Norway

Living in Sweden has provided our family with numerous opportunities that just would not be available otherwise. Once you are here, you can get in your car and drive anywhere and see anything. We can experience the culture, meet the people, learn their ways, gain a new perspective, and do things that we never thought we'd be doing.

Driving through Norway is something I never dreamed of doing, but I have done it now. It was fascinating to see this unknown place come alive before my eyes. I felt as if I was drinking in each sight, and purposely committing each glimpse to memory. I'm afraid of forgetting it. I want it to be as alive in my mind as it was the day I saw it. That explains why some of us have to snap pictures of every interesting thing that passes into view: a fence, a building, that hillside, those goats, a tractor, a lake, etc. I tried desperately to capture the feelings that were evoked by what I saw onto film. Again and again I was disappointed with the quality of my pictures because they could not reflect what I felt as I saw whatever it was I found so moving. The picture doesn't tell the story. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes its only worth a hundred.

I snapped over 200 pictures. I am happy with all of them. I think I took pictures of everything that excited me. But already I'm left with an emptiness. All I have left are some pictures, a few souvenirs, and many happy memories. Even if I could go back right now, it wouldn't be the same as when I was there before. The same thing has happened with my expectations of this summer in Stockholm repeating itself to be as good as it was last year. It isn't that its not as good, its just different.

If you're wondering exactly how our camping trip to Norway went, hang on a second. I'm getting there...

I was excited about going to Norway, but I had low expectations. I assumed it would be very similiar to Sweden or Denmark. But it wasn't. It was vastly different. We looked at pictures on the internet while we searched for ideal places to camp, and things to see and do. Based on those pictures alone, I knew we were in for the scenery of a lifetime. I didn't know if we'd find anything else of interest, but at least it would be pretty!

The landscape was spotless. There were no billboards, no fast food advertisements (because there are no fast food chains in Norway - not that we saw anyway), no trashy ditches or back yards, no "bad part of town", no stoplights (just roundabouts), no traffic jams, no speed limits over 50 mph, no big city life... do you get my drift? Its perfect for camping!

The landscape was rich - dominated by the greenest, thickest grass you ever saw, with trees everywhere. Cows grazed in hillside fields, and free-roaming goats wearing bells around their necks were casually hanging out near the roadside. (They seemed to know that the road was dangerous and kept to the grassy ditch area.) Moose signs were plentiful along the roadside, warning travelers of the possibility of crashing into one. Unfortunately, we didn't see any moose. I think its more likely you will crash into the moose sign, than an actual moose. Perfect houses with flowery front yards were scattered throughout the mountain valleys. The main highway passes through small towns where the dark brown color of its buildings seems to say to you "I'm Norwergian" in the same way that the dark red of the houses here in Sweden say "I'm Swedish."

We rode fjord horses for an hour through a picturesque hillside town that looks over a fjord. Halfway through the ride I began to experience that rookie cowgirl problem, a good idea of what it was going to feel like to be saddle sore the next day. My boys had never rode horses before and I could gauge their happiness by the grins on their faces! It was worth what it cost, both monetarily and physically.

Our adventure began in Lillehammer, site of the 1994 Olympics. We enjoyed the museum and seeing the ski jumps above the city. I was happy to see the place and take my boys there since this year's Olympics are right around the corner. Driving around in Lillehammer we were surprised to hear country music playing on the radio. (There is no country music station in Stockholm!)

We visited Briksdalsbreen Glacier and climbed nearly an hour and a half to reach its snout. What a sight that was! Icy blue mountain, with little streams of water running in various places as part of the glacier melts each summer. We had hoped to actually do some walking on it, (with a guide of course!) along all with the necessary gear. But we arrived after the last group of trekkers went out and we couldn't come back the next day. Note to self: Next time don't rely just on the schedule that the brochure contains - call the place and verify they actually will have a guide available at 5:00!

My guys were brave (and thick skinned) as they took a dive into some very cold water. We camped at Strynsvatn Lake, where the temperature of the water is around, oh, something like 65 degrees. Refreshing, you say? Heart stopping, I say. It took my husband and both boys quite awhile to work up the willpower to jump in, but they finally took the plunge. No sooner were they in the water, than they made a beeline for the ladder to get themselves OUT. Seeing's how someone has to run the cameras and tape such important events as these, yours truly was unable to experience this. I'm sure you understand.

Have you ever heard of the Geiranger Fjord? Its one of the most visited fjords in Norway. Now we know why. We drove our truck onto the ferry and enjoyed the scenic trip across the fjord as we sat on the top deck. We saw the Seven Sisters Waterfall. Oh, did I mention that we saw waterfalls very frequently while we were in Norway? I've never seen so many waterfalls in my whole entire life as I did in those seven days in Norway. At one point I joked with ~D~ that we might actually get tired of seeing mundane old waterfalls!

These are the highlights of what I'd call "the best camping trip ever." I plan on having a nice long visit with my Norwegian neighbors when they return from vacation. I need to know their address in Norway so we can go visit them someday.

Rejoicing,
For time spent in Norway
and for Home Sweet Home,
Marla

P.S. I'll post a few pictures later. For now, I wanted to get the words down before they escaped!

Glass blowing adventure & last night's sky

WOW! We had such an amazing glass blowing experience at Steninge Slott! I didn't make one (its kinda expensive, so I hope to go back another time to do mine!) But the boys each made a glass ball with the help of a very nice instructor. He let them do as much as possible on their own, including all of the blowing. They turned out to be almost 5 inches tall and are quite heavy.

This is ~D~'s ball:


And this one is ~N~'s:



Last night before I went to bed, I looked out the window and saw this:


We are too far south to see the Northern Lights. But I found this to be almost as pretty! We've also seen some really amazing sunsets. Fiery, glowing, long-lasting awe- inspiring shows in the sky that keep us spellbound till it finally fades away.

We leave in a couple days for our camping trip to Norway. In the midst of packing camping gear, washing our clothes, shopping, and making menus now. We'll be gone for awhile, but when we return I'll post some pictures of the fjords we're going to visit and lots of other Norwegian scenery! If its anything like the pictures we've seen on the internet, its going to be AWESOME!

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Rejoice evermore,
Marla

Things we're learning

Today I am looking forward to taking the boys to a place called Steninge Slott, a beautiful 18th century palace just 30 minutes north of Stokcholm. A lady from our church told us about this place and wanted to go there because they have glass blowing. Supposedly, with the help of an instructor, you can blow your own glass! We all want to try our hand at this and see what we come up with.

I banned my boys from using the computer all this week. It seems I have let them get into the habit of logging on whenever they want. Very untypical of my mothering style. They have always had to ask permission to watch t.v., play video games or play on the computer. But then we bought a new computer and all of us were so excited about it that my "rules" sorta flew out the window. Now I've got to reign them back in and get them interested in real life again. Sometimes I'd like to toss all the techno gadgetry in the garbage. I think its the #1 reason why my oldest doesn't like to read. He'd rather play on the computer.

I like both reading and using the computer. My son likes to use the computer to play games, search eBay for interesting toys to buy (he currently wants to get the Lord of the Rings version of Risk), and also enjoys changing the backgrounds on his desktop. He has a good understanding of how to use a computer at a young age. But I guess we're raising a new generation of extremely computer-literate children, aren't we? Since computers are so commonplace in the home now, I wonder why we aren't teaching children how to type? Last year, when my boys went to the international school, they spent hours each week in a computer class, or using the computer in their classroom, but they never received any formal training about how to type. Seems to me, if kids can navigate the computer with such ease, they might also be ready to begin learning some typing skills.

I just had the boys complete their first entry in their new portfolios. I asked them to think about our trip to Denmark and draw a picture/write about something related to our adventure there. This little exercise was originally meant to give them something to do since I took away computer privileges. I also wanted to begin giving them small but meaningful assignments to give them practice taking directions from their new teacher - MOM! Oldest son was reluctant at first, but is thrilled with having his own notebook to store his stuff.

They both watched Muzzy this morning and I'm pleased at how easily ~D~ is picking up the language. After watching the DVD, he'll come to me and speak something in Spanish, wondering if I understood him. Of course not. Then he's so proud to tell me what he learned!

Now ~N~ has decided on his own that its time to clean out the gerbil's cage. Taking care of his gerbil has been a great way to learn responsibility. I am especially pleased when my children take the initiative and do things on their own, without prompting and nagging from me.

Rejoicing
because of the gift of my children,
Marla

Life at our house lately...

I bought recorders for my boys and we've been playing with them today. They both have learned how to play the song "Mary had a little lamb." I keep forgetting what its like to be a kid and how hard it is to learn how to do something new. Both of them would get quite frustrated and my youngest was nearly in tears trying so hard to "get it." But after a little more practice his fingers began to get accustomed and he was able to make them do as he wished. He just asked me where his recorder was and ran off with it upstairs, where I hear him making up his own tune and also trying to belt out Mary had a little lamb. Ahhh. Is this what homeschooling will be like, I ask myself? Will we begin with moments of tears and frustration, but eventually end up with an "I get it!" ? I expect much of it will be that way.

I explained to my oldest this morning that we'll be doing lots of reading. His response was "Oh, no!" and to hang his head. He's also repeatedly been telling me that he hates math. The reading part definitely bothers me, but I am confident that Math U See will win him over. The reading, though. How do you get a child to like reading? (An almost 11 year old boy?) I hope that school at home will help with that attitude. Whatever has happened at school to cause such a dislike of it will hopefully turn around at home.

We had Bible study at our house this week. What a blessing that was! We usually have our group study at someone else's house, but they are on vacation in France. There were about 12 people present and we finished our study on Jeremiah. We'll be off now for the rest of the summer. Ingemar, an elderly Swedish gentlemen, brought me an orchid. Its my first one and I haven't a clue how to take care of orchids. Are they real needy? I have pretty good luck with plants that aren't real complicated.

That reminds me of what happened to my pansies last month. I had just planted some pink, purple and white ones outdoors. I was all excited about gardening here because, unlike Texas, we have rich, dark soil and lots of rain. We must have had an early frost, which only targeted white pansies for some unknown reason, because all my white ones keeled over and died. I replaced them with pretty new white ones. Several mornings later, I peeked out my front door to have a look at my little flower garden. What I saw amazed me. There were NO flowers there, just green stalks, all that remained of my poor pansies. Several of the plants had actually been dug out and lay there lifeless and puny looking. I didn't know whether to shake my fist in anger or cry in despair... Apparently, my pansies were a delightful snack for some bunnies (or deer) passing through our yard in the wee morning hours.

On Wednesday we found out that a dear Christian friend of ours, Odette, received word from immigration that she must leave Sweden within 3 weeks. She's been here the past 2 years as a refugee, presenting her case and hoping for Swedish citizenship. She wants to put in an appeal but her lawyer is gone on vacation and won't be back for a week. It's July in Sweden. Everyone's on vacation or preparing to leave. Don't expect to get anything done during this whole month. She is from Uganda and escaped a life threatening situation there. She doesn't want to go back but doesn't have many other options. We can do nothing but pray for God's will and protection for her. He knows what He's doing even though we sometimes don't have a clue.

May you find many reasons to
Rejoice -
Marla

Happy 4th of July!

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
~Abraham Lincoln


"America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
~Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859


"Liberty will always be secured by the blood of patriots."
~ ?


"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
~ Galatians 5:1


Rejoicing in my freedom,
Both in Christ,
And in America,
Marla