On a journey...

It is so good to be in Norway this time of year! It is lovely to sit here in the comfy, red sofa in my parents’ house (just to clarify: it is red all year round, we don’t have a “special” sofa we get out for Christmas, but it is nice that it is red this time of year). I am sipping a cup of PG Tips tea (we get the massive 500-teabag bags in the local shops run by immigrants, and they are very cheap!) and eating a julegeit (literal translation: “Christmas goat”. It’s a type of bread-roll shaped as a goat which is a little bit sweet) with our traditional brown cheese (it’s a slightly sweet cheese made from goat milk and it’s called “brown” cheese because it is brown in colour). We’ve started to put out our Christmas decorations, and now I am having a little break while I eat and write a little blog-update. My brothers have headed up to some woods close by where they will pick and chop the Christmas tree (and I won’t get into the whole ethical debate surrounding the use of real trees and c

Today it’s been snowing! Everything is covered in white and when I walk there’s a nice crunch under my feet! The perfect day to make gløgg; a traditional, Norwegian Christmas drink made of (in a USA modified recipe) apple juice, grape juice, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, cardamom, raisins, and almonds. It was very nice! I am afraid I don’t have any photos of either, so I suppose it’ll have to be left to the imagination of each one of us to picture what it looks like.

Well, I didn’t quite manage a picture a day, but I won’t let a few days of not doing it deter me from moving forward in my little project. What’s a few days missed anyway? Today I baked. I started off baking Christmas cookies (to put in my very nice red plastic cookie tins with snowflakes on). At first I wanted to bake 4 kinds (in Norway you traditionally do 7 kinds of cookies for Christmas), but then I thought I’d do just one, and ended up baking two kinds and making the dough for a third which I’ll finish tomorrow. I made serinakaker and kokosmakroner (for those of you who know what they are). They turned out well! But the baking didn’t end there- I then realised that I had two bananas that were getting close to the end of their days, and so I decided to make some banana-bread muffins. And then I remembered that when I’d gone shopping yesterday I didn’t buy bagels because I wanted to bake wholemeal bread rolls, and so I make that too. They turned out really well! Light and tasty (I t

I have made it to the fourth day of December and am still going strong in my little photo project- this is cool! Today I’ve spent the day at something called “Prophetic Hearing Intensive”. Basically I’d a 3- day conference about hearing God’s heart and voice. It’s so good. Today we did some practical stuff, but mainly listened to stories of how God speaks and changes lives! I feel very inspired! And the photo of today is of my lovely wooden fruit-bowl, which I bought at WalMart. I still get excited when I can go to this store/shop which I know so well from movies/films- it’s a good place to go shopping (I hope you detected the way I am being language sensitive by providing both the American and British English words). I think it’s so nice (the fruit bowl) and looks really good with colourful fruit in it.

Today my housemate took this picture of me sat on our very lovely and extremely comfy sofa in the lounge. One really good thing about this house is that it’s nice and warm. We keep the thermostat at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (I have no clue what that is in Celsius, but I am sure you can google it if you want to know). It’s been a good day today!

As I was strolling back from the Prayer Room to my house to check my email I was enjoying walking in the sunshine with a clear blue sky, yet not feeling cold even if the temperature is low. And that led me to appreciate comfy, warm, snugly clothes that keep me warm. Which made me think that today I could post a photo where I am all ready to face the cold (I did actually take this photo today, but it’s not totally authentic as I did put my warm clothes on just to take the photo which I used the automatic timer thingy on my camera for- I am quite impressed with myself that I managed to make it work). I have also included a photo of my improvised advent candlestick holder. More tomorrow…maybe.

I actually nicked this idea from a friend of mine who is in Madagascar (takk Kirsten Marie), and as a kind of advent calendar she was going to post a photo each day of December till Christmas. I thought this was a very good idea- and I am sure my friend Faith who did a photo every day for a whole year for her flickr project would agree with me that it’s not too big of a challenge to embark on. Knowing myself I might not actually finish it, but hey, it’s worth a try. And since I thought of it (or rather got the idea) today which is the 1st I can get started. So, here you go: a photo of yours truly in my lovely kitchen (I didn’t actually take the photo today, but I think that would be a bit ambitious). I think it’s kind of blurry so I need to take some time to figure out my nice, new camera which is supposed to work well (it has a lot of features so I get a tad confused using it). Today it’s been really cold!! Brrr. I got up several times to pace in the Prayer Room, just to get a bit wa

Today I woke up to snow. It sounds idyllic, but when I went outside to walk to get the shuttle to church it wasn’t as pleasant as it sounds, as snow was accompanied by an icy wind. It was cold, and I wished I’d dressed warmer. However, what is good about it being cold and windy outside is that it is very cosy to be inside. At the moment I am sat on my very comfy sofa. I just baked a brownie and had a nice cup of Earl Grey tea with a piece of it. It was very nice if I can say so myself! Although the brownie was a tad sweet even if I did make it from scratch. Maybe it was the milk chocolate chocolate-chips I put in it. Oh well, I suppose it’s meant to be sweet. It is so nice to sit inside a nicely warmed house with my woolly slippers on and candles lit. In Norway we do advent candles and so have a candlestick-holder with four candles, and we light one candle each Sunday leading up to Christmas. And today is the first Sunday of advent. But I didn’t have a candlestick-holder, so I took a w

You might wonder what the two have to do with each other, but if you read on you will find out. On Tuesday evening I went to a meeting here where a couple that works with orphanages shared a bit of their story. It was so exciting and encouraging and really just shows how God is so powerful and how when we walk with Him and partner with Him, amazing things happen. Basically this guy, Judah Becker, was working in missions in Thailand and one day as he was driving up to a village he saw a truck full of crying children drive past him. Asking what was going on he found out that the crop of the village of the children had failed, and so they had decided that every family would sell a child into prostitution to survive. Obviously this totally messed Judah up and the short version is that God gave him the idea to plant coffee to give the villages a sustainable crop to sustain themselves and hence not need to sell their children anymore. And that was what happened and now these villages don’t s

“Not much”, I think is the answer. Although, that’s not quite correct, I’ve had quite an adventurous weekend (in the mildest sense of the word). Let me see, where do I start? Well, Thursday when I last wrote was really good. I got to join with a team for a bit in the evening, which was really good fun and it lifted my spirits as I am totally a team person! The whole week had been quite tense because of adjustments with our household and people coming and going. On Saturday two of the girls I shared with were moving out and since Friday night they were packing, my other housemate and I went shopping. We figured it was easier to not get caught up in the chaos that packing to move houses is. It was fun to go shopping, even if we only went to Wall-Mart and HyVee (big grocery and other thing shops). We got a few bits and pieces for the house to make it more homely and generally just had fun looking at all the stuff they have. We’d decided that when the other girls had moved we’d do a big cl

Well, as I opened my blog today I realised that it’s been a while since last I wrote. There has been plenty to write about, I just haven’t done it. Oh well. So here I am sat in my room. A set from the prayer room yesterday, meditating on Psalm 139, is playing in my ears so I find I’m switching between listening and writing which is a good way to write a blog (although maybe not the most time efficient, but I have time; I’m doing my laundry so I’m stuck in the house for a few hours). At the moment the chorus being sung over and over again is: “Nothing in all creating is hidden from the sight of God. Everything in all creation is laid bare before your eyes.” I am sat on a pillow on the floor with another pillow resting against my bed to support my back. My bed is kind of rickety (I think that’s the right word) and has wheels under it, so I can’t sit in it leaning towards the wall (it’s a little bit strange…). So in want of a nice, comfortable chair I can lounge in, I am sat on the floor

Well, it’s been a while since last update and the week gone by has different things I want to write down so I don’t forget them, so here we go, a little “my diary” style update… Friday 17th October- The edge of Hell Friday evening I went with a friend on mine on the IHOP evangelistic outreach to the famous “Haunted Houses”. As far as I understood, this time of year (i.e. Halloween time) they set up haunted houses, like ghost houses, where people pay and ride through them and get scared (that’s it in a nutshell, and it’s good business too. Someone offered us tickets for 2 houses “a combo” for US$ 46!). One of the haunted houses is actually called “the edge of hell”, so what better place to go to talk to people the reality of heaven. It was quite hard to engage people in conversation. Not quite like Brazil I must say. But in spite of feeling like a fish out of water I did talk to a few people. One was this homeless man I spotted (with my eyes that always notice street people, I guess it’

Well, since I last wrote I have actually moved. It is lovely to be so close to the prayer room…it only takes 4 minutes, and I still have people giving me lifts if it’s raining (which is nice because heavy rain is capable of getting you pretty wet even if it’s only a short walk). Sat her in my nice room I am feeling a bit culture shocked though. Today it suddenly hit me again… it’s weird how culture shock does that, hits you at different times. I’ll be totally fine and then I’ll be close to tears, like I am writing this. I had such a lovely afternoon today. I met up with a few friends from Commission and we went to Panera for lunch. It was so nice to catch up and just hang out. I came home and went to do my laundry, which is tricky because it means going into the flat in the cellar and it feels strange to walk into someone else’s home. And so that just got me all insecure in how to go about the whole thing. I did get my washing on in the end and now it’s in the dryer on this great setti

Life goes on. I am still settling in here in Kansas City. I looked at a room to live in last week and decided to take it. It’s only 4 minutes to walk from the prayer room, has nice wooden floors and is a lovely house. I signed the contract yesterday and will move today. I feel peace yet a bit sad to leave my friends’ house. It’s been so lovely to live with people I know and be a part of life here. It’s funny how you get to catch up on a different level when you share day-to-day life. And being a good walk away from the prayer room has given me a chance to let others bless me with lifts. Other then my friends how live here, a couple of other people have kindly given me rides. Yesterday a lovely lady who was on her way in the other direction turned around and came back to give me a life because it was raining, and yesterday morning a lady stopped as I was walking to the prayer room at 6 am and gave me a lift. So I have been very blessed. It has also been quite nice to walk when it’s been

I am finally in Kansas City. It is so great to be back here, it feel like I’ve finally got to where I am supposed to be. My friend Maria picked me up when I arrived on Wednesday and it was great seeing her again. I am staying at her house with her, her gorgeous little son, and a friend of hers with her 3 boys. No need to say that it’s not the quietest house I’ve ever lived in, but I do like the life the children bring and they are all very sweet. It’s such a blessing to be able to stay here while I figure things out. And these 3 days that I’ve been here I feel so blessed. I’ve connected with a few people I knew from before and being back in the prayer room feels so normal. I am also well on my way in getting things sorted so I can start working. Today I went to get my social security number and it took, oh let’s see, all of about 5 or maybe 10 minutes to get it sorted and it’ll be sent to me in the post. And so I feel like things keep moving forward and God continues just opening those

I was right in my assumption that I would not make my flight last night. It was a bit touch and go as it seemed like it would be possible, but then it wasn’t. I was a bit miffed as it would have been so nice to get to Kansas City and not have to travel for another morning. But then again, I was pretty exhausted so it was ok to be able to go to bed instead of getting on another flight. Still, for those of you who know me and how much I enjoy nice hotels, it wasn’t the same enjoyment when I really just wanted to be finished with my travelling. Getting through customs and immigration was painless to say the least. As I apologised for the lack of much voice they all kindly processed me (or my documents) without much talking for which I was thankful. It’s strange how dependant I really am on my voice. On the plane it was really challenging to be able to even express what I wanted to drink when asked. And the poor guy next to me seemed to be in quite a chatty mood, but he soon discovered tha

And then 4 hours became 6 ½ hours…a slight delay to my flight to Chicago. I am still in Denmark. It’s not really a problem as such (apart from a great risk of getting very bored), but it’s a shame that I now have to try to get in touch with the people who are picking me up at the airport to say I’m going to be very late- in fact I will probably not get to Kansas City till Wednesday morning. The joys of travelling. I found a little bar/café where I could plug in my laptop and even connect to the internet for free! Jippi! Which means I can sit on the internet and do some emails, and of course get these scribbles (if you can call something typed a scribble) posted. I am also feeling less stuffy, although my voice is still of questionable quality…the journey continues- literally. On my way: Copenhagen airport I am sat here writing this with my soundproof headphones in my ears which makes this a bit of a surreal experience as what I hear is music being transported from my laptop into my ear

A friend of mine asked me today if I am counting down. I think I am. Today it’s a week till I go, or rather, in a week I’ll be in Kansas City. It’s very surreal. Life is busy at the moment so I don’t really have time to dwell that much on the ahead. Just trying get through the “now” really. This week I’ve been teaching 7-year olds in the local primary school. A lovely age-group to teach, but teaching full days does require some preparation. This evening I was sat here in front of the TV tracing half circle shapes onto cardboard as we’re going to make some mushroom figures for our crafts lessons tomorrow morning. I think they’ll enjoy it, hope so anyway. I am trying to think of what I still need to sort out to get ready. I mean, I have my flight and visa and somewhere to stay when I get there, so those are really the main things. I logged on to at&t’s website today to see if the phone I got last time I was there still works, but it seems to have been cancelled. I’ve also got my inte

As I was walking to work this morning some kids I walked passed said: “Excuse me, can you tell me what time it is?” Wearing a watch I was able to give them the time before continuing on my way with a smile on my face. I smiled because I remembered how many times children (and sometimes adults also) would come up to me in Brazil and ask what time it was, clearly not needing or even wanting to know the time. Their aim was to find out if I spoke Portuguese. How can I know this? Well, apart from the giggles as they reported back to their friends, and the shocked expressions on their faces when this blond-foreign-looking woman understood and could answer their question, some of them actually wearing a watch while asking sort of gave them away.

Sorting though some papers today I found this. I wrote it in May 2006, and so as to not loose it I thought I’d post it here on my blog as a reflection on life and dignity. It was an experience on a bus in Brazil, but the reality of it can be applied to every society and nation. The poor and needy will always be with us- what will our response be as we encounter these individuals who deserve lives of dignity? "The man got on the bus and was wearing dirty clothes. The bus driver let him on through the front door or the bus. As he started talking my heart got unsettled. He was begging for money. He wansn’t old or disabled, but his plea was to give him some money because he was unemployed and didn’t want to steal. The usual arguments came to mind: he’s an ablebodied man, he could work; what if he buys alcohol or drugs (although he didn’t smell of booze); what if he is simply lying…yet my heart was stirred and I felt such a compassion for this man. A compassion for the humiliation he m

I really should get to bed as it’s almost midnight, but I wanted to jot down a few lines in my blog first…it really feels a bit like a diary in a way. I remember having lots of different diaries when I grew up. One was red with a little lock on…I think I only wrote in it for a few weeks. Another one was one of those 5-year diaries, brown was it’s colour, but in my impatience I never could motivate myself to write as it seemed so long till I would have finished it (when you’re eight years old, five years is almost a lifetime). In my adult life I’ve been writing journals which have been a collection of writing all kinds of things; meditations, thoughts, diary-type things, lists, Bible studies, prayers…sort of an ongoing registering of my life, without it being in the ”dear diary” style. It’s good to have an outlet, somewhere to write things down. And it’s really interesting to once in a while look back and see what I’ve written five or 10 years ago (now five years seems like no time at a

I picked up my passport with my visa in it at the postoffice today. Strange to see my visa in my passport. I really am going now. I looked at flights today, but didn’t buy any. It feels a bit daunting + the flight I thought was really cheap was actually not that cheap because the quoted price was without taxes. I will have to so some research before I decide on a flight. God’s peace is still there. I am thankful for that peace. And the funny story…well, it might be funnier for me then anyone else, but I’ll write it anyway so I don’t forget it: (De)touring in Oslo After waiting for ages for the train from the airport in Oslo, and then getting a very slow train (i.e. stopped a zillion places before reaching Oslo- I think it was a local train as opposed to a regional one), I made my way out to the busstop outside the trainstation to get bus number 37 to my brother’s flat where I was going to spend the night. It was already past 10 pm and so it was a little bit scary to stand outside in th

As I gave him a hug goodbye tears pressed towards my eyelids and I could no longer hold them back. Like when waters press past the banks of a river, so my tears flowed down my face. They were tears of joy. Tears of saudade (note: Portuguese word describing the feeling of missing somone). What a joy to see Paulinho. See him grown. See him well. See him take the first steps of independance in the big world. Because the world is big, and he has stepped into it. Stepped onto a plane in Fortaleza, Brazil, and stepped into a music school in Hamar, Norway. A huge step for a young man, but it’s what God does when we let Him. He raises the lowly from the ashes and sets them as princes. Paulinho is a prince. He is highly regarded and favoured in God’s heart. So I left him there. My visit wasn’t long, but it took away some of the ”saudade” and created a new ”saudade”. Carrying people in my heart breaks it more often then not. Not because bad things happen (although sometimes they do), but because

Sat here trying to get round to writing an update here on my blog…so many things have gone through my head that I would like to write down, but knowing how to is the challenge… I had a lovely time in England. Again I was struck by how furtunate I am to have the privilege of knowing so many amazing people and be allowed to call them my friends. And again I left wishing I’d had more time to be able to visit and catch up with those I didn’t have the opportunity to see. Writing this I am in my brother’s flat in Oslo…it looks very new and modern (to my untrained eyes) but it was acutally built in 1939 (no doubt probably quite a bit of redecorating has been done since then. I’m in Oslo because I had my visa interview today. And it went really well. Surprisingly well. I wasn’t worried or nervous before it and I had no reason to be either. Everyone was very friendly and kind and I should be getting my passport and visa back to me in a week’s time. It’s a bit unreal- I can’t believe I am anothe

This week I got the good news that I have been accepted as staff at IHOP-KC. I was so excited! Excited about the door continuing open. Excited about actually stepping through the door and into what God has for me there. At the same time it’s a wee bit daunting! Not being a big fan of change I am suddenly having to think about what it’ll be like to move back to Kansas City. Think about the reality of it all. So far it’s been a longing and desire to go back, now it’s actually happening. It’s funny how there are so many different feelings and thoughts involved in stepping into the new of what lies ahead. But I knew I’d feel this way. I’ve lived with myself for enough years (actually my whole life) to know how I deal with change, and I have been through enough change to know that it’s good when it’s God. I am still not back in the USA, but I am one step closer. The waiting is almost over. Next task is applying for a visa. It’s funny how waiting is a time where so much is learned. One woul

I was thinking how I was writing this blog in a way to capture my thoughts and feelings as I journey through life…and that even when not much is happening, it’s valid and good to jot down a few thoughts that I can look back on when this stage of transition has transitioned into something less transitional (I hope I’m using the word ”transition” correctly). Anyway, transition is exciting because it means that there is something new ahead, but it is frustrating because I’m not there yet. I am still in the waiting process. Although I am not waiting for God to show me the way, I am waiting to hear from IHOP-KC if I can come there on staff. Being international means the whole process is a bit more complicated. I wait patiently and I rest in peace and reassurance that God is truly in control. I admit that I do have moments of being tired of waiting and wanting to find something else which isn’t so complicated. But then I remember that I have decided to obey God, and that it means I am to wai

Well, it’s been over a week since returning from Barcelona, but I simply haven’t had time to sit down and write and so I thought that now was an opportune moment. I wanted to put into writing our meeting with the little old man. We were following one of the walking routes in Lonely Planet along the area of El Raval. Not really knowing what the sights were in the area we were walking in I saw a sign for ”hortas” (which means gardens) and so we decided no harm would be done in checking it out. As we walk over there is a closed gate and a little old man is stood outside holding a plastic bag and bucket. He was clearly leaving, and as we approached he very kindly informed us that the gate was locked. We smiled and I explained that we just wanted to take a peek and take a few photos (meaning through the gaps in the gate). I asked if we could take a photo of him with his produce (he looked like your typical old spanish man). His response was heart warming in that he promptly put down what he

Another full-on tourist day in sunny Barcelona. To start off the day we bought our 3-day passes on the metro and went up to the Hospital desinged by Gaudi. Very beautiful and could have been easily missed had not someone recommended we go there. After taking in the beauty of the hospital we headed down to the very famous La Familia Sagrada. It is spectacular and unmissable when visiting this beautiful city. Walking around the unfinished masterpiece it was impacting to see how many Biblical illustrations had been used. Of course the audioguide helped me spot them as they were mostly on the very high facades and I wouldn't have noticed them had they not been pointed out to me. It was a great visit, although it did feel a bit like walking in a herd of sheep at times...me and the other tourists with their headsets on. Full of impressions from the Sagrada Familia, our tummys were feeling a bit empty so we went down to the Gracia area for a bite to eat. Easier said then done. The usually

I never did sit down to recount my trip to the famous "Pulpit Rock". But I was there and I bought the t-shirt (literally). Now I'm sat on the hotel computer in Barcelona where I'm having a holiday and taking in impressions from this big city. It reminds me a lot of Rio de Janeiro...a lot due to the temperature, but also the people, the feel of the city, the smells, the noise and the appearance. I suppose it might be due to the fact that South America has had a lot of influence from this part of Europe. As we were walking in the old part of the city today I walked past a woman begging. But it was unlike other beggars. She was wearing peach coloured clothes and her head was covered. Sat on the pavement with her head leaning towards the wall, looking away, the only indication that she was begging was the hand that was open and stretched out to indicate a request for some change. It was a strange sight. As if she was desparate, but maybe beyond desparation and had in a

In Norway we have this saying that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. With that in mind I dressed warmly and set off for my walk on the beach. When I arrived the beach had become less in size, and it was hard to remember what it had been like in the sunny and warm days, only a few days before. Determined to not let a bit of rain and wind deter me from my walk I started walking. I found a narrow strip of beach not yet covered by the waves and plodded along. I must admit that as I started off walking against the wind I did consider turning back and leaving it for a ”better day”, but then I decided to go for it. Needless to say I got a bit less tanned on this walk, and I wasn’t quite as warm at the end of it, but after walking for an hour and a half in the wind and rain, and getting inside to a hot shower and a nice cup of tea, I did feel better for it. Sat here writing this I am soon off to the airport to pick up a friend of mine, Eilen, who is coming to stay fo

When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, (Proverbs 8.29). This past week I’ve been pondering this Bibleverse as I’ve been walking on the beach (the one in the photo, yes it is in Norway!) in the lovely weather. It’s totally mindblowing to look at the sea and see the waves come onto the shore, yet know that they only come to a certain point before the water is pulled back into sea. God did this. He created the sand as a limit so that the waters would not come further. I really can’t get my head around it. It is beyond me. Yet, as I walk on the sand at the edge of the sea, ”escaping” the incoming water, and sometimes not managing to jump away in time, I think of God and of how powerful and creative and awesome He is!