It’s an interesting match because she’s a Fashion Queen and he’s a Harley Biker dude (you can’t see his long ponytail in the photo) and never in a million years would I have thought they would hit it off, but they sure have. Go figure. Both Tone and Sabina have been a big part of the memories we have made here so we will miss them.

Today we got our “shipment” from the U.S.A. Kory’s second cousin Bjørn was in America last week with our shopping list in hand. We now have good ‘ol American coffee to enjoy again our last few weeks in Norway! Bjørn also brought us some L-Carnitine that Kory takes as part of his heart healthy concoction of vitamins and herbs. For some reason it’s not allowed in Norway, even by prescription, so we had to have it smuggled in. So much for obeying the law of the land. But then, Starburst candies are illegal in Norway too because the #2 yellow die used in them is considered a carcinogenic. Go figure.

Hege's Confirmation Day!

Before I even had my sacred morning cup of coffee, I was up making food for the Confirmation party today. I was at it for three hours straight and we were nearly late for the Confirmation itself because I was rushing around trying to get Kaleb and I dressed for the event. It’s as formal of a day as it gets around here so I knew I had to at least iron our clothes.

The church was completed packed out. We arrived five minutes before the ceremony began and we got the last three seats. They had three separate Confirmations today in the same church, each one processing 30 kids at a time. The church can only hold so many family and friends so they can’t do them all at once. Tomorrow they will have additional Confirmation ceremonies. They were scheduled two hours apart and they ran like clockwork. The church was full of men, women, children and even babies in their traditional Norwegian bunads. I just love seeing entire families decked out in their Norsk costumes.

The Confirmation ceremony itself was full of pomp and circumstance, somewhat like a graduation ceremony. All the Confirmants wore white robes and came in a procession down the aisle after the candle bearers. There were songs, prayers, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, the Apostle’s Creed. Someone sang Amazing Grace in both English and Norwegian and the Priest gave a little sermon. I didn’t understand all he said but I could tell he was talking about money. So many kids only go through with Confirmation to get the cash gifts that come with this tradition, but it seemed to me like the priest was advising them that God offers something greater than money can buy. At one point I let a loud “Amen” slip out, but Kory smacked me because it’s not proper to speak up in the State Church here. They are very serious and somber folks and I’m quite certain no one has ever shouted HALLELUJAH in that place.

The grand finale of the ceremony was when the Confirmants came up two by two, stopping first to light a candle in the candelabra then going forward and kneeling before the two priests. As one priest said the name of the first kid, all the family in attendance stood up while the priests each laid a hand on their head and gave a prayer of blessing. Then they said the name of the next one, and on it went, two by two until all the kids had been prayed for. Afterwards they marched outside for group photos and quickly disbursed to all the locations around the city for the big parties that followed.

It’s not common to have friends attend the parties, which I think is a little sad. Of the 70 people at Hege’s party today, only three weren’t related to her. Since it was all family, it was kind of funny that it was so formal but it followed all the Norwegian “code” for special events. The tables were set nice and fancy and everyone had a reserved spot. The guests all stood behind their chairs, waiting to be welcomed to the party and invited to sit down. There was an opening speech by Hege’s father, Odd. Hege gave a speech of welcome then we sang a song. (It’s common to take a well known tune and rewrite the words to fit the event or the person, so we sang a few of those songs throughout the party.) Everyone was invited to the buffet table to eat all they could manage. After dinner there were more speeches and then a video presentation displaying Hege’s love for dancing. We took a break and had time for visiting one another before the cakes and coffee were served, after which we all played a “How well do you know Hege” game. (Our group came in dead last – mostly because it took us so long to translate all the questions!) Hege took whatever free time she had and methodically opened all 60 envelops she received as gifts for the occasion. Each one contained cash – anywhere from 100 kroner ($14) to 1,500 (over $200). Hege wrote down each person’s name in a book and how much they gave so she could write thank you notes later. She set all the cards up on a table and displayed them for all to see (some were works of art as people often hand make the cards). Kaleb couldn’t wait to total up the amount she received and when he realized she got over $3,000 he very seriously asked if he could go through Confirmation in Norway. Money is a powerful force.

The ceremony was at high noon but we didn’t get back home again until after 8pm. Kaleb wasn’t too happy that he missed out on having a sleepover with his friends however, so I had one crabby boy to deal with on an otherwise lovely day. This has been a big year for Turid as she has worked so hard to complete art school plus prepare for today. She did all the embroidery on Hege’s bunad (dress) among other preparations. I almost feel her relief as she’s been burning the candle at both ends ever since we got here. Now that she finally has time to play, we are leaving. That is just one more thing that makes me sad we are moving, but if Kaleb has his way, we’ll be back in a few years.

Playing Hooky

I got a good night’s sleep last night. So much so that I realized I have way too much to do and way too little time to do it, so I stayed home from school and packed. I was sad all day. I hate that we have to leave. But I also hate that I have to pack up. I hate moving, but this isn’t quite the same thing. There are so many questions I have to ask myself over each and every item. Will I need this in Norway in the future? If not, can I give this to someone? Should I just throw it away? Do I need to take it back home with me? Will it cost more to send it than to just buy a new one in the States? Do I need it for our road trip? Can I do without it for the next few weeks so I can pack it away now? It’s like hyper packing and it takes way longer than just throwing everything in a box and putting it in storage. I made some progress though, so that was good. I just hope I made the right decisions.

Kory went over and helped cousin Odd and Tante Kari peel 20 pounds of shrimp for Hege’s Confirmation party tomorrow. When he got back he started cleaning out the garage. It’s amazing how much stuff we can accumulate in a year’s time. I’m so thankful we’ve had a garage and an attic so most of our stuff was out of our daily view. Now it’s scattered all over the house with half filled open boxes in the hall, the laundry room, living room, bathroom and both bedrooms. I hate the disarray but the day ran out of hours before I was able to fill all the boxes.

We were invited to an end-of-the-school-year party tonight by one of my classmates. Kaleb was quite perturbed that he missed a potential sleep-over with a friend to go to an adult party, but the hostess really wanted to meet him, so there was no way out. Kaleb was dreading it until we arrived and she offered him unlimited use of her laptop so he could play games on the internet. We didn’t hear a peep out of him all night. I would have preferred he learn to schmooze a little bit, but he was quite content to sit on the couch with his eyes transfixed on a computer screen. It was a wonderful party and so fun to meet the husbands of the women in my class. It completes the picture of who they are and why they are here. We had a few good laughs especially when the woman from Brazil told us her and her husband have their weekly marriage counseling session using SKYPE – as they still use their therapist from before they moved here but now they have to do it using web cameras and the internet. Too funny. The Good Teacher Inga came, which made it all the sweeter. I finally relented and gave her my blog address. She’s been wanting to read my blog but I’ve hesitated giving her the address because I wanted to feel free to write what I want without worrying what someone thinks of it. But now the cat is out of the bag. My life is an open book anyway and I’m leaving town soon so I won’t be around for the feedback. I told her I only write good things about her, but I’m sure my opinions about things don’t always agree with hers. Oh well!

We didn’t get home until after midnight but I’m so glad we went. The drive into the city and all around this area is lined with wild Lupine, now in full bloom (see photo). I’m not sure what makes the different colors but I’ve seen mostly the dark purple/blue color, but there’s also white and various shades of pink, almost burgundy. It’s just incredible how many Lupine plants there are around here. It reminds me of the drive up to Alaska in June where the Lupine lines the sides of the roads for miles and miles. I love it.

A few weeks ago when we hiked out to see the Viking grave, I had to go so slow because of the pain in my knees. They often feel like they are going to give out on me and I’m so worried about falling. We were on the hike with Tobias’s mom, Inger, and Inger’s brother works in a factory that processes shark liver oil. Inger told me if I started taking shark oil every day, in two weeks time I’d feel the difference, and I must say she was dead on. Tobias brought over some “samples” from his uncle and I’m absolutely amazed by the results. It’s considered a folk remedy here in Norway for all kinds of ailments, mainly strengthening the immune system, but the whole lubricating the knee thing has got to be the best one. I haven’t had any pain in my knees for days and they even feel strong enough I can trust them to walk down steps without holding the hand rail. It’s like ten years of aging just vanished. What a thrill, and at my age, I gotta take the thrills where I can get them!

Rain Rain Go Away!

I was awake until after two o’clock this morning because I drank a cup of coffee last night at our home fellowship group. What was I thinking? Then I woke up at four and couldn’t get back to sleep. Needless to stay, I stayed home from school so I could try and sleep in, but it was nearly impossible. Kory got Kaleb off to school while I tossed and turned in bed.

Today was the day for Kaleb’s class party at a beach near our house. The invitation said if it was bad weather, it would be indoors at the school instead. It was raining hard all last night and this morning. All the boys were to bring a pot of coffee and the girls were to bring cake (weird). Kaleb apparently forgot what time the party started (5:30pm) and he assumed it was during the school hour so he asked Kory to make a pot of coffee to take with him to school. (Like that’s what he was going to drink?) Kory didn’t remember the details of the party either so he just did what Kaleb asked. This is why mothers are so important because we remember this kind of stuff, or at least write it on the calendar (which no one checked). I felt terrible that Kaleb was already loaded down with his school books in his backpack then Kory needlessly added a big thermos of hot coffee to the load. I could only laugh when I got out of bed and Kory told me what happened. Kaleb didn’t complain much when he came home still lugging the pot of coffee because it was his own doing. I’m thankful for that. It was a good “teachable moment” to check the calendar for details, rather than relying on memory alone if I’m not around to keep them on track.

Kory and I went to the mall at Moa this morning so I could buy the groceries needed for the things I’m making for the Confirmation on Saturday. Kory went and visited Tante Ruth and Tante Kari while I went shopping (they live right next door). Tante Ruth is doing great, so that was good to hear. She’s even offered to help Tante Kari as she’s recovering from her surgery. Tante Kari is finally smiling a real smile and is getting better every day, for which I’m thankful. I hated that she hurt so much. Both Tantes said they are devastated we are moving back to America. The only upside is that someday when we come back, we might be living next door to Tante Kari, which put a smile on her face.

Kaleb was in sour mood to match the weather this afternoon because he lost one of his Nintendo games. The game chips aren’t much bigger than a quarter and they cost over $70 so it’s a big loss. We kept telling him to be careful and to keep all the games in a safe place. This is how he learns. He was borderline mean and didn’t even want to go to the school picnic because of it, but we insisted he go. I couldn’t believe they didn’t move the party to the school, but they consider light rain tolerable. Only if it would have been an all-out downpour would they have moved it indoors. So all the parents and kids were in full rain gear, some had umbrellas, standing out in a park by the water’s edge, roasting their hot dogs on the “one-time grills,” drinking coffee and eating cake (see photo – the gorgeous mountains in the background aren’t even visible because of all the rain! ). The rain never let up and yet the party went on for hours. Too funny. Kory brought some firewood so at least we had a real fire going instead of just the line up of the one-time grills. Our Christmas tree was sitting out the garage all these months and Kory cut it up but never disposed of it because we weren’t sure where to put it – so he brought it along today. It was a big hit as all the branches were so dry the boys loved throwing them on the fire and watching the explosion of flames that came soon after. It was about the only entertainment there was, so it was a good idea.

The parents of Kaleb’s friends came up and talked to us about how sad it is we are leaving and how upset their kids are to be losing Kaleb as a friend. That was sort of nice to hear. We invited them all over to America to come for a visit so hopefully some with do that. I talked with one of Kaleb’s teachers and she said Kaleb was a "brave" student – that most students won’t read out loud but Kaleb always volunteers to do everything and she likes that he’s “out there” in terms of participating in everything. I’m thankful for that. I really wanted to know if he had any problem areas or if he was a challenge in any way, but it’s not “Norwegian” to say anything bad so I guess I’ll never know. She did say, with great delight, that she has watched him blossom in the socializing department, and for Norwegians, that’s by far more important than doing well academically. So I guess our mission is accomplished – we brought him here for socializing and to learn the language and he’s done both quite well. I just didn’t think leaving would be so hard.

Misunderstandings

I got my laptop back today from repair, for the second time. Oh happy day. I hope it’s really fixed this time as there is no time to send it in again. We have only two weeks left before we move out and start our road trip. Our calendar is filling up fast.

Good-byes are never easy, or fun, but sometimes there’s a party and good food involved so it sweetens the sorrow a little. Tonight there was a little party for us for our last Connect Group meeting (home fellowship group). It was sad to say good-bye because we really like getting together with that group from Agape Church. One of them said it is just “gruesome” that we have to leave. (That’s a word that sounds and means the same in both English and Norwegian but here it’s used to express feelings, not just gory movies and murders.) Kory reminded our group that Bethany Covenant Church, our church back home, sent us to Norway as missionaries. Our group leader tonight said Agape Church should send us back to America as missionaries, but then they want us back here again. It really is hard to say good-bye. I’m glad God found a use for us while we were here though.

My Pal Vestina told me in class today that she read my blog. She liked what I said about her but she disapproved of the photo I used. She wanted me to replace it with a nicer one of her off her Facebook profile, just in case there are any single men that might want to meet her. She’s too funny. I told her I was sure there is no one reading my blog that would be her cup of tea, but she insisted I change the photo anyway. It is easier to add it today than change one from a few days ago. I think she’s a lot prettier when she smiles, but she likes this photo the best (I bought her those earrings in Rome.) Most of her photos on Facebook are quite sexy, so I’m thankful she wanted me to use this one – which is suitable for all ages. That girl can pose!

Kaleb had his field trip with his classmates into the city this morning. I went out during my lunch break to see if they were up on the mountain behind my school, and I found them taking their lunch break in the park right next door. It was fun to watch Kaleb playing with other kids when he didn’t know I was there. I walked over to him and he gave me a big hug and kiss, right in front of his classmates, which thrilled me to no end. He then started crying when he told me his teacher told him that pop, candy, cookies and snack crackers are not allowed in school lunches. I normally pack him two open faced sandwiches (the norm here – just buttered bread with something on top – cheese, salami or ham), a sliced up apple and a peeled carrot. Every once in a while he’ll get some pretzels. Today, I knew, was special, so I put a bottle of pear flavored pop in his backpack (his favorite), a piece of candy and some snack crackers along with his sandwich, just for a little treat. I guess his teacher talked to him about it and what upset him the most was that all the other kids were eating cookies and crackers and some had pop. He was devastated at the injustice that he couldn’t have it but others could. I apologized to his teacher for giving him forbidden food and she said she had told him those things are not NORMALLY allowed, but it was OK today because of the field trip. He hadn’t fully understood all her Norwegian – he just heard the part that it wasn’t allowed so he stopped eating his lunch because of it (I love that kind of obedience!)

I thought about that situation for a while and decided it reminds me of when I read the Bible sometimes and I don’t fully understand what it’s talking about. If I did, then maybe I’d get all the treats that come with the main course too, but my limited knowledge of spiritual things sometimes keeps me from enjoying all of God’s blessings. There are so many mysteries yet to be uncovered. The Bible says in Corinthians that “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully…”. I’m going to enjoy that day of full understanding even more than Kaleb enjoyed his pop, candy and crackers today after he found out it was okay to eat them. (But I’m often in the same boat as Kaleb – I hear and understand the Norwegian words, but I totally miss the main point.)

Kory was home the whole day making fish soup. He was so meticulous in the process. When I got home he had all the ingredients chopped up in near perfect uniformity, each item in their own bowl like on a cooking show. When the time was right, he added them to the soup base. Too funny, but I love that he’s experimenting and teaching himself how to cook. He’s come a long way, baby. I spent the afternoon packing more boxes and baby, I still have a long way to go – in more ways than one.

Formalities

My Pal Vestina was back in school today so the morning just flew by. Just hearing her voice makes me laugh, but she laughs at me when I get one of the problems wrong. She thinks I make mistakes on purpose just to make her laugh. Oh, how wrong she is. The class is so different now and I don’t really like it with all the new students and bouncing around different subjects, but with Vestina there, I’m happy to ride it out until the bitter end.

The last couple of days the waters that surround us have turned from a crystal clear blue to a murky emerald green, almost turquoise color. It’s the most amazing sight. It happens every year when the algae blooms. We had some blue skies yesterday and it almost looked like a freak of nature to have blue skies and green seas. This morning the skies were grey and the seas were still that murky green color. I noticed this afternoon however, there were just patches of green and by tonight, all the color was back to normal (see photo). I was bummed because Kory and I went for a walk so I could take a picture of the weird color, but it just disappeared as fast as it came. Turid said in a few days there will be a scum on the water and this algae bloom will release more carbon dioxide in the air than all the cars in Norway. So much for controlling global warming.

These last few weeks of school are just fun and games for Kaleb. I guess they want them to end on an up-note. Today they went on a bicycle field trip. Everyone in Norway has a bike, so the teachers just brought theirs to school. Kaleb’s class went over to Sula today, not far from where Kory’s mom was born. I was thankful it didn’t rain on them. Tomorrow they take a bus into the city to go to a museum, a church and a park. Thursday they have a big BBQ at the beach. Kaleb has hardly any homework this week too, so he’s liking that as he has more free time to play with his friends.

I walked over to Turid’s to find out about the plans for this weekend. Her daughter, Hege, has her Confirmation on Saturday and I’m sure, from the looks of it, a wedding has less preparation. I guess the whole Confirmation thing could be looked at like some kind of “Coming out” party or “Right of passage” thing that many countries have. People travel from all over the country, and often from outside Norway, just to attend the Confirmation – it’s such a big deal. In preparation for the big day, Turid has enlarged several photos of Hege at many different ages and will hang them up around the hall for decorations. There will be a Powerpoint presentation, custom made songs and poems, speeches and lots of food. When I was there today Hege was making a “How well do you know Hege?” test to give to all the guests. Just family and three friends are invited but that adds up to over 60 people in attendance. I offered to help make some of the food so I needed to find out just what it is I’m making. I’m thrilled we are invited and I’m happy to help out, but what I’m doing is a drop in the bucket compared to what Turid has on her plate. It’s a VERY big deal.

There are four times in a Norwegian’s life that call for this kind of huge event – baptism, confirmation, marriage and death. Each one of these events has been, for hundreds of years, a highly religious and formal celebration. The State church has been an integral part of them and beginning in the 1600s the Church kept meticulous records on all these things (which makes it pretty easy to trace Norwegian roots because of all the excellent documentation). I find it interesting now though, that these events are being “mimicked” by the Humanist movement here in Norway. The Humanists are a very fast growing “club” that take God out of everything, but because they are Norwegians, and traditions run deep, they just copy all the events and call them something else. Instead of “baptism” they have a “baby naming” ceremony complete with gifts and party. Then they have the Humanist Confirmation which celebrates the teenager becoming an adult. Weddings are done by judges and not in churches, and even funerals are handled by third party businesses that make no reference to God or the afterlife and are definitely NOT held in a church. What I find most interesting about all this is that it is just like in the early days of Christianity when all the pagan holidays and traditions were going on, the Christians decided to pick a day to celebrate the birth of Christ right near the Winter Solstice so the Christians wouldn’t feel like they were missing out on anything. It’s the same thing now, but in reverse with “pagans” copying Christian traditions. It’s come full circle. And I can also say, these four events are the only time I’m aware of that Norwegians send thank-you notes. They don’t send notes for birthday or Christmas gifts, being invited over for dinner… none of those things we are accustomed to, but they do send them out after these events. And the best Thank You of all is from a dead person. The way they do it is, in the obituary or on the headstone, they write “Takk for alt,” which means, “Thanks for everything.” Even in death, they can’t do away with that formality and no other time in a person's life can those words be said.

My Pal Vestina

Since I didn’t have a Bible study to prepare for today, I decided to go to school because I skipped school last Friday. I was so looking forward to seeing My Pal Vestina, so when I got there and found her to be missing, I never fully recovered from being in the dumps. She wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home. I wasn’t feeling well because I went. There are too many new students in our class and I’m now totally out of my comfort zone. Vestina is my anchor, my partner and my entertainment. I just love that woman (see photo). I think she is a lot like I wished I was thirty years ago. She is from Lithuania and she has it all together. She can have any man she wants, but she wants an education first and foremost and won’t be distracted by their non-stop flattery and pursuit of her. She is so focused, she’s incredibly smart, she’s a hard worker and dedicated student, she’s good with her money, she’s got one heck of a figure, she’s got style and she’s VERY funny. She really wants to be a stylist in the fashion industry so she’s getting her foot in the door by volunteering in a hair salon just to see what she can learn before she starts “frisør” school this fall (hair styling). The owner of the salon is a Muslim who is just ga-ga over her (most men are). When he finally showed his cards last week and revealed his passion for her, she just looked at him in disgust and said, “What? You expect me to move in with you so I can cook your food, clean your house and wash your socks? And then you’ll want me to put one of those black things over my head so I can become your property? Are you crazy? Go find yourself a woman of your own kind because I have NO desire to have any kind of relationship with you.” Oh yeah, she has guts, too. The Good Teacher Inga can’t understand how Vestina and I can be such close friends because of our age difference, but we are, and I will miss her the most. School was so boring today without her.

We are now learning about Norwegian folk tales and today was the first time I’ve heard that trolls turn to rock if they are ever exposed to sunlight. News to me. We also learned about the huldra – a mythical gorgeous woman who lives in the woods and can almost bewitch men with her appearance. She is gorgeous in everyway with long beautiful hair, she comes from a rich family and is hard working, but the only problem is, she also comes with a cow’s tail. But as the stories go, her tail will fall off if she gets married in a church. Now there’s a little propaganda mixed in with the fairy tales for ya. We also learned many descriptive words we can use to make up our own colorful stories. None of them were as funny as the one I saw in an advertisement in Oslo yesterday, however. Norwegians also have “couch potatoes” but the potato is such a staple in the Norwegian diet, and such a revered food they would never associate it with anything negative – so their word for the same kind of lazy person is a “sofa pig” (sofa grisen). I like that much better. And their word for a bratty little kid is “snørrvalp,” which literally translates as “snotty puppy.” There is another Norwegian word for “snot” or “buggers,” and that is “bøb,” which sounds like “bub,” which is one of the nicknames I have for Kaleb. A few times I’ve gone to pick him up at someone’s house and I’ve said, “Let’s go, Bub” and I’ve gotten the strangest looks from the parents. Finally, Tobias told me what it meant, so I try not to call him that in public even if he is my little Bub.

Kory worked today and came home very tired. He was surprised this afternoon when the owners of the house they are building came by the job site with coffee and homemade “bløtkake” (“soft cake” - it has a lot of cream filling and is unbelievably delicious). I guess it’s not that uncommon for homeowners to do special things for the builders when the work is going on. Nice tradition.

Kaleb went to school today and came home very frustrated. He was hit and kicked again by Morten today, but since that is such an everyday occurrence now, he doesn’t even mention it when I ask about his day. What he was upset about today though was that Morten called him “Ugly.” I said, “Was that the best he could come up with, because you are anything but ugly.” Kaleb said, “Well, I don’t know if that’s the worst thing he said. He said some other things too but that word was the only one I knew,” which was probably a good thing. He started crying as he was telling me about it because it hurt his feelings to be called names. There is just no end to his encounters with Morten. Yesterday when Kaleb’s buddies were over, I asked them what they thought of Morten. They have all been attacked by him as well. Andre said he is horrible, but Toben said he feels sorry for him because he has ADHD. He had a very sympathetic tone as he talked about him, almost defending him, saying that Morten often doesn’t even remember when he’s hit or kicked someone, that he just does it without even thinking, and when he does realize it, he feels terrible about it afterwards. And therein lies the goal of the Norwegian socialized school system – to teach tolerance for kids that are different. Apparently we haven’t lived here long enough to appreciate that.

Happy Half-Birthday Kaleb!

This weekend would have been the big half birthday party for Kaleb if we were home, but he didn’t say a word about missing it. He was too busy all weekend having play dates, going to other parties and having a sleepover with Toben. After church today Kory picked him up and took Kaleb, Toben, Henrik and Andre (see photo) all to Barnas Lekeland (it’s like Jungle Playland in Mt. Vernon – just a big recreation thing for kids). We bought a punch card for 12 visits when we first came here and we had some punches left that need to be used before we leave town. We’ve been waiting to go on a rainy day, but the few days we’ve had rain lately, the other boys weren’t free, so today was the day - a sunny Sunday. It was good though because the boys had the run of the place as hardly anyone else was there. Kaleb felt like it was his own private 10.5 birthday party as we ordered pizza afterwards and the boys came back to our house for ice cream and played a bit more. They should all sleep good tonight as they were cherry cheeked boys from all the running around they did in that place the entire afternoon.

Kaleb was falling asleep at dinner, he was so tired. He said he was up until 4am so he only slept about five hours last night. I love that he has friends, and I especially love it when they do things OTHER than play video games. I asked Kaleb what he was doing until four in the morning and he said he was playing his Nintendo. Everyone else was asleep, but he was awake playing it. He knows he has a limit of one hour a day, but he completely blew that off when he was away from home. I asked him what his consequence should be for disobeying the time limit and he said, “Nothing. You’ve always told me I wouldn’t get in trouble if you asked me something and I told you the truth.” So then I had to remind him of the old Catholic system of buying indulgences – that they would intentionally sin knowing they would be “forgiven” through paying money for their misdeeds. I asked him if he thought what he did was right, and he wouldn’t answer me. I guess we’ll be talking more about that tomorrow, but I did tell him he lost some of the trust I have in him. Why is parenting such a challenge? Can’t we just have compliant children who do what they are supposed to do? I shouldn’t be surprised though, as I’m sure God often thinks the same thing about me. My friend Kata says that we get the children we deserve and I’m sure Kaleb is much more like me than Kory.

I flew back from Oslo today with some of the women from Filadelfia Church. It was interesting to hear their impressions on the conference. Everyone got something different out of it, and everyone had different things they didn’t like so much. There was such a variety of opinions that it gave me an opportunity to get to know some of the women through the long conversations we had on the topic. I had a fairly uneventful trip home, which was good, and I was glad to have an empty house to come home to so I could take a little nap before riding my bike over to see Kory and Kaleb at the play land. Kory, I think, enjoyed having some quiet time last night and this morning also as our house is only about 700 square feet so there isn’t much space to call one’s own. I’m sure our house back home will feel like a mansion after living here for a year. One thing I won’t miss about Norway is the beds. There is no such thing as a double bed or queen sized bed. There may be a king sized bed, but it’s just two single beds next to each other with a big crack down the middle. Norwegians apparently don’t do a lot of cuddling because all their bedding is just set up for single beds. They use those duvet covers so each bed has a fitted bottom sheet and a big down filled comforter inside the duvet cover. It’s pretty easy to make the bed when there aren’t covers to straighten out and tuck in – all they do is shake out the comforter on top and fold it in half lengthwise and the bed is made. But it’s weird when we go to a hotel and there are two narrow comforters on the bed. It was OK in the case of me sharing the hotel room with cousin Kari as we both had our own covers, but it’s weird to be married and not be able to snuggle up at night. I knew this ahead of time and shipped over American style bedding to use at home, but when we go to hotels or stay the night with other Norwegians, that is just how it is. Fiercely independent folks, even when they sleep. But the one thing I do love here are the showers. All the shower heads in Norway that I’ve seen have so many options! I can select the exact temperature of water, the pressure of the water and how high I want the showerhead. It feels so decadent to start the day off with so many choices. That, I will miss.

I’m now beginning to see people here that look like people back home, so maybe it’s a sign I’m getting homesick. I don’t feel homesick, but I have to do so many double takes before I make a fool of myself and go over and start talking to someone I THINK is someone I know. It’s too funny, as it’s happened many times. I’ve almost shouted out people’s names and then I remember I’m in Norway and that can’t possibly be who I think it is. Maybe it’s just my age or I need new glasses or something. I guess maybe it’s OK to be getting old as long as I can start the day off with a nice hot shower, deal with an obedient child all the day long and then snuggle with my honey at bedtime. Maybe.

Jesus Women

I was with Jesus Women all day today. When Kory told his cousin Odd that I was at a Jesus Women conference in Oslo, Odd said, “Is there something called THAT?” And the answer is yes, there is. I’m not sure how many women were there, but they came from all over Norway and Sweden to gather together to sing songs to Jesus, hear women talk about Jesus and to pray to Jesus. I’d say they were Jesus women alright.

If there was just one message that came through loud and clear today, it was that we must PRAY MORE. It’s kinda funny because Kory told me shortly after we met twenty years ago that whenever he would go to his mother with any kind of problem, hoping she’d impart some worldly wisdom to him, all she would ever say is, “Kory, you need to pray more.” No matter what the problem was, that was her standard reply. It was the dreaded two word response he hated, but now realizes how right she was.

The first speaker we had today was Georgina Dufoix, the ex-health minister of France. She spoke in French, which was then translated to Norwegian, and then in my brain, translated to English… but her message was very clear – pray for our politicians! She gave her own “testimony” of how she became a Christian while holding a political office, and all the spiritual attacks that came right along with it. She holds out hope that her homeland will turn back toward Jesus, as they have such a rich history of so many important spiritual things happening there, but currently, they have their backs turned away from God. She told us how we should not be critical of those in authority, but just pray for them, whether we agree with them or not. God is bigger than they are and He put them there for a reason so we need to respect that. She was an impressive woman and I could totally see her running for the position of Prime Minister of France someday – who knows. That would certainly shake things up a bit there. I liked her a lot.

We had two speeches today from Fern Nichols, the founder of Moms In Touch – a Christian group that organizes moms to pray for their kids and their schools. Fern is one tough prayer warrior. She’s a funny lady, especially when she started wielding a sword. She told all us mothers that the Bible is a sword and when we pray prayers for our children using words right out of the Bible, it’s like coming at Satan with a weapon. She acted out the part and hacked him into pieces while yelling at him to stay away from our children. It was easy to see the mother bear in her, protecting her young. And that’s how she looks at spiritual warfare and she fights the battle with the word of God, and prayers prayed with other women. She also told us why we should pray, how we should pray and what we should pray. It was all pretty basic stuff for me, but she made her point. I liked a picture she shared of many kinds of powerful military weapons, and then one mother on her knees. The caption of the photo said, “Which has shown the most impressive display of power?” How can you argue with the power of heaven and earth unleashed in a mother’s prayer. Point taken. I guess I need to pray more.

We didn’t have much free time today because all the seminars ran at least an hour over their scheduled times. There is something about getting a bunch of women together in one room and when they start talking… well, it’s just hard to get them to stop, I guess. But during the afternoon break Kari and I walked around town a little and then on down to the new opera house by the fjord. It is such an incredible piece of architecture and even more impressive when standing next to it, on it, in it. I don’t know how people come up with these ideas, but this one is a doozie. It’s along the same lines as the Sydney Opera house in terms of the impact it makes to the landscape. We didn’t have time for the full blown tour but we walked around it and in it and up on top of it. It’s pretty cool, literally, as it’s all white marble and it looks completely different from every side. What a task, building that thing (see photo).

Kaleb woke me up at eight this morning, wanting to know how much time I’m using on his computer so he can adjust the costs he’s charging me accordingly. Now if I asked him how much time he’s going over his allotted one hour a day on his Nintendo all I’ll get is the standard, “Time flies when you’re having fun” response. He spent the day with his friends and is on a sleepover tonight so I’m pretty certain he’s not keeping an eye on the clock, as he expects me to do.

Kory was invited over to Odd and Turids for dinner tonight. He said he spent the day packing up a few things, as well as cleaning house and grocery shopping. I guess all those prayers I said for him really hit the target! God is good- all the time. And all the time – God is good. Hallelujah!

Chick Trip

Cousin Kari and I headed for the airport early this morning and flew to Oslo for the Jesus Women conference. Several others from Filadelfia Church were on the same plane so it fun to meet up with so many women on the same mission. We were the lucky ones, taking the first flight out. The ones that took the next flight didn’t make it on time to attend the evening meeting. I guess Norwegian Airlines doesn’t have many extra planes lying around and when the one broke down in Ålesund, they had to send for the mechanic in Oslo to come fix it. Everyone who thought they were flying out at noon, sat in the airport the entire day waiting for the plane to get fixed. So much for budget airlines in fairly remote locations. I’m glad it wasn’t us.

We got to Oslo with plenty of time to do a little shopping and eating before the event started. I had a few wedding gifts to buy so we went into a store that was celebrating its 270th anniversary because everything was about 30% off. I could have sworn they were going out of business because it was a huge department store and nearly all the shelves were empty. Kari said it was because things were on sale all week and this was the last day of the sale. They apparently don’t restock. Too funny. But I’m still scratching my head over the fact I was shopping in a store that is older than America itself.

After dinner at a Thai restaurant (I just ate a yummy friend banana as I wasn’t that hungry), we headed to the conference. I was hoping to use translation headphones so I wouldn’t miss a thing tonight, but as it turned out, they had problems with their equipment, so I just had to concentrate and do the best I could to understand the message. I didn’t understand everything, but what I did pick up was very good.

The woman that began Jesus Women seven years ago looks like a young Glenn Close, only prettier. She is a woman full of joy, that’s for sure and she had a lot of energy, which she pours into this ministry. There are two special speakers tomorrow, some woman from France that was a very powerful political figure for many years, and the woman in charge of the Moms In Touch ministry, which is International but I’m sure is based in the US. They both gave a little blurb tonight, but the main speaker was Anne Christiansen, the founder of Jesus Women. Her talk was based on the scripture that says “You are the salt of the earth” and I thought how appropriate that is for Norwegians, since salt is such an important part of their food chain. In Matthew chapter five, verse 13 it says “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” So it was pretty funny when Anne said she was thinking about that verse and decided to call up someone in the salt industry and ask them how salt can lose its strength. They said it can’t. Salt is salt and it will always be salt. So then she said to the guy on the phone, “Then what do you think Jesus meant when he said…” and she quoted the verse. Pretty funny, I thought. But then the guy told her that the only way salt can become weak is if it gets mixed with other things and it isn’t just pure salt anymore because it’s diluted. So she reminded us that we are who we are, and that’s the way God made us and we shouldn’t get mixed up with other things or we’ll lose the flavor of what God has put in us…. It was a pretty powerful message even for a Norwegian audience.

A few of us went out to eat some late night snacks (see photo of Tina and cousin Kari) before we called it a day. We walked down Karl Johan’s Gate, which is the big main street running through the center of Oslo. It goes from the train station straight down to the King’s castle (seen in the background of the photo). The city was alive and full of peddlers, street artists and musicians and people out celebrating the end of the week. It wasn’t dark, even at eleven, but the streets smelled like cigarette smoke, alcohol and urine. The heart of downtown just ain’t what it used to be. It looked more like I was walking through the streets of Northern Africa, than southern Norway. At least 25% of this city’s population is foreign born. The times they are a changing Norway. Tina was so excited we were in the city so we could take in a good restaurant called T.G.I. Friday’s. Uff da. I come to the Big City for that? (Yes, I did.)

Kory and Kaleb had a good day today (mostly because I wasn’t there, I’m sure). They left me love notes in my Bible and suitcase just so I wouldn’t forget them. I think they forgot me though because our neighbor invited them over for dinner and when I called at midnight, they were still there having a good time. Someone is going to be crabby tomorrow, and this time, it won’t be me.

A Late Start

I catch the bus every morning at 7:45 so I set my cell phone alarm to go off at 6:45. I was so tired last night I forgot to bring it into our room so I just slept right through the alarm, which was going off in the living room. At 7:30, God sent a seagull, which stood right outside our open bedroom window and screamed as loud as it possibly could, until it woke me up. I had seven minutes to get out the door to catch the bus, and I made it with a few seconds to spare. I hate starting mornings off like that, but at least I got almost an extra hour of sleep!

There weren’t many of us in class today, which was a good thing because The Good Teacher Inga had to break the news to us that we are indeed combining with another class for these last few weeks of school. I could tell she wasn’t very happy about it, but she put on the happy face anyway and welcomed the new students. We have one chapter to go in our book with 14 chapters and the other class was just starting chapter 4 in the same book, so it will be quite the challenge for her to deal with students at two different levels. I think it would be good for us to go backwards for a while, so I’m okay with it. All we did this morning was read the newspaper. Norway actually produces a weekly newspaper written with very simple words and short articles just to help new immigrants and kids learn to read the paper. Today’s feature article was on the violence in schools around the world – specifically all the massacres done by students. The question is, will that ever happen in Norway. A little while ago some kid near Oslo made the threat to bring a gun to school and shoot people, so rather than kick him out of school or send him to a shrink, they fined him. He’s only 17 years old, but they strapped him with a debt equivalent to about a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars! They wanted to make the point that threats are not tolerated and they hoped it would get the message across to other kids not to do the same. That guy will have to work for probably ten years to pay off that debt. I guess if he doesn’t, he’ll go to jail, but that was one heck of a fine.
I left half way through the day to go meet with The Praying Women and have prayer time with them, which is always a highlight of my week. It’s like being in command central or something as there tends to be nothing but answered prayer coming out of that group. I had them pray for Kaleb today as his attitude has been such a challenge and this morning it went from bad to worse. Kory said he refused to go to school because he didn’t want to be around Morten. He was devastated that he couldn’t play with his Nintendo so he cancelled his plans to go over to his friend’s house after school. Kory said he was as sour as could be and nothing would console him. He was even late for school because he didn’t leave our house until it had already started. Kory told him to have a good day at school, to which Kaleb responded, “What makes you think I’m going?” But he did. He came home right on time and complained bitterly that he’s not learning anything and it’s very boring and he’s tired of being picked on. He’s counting down the days until it’s over and done with and he can go back to homeschooling. I felt badly for him that he didn’t go play with his friends, but he swears there is nothing to do with them unless they can use their Nintendos. Kory and I have given him a thousand examples of things to do, that we used to do as kids before the invention of hand held video games, but he doesn’t think any of them sound like much fun. Stakkars, Kaleb.

I packed my bags today when I got home from school. I’m flying to Oslo in the morning to go to a “Jesus Women” conference with cousin Kari this weekend. I was able to get round trip tickets for a little over a hundred dollars, and I’ll be sharing a hotel room with Kari and her sister so that will be just under a hundred dollars for two nights, so all in all, for about three hundred bucks I get a chick weekend away from home and in the big city of Oslo. There will be thousands of women at this conference so that’s exciting, too. I just love the whole multidenominational Jesus Women thing they have going on here in Norway. I’m looking at it like a graduation present to myself, even though I’m not graduating from anything, but I soon will be done with school, and that’s something worth celebrating.

Kory took the car in today for all the repairs needed to pass the European Union inspection. It cost just under a thousand dollars to fix all the little things that needed fixing. The guy he took it to said he’ll throw in two free slightly used front tires because he’s a friend of Kory’s from way back. Kory has to go in another day for the tires, but it’s good to know the car is now in tip-top shape for our big road trip. Woo hoo. I love road trips!

I packed a few more boxes today and sent a box of Kaleb’s school books home because it was cheaper than re-buying them when we get there. He’s elated that his algebra book is no longer in the house, and he’s hoping the box gets lost in the mail. Until my laptop comes back in the mail, he’s taking revenge on me limiting his electronics time and is now making me pay rent to use his computer in order to check my mail and write the blog. I’ve always wanted to be a paid writer, so this might be as close as I get – a writer who pays to write. Is that right?

Field Trippin'

Back home we have a hat that looks like a crab (which we call The Crabby Hat) and if we wake up feeling like one, we put it on as a warning to the rest of the household. I needed that hat this morning. I didn’t get to sleep before 4am so my mood was shot. It took more than one cup of coffee to make changes. We had a field trip today to an outdoor museum so it helped that I could take a bus an hour later than usual but I still had to get up and make Kaleb’s lunch. He had a field trip too – a hike to a beach that took the whole day. It would have been nice for both of us if we had a little sunshine to go along with our field trips, but as it was, it poured down rain most of the day and when it wasn’t raining hard, it was hailing. Kaleb had to walk home in the worst of it and by the time he came in the door soaking wet he had come up with a little ditty that goes like this: All hail the rain of the sun of weather. He thought it was pretty clever. Kory needed it explained, but I got it right away, even lacking sleep.

Kory spent his day over at Odd’s again, finishing up the interior walls. He’s glad to have that milestone under his belt but it all took longer than he anticipated. Odd is thrilled, but it might still look the same when we come back next year so Kory is prepared for trim work then if he doesn’t get to it before we leave town this year. Odd has waited ten years for this remodel, so I guess if it doesn’t all get done now, he’s used to waiting.

I was able to get a two hour nap this afternoon which was the only thing that kept everyone around me alive. Kaleb was in top form arguing and complaining about every little thing, for which I had no patience. When he broke into disobedience, he got his electronics taken away for tomorrow, which nearly sent him packing. He had a playdate set up for tomorrow and his Nintendo is the key element to his bonding with other kids. Kory spent a good hour trying to explain that it was a just punishment to fit the crime. Kaleb didn’t think so and now hates me. Uff da.

Tonight we had the good fortune of having Kory’s Tante Berit and Onkel Per over for dinner (see photo). They are siblings and half brother and sister to Kory’s mom, Jenny, but they never met her. We found out tonight that tomorrow is Per’s 80th birthday so it was extra special to have them here. Berit has moved to Spain and is only here visiting for a few more days before she heads back. She loves it there. Many retired Norwegians head to the coast of Spain in the winter, but some end up staying year round as it’s cheaper to live there and they are pretty much done with the snow and rain in Norway. They get nothing but sunshine and warm days down south. There are entire Norwegian communities down there so they can buy the foods they love and talk all the Norwegian they want. Berit’s husband died a few years ago and she never had children, so she’s glad she has a good group of friends in Spain to hang out with. She’s a lovely woman and most everyone around here knows her as she is a retired banker.

Per is a funny guy. He had Kory laughing nearly the entire evening. He’s been rapidly losing his eyesight, and he is sure it’s from the prescription drugs he must take ever since he had heart surgery a few years ago. He said all his friends who take the same drugs are losing their sight also, but the doctor won’t pay any attention to their claims. It made Kory all the more thankful God closed the door for him to have any kind of heart surgery. Quality over quantity of life has got to be the way to go.

I finally was able to talk Norwegian with them so I asked a few questions about their dad, the grandfather Kory never knew. Karl was a machinist his whole life and grew up and lived in Langevåg, the same town Kory is from. While the war was going on, Karl was working on a merchant ship and after that sank near Pakistan he tried to get back home via a train through Russia, but couldn’t, so he found another ship that needed a machinist and got a job on that one which unbeknownst to him, ended up it’s tour in Seattle. Karl wasn’t able to travel back to Norway because Germany had closed all the ports so he got a job in a machine shop in Ballard and didn't see his family for two more years, until after the war was over. They said he loved to be on a boat out at sea and to go fishing. He died just a few weeks after Kory’s dad died in October of 1968 – both of them from heart attacks.

Kaleb attended a birthday party tonight and came home from it in the foulest of moods. I guess Morten used him for a punching bag one too many times. He said the parents there didn’t do anything to stop him and even though he kept running away from him, Morten continued to come after him and punch and kick him. He was in tears asking to buy a ticket back home immediately and he says he refuses to go to school tomorrow. He just had one heck of a bad day today and not enough sleep last night so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for all of us.

Packin' Up

It was the big Norsk Prøve 3 day today so I didn’t go to school since I wasn’t taking the test. It was so nice to have yet another day off! And Kory didn’t have to work today either because they were doing some heavy roof work and his bosses know by now it’s not wise to have him do such things. They told him he could stay home if he wanted. So he did. Actually, he was at Odd’s house all day installing the new interior walls, so I didn’t see much of him. After Kaleb was off to school, I took the bus to the mall and bought Tante Kari some flowers to welcome her back home from the rehab center. She still has pain in her hip, but she says she feels much better now that she is home. We had a nice visit but it would have been better if she was back to her old cheerful self again.

I stopped in to see Tante Ruth too but she was having a heck of a time. She didn’t answer her door so I had to have Tante Aslaug unlock the door to let me in. Ruth was laying all curled up on her bed as her hearing aid had broken and she couldn’t hear a thing and with her glaucoma, she is nearly blind anyway so she was in quite the pickle. Tante Aslaug has lost most of her patience with Ruth and she went out the door in a huff saying “Now she’s completely deaf and nearly totally blind, what more can happen….” (Well, she can’t walk without a walker, and she is full of cancer, so there are a few more things that could go wrong.) Tante Aslaug went and got some spare parts from her own hearing aid to try and fix Tante Ruth’s but had no luck for the hour I was there. If it weren’t all so sad it would almost have been a comedy routine as these two old ladies sat yelling at each other, one because she couldn’t hear a thing and the other because she kept trying to fix the hearing aid and wanted to see if it was working. I gave up trying to help and just went to the mall to do my shopping. Aslaug called me later to say she took the hearing aid in and got it fixed on the spot and now Ruth can hear again, thank God. When I think about it, I try not to laugh, but it was one of the more hopeless situations I’ve experienced in a while. I pray I don’t live THAT long.

I spent an hour on the phone today just making two calls – one to the phone company to schedule our phone and internet disconnection for the 26th (sad day) and one to the Dell support center to get my laptop picked up again and hopefully repaired for good this time. Telephone support is as bad here as it is in the U.S. Ugh. I also packed up a few more boxes, which made me even sadder as I’m so not ready to leave. I guess we will have to though if we ever want to see Kaleb again. He is heading for his friend’s houses the minute he is done with his homework then heads back again right after he finishes dinner. He’s on a roll and expanding his friendship base with each day. I’m so thankful for that, but also a bit worried for the fall out when we get home.

I went to another Bible study tonight by the same group I met with two weeks ago. They invited me back again so I suggested we talk about the book of James, since it is all still fresh in my mind from last night’s study. It’s such a good book to discuss because there are so many powerful words in it. The ladies gave me flowers as a thank you for coming, and they said they will be setting a place at the table for me until I come back again next year. I’m not sure what it is that makes such an impact with these women but they seem to really like me, so that’s nice. The group broke up at ten o’clock and some wanted to stay an extra hour and soak and pray, so we did that, (and it was good) then everyone left but me because the hostess wanted to talk to me privately. I guess last time when I prayed for her, it was very meaningful and she wanted to tell me why. I am so amazed I understood her because she used so many Norwegian words I didn’t understand fully, but I knew exactly what she was talking about. It was almost like Pentecost when people were speaking in other languages but others were able to understand. She told me about how her step-father had molested her many times as a girl and that she kept it a secret for 15 years before she finally told her husband and her mother. Her mother divorced him because of it but it broke up her family for a while because her siblings didn’t fully understand. She has never wanted to forgive her step-father but she knows she must, so when I prayed for her two weeks ago I could sense that she had an important decision to make and I asked God to help her make the right one. First she had to choose to forgive. She was also wondering if she can just tell God she has forgiven him or if she must go directly to her step-father and tell him he is forgiven. She was totally hung up on the thought that if she forgave him, she might have to face him again and she didn’t want to do it. I told her that forgiveness is a process and it won’t happen over night. She will have to choose to forgive him each and every day until one day she won’t have the pain inside anymore. I suggested if God so leads, she maybe should wait to face him until she knows in her heart she has forgiven him. We talked and prayed until nearly one in the morning and it was good for both of us. What Satan meant for harm, God meant for good, so we focused on the good.

Second Day of Pentecost

I still don’t fully understand why today is a national holiday in Norway, but nonetheless, it’s called the “Second” day of Pentecost and no one had to work. I’m not sure the Bible mentions what happened on the day after Pentecost, but I still love that all of Norway’s holidays (except for two) follow after the Christian calendar, even if most people don’t know what Pentecost means. Last Friday my teacher had me explain it to the class, as she wasn’t sure its meaning either.

Because Kory and Kaleb didn’t get back from fishing last night until midnight (it was still light as day), we all slept in. We have adjusted to the Norwegian calendar… they are all up past midnight and no one is out and about until after ten in the morning. Such is our life when we don’t have school.

Kaleb was out the door right after breakfast to go play with his friends but I was home all day cleaning house and preparing dinner. We had a BBQ for our Bible study group as a way to finish out the year and to say goodbye to Emmanuel and Ledto (the couple across from Kaleb) who move to southern Norway next week. We were studying the last chapter in the book of James and we got into some very interesting conversations because of it. One of the scriptures was about being patient in suffering, and I admitted I don’t really know what suffering is, compared to what the first generation Christians had to endure with all their persecution and torture. Then it occurred to me I was sitting in the same room with people from Africa who had been jailed for their faith! Three out of the four men in our group have been in prison. Emmanuel spent three months in a shipping container sitting out in the scorching sun all day because he is a Pentecostal. Only one small window was cut out of the side for fresh air and he was only allowed to leave it for a few minutes twice a day to relieve himself. God’s grace got him through he said. Another man in our group, Beyene (short sleeved white shirt), said he was in prison for political reasons, because he opposed the ruling party. He was put in a very tiny room with 20 other men and there was only space for a few at a time to lie on the floor and sleep, so they had to sleep in shifts and the others had to stand. He was there for three months. He said four or five in the prison were taken out and shot every night, or men were pulled out and randomly beaten. He was spared both, but lived with the fear it would happen to him every day. He said every man there welcomed death because their conditions were so horrible. Then Lawrence, the one in our group from Sudan (green stripped sweater), said he entered Norway with false documents so they locked him up for 35 days waiting to verify his story. He said the prison in Norway was like going to a country club. He said the bed was made fresh with clean sheets and blankets. New clothes and shoes awaited him. He had the best food in his life. He was free everyday to leave his cell and move around the prison grounds. He had a TV room and games to play and on Saturdays they went on field trips for bike rides or hikes up in the mountains just to get a break from the prison. He even got a paycheck! He laughed as he told us he never wanted to leave because he had never known such a good life growing up in Darfour. What a contrast.

But Emmanuel reminded us the seriousness of the prisons in Eritrea and he wrote down the names of the pastors he knows personally that have been in prison for seven years there, just for preaching the gospel. He said their families are also suffering terribly because the women aren’t allowed to work and they have no money to support their children. We prayed for them and asked God to open the prison doors and to comfort them where they are. It’s really hard to imagine it, but these guys know firsthand, and they weren’t kidding when they told us how desperate of a situation it is. My heart aches. We had to say good-bye to them all tonight and short of seeing them one day in heaven, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing any of them again. Kory often says we can’t change the whole world, but we are responsible for those who are in front of us, and it made me think there must be something we can do for those pastors in prison in Africa. We’ll see how God leads. (On the upside, I finally got to see Ledto and Emmanuel’s new baby, Gospel. Totally cute!)

Kaleb and Tobias were so excited about their big fishing success last night they went again tonight but only caught one fish. They spent most of their time untangling Kaleb’s fishing line. We served last night’s fish at our BBQ tonight but there were too many bones in them to really enjoy the meat, so in the future if we get more, Kory’s just going to use them to make fish soup. We had salmon as a backup, so that was good. Kory spent his day out in the garage sorting through things. He framed in a space of how much storage we have at our condo so I’ll know before it’s too late what will fit in it and what will not. I’m thinking it’s about the same size as the prison cells in Eritrea. Another contrast.