Philippines

Since we have been living in Asia for a year now, we had to leave "our" country to renew our visa. What better place to go then where you have lots of friends and there are lots of malls :-)? The choice was easy for us after we found cheap tickets, we were going to the Philippines! We have already been here for a week now and we are loving it!

 On the way to the airport (don't worry Mama, it was already on the property of the airport and only "Schrittgeschwindigkeit") our driver and friend Pak Wiwid let Alia "drive" for a little bit. She was thrilled!

So excited to spend our first few days with our favorite "third set of (grand)parents" - Ragnar and Liz

We went to an aquarium together where Erlend and Ragnar had their feet eaten by little fish

 Alia enjoyed all the extra attention

 nothing says bonding time more than sweating together on public transportation 

on Sunday we went to the biggest church I have ever been at and thanks to awesome Grandma Liz, who took care of Alia, I got to sit through a whole service in over a year. Thoroughly enjoyed the good teaching!

It has also been a really good time for us as a family to have some quality time together after a few rough weeks at home

Now we are just waiting for our visa to come through and then we are headed back to "our" country. Please pray that the visa will come through in time for us to make our flight home.

It's a...

BOY!!!

That's right! We are having a son, Alia will have a little brother!

 Little smiley, waving Mr. Røsvik junior

Of course we had to celebrate by buying little baby boy his first cool item of clothing :-).

We are so thankful for a healthy baby and are praying for a good rest of the pregnancy, a smooth delivery and wisdom as we will attempt to raise this little boy to be a man after God's own heart - for His glory - what a privilege, what a challenge!

health update

Just a little update on how our in-house patient is doing.

 These crutches have been a big help during the last two weeks, even though Erlend still has some pain in his left wrist, which made it hard to use them.

We are hoping that his foot will be healed enough by next Tuesday (which is when we travel to the Philippines for a Visa-Trip) so that he will be able to get around with just this cane (would be so much easier on the plane.)

All of his wounds have healed really well (except the ones on his toe, which are still open)

I am going to be honest here and say that the last two weeks have been tough. 

Erlend struggled with pain and being tied to the house.

I struggled with having a lot more responsibilities, like being both parents, while still being very tired and exhausted because of the pregnancy.

We would appreciate your prayers for extra strength and patience as we wait for Erlend's foot to be 100% again.

Deutschland - Weltmeister!!!

Sorry to everybody who does not care about football, but of course I have to acknowledge Germany winning the World Cup this morning. (we had to get up at 2 am to watch the match - that is true fanship!)

We went to a local "cafe" to watch the match along with lots of locals and a few whities showed up as well.

 What a nerve wrecking match it was!

 the crowd (a lot of these people would have gotten up at 3 am anyways because right now it is the month of fasting and they are not allowed to eat after sunrise)

besides a few short power cuts and all food and drink being sold out after a few minutes - it was a place to watch the great event :-)

Congratulations to the German team - well done!

Another not wrong, just different

In one of the restaurants here in town, you get cutlery, serviettes and... anti mosquito cream...

Don't get us wrong, we're not making fun of it, we're wondering why not more places are doing the same thing!

motorcycle accident

Yesterday evening Erlend went out for a quick grocery run and I stayed at home to get Alia bed ready. After a few minutes one of our co-workers knocked on our door. He said, "Ok, Anne, so Erlend told me to tell you not to freak out, he is ok, but he had a motorcycle accident."

I was so glad to hear he was ok, just grabbed Alia and jumped on our friend's motorcycle to go where Erlend had the accident.

God's provision had already started, not only did Erlend not suffer any life threatening injuries during the accident and nobody else was hurt, but he crashed close to the house of our friend, Ragil.

Somebody who saw the accident recognized Erlend as someone who was visiting a lot with our local friend, so the told him about what happened and Ragil was at the crash site within minutes.

After falling off his bike trying while to avoid a car Erlend had been sliding on the road for about 25 meters when he crashed with his head (I know!) into another bike. The bike was damaged, so it was important to make sure the owner knew we were going to pay for the damage and also to check if she got hurt. So Ragil took all of us to his house, where Erlend could lay down and our friends helped us clear up the question of payment and so on.

When I arrived I realized that Erlend's wounds might be deeper than first assumed so I ran over to Ragil's neighbors, who are a family from our organisation, to borrow some gauze and band-aids.

Little did I know that the Lord would provide again. The wife comes from a family of medical professionals so she came over with me with a whole suitcase of medical supplies. She cleaned out Erlend's wounds and made sure to check for signs of concussion and also gave him some much needed pain killers. What a blessing!

 minutes after the crash

checking for broken bones

This morning Erlend was still in quite a bit of pain, especially in his wrist and ankle, so we decided to get some x-rays done.

 waiting for x-rays

Turns out, Erlend wrist is "just" sprained, but he does have a, maybe what you would call hairline fracture, on his left inner ankle. (still trying to find the correct translation of the word they used in the hospital in English, German or Norwegian) 

They said there is nothing they can do about. He can step in it if he wants, but if it hurts, to stay off it.... So we bought some crutches and more gauze and hope that it will heal quickly and that there won't be any infections in the many many scratch wounds.

 before the doctor in the background cleaned his wounds - he wasn't smiling afterwards....

 still a lot of "road" in the wounds

 so now I am redressing these pretty things twice a day

just to show you a few of 'the best ones'

Last night Erlend and I were talking about how badly this could have ended, would he not have worn a helmet or if there would have been more people injured. 

Would you join us as we praise the Lord for his protection and are praying for a speedy recovery for Erlend? Thank you!