Sweden

So we drove to Sweden today as we are on our way to Finland to take some meetings for the organisation we are working for.
I have to say so far I am impressed with Sweden, a random guy outside an even more random grocery store gave us hot dogs for free and then we found a really nice Japanese restaurant with great food and our hotel is clean, spacious and somewhat cheap (for Scandivean standards).

So tomorrow, lets see what Finland has to offer :-).

I will post pictures at the end of this trip because I have still not figured out how to post pictures from an ipad....

opinionated

Little girl had very strong opinions where she was going to be during dinner today. She let us know that it was NOT in her bouncer while her parents set at the table - for sure!

Papa's lap seemed to a lot more acceptable to her :-).

always nice

Today we celebrated my brother-in-laws birthday and had a little family get-together. That is always nice for more that one reason... celebrating a life, awesome people, good food, just to name a few...

Happy birthday, Markus, by the way!

One more reason why I like those family get-togethers is that one of my other brother-in-laws brings his camera and works his magic. So todays blog will be a bit of a picture dumb of some of the awesome photos that he took today.

 happy man (and happy wife in the background :-)) - he got a grill

 nice food

 nice decorations

 Erlend and Alia have the same grumpy face

 brothers

 Alia being cheeky

 and smiley

and deep in thought

3 months!

Three months ago, God gave Erlend and me our best birthday present ever (one week early :-))!
Alia is 3 months old and we have enjoyed it beyond words to be her parents, see her grow and feel our love grow for her each day.

So in honor of the day, here comes a picture dump, no particular order...

 this smile melts hearts

 all pretty

 having fun with tante Kristine

we are so proud of these chubby cheeks - worked hard for them!

chilling with farmor

Les Miserables

Had a girls night and watched Les Miserables.

Did I like it?

Hm, yes, because, lets be honest, it is a classic and there is a reason for that - very good story!
And I was very impressed by the singing of the actors - especially the two kids.

Funny though how after watching a musical one feels inspired to have their next conversation in form of a song, maybe even throwing a little bit of interpretive dance in there - hehe, could be an interesting day tomorrow :-).

got the picture from google

3 years later

Exactly three years ago today I said yes to Erlend when he asked me if I would want to be with him - courting - if you will, just because dating would be the wrong term here :-).

Today I look back with a very thankful heart on the three best years of my life. God has blessed us in so many amazing ways and we are still in awe of His perfect timing and provision every day.

Erlend, thank you so much for telling me how you felt about me three years ago and being serious about it.
Thank you for being a godly man and husband who wants to serve the Lord.
Thank you for never giving me any reason to doubt your love for me.
Thank you for standing by my side when things got difficult.
Thank you for always telling me what I need to hear, even if it is not easy to say.
Thank you for making me feel beautiful.
Thank you for making me feel safe.
Thank you for being the most devoted father I have ever seen.

You are the love of my life and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter where in the world! I am so proud to be your wife!

Ok, enough of the public display of effection :-) and on to the picture of the day.

I have (as in cannot find it right now) a picture of me standing at that exact sign a little less than 3 years ago, the first time I visited Erlend's home. We were engaged at the time and I could not wait to become Mrs Erlend Røsvik.
Who would have known that a bit less than 3 years later I would stand there with our beautiful baby girl.

a lesson

This evening Erlend taught Alia how to make a fire. He feels that as his daughter she should learn about that as soon as possible :-).

the prayer of a child

Last night I got to witness a beautiful thing. I was hanging out with my sister-in-law and her kids as she prepared to put them to bed. As they were saying their prayers I heard my precious 6 year old niece pray, "Heavenly Father, I pray that Alia will one day trust in you!" What a prayer! It has been our prayer for our little girl from the day we knew she was growing inside of me, but to hear my little niece pray that touched my heart and made me tear up a bit.

I am so touched to see how much Alia is loved by her cousin(s). 

E even helped me to give Alia a bath - we overdid it a bit on the bubbles - oops!

grandparents

We have enjoyed so much to be around our Norwegian part of the family since the minute we got here. Alia got to meet lots of new people - two of the most important ones where of course her grandparents or farmor and farfar as they call them here.

shopping trip

Today we went to the mall. We had not planned on buying much since stuff is generally a lot more expensive in Norway than it is in Germany.
But when things are on sale here, you can get really good quality stuff for only a few Euros.
So much to my delight we did find things on sale - very good deals for when Alia is a bit bigger and living in a hot country - even a little bathing suit :-).

I did not realize how much fun it is to buy clothes for your kid, since so far we have hardly bought anything for Alia, because we have been either given things as gifts or gettings things lend from people who have older kids. (Danke, Chrissi und Annemarie!)

the journey

We are so thankful for having a very smooth and uneventful journey to Norway. We enjoyed the new connection with KLM from Munich, via Amsterdam, directly to Erlend's home island.

Alia was a super baby as always, slept a lot, did not mind the noise, all the different people or being changed in a plane lavatory.

 and this is just the hand luggage :-)

 she got her extra little seat belt

she slept in one of the busiest airports of the world :-)

last day

Enjoyed our last day in Germany and the first day with sunshine in a long time.

almost auntie

Alia enjoyed her biggest meal yet (180 ml of milk) with her almost auntie Steff tonight.
We are looking forward to Alia meeting lots more aunties (and uncles and grandparents and cousins and and and) in Norway next week.

easter camp

Long time no post, because we were away for a few days at a family easter camp. Beside Erlend being sick we had a great time.

I have been going to that camp since I was five years old, love the house, the people and the fellowship.

It was the first easter that I had completely new perspective on what happend on easter almost 2000 years ago - the parent perspective!
Alia was sick last week and my heart hurt as I looked at her struggling to breathe and in pain.
How much more must it have hurt God, the Father when He saw His only Son hanging on the cross, suffering, crying out, "Why have you forsaken me?"? And why? All because of us, so that we could have a relationship with Him. What a love! What a cost!

Thank you, Lord, for your love and your sacrifice!