We´re still here!

Despite the fact it´s been so long since our last entry, you all probably thought this blog was dead, well....Here we are, ready to give it another go. Far to much has happened, and I won´t even try to update you. I´ll let the past be past and start at present.
Rainy today. Very rainy. Used the morning to get the family advent calendar up. The kids were SO excieted, and it really is fun to see that my labor is worthwhile:)
A friend popped by for a visit, and then we went shopping. Sweets, groceries, some flowers and a pair of black trousers for Elias...to wear for Christmas. Aaaah, christmas... I am really in the mood this year. The spirit of Christmas is already here, and I´ve started decorating the house early. Mainly using flowers and candles. I haven´t been looking this much forward to Christmas since I was a child. We´ll be celebrating with Leif´s family this year (we alternate).

Long time no see!

Hello....are you still there????
I just realized it has been ages since I last posted anything on this blog.
Time is flying by and May is already at its end.
The past month has been quite "bumpy", if you know what I mean...has felt like an uphill struggle.
April was just fantastic but May has been rather rough. Nothing special has happened to cause this, so no one is to blame :) It´s just how life is sometimes.
I am still driving but I´ve left my tutor and am now on the lookout for a new one. The old one didn´t exactly build my confidence (to put it nicely) so after ten sessions and the total of ONE positive compliment (and I don´t know how many negative ones..) I decided enough is enough.
So at the moment I am a free woman (well...driving wise) and I am trying to rebuild my positive outlook on this whole driving thing.
Apart from driving I have taken up another hobby. I have become a gardener.
Since we moved to our house two years ago our garden has mostly been left to take care of its own business but now I have started to dream of a flowering colourful paradise to overtake my backyard.
Well....some dreams might never be realized but I´m trying...if only to get a small portion of this "celestial vision" on my land. So May has been spent weeding and digging.Digging and weeding. And weeding and digging some more. I see lots of potential! The challenge is to restrict myself and to finish one project before I start a new one. Easier said than done. And also...how will I ever manage to chose what goes where? There are thousands of plants to chose from, and as a lot of you know...I aint exactly quick when it comes to making decisions. At least I am good at digging and doing the rough bits. And with a little luck and lots of help from the dozen of gardening books I got from the library I might get it done before the summer passes. (At least it´ll look good next year:)
Well, enough about me.
The kids are doing great these days as you can see from the football-photos. They´re getting so big. Elias is so clever and careful and takes great care of his sister. (As well as teasing, pushing, hitting, spitting, fighting, screaming and pestering her....like any brother and sister they sure know how to share their love for one another.) And uma is the same, if not even more intense. She loves to tease her brother and to make us all feel she is the queen of the household. We try our best not to crush her fighting spirit and my, my, my...she has got a lot of it. She is what you might refer to as a wild-child. Sweet as they come but so strong willed and fearless that sometimes she just brings you to the end of your tether. But then, out of the blue, she´ll lay her arms around your neck, kiss you intensely on the cheek and say with a big smile on her face "you are the best mummy in the whole world"... bless her heart. There sure won´t be a quiet day when she´s around...but trust me, there will be plenty of chances to smile and laugh and have plenty of cuddles.
Yesterday she got her own bike with "support wheels" and she desperately wanted to ride it on her way to kindergarden...we havent had time to buy her a helmet yet, so she had to use leif´s old one. You should have seen her :) The helmet was so gigantic it kept wobbling from side to side, and fearless as she is she went full speed down the road and in the ditch she landed, countless times. Luckily she was receptive enough to let me teach her how to use the brakes:)
She was so proud of herself and it was such a great experience to see her that way!!!
Moments like those is what happiness is made of!
Well...this has been a looooong update but I hope you don´t mind. Hope you all are doing well.
lots of love M.

Who said that soccer isnt therapeutic...

Yesterday me (Leif I), Uma and Elias went to play some football down at the football ground. It felt great. The Kids enjoyed it and I enjoyed it as well. Generally I love to play, I even started playing in a team.... old boys team in Mysen 7th Division.... the lowest there is.... but lots of fun.
So if you are not doing anything fun at the moment, please play football. It is recommended....

Most accidents happen at home

Poor Elias... Yesterday afternoon Elias went to his room to get a pair of trousers and after a little while we suddenly hear this giant "bang", as if someting REALLY HEAVY fell from the sky and landed upstairs....then a cry. A SERIOUS cry. From Elias.
I got on my feet faster than lightning an ran upstairs but I couldn´t find Elias anywhere. What I did find though was his intire wardrobe collapsed on the floor in his room and underneath it all was Elias, panicking. Before I had the time to consider what to do I found myself lifting the entire wardrobe off of him whilst screaming for Leif to come and help. He got Elias out an onto the bed and LUCKILY nothing was broken, there was no concussion and no serious damage to our boy. Only a few scratches and bruises on his back.
The wardrobe wasn´t damaged either....It had come off the wall and fallen out into the room as he opened the doors and had then fallen on him. BUT underneath all the mess and the clothes we found something that did get broken and Elias is now mourning the loss of his favourite toy; a truck /forklift operated by a remote control, able to lift little toys and boxes etc. It now is without its fork, has only got two weels left and doesn´t move. So last night when he was going to bed we asked if God could provide him with a new one.
I am so glad though that is was the forklift and not Elias who suffered the most serious damage. It could have gone so much worse!
(Elias also wants a new wardrobe as he now thinks the one he´s got is ugly, stupid and mean.)

Hope my mistake can prevent disaster in other peoples homes! : ) M.

"Tall and heavy furniture should be attatched to the walls to prevent it from falling on people."

an entry from bed....

just writing a short update from my pda. works great. life has been busy the last few days. dont feel too excited, but hey, sometimes life does feel a bit crappy. anyway. have nothing to complain about. i tried my new zoom lens which i got on my birthday on friday... thank you, ozzies skaugs, benny og trygvis, heiditorkjellmilla og mamma og pappa. so expect som great pics on this blog...
other than that, i miss playing football, i miss to laugh and feel good for more than ten minutes in a row. hopefully tomorrow will reveal itself beautiful.
anyway, good night. and speak soon...

A LITTLE SUNSHINE FROM ME TO YOU : )

Aaaahh..... Sometimes life is just beautiful -and this is such a time! The sun is shining day after day after day, the sky is blue and spring is all around.
And as you all know I just spent five days in Spain with my sister Sarah and her husband Daniel.
I had a great time and it was SO good to see them again and just have some time together.
Would love to do it again....that´s for sure!!!
However it is good to be back in Mysen too. I like everyday life and routines. And it was so good to see the kids again....and Leif ofcourse!!
As you can see I have now learnt how to add photos to the blog (Thank you Sarah ;) ) so here we all are: Leif (oops...haven´t quite learnt how to do everything yet...rotate pics for example) who had his 31st birthday yesterday, me in Spain, Sarah&Daniel, Elias and Uma.
How are you all doing anyway?
We are all doing good. The kids are having a particularly quarrelsome day today though, constantly moaning, crying and fighting....`suppose that´s just how life is sometimes. It is still hard on my patience though. Aaaaarrgghh!!!!!!
But on the bright side:::: I am going to practise my driving today :) HOURAY!!! I still enjoy it SO much. It´s my new hobby.
Anyway...gotta go, the kids are SCREAMING!
Have a good weekend and speak soon.
M.

Hello again :)

How are you all? SO GOOD to hear from those of you who have commented on my blog!!
To those of you who are Norwegian, it feels a bit silly to be blogging in English but we have so many friends around the world whom we also want to stay in touch with.....and if we had to keep track of two blogs we just would never get ANYTHING done. So...English it is!
What have you guys been up to lately?
I have been driving!!! I can´t believe how much fun it is!!!
I drive as much as I can and I´ve even had a go at driving in Oslo. Leif says I am improving, althoug the first few times he held on very tightly to the handle above his head and he constantly checked his mirrors. That made me nervous!! Luckily he relaxes more now and he is improving as a teacher as I am improving as a driver. In the beginning he made me nervous and angry....not exactly good when you´re a new driver...but I enjoy his company now! My teacher says I am impoving too, and I take that as a good sign.
Tomorrow I am going away for a holiday. Five days...no kids...no husband. Only me. I amgoing to Malaga (Spain) to visit Sarah and Daniel; my sister and her husband. I am really looking forward to it. However it almost feels unreal :) Five days ALONE.
If you have kids you know what I mean. Usually I can´t even sit in private when I´m at the toilet without somebody banging the door demanding to be let in. And now I am going to have noone calling my name for several days. I can do whatever I like and sleep late every day... I don´t know what that feels like but I´ll probably enjoy it:)
Well...got to pack now. Hope you are all well, enjoying spring. I am doing well!! And Leif is too...he´s just trying to figure out how to manage everything on his own when I´m away. But he´ll be fine. He is such a caring dad able to create adventures out of everyday things.
The kids are both well and enjoying the sun, less clothes and their trampoline.
I plan to learn how to put pictures onto the blog too...then you can see them.
Hope to speak soon. Lots of love M.

Michelle is blogging for the first time!!!

Hello everybody:) Just wanted to say hi. I am now very proud as I found out how to do this all by myself. Leif isn´t even at home and he doesn´t know that I´m doing this. i´m not exactly good with computers so I am incredibly proud of myself right now!!:)
Well...how are you all? I have had a really rough winter and haven´t managed to take contact with any of you but the past few weeks I have started to feel better! And I have great news! (Great for me anyway..) I have started my training to get my drivers liscense. HOOOOOORAAAAYY!!!! I am really proud of that too. I have been putting it off for years, it has seemed like the scariest thing. But now I am driving several times a week and I ENJOY it! Just goes to show that things are rarely as scary as they appear to be.
That will be all for now:) I wish you all a lovely day. It sure is here. The sun is shining from a clearblue sky, the birds are singing and it feels good to be alive. Wish you all the best, ´till next time. M.

Uma is 3 years now .... the little princess

14th of March we had a party, and Uma wanted a Princess party.... and that she got.... all the guests were dressing up...

Just after that Leif went to Northern Norway on a campaign...where he met Heidi, Torkjell and Milla in Hammerfest. Great stuff....however the meal we had wasnt the best....red wine sauce...was pure red wine.....strange place....never eat steak or anything else but Pizza or biffsnadder at MammaRosa in Hammerfest.... In the evening Leif was going to play, and in the middle of the meeting he was gone.....to the toilet.....He just reached the next song... as the dinner really did mess up his belly..... anyway.... enough of that. It is very much happening at the moment...plenty of things to do. Tomorrrow; Sunday, INC has it first real and pure gospel concert. Be there if you can...

Enjoy the pictures:




Oldebess Oddvar enjoyed "king for a day"

Northern Light/ Borealis was amazing over the Finnmarksvidda.Heidi, Torkjell and Milla in Hammerfest. Leif enjoyed spending time with them so much.

In the middle of Nowhere (Varangerbotn) the first thing that met us was over 70 people from Africa. A freaky experience (good though). They sang, they danced, they enjoyed the Presence of God. Amazing. Now Im sure; Im black inside!!!! This was like coming home. We enjoyed worshipping together, and the presence of God was strong. And Emmanuel Minos preached. He is amazing. 83 years old and still going strong. Having some time with him was great. Listening to him talking about him being with Smith Wigglesworth is extraordinary. However enough for now. Enjoy your day!

Woops....

Our plans were to update this blog every week....but hey....a month since last time. Time is flying by, and we try to hang on to every that happens.. Leifs new work is going well, and he enjoys it a lot. Even commuting almost every day isnt that bad...Michelle is getting more energy by the minute and enjoys the thought of soon trying to start working again. Kids enjoy snow. Period. And today Uma got her finger and toe nails painted pink....extatic!
Leifs job you can follow closer at www.pinseforalle.no or www.azusaeurope.com
We hope to be better with the updates...

Some pictures from a day out a week ago.
Enjoy. We have lots of snow...
Please tell us how you are doing.

God bless....by the way my favourite song this week is "Friend of God" by Israel Houghton.

The Pirates are here!!!!!

Elias was 5 years old at the 4th of this month, and today we threw a party on for the old folks...a pirate party...have a look on the pics. Most of our family gathered but Great Grandma, Håkon & Irene, Benedikte & Trygve, Oldebess + Sarah & Daniel was missing... We had a good party and ate a lot of sweets....muffins with birthday candles on.....Elias was enjoying it, so did we. Have a look and laugh.....

Happy New Year!!

From all of us to all of you..... a happy new year. We hope you will have a year that exeeds your expectations in every possible way. But remember one thing. Live in the reality of today and walk with God... dont pretend....
Just came back from a worship concert. Over the weekend we wer able to catch up with Abraham Laisina, a good friend of ours. He also brought his family this time, so we met them for the first time. Abraham is a singer, psalmist and worship leader etc. and together on stage, we had a great time. Gods presence and lots of new songs!
The weather is as many of you Norwegian have noticed...not the same procedure as last year.... 4 plus and pouring rain. My goal for New years eve was to show our friends our beautiful Oslo....how to do that with fog, rain and darkness? Just ask me, we did it in three hours, and the people were satisfied! We had a good meal at Michelle and mine`s favourite restaurant: Mr Hong...try it if you havent been there....
It has been a memorable New Years eve....in a different way....we stood out in the rain in the middle of Oslo trying to spot some fireworks. At least we heard a lot. The Alarm went off in church at midnight, and was on for over 30 minutes...that was a turn off...However God is found whenever we seek him, so it turned out well.
For now, I just would like to say Good night, and we will write more soon. Time is soon 04.25 am, so I better go to bed.

God bless you for now!