walk around our island

 the road that goes by our house - no sidewalk for a while, so it is slightly dangerous to walk there

 you can still see a lot of the fallen over trees from when the hurricane hit Vigra

(can you see Erlend in the picture?)

the view with snow covered mountains is just stunning

One of our birthday presents

I am writing this from my mother in laws ipad because our internet is down at home. Therefore there is also no picture today but a link to picture to one of our birthday presents maid for us by our sister in law. http://hjemmebra.blogspot.com/2012/01/after-eight-og-ein-valnttboks.html

Thank you!

We want to say a big fat THANK YOU to everybody who remembered our birthday yesterday. Thank you for all the birthday wishes, calls, letters, emails and gifts! and thank you to all who came to our party. We had a great day and are thankful to God for an amazing last year!

older - but not a bit less silly 

(well, the silliness is also connected to a lack of sleep:-))

51 years!

Today Erlend and I have our 51st birthday! (okay it is after midnight so technically it was yesterday...)
We turned 25 and 26 and yes we do have the same birthday! The birthday party is still going, just had a few new guests come, so I will make this short :-)

 no party in Norway without coffee

 hehe, yes it is called bløtkake (only funny for my German friends (wird Bloedkacke ausgesprochen :-))

Erlend trying to open the window...yes we do live in an old house :-)

youngest guest with the newest technology

the joys of...

...having a little ones around :-) I know I have written about this before, how much we love being around our nieces and nephews here and seeing them grow up a bit each day, but it is just so much fun and we are so thankful for the time we have with them, knowing that in the future we will probably be the weird aunt and uncle that they only see every four years...

 this picture is a result of trying to teach them about taking a self portrait :-)

 hanging...

 she sure is a girly girl :-)

and a sweet tooth, just like her Tante :-)

Rester

Veldig kjekt å ha Vegar og Line til kveldsmat, men det ser ut som om vi må ha besøk morgen som kan hjelpe oss med resten :-).

ja, det er etterpå, ikke før :-)

Trøndermiddag

Today we were invited to eat dinner (here they call it middag) with our parents-in-law and some of the other siblings were also there, so we enjoyed some good Sodd together.

Ålesund by night

After a nice evening with Grete and James we drove up to Fjellstua and looked for Northern lights but we didn't see any...too cloudy...

Northern lights

Last night around 9 o'clock we got an excited phone call from our sister-in-law Sarah saying that they had just seen northern lights. (Thank you for calling, Sarah!)
I really enjoyed seeing them fro the first time in my life, what an aweseome God we have who can create something like that!
Of course I forgot my camera, so I have borrowed these pictures from my friend Line who had her lense ready in the right moment. (Tusen takk, Line!)

Sunday

Today we enjoyed very much to spend some time with our Sunday Bible study group, praying together, sharing what we have learned from the Scriptures and studying it together. Then having some pizza and ice cream and afterward we had the priviledge of witnessing a brother and a sister in the Lord getting baptised. It's been a good day :-)!

 looking at how many different Bibles were in the room today we could not help but think about all those, who do not have a single word of God's Word in their language.

 lohoooots of pizza :-)

Oh, how I love that smile!

being girlyfied

Just before going to bed is the perfect time for a little girl to have her toe nails done by her auntie :-).

being norwegified

It is happening - I am becoming more and more Norwegian :-)!
I can tell because I have picked up knitting (last time I did that was in 7th grade). Aren't you so proud of me, Kristine?!?!

 yes, I am starting with a simple hat for my nephew, not the whole outfit

German saying: All beginnings are hard

Praise the Lord

Erlend called me around lunch time telling me not to freak out but that he was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital because he had had an accident.
After being checked out by the doctor and x-rays I got to take him home and he seems to be all fine.
We are SOOOO thankful to the Lord that He protected Erlend, that his boss was very understanding about everything. that the other driver is absolutely fine and that Erlend only had some minor cuts.

 airback exploded, tire flat, side window broken

 some cuts on his lower arm, thankfully no broken bones

 that wrist watch protected some very important blood vessels from broken glass

more Liechtenstein

Because I just posted one picture of Liechtenstein where we went on Monday I thought I would put some more online today. Tomorrow we are back to everyday life with school and work after a busy but awesome week in Germany.

 beautiful alps

 black license plates - how cool is that!?!

 The flag with probably the only non-Liechtensteinian person who knows what it looks like :-)

the beautiful castle where the prince lives

traveling home

I was wondering if I should I use the word home in the heading. Where is home? We traveled to Norway today. Is that where our home is because our key fits a door? Is it where your family lives? Is it where you where born? I have a hard time with that word "home" and I have many dear friends who, due to their upbringing, do, too!
That is probably why I love so much that it says in the Bible that "our citizenship is in heaven" and I am looking forward to really being HOME one day when we get to be with Jesus in heaven for all eternity.

 most expensive airport I have ever been to - Copenhagen

 love those things -  they make you believe that you can walk really fast :-)

view out the window when descending on our local airport

In case you ever wondered...

.... what Liechtenstein, the tiny country between Austria and Switzerland with 160 square-km and 35000 inhabitants, looks like, here you go!

still fit ?!?

As we were eating leftovers from yesterdays party I overheard my dad saying something about doing 25 push-ups every day, so I called him on it and he sure enough dropped to the floor and did it!

Go, Papa! :-)

Happy 70th Birthday Oma Kuhs!

Today we had a big party for my grandma who turned 70. She is without a doubt (and many people from many different countries would back me up on this) the BEST OMA IN THE WORLD!
Wir lieben dich, Oma!

 she liked her presents, among them a book about Norway with lots of cool pictures to make her want to visit :-)

 decoration up close

 self portrait through the mirror

lots of good cakes

 lots of singing, just like Oma likes it

 Erlend prefered coffee drinking to singing

 with the newest addition of the family

enjoying different performances together

and Congratulations! Flori and Fips to your engagement!

swimming Samuel

I went with my sister to a baby swimming thing today.

 Looks like he enjoyed it :-)!

preparing for the big birthday party

Mama, Erlend and I decorated the room today where we will have the big birthday party for my Oma on Saturday.

Erlend's reason #28 why he likes Germany

Fleischkäs!!!

 He is a happy man right now :-)

That's the stuff :-)!