Just the two of us...

Our children were born one by one, so the chaos sneaked up on us.  One day we were young and innocent, and suddenly we were bewildered.  The house was FILLED with kids!  Babies, toddlers, teenagers, they were everywhere!  They needed dinner every night, and new sneakers, and  their clothes and bedding had to be washed, they needed baths and showers, oh bed time was a whole comedy show.  

Then, one by one, they grew up and moved out.  Each move left an ache in my heart, and as the bedrooms emptied, I struggled to adjust the newness of the quiet.  Now we're down to two girls home, and when they're here, they are HERE.  (They are so much fun!). But, they're in Norway still.  So it's just Paul and me.

Last night after dinner, he said let's do something, ice cream?  Well.  I had just opened an after dinner yogurt, but I wrapped it up and put it back, grabbed my sweater, and off we went.  There is an ice cream place in the next town over, with the best soft ice cream...chocolate vanilla twist with rainbow sprinkles...mmm.  

We drove around the countryside and ended up at a little church with a graveyard.  We had been there before, I remember seeing a gravestone with the name Chloe, with our last name, and Paul suggesting it for a baby name...we were expecting Emily at the time.  Obviously I didn't share his enthusiasm, ha.  Anyway, a lot of his relatives are buried there. 

We ate our ice cream and wandered around...we're weird, but we do like old cemeteries.

Our dinner tonight was the same as last night:  I've been craving barbecued chicken, and our air fryer does the job.  Chicken thighs marinated in cajun spices and lime juice, then dipped in corn starch with salt and pepper, placed on parchment with plenty of avocado oil, coat in oil, flip...425 for 18 minutes, flip, brush with Stubbs bbq, air fry for a bit longer....flip again...until they are crispy and done.  

We've been eating a lot of arugula too, I like mine with cucumbers, maybe green olives, craisins, blueberries if we have them, salt and pepper, olive or avocado oil and a splash of lime juice.  

This fine morning, I picked up my car, it passed it's yearly inspection.  I did give the mechanic a Norwegian chocolate bar:). He said he just happens to be a "chocolate feen".  I haven't heard the word "feen" in a very long time:)

I'm working on this little table: 

, 

I regret that I didn't get a true "before" pic.  This is after I sanded all the old brown varnish off the top, exposing some nice wood.  I scuffed up the legs and lower shelf, a few coats of primer...  Now it's had a few applications of wipe off polyurethane on the top, and some creamy Biscuit color (Sherwin-Williams cabinet and trim enamel)(which is wonderful, it goes on like a dream, all buttery and smooth).  It still needs a few more coats on the top....but it'll be lovely, I'll show you in a few days.  

Kathryn came over with the kids today.  

Jamie fed Sunny her food, one piece at a time.  

Ellis is getting so big!  He's too cute.

They had pbj's and some blueberries, and played kitchen and house and in the fort I made by draping a few blankets from the back of a chair to the couch.  They played store and ran around and then were gathered up and brought home.  :)

Tomorrow, after swim class, I have a Target order to pick up, nothing exciting.  But life is exciting, and I do love summertime.  I am choosing to enjoy my days.  I am super blessed, and have nothing to complain about, but that doesn't stop us from feeling so tempted to be disgruntled and miserable sometimes!  This fine afternoon, before dinner, Paul had to go to the hardware store.  He asked if I wanted to go, and sure, I'll go for a ride!  Well.  Seeing me get in the truck would make anyone either feel super sorry for me, or laugh their heads off, or both.  There are no running boards, and the seat is so high, I just put my back to it, reach for the handle built in, as if Nissan KNEW an old grandma would be riding in that truck, heave myself up, turn around, and ahh, I did it.  Well.  Paul seemed to notice this debacle more than usual and said, "you seem to be struggling."  Duh?   Honestly, I was very tempted to feel sorry for myself.  I said, "Well, it's high up, if it was that high for you, you'd struggle too."  I knew that wasn't really so, and he said, "I doubt it."  I said, "I know.  I doubt it too."  I was so tempted to feel sorry for myself because I do try so hard...then I opened my ice cold peach seltzer, which I had just dropped on the truck floor, and it exploded in the new truck. I laughed my head off.  His face!  He took it really well after a second though.  I could NOT stop laughing.  

Anyway.  I do struggle.  My mobility isn't magical.  It's hard work, and I still get so sore and stiff.  My "old" knee is clicking and catching, but:  I can walk!  I choose to work to be thankful for that.  I choose to not get offended, and to not let doom and gloom capture me.   I choose not to be ensnared by thoughts that scribble the future with a black crayon.  There are plenty of things to worry about, but we have TODAY.  Why waste today on worries about tomorrow, especially when we are expressly chastised NOT to?!

Anyway.  Life is good, and I am enjoying it.  

jet lag is real!

 I am feeling better than I did when I arrived in Norway...I didn't sleep on the plane over, or on the bus ride, so when we got to our suite, I curled up on the couch...but didn't fall asleep for various reasons...held out until night time, and that's how I managed to sleep in the uncomfy bunk bed.  :). 

Coming home was easier in a way, but after the first good night's sleep because of sheer exhaustion, the time change effects start to become more apparent...I wake up super early, and get tired super early in the evening. It's not a bad thing, but it's definitely a thing.

I cannot even describe how helpful this trip was for me.  The obvious:  seeing eight of my kids there, a few daughter-in-laws, son-in-laws, and 12 of my grandkids...sitting on the fjord beach, going on the boat, not having to think about meal prep or cooking for the whole time, seeing friends from far and wide, and making new ones too.  

We had such good gatherings and meetings!  I am so very thankful for my friends, and for my heavenly calling, and that God has had such mercy on me.  I am thankful that I can have my ears opened to what God wants to say to me, and be so encouraged to be faithful in the hidden.  The thought life is crucial, keeping pure so that no bitter roots grow and destroy many.  

I've been to the pool this morning, to my swim class, it was lovely to be back.  I passed out Kvik Lunj bars, and then went to brekky with three of the ladies.  I stopped for gas on the way home, at the full service station in town, and had nary a dollar for a tip, so I gave the kid who pumped the gas a Norwegian chocolate bar...I am such a dork.  I handed it to him and said I just went to Norway, and since I don't have any cash for a tip, have this chocolate bar..."    (It's good my girls weren't with me, they would be like MOM!!!)

Anyway.  I'm home from the pool, watered my flowers, hung up my suit and towel, and here I sit.  I have plans though...I'll take a before and after, but I have a little table to redo.  (I've been itching to sand something!)  I have a few chairs I need to get rid of in the living room too, so I'm looking to replace them with just one new chair...there's too much furniture in here, but don't tell Char and Cam and Sonja that I conceded that.  The two Ikea chairs are just trashed.  They are all saggy, just done.  

It's just Paul and I here, although we had Evelyn and Nate, and Sonja and Kaia here for dinner last evening.  I cut up a watermelon, Ev brought pasta salad and buns, and I grilled burgers.  Tonight I'm thinking barbecued chicken thighs, although I did buy two ribeyes because it's just the two of us:)

Evelyn is due in three weeks!!!!  With Sonja, holding Kaia...

I have to bring my car to the mechanic down the road for it's yearly inspection, hope it goes well.  I have to go in for MY yearly inspection soon, I had to reschedule because I somehow had the appointment for the day I landed in Newark, oops.  I also have to see the dermatologist for my yearly skin check, then the knee doctor, and the dentist is in there somewhere too.  It's nothing compared to the slew of appointments I used to be running to, years ago, with all the kids...

Ah well.  You have a really good summer day!!!

back in the USA!!!

 Coming home from Europe is tiring.  We got up at 4:45, made it on to the bus before six a.m., headed two hours north to Oslo to the airport.  Our flight left at ten something, then we landed at one something.  An eight and a half hour flight, but the time change, so the day went on and on...the shuttle from the airport to where we parked, then on the road a bit after three.  Home by nine at night.  What a day.

The airport:  on the way there, oh the line to get through security!  I can't believe I walked!  :). The way home, security was quick, but of course I beeped.  I told them I had a new knee, and yes it set off the alarm, so I had to go through the other machine.  We went in the duty free shop and got chocolate, then through passport control...the line was long, and it was very warm in the airport.  ugh.  I walked though!

Our vacation was wonderful.  God is good.  The bottom bunk wasn't wonderful, but I managed to sleep okay, in fits and starts.  I think the key was to have such amazing fun filled days, I would get so tired.  One thing that was special:  Paul and I stayed in the same place as Kathryn and Darius and the kids, and I would be so happy to see them every morning.  One fine morning, I was fast asleep (it's the only thing I do fast, ha), when I heard Jamie say, "I slept like a good boy!"  oh, the cuteness!  

The fjord...yes, beach days in Norway!  The sun doesn't set there until almost eleven at night!

Kaia is a beach baby...a Norwegian beach baby (her daddy is Norwegian).  She got to see her other grandma, and I did too!  

Me...the beach was a long haul from where we were staying, but I did it, I walked there!  (Thank you to everyone who was so patient with me!)

Tennyson, Wulf in the background

Blythe

My friend Janette with Kaia

Rhys and Charlotte Claire on the bus

Getting the luggage...Kathryn, Ben getting his, some grandsons...Ashley and Anya, Darius

Emily and Blythe on the plane

Anya, Achilles, Elise

Declan, Elise, Rhys

Rhys with Char and Camille

Paul and I

Emily and Blythe on the fjord, we rented a boat

Jamie and his grandpa Paul

Jamie and Blythe with Aunt Emily

Paul and I

Darius, Adrian the boat pilot, Em....we took turns going out on the boat.

Ashley and I on the beach

Emily and I

The view from outside the meeting hall

Declan and Anya

That's Paul down there digging with the grandkids

Sonja and Kaia with Rhys, Jamie, Achilles, and Ellis in our suite.

Jonny and baby Emilia visited too

Bill (my dear sister Cheryl's husband) and Paul 

Achilles, Tennyson, Rhys

Emily, Rhys, Char

Blythe, Jamie, Wulf with Darius, and Margaret

I got to go to the candy store with two of my sister's girls, Janet and Susan...these two girls are Janet's...love them so much.  

Margaret, Wulf, Blythe, Tenny, Adrian....they are going to have a new one in the new year!!!!!  

From the fjord...I stole this pic from Marge

Tenny, me, Blythe

Waiting for the shuttle...

Wulf, Emily, Ten...stole this pic too...

And this, Ellis, Jamie, Wulf

The fjord at night, stole this pic from Camille...

And one from Emily...

That was rather disjointed, but then I am feeling rather disjointed!  I enjoyed my sleep so much last night in my big comfy bed!  If you ever want to totally fall in love with your bed, spend ten days or so in a bunk with a thin-ish mattress!  One thing that was a lifesaver though was a travel fan, I put it right next to my head, and it gave the illusion of cool-ness.  You would THINK it would be cool in Norway, but it was quite warm most of the days, and they do not have air conditioning in the suites/apartments.  

Home....ahh, home.  I was so happy to walk in the door here.  Miss Kitty Kettler has barely left my side.  She even follows me into the bathroom, my little shadow.  She was taken care of when we were gone, a few different people came over and fed her and made sure she had water, but oh dear, she missed me.  Shh, I missed her too, a lot, in fact.  If that makes me crazy, then oh well, I am crazy.

(this was taken before we left)

This fine day, I washed three loads of laundry, vacuumed, puttered around, went for a swim with Sonja, Oscar, and baby Kaia...then Paul grilled burgers and made us arugula salads with cucumbers.  Not to knock Norway, but meat is pricey there, and ahh, burgers!  

It's quiet here, as Miss Char and Miss Cam are still in Norway until next week.  I'll be going with Mariel to Newark, New Jersey, to pick them up at the airport.  

Oh, there are funny stories and I had such an encouraging time, I met up with Joy from Salem (and didn't get a picture, but it DID happen!), but alas, I am so tired...so goodnight, and it's good to be back!!!