Time of Reflection at Verdensspeilet

It's the last day of 2011, and the Roberts family achieved unanimous consensus this morning that we wanted to spend the afternoon at Verdensspeilet, a Fredrikstad coffee bar.  The server gave Ryan their tinyest piece of Napoleon's Cake, and they always make my latte lukewarm, yet the place has grown on us and we keep coming back.

I'm tempted to say that the last part of the year has been the best.  Although the New Mexico part of the year was pretty dang good too (and in a separate league, really).  Christmas vacation has been soooo nice, and after a year which took a lot of time to get used to several new places to live, new jobs, new people  and all that jazz, I finally feel like I am completely ready, for a new year and even more new beginnings.

Have a good 2012, all, and thanks for being part of our lives over the past year!  Please continue to pray for us, and please continue to be our friends - you are greatly appreciated.

A few pics from our December trip to Trøndelag (Hanne's home grounds...)

This is how we dragged Torvald with us the whole way...

Christmas meal with Hanne's family: Lutefisk (first time trying it for both of us - it was actually good!!!)

Torvald and Ryan playing tag in the wintergreen meadows of the promised land - Nes...

Ryan making leg of lamb for Christmas dinner...

There was one Christmas gift which Torvald liked extra much - the one from Albuquerque with doggies on it.  Must've smelled like Bud or something.  He kept laying down next to it.

Our ridiculous Christmas 2011 family photo.  Next year we'll attempt to make a pretty family photo...  Well, we are what we are I suppose ;)

Happy New Year!

October update from the Roberts

So what's new with the Shryman and the Lundster and the Scorecards since we spoke?

Hanne is working away at the hospital...  I'm getting pretty much all the shifts I can handle so that's good.  I love interacting with patients and my coworkers, and I'm hoping that through my job I can make at least a little bit of a difference to somebody every now and then, but in order to be the best person I can be, I need something more in my life besides work.  I am noticing that when I work a lot I can tend to feel uninspired and be a less-than-inspiring person to be around, too.  I'm the kind of person who needs at least a little bit of space and time to dream and to have something to reach towards.  So now that work life's on track my new project is figuring out what to do with my spare time.   Great suggestions are warmly welcome in the comment field:)  For now, Christmas preparations are on my mind... and painting our apartment... I have a couple of friends from Fuller visiting me in November (Nelli and Ja-Kyung, yay!!!)... we are starting to get plugged into a church community here... and I'm looking into ways of serving local immigrants or just other newbies like myself, because that is something I am really interested in.  Also hopefully, at the start of the new year, we'll be able to have some kind of small gathering of believers that will meet regularly, but that is to happen all in God's time.

We are starting to make friends, and that has been just a super awesome improvement to our life here in Fredrikstad.  This fall I've gotten to go along to two of Ryan's gymnasts' competitions, and we've had a lot of fun with the gymnasts and their families--and the girls have had some really good results, too!

Ryan's traveling a bunch with his job, so far to Slovenia and a few places in Norway, later this fall he's heading to Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and who knows where else... I'm impressed by the work he is doing, it's fun to see him thrive in this new context.  Really, getting married and then moving straight to a whole different culture is something I wholeheartedly would recommend, haha, contrary to what most people have gently recommended to us.

We're quickly approaching our first wedding anniversary.  This past year has gone by soooo fast, but it's also been soooooo good!  Maybe we'll blog about our past year some day, who knows.

And the Scorecards (Torvald)?  He lays around and sleeps all day, so not much new with him...  He's been on vacation twice this fall, once to Oslo and once to spend the weekend with BJ and her family and their girl dog named Mim.  Torvald likes Mim a lot, but to her he couldn't be more invisible... the story of Torvald's life when it comes to girls... sigh...

Some quick thoughts on something I read this morning that made a lot of sense to me and I wanted to share

I often read things that stick out in my mind and I think a lot about them.  When I read this this morning, I really wanted to share it with someone so I decided I'd write about it.  I thought about how simple it is to gauge my spiritual condition and how I'm so often unaware of it and am so often spiritually unfit...

"I was sitting in my bedroom, reading
into the wee hours, when suddenly I heard my dogs barking in the
back yard. My neighbors frown on this kind of disturbance so, with
mixed feelings of anger and shame, as well as fear of my
neighbor's disapproval, I immediately called in my dogs. Several
weeks later the exact situation repeated itself but this time,
because I was feeling more at peace with myself, I was able to
accept the situation--dogs will bark--and I calmly called in the
dogs. Both incidents taught me that when a person experiences
nearly identical events and reacts two different ways, then it
is not the event which is of prime importance, but the person's
spiritual condition. Feelings come from inside, not from outward
circumstances. When my spiritual condition is positive, I react
positively."

This is so true...when I have inner spiritual calmness and am in touch with God, I am better prepared for life.  It's not the circumstances of life or the events of the day that matter so much, it's the way in which we approach them and respond to them...When I am spiritually fit, I am more selfless and humble, and am better prepared for anything that comes my way...when I am trying to control and promote my own selfish agenda, things get convoluted and bogged down by things that matter little.  Being spiritually unfit, I am bound and glued to one course of action...being spiritually fit, I am free and can make the right decisions.

Trolløya

We had a great time this weekend on an island called Trolløya.  We met some friends from Gothenburg, Sweden, who were on a canoeing trip.  It was a great time.  We swam in the lake and hiked around the island; cooked some hot dogs and s'mores.  I forgot how fun it was to go hang out in the wilderness for a couple days and enjoy God's creation.  We had a glimpse of the Kingdom as the sun set over the lake on Saturday night.

The Action Shots...

Hanne, Ryan, and Torvald (aka Scorecard Gonzalez)...

Ryan and Scorecard

Swimming

The Norwegian/Swedish Border

More Swimming













More invasion of heaven...

The Swedish/Norwegian crew... (from left to right) Ryan, Hanne, Marcus, Nils, Torvald, Karen, Sira, Ole, Svea

Hanne and I are definitely going to be doing more of these kinds of things.  

Summer vacation...

After having worked for about three and a half month it's time for some vacay time...  Most (?) people in Norway have 4 or more weeks off in the summer--I've got a whole week off with nothing to do besides keeping Ryan company at home on the couch or occasionally leave the house should we feel like it.  We're trying to save as much money as we can for the time being, and the couch feels like the safest place for that ;)...   Plus Torvald likes the couch, too, and he's nice to cuddle with...  

My sister in law, Elisabeth, niece Alida and nephew Noah came and spent the night yesterday.

 Ryan and Noah, walking the dog into the sunset...

My dad has been here, too, and later this week my mom will come to visit along with my niece Rikke who just finished first grade and thus gets to go on a tour of Norway with her bestemor as a treat.  We're hoping for some beach and sun time for us girls and some reading in the shade time for Ryan.

Tomorrow Ryan will get to experience a major slice of Norway weirdity as we're going to a TV-show called "Allsang på Grensen," an outside concert/singalong with a few thousand other Norwegians and Swedes in a 350 year old fortress on the border. 

I am looking for reading material, in the areas of anthropology/sociology and faith, cross-cultural nursing, and renal or infection nursing.  It's hard to find the good stuff just by way of google, so does anybody have any good suggestions for me?

Have a good summer vacation!!! (I'll try to get Ryan to write some more too, I promise...)

Torvald

Here's Torvald.. He's shy of the camera...

Haha, they look so cute together!

All worn out after a walk...

What's up, world?

"Chilling" at a coffee shop in Oslo I am glad that we chose a smaller place to settle down (for a while :) ).  Although people watching and urban life is fun, I'll be happy to come home tonight to our house and our new dog, to water the garden and sit down for a while to enjoy the bright midsummer night before going off to work again tomorrow.

A few things are new since last time I wrote:

We got a dog, a one year old West Highland White Terrier.  I'd post a picture of him, but for some reason the uploader won't work... So later... His current name is Torvald, and he's really cute.  He likes to cuddle and to chew on people, he does not at all like his toys, and he loves "working" in the garden with me.  He even doesn't mind taking showers.  He used to share his home with 4 girl dogs and their puppies, but now he gets to rule over our pad all by himself.  We've had him for 4 days, and today will be his first day to be home alone for a while.  Hope he doesn't freak out!!!

Ryan got an early work start permit!!! This means that although his application for work and residency in Norway is not approved yet, he can work and get paid and that's great.  In my opinion, though, anybody that applies for residency here should be given an early work start permit automatically, cuz why the heck should people have to sit on their butts and do nothing for months on end just because their final immigration status is not determined yet?  But it feels great to know that we're at least a little bit farther along the way toward really living here.

I'm working at the local hospital, full time and more.  It's good, there's a lot of things I don't know yet, but mostly everybody, nurses, patients, doctors, have been really sweet and welcoming toward me and they seem genuinely happy that I'm there to join the team so it's been a good work environment for me so far.  It seems like there are good opportunities for professional development at my unit and I think I can maybe squeeze a couple new friends out of it too;)  On a side note, working life sure feels like a never ending vacation after completing grad school...  so if for nothing else, I will forever appreciate my Fuller years for adding this perspective to the rest of my life:)

We've found an organization that we want to volunteer with.  A place to work out.  Somewhere to go on short hikes with our dog.  And I've come up with lots of plans to start dog-owner friendly coffee shops, dog-sitting/dog play group while you shop type stuff (believe it or not, Californians, we don't have those here in Vikingland), to start groups or hangouts for others who have recently moved to Fredrikstad (because I myself at times feel sad and lonely and not integrated and tired of not knowing where to find good beaches or bookstores, hangouts where there's more people than just myself or places where there's good, live music).  It shouldn't have to take years to find community when you move somewhere new, and being of the impatient semi-extroverted kind these are really a selfish self-help kind of thing for me.

Yeah, we are settling down a little, and I think we're both pretty happy with our life.  We're hoping Ryan's visa application will go through pretty soon so that he can go to Italy for his job next week, and so that we can visit the Manus family in Spain in July.

Pretty exciting times!

Pics will follow.. watch out.

p.s. our new banner photo (which Ryan put up) is from the Norwegian national day celebration... Norwegian kids do not walk around carrying the flag with them every day, contrary to popular belief:)

The Cross of Humility

"There is, then, a difference between sinners and sinners.  There are some sinners who confess that they have sinned but do not long to be justified; instead, they give up hope and go on sinning, so that, when they die, they despair and, while they live, they are enslaved to the world.  There are other sinners who confess that they sin and have sinned, but they are sorry for this, hate themselves for it, long to be justified, and under groaning constantly pray to God for righteousness.  This is the people of God: it constantly brings the judgment of the cross to bear upon itself." 

This statement of Martin Luther's has got me to thinking about my struggles and my desire for God's righteousness to crush the sin in my life and the bondage to self; to obliterate my ego and self-centrism.  He also says that, to be justified by faith is to give up pride in ourselves."  So hard to do and a definite struggle for me.  These statements of Luther shed light upon Jesus' words to deny oneself and pick up one's cross daily.  Humility is the key...picking up the cross of humility to strike down the prideful self and bring about the righteousness of God.  Only then can we truly love God and others.

Through the grace of God, we, the broken, are justified by faith.  Through the grace of God, he does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves.  Luther likens the church to an infirmary where the sick, damaged, and broken gather.  It is in this infirmary that healing, restoration, and reconciliation to God happens.  It is in this restorative process that we see grace at work.  Where we were once powerless to do anything about our brokenness, the power of God breaks the power of sin and death and creates in us a new person on a path in relationship with God; a reciprocal relationship in which God expects things from us (like loving our neighbors and our enemies) and we can also expect something from God (his grace, mercy, love, and hope).  God never fails at providing these but we fail at loving others.  We put down the cross of humility and pick up the sword of self; and when we do we again must pick up the cross of humility.

Thank God for the grace, mercy, love, and hope that he extends to all.  If only we were able to extend the same to those we encounter each day.

Update! Finally!

It’s been a looooong while since our last update.  A whirlwind of transition happened and we wanted to wait with sharing until we were a little more certain about what would come out of it.  As we speak, I, Hanne, have a whole, beautiful day off before my last two days at my current job.  As of this coming Monday I will be working as a nurse at the hospital in Fredrikstad, which is a really sweet city in the Southeast of Norway.  Just a few days after I started working here at Nes, Ryan got offered a coaching position in Fredrikstad, and after giving it a couple of weeks of thought we decided to go for it.  It was a pretty surprising move-I don’t think either of us had expected there to be a job opening for Ryan this soon, not in coaching, nor in Fredrikstad-a city that I have only barely visited in the past.  It was a hard decision, but I told my boss I’d be leaving only little over a week ago, and Thursday will be my last day there.

Now I’m sitting in the garden at Ildjarntunet, thinking about how incredibly fast things change.  The trick is to roll with the changes, ya know… This time last year I was venting big time to our house church after having spent a year pretty much unemployed and living on people’s couches, going to job interview after job interview, feeling desperate for some stability and security, while at the same time feeling like I was in the exact spot where God was wanting me.  I’m a much bigger fan of our current changes.  But I couldn’t have had nor appreciated the one without the other.

So, while I’m sad to be leaving Hedalen, I am convinced we are doing the right thing, and I am really excited about starting a life together in Fredrikstad.  We’ve met some good people there already, and I’m looking forward to a Norwegian summer by the sea.  We’ve got a cool apartment that I can’t wait to invite people to, with a garden where we can have barbecues.  I’m excited about my job, about Ryan’s job, about making friends, about catching up with my pre-USA friends, and about Norwegian summer night after Norwegian summer night after Norwegian summer night...

So if anybody wants to come visit-there’s always a plane headed for Rygge airport and we’ll be there to pick u up, in our awesome new old Volkswagen that can fit all your luggage just like that!

Some Simple Thoughts on a Complex Book

Over the past few days, I've been reading a book that has given me some interesting insights about my life and my relationship with God.  I find myself connecting with God in a variety of ways lately, such as through my relationships with other people, through reading, and through nature; but then today, I found myself connecting with God through a book that is all about proving that God does not exist.  This book is The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, which I've been reading along with a book by Brian McLaren called A Generous Orthodoxy (an awesome combo to read these two together and very interesting).  In The God Delusion, Dawkins refutes the existence of God on the basis of Darwinian evolution and natural selection and says that he is attempting to raise people's consciousness and that if one believes in the existence of God then they have not had their conscience raised.  He criticizes creationists and advocates of intelligent design for utilizing a 'God of the gaps' approach, which says that if science can't explain it then it must be the work of an intelligent creator, i.e. God.  He also criticizes creationists refusal to think about alternatives to the origin of life, and for utilizing irreducible complexity as an argument against evolution and as proof for the existence of God.  I am not a creationist in the sense that I believe in a literal six day creation of the earth nor am I a believer in a young earth, so Dawkins scientific approach to evolution and the origin of life interests me greatly.  While reading this book, I have been engaging deeply in thinking about my faith, and there are times where Dawkins is very convincing about the improbability of the existence of God.  However, when I really start to wrestle with what he says and with all of the experiences of my life, I find myself connecting with God.  My life does not make sense without God and I feel like through Dawkins' book, God is raising my consciousness.  Dawkins would definitely criticize me for implying that if science can't explain something, then God must exist, but maybe science is God's way of creating.  Maybe God creates through evolution and natural selection.  Dawkins would say that God is a messed up creator then because he creates things that don't work right, but maybe God's way is to let things work themselves out in this messy kind of biological process.

I think that Dawkins has a lot of good points in this book and challenges believers on a lot of levels; but as I think about what he says, I feel the small amount of faith that I do have strengthened.  It seems to me that to believe what Dawkins believes takes faith just the same as it takes faith to believe in the existence of God.  

Ryan

Norway - Week 3

This past week we took the bus down to Oslo to visit Hanne's father and look for a vehicle.

Shortly after we arrived, we went to have lunch with Hanne's father at the Parliament building, where he works.

As we went through security at the Parliament, Ryan had a beanie on and the security officer informed him that he could not wear it inside the building (after he asked us if we had come straight from the forest).   This is Ryan sporting the visitor's pass...

Hanne on the metro excited about looking for cars.  

Our new car...

National Theater

 Cooking dinner back home.

Hanne started work yesterday and Ryan began taking language classes.  Ryan also got to the gym for the first time since we've been here.  We're starting to get into a rhythm and are beginning to feel at home.    

Engaging Culture

In what is my first experience living in another county I've encountered difficulties relating to two cultural barriers thus far: Language and the everyday rhythm of life here. (I did spend some time in the Middle East in 2005 as a Marine but in a totally different role in which I was by no means trying to assimilate into the culture the way I am in Norway.) Experiencing these barriers is both difficult and interesting at the same time. I find myself frustrated at my inability to communicate, which has a direct bearing on my ability to learn and understand the Norwegian culture. Most Norwegians speak English quite well and they often converse with me in English, but in many conversations that I've had, there is relational disconnect, more so without the older generations than the younger. In fact, most young Norwegians probably speak more grammatically correct English than myself. However, I think expressing oneself in a language other than one's primary language is quite difficult. While I've only been in Norway for two and a half weeks, I am experiencing impatience to bridge the language and culture gaps and begin understanding the spiritual landscape of this new place that I now live. A quick tangent...yesterday I tried to order coffee in Norwegian and the girl taking my order spoke back to me in English. I laughed and asked her if it was that obvious I didn't know Norwegian and I told her I was trying to learn so she switched back to Norwegian. So, at this point, even when I try to speak the language, I don't speak the language.

Currently, we are living in a small town in an apartment at a hotel/Christian retreat center, that Hanne's aunt runs, next to a very traditional Lutheran state-church. And, of course, this church is filled with some families and mostly the older generation of the town. It's an amazing building with amazing history (see previous post) and an enjoyable place to be. When I am there, however, I find myself asking what this church's engagement with the other townspeople is (I have a lot of time to think there since the services are in Norwegian). In addition to the church, there is a Hindu temple and Norse temple, which we plan on visiting soon.

In contrast to Hedalen, where we live, I find a different spiritual landscape in Oslo, the capital of Norway. We've spent the last few days in Oslo and I have not observed any indications of spiritual communities here. This is definitely not to say that they are not here, I simply have not seen any during my short stay, however, I have plans to visit a faith community Saturday afternoon.

In order for me to understand the spiritual landscape holistically, I must first learn the language and understand the culture. It will take time and I definitely feel God teaching me humility and patience in the process.

As a follower of Jesus, the spirituality that I seek to bring to the people that I encounter is one of love. I believe that everything extends from love (honesty, respect, generosity, etc.).   I want to engage the traditional form of Christianity (like the one I experience in Hedalen) in conversation about different expressions of the faith, expressions of love that may not look like the traditional church. I also want to express this love to people outside faith communities introducing them to the radical love that Jesus has for all of his creation and begin to explore how this might look like and be relevant to the younger generations in Norway...and I don't think this looks like 'church' in the traditional use of the word.

Norway - Week 2

We've been in Norway for two weeks now.  After spending some time with Hanne's family in Nes, we are now in Hedalen, where we will be living.

Our last week in Nes, we tried curling.  It was the first time for all of us.  Teams were the Lunds vs. the Roberts....and the Roberts came away with the victory and are undefeated in their curling careers.

One our way to Hedalen, we had to take a ferry from Brekstad to Rørvik. 

The mother-in-law and Ryan enjoying a nice cup of kaffe and svele while we crossed the Trondheim fjord.

This is the living room of our apartment in Hedalen.  We have an awesome wood burning oven that keeps us warm.

Hanne enjoying some food in our home.

Ryan getting pumped and ready for some cross country skiing.  

Hanne and her Aunt Oddny packing up to go ski.

Ryan and Hanne's brother Eirik.

Eirik trying to coach Ryan on how to stand up on skis.  Ryan had a difficult time after he fell as everytime he tried to get up he dug himself deeper into the snow.  It got to the point where Ryan was stuck and Hanne and Eirik were laughing and mocking at the American floundering around in the Norwegian snow.  

After skiing...ate a couple of sausages, had some dried moose meat and took another whirl on the skis.  

Tonight, we went to a Lutheran church service at a church that is 850 years old.  There is a legend about the church; during the Black Death in the middle of the 14th century Hedalen was depopulated, and the valley became a wilderness. A hunter one day shot an arrow after a bird, but instead of hitting his prey, it missed and struck the bell. Then, there he found the church, standing in the middle of the dense forest. As the hunter believed this must be a church for huldra or other supernatural beings, he took his flint and steel and threw it over the church. This was something believed to seize property from huldra, and so he wanted to prevent the church from disappearing. On the place where the steel fell, a farm was later built which still has the name Ildjarnstad (Firesteel).  In the church the hunter shot a bear which had made its lair by the altar. The skin from this bear still hangs on the wall of the sacristy. 

Anyway, Hanne had to translate most of the service for Ryan, but Ryan did sing in Norwegian.  We also met some nice people that we are going to begin doing a bible study with so that should be fun and give us an opportunity to meet people in this area.  

This upcoming week is when we are going to take care of a lot of logistical stuff and get ourselves situated.

We feel like some awesome things are on the horizon.

Ryan and Hanne