onsdag 27. februar 2013

Introducing...


Here is a photo of my grandparents. I particualarly like this photo of them playing croquet. I like it because it in its original quality show my granddad (in the black trousers) admiring my grandma (in the black dress) accross the field. The scene is taken from the place where my grandmother grew up; on the farm also carrying her maiden name. Judging by their youthful apperance, it is around the time of their marriage. It is also not long after the war, though this joyous photo doesn't reveal much of that particular fact.

I feel like showing you the photo above, because the four adults in it have been tremendously dear to me. The farm, I have visited countless times when I was a little girl. Especially visited was the little pond, which I loved swimming in. When I look at this photo, I see much of myself. And so, though this blog is mainly about my journey to follow my husband to the edge of the earth, I sometimes  also feel the need to tell the stories that were left behind.

Today, the little pond back home is overgrown with weeds, and those who walk past it now will probably most likely disregard it as a swamp! To this blogger, however, it triggers dear childhood memories, as also the above photo trigger sweet memories of dear grandparents.

As only one's own husband can comfort!
Then one day, when I was finding it particularly hard to be so far away from where I grew up, my husband, who knows me pretty well already, took me to the a little stream, almost like a little pond, found a little heart-shaped rock, and wrote my name on it. He took the photo below, and it was not until I looked through the photos that I saw it.



mandag 25. februar 2013

In the thinking box...


Week 9. A week of decision making.

The break

 
Before a long haul flight I always feel the need walk around for a while and stretch my legs. This weekend we stretched our hearts and souls at the beach, before setting out for the long, and long dreaded, a-semester up at the university.
 

torsdag 21. februar 2013

Land in sight!


Today I hope to have finished my honours.
I took a detour when some stormy clouds hit along the way.
But once again a fresh wind caught my sails,
and today, a quarter of a decade later,
I saw that wonderful port,
I had that long awaited destination in sight!
Wohoo! 
A special thank you
two those who blew wind in my sails.
 

onsdag 20. februar 2013

Living on the 'small writing' side of life


"Fill in this form if:

YOU ARE NOT MOVING PHYSICALLY, BUT ONLY CHANGING YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS, you may also use this form if you have mistakenly given us the wrong address and wish to delete it, or if you reside abroad and have changed your address there."

Some days I feel like we somewhere along the way took the less travelled path. Today, I as I was looking for the correct form to send to Norway with regards to our change of address, I got a reminder that we did. As indicated by this rather humorously confusing and long sentence.

søndag 17. februar 2013

Today I sent my residency application!

 
 
How does it feel?
 
It feels weird and exciting....
and I feel an immediate need to play a piano.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

fredag 15. februar 2013

Phew!

 
This wonderful letter arrived in the mail today :-) HUGE blessing! HUGE!

torsdag 14. februar 2013

The year of the married students

 
We have decided to call 2013 the year of the married students, and I thought this photo pretty much seemed to fit the decscription!!

onsdag 13. februar 2013

On the verge


I did not know that one could actually spam one's own blog, but in these last days this is exactly what I have been doing. Why? In one week I will finish up at the university, and being that I am on time with the essay writing I have thrown much of my spare time and effort into making this blog. What for exactly? After all, if you want to make a good blog it should firstly have purpose. So, what is the purpose of this blog?

Well, the reason I originally established a blog was so that I could process some big changes in my life. More precisely, my first blog was started the week after we received my husband's denied visa in Norway. This was traumatic because he suddenly had three weeks to leave, and also because he (or rather we) had 20.000 kilometers to fly back to his country. That summer last year was a busy time arranging plane tickets, packing up life, and leaving family, friends, colleagues and plans. However, since then, life here on the other side of the world has calmed down a great deal, and my husband and I are thankful for the peaceful circumstances we find ourselves in now. Hence, my original blog also got quiet, and so still that I actually put it to rest.

I am therefore surprised about my sudden outburst in blogging activity lately! Though, I suspect it might be linked my desire to 'tell our story' as we again attempt to apply for residency. Tomorrow is the planned 'big day' for handing in my residency. It seems fitting in a way, as we sign our residency application tonight, that it is Valentines day. Not because paperwork has such a fragrance of romance about it, but because I recently read more about who Valentine was. Valentinus was a man who was arrested and put in jail for marrying Christian couples. What a decent dude! Anyway, here goes the application... I'll keep you posted!!

tirsdag 12. februar 2013

Poem: confusion of cultures



I am
a confusion of cultures.
Uniqely me.
 
I think this is good
because I can
understand
the traveller, sojourner, foreigner,
the homesickness
that comes.
 
I think this is also bad
because I cannot
be understood
by those
who have sown,
and have grown
in one place.
 
Unknown author
("third culture kid")

søndag 10. februar 2013

That akward moment...


The week has finally arrived to lodge my NZ Residence Application, and we are just looking over the final details to make it sure that all is in order. Unfortunately there was no auto-correct to help me write the address on the envelope...!

fredag 8. februar 2013

The eviction note

Last year, our lives changed quite alot in just a few weeks, when we found out that my husband could no longer stay in my country. Here is my recollection of that momentous day when we learned that my husband would need to vacate the country within the next three weeks, and some reflections on it in light of our Christian faith.

"...It was a cold and quiet summer day. My husband and I had spent the day cleaning out the piles of rubbish from my parents’ garage – taking it to the local recycling station. We slid past the post man’s delivery car, and parked in the driveway. My husband went straight to the mailbox. Not thinking much special of it, I had already gone inside. Then, thinking that my husband took a bit longer than usual, I went back out to meet him. “A letter”, he said. “From the department of foreign affairs”, he added. I believed him, yet I didn’t. After all, he had managed to pull some jokes on me in the past. After little convincing though, I believed him.
The letter that we had been waiting for in the last 5 months had arrived! And there was much excitement. Though, the excitement seemed more like the kind of anticipation that you have when you await the announcement of an exam which you know you performed badly in. Here it was. The verdict! After looking at my character, my history, my work abilities my pay slips and expected income, my photographs, wedding photos; my personal mail, my graduation certificate, my family heritage, my recent activity – it seemed, my everything. I failed. After having been examined in almost every way, the verdict was: failure. There was a certain requirement to get in, and on the basis of who I am and what I had accomplished in my life, I didn’t make it. I simply wasn’t good enough. Ouch!

Then the eviction notice came. “The person does not fulfill the demands required of the provider”. After many tears, and much comfort, the thought came… What if our hope depended on someone’s performance? What if our “fate” was decided on the basis solely on the character and life of another person? One outside yourself – another person! This then became the very best comfort I could think of, because in this instance, that person was thankfully – not me! I came to remember that there was indeed one such person. The very Son of God, tried in every way as we have been, yet without sin. The perfect Savior did what I could not do, and on the basis of him, and purely on him, was my place in heaven secured forever. From what I have learned so far about visas and permits, this citizenship is by far the best one I ever could have gotten. Though it wasn’t easy to obtain, I know that it was never I whom had to fulfill all the requirements of the law to obtain it. It was my Lord and my God, Christ Jesus. He is my righteousness.

It had indeed been a strange concept from the start. The permit for my husband had never at any point depended on him. It was solely my record that would ensure his entry and permit into my land. My performance and my record bought my husband his eviction note, his deportation. Our Lord’s performance, thankfully bought us, his bride, something much better, and something much more glorious when he rose from the dead. A citizenship in heaven!"

Hello blogging world

I have decided to take some notes as life goes on, and thought I'd do that here.