Baseball

Sunday we joined 600 people of our church for volunteer appreciation at a minor league baseball game. I am not a big baseball fan but I do enjoy the minor league games. The ball park is very nice and also small. We had a lunch that was pretty good and enjoyed a day with the family.

Katherine loves playing with her friend Elise and her big sister Kaila so we sat with them.

After the game the kids are all able to run the bases. We took Katherine down and it was pretty funny. She kept stopping because she got something in her shoe or her friend did. A worker helped her to stay focused. I was having technical difficulties with my camera so luckily a friend captured Katherine coming home.

An early Thankgiving celebration

Our church in Oslo had a Thanksgiving Celebration both to celebrate Thanksgiving in a few weeks and to celebrate the one year anniversary of the church. Our congregation is international with a large number of Filipino au pairs who also celebrate Thanksgiving (taken from the US influence) so we had an interesting assortment of traditional Thanksgiving food from the US and the Philippines.

We prepared a Turkey. This is the first time I have cooked a turkey in the oven. Usually for the holidays we are eating at a parent or grandparents house and they cook the turkey. The only time we did it, we used a turkey fryer which was not to be found in Oslo. So, I was a little nervous. I also did not have the right supplies. There was no roasting dish and no turkey baster. So, we were inventive as you see in the picture and we used Katherine's nasal aspirator as a turkey baster.
Eeeew - just joking. We laughed about the idea and posed the picture but decided to just use the spoon to baste the turkey.

Katherine grabbed an oven mitt to check the turkey. Good thing that oven is childproofed because even though she kept saying, "hot, hot", she still tried to open the door like mommy does.

In addition to the turkey, we made cranberries, gravy and sweet potato casserole. As you can see our kitchen is very small and tight on space. I think we had every pot and pan as well as all four burners in use. It seemed I was constantly cleaning up.

The food was delicious. We had turkey and all the sides - mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, broccoli, etc. This is in addition to the Filipino spring rolls, shrimp, pasta and rice dishes. The hands down hit and most commented on dish was the sweet potato casserole. Apparently sweet potatoes are not common here so most of the Norwegian and European guests had no idea what it was. They thought it was carrots. Then to cover it in marshmallows was an even more interesting idea. They all liked it though.

We had the regular attenders from our church family as well as many guests in attendance. It was a very fun evening for me as almost every friend I have made in Oslo was there. Sarah, her husband John and son Aiden were there, Hilde, her son Nikolas and granddaughter Lona attended and Donna, husband Stew and daughters Sophie and Isabella came. They all really enjoyed the evening and it felt a little like a going away party for me as it may be the last time I see all of these friends before we go home.

Lucky (our pastor) gave a short devotional on the history and meaning of Thanksgiving. The kids did a craft.

Katherine and her two best friends in Olso - Nikolas and Aiden

A great Sunday

When we were considering whether we would come to Oslo or not, one of the things I did was get on the internet to see if there were things I could get involved in and to see if we could find a church. I thought three months would be a long time to not have a church to go to. Sure we can listen to our church on a podcast, but you need fellowship as well.

I found two things online that made me more willing to leave the country for a few months. The first was the American Women’s Club of Oslo which has monthly meetings and other smaller groups. I am still trying to get connected as they don’t really start up until September but I think it will be good. On their webpage they had links to English speaking churches. There I found several options but really was interested in the Oslo International Community Church. I read all about it on their website and thought that the church lined up with what we were used to, especially since most churches here are more formal and liturgical. I knew it was a newer church and small but for a three month visit, I thought that was best anyway. When you go to a large church you are often not noticed as a visitor but in a small church people reach out to you. I thought it would be easier to get connected and make friends.

I emailed the pastor before we left to make sure we had the directions and times right. He emailed me right back with a lot of information and an offer to come pick us up the first week. We snatched that opportunity right up.

Sunday we called the pastor, Luckey, to arrange pick up. When he heard that our luggage was lost and we had no good phone or internet, he offered to look into it for us. He picked us up and we attended their service. It was indeed small, 16 people including children, but we really liked it. Apparently this week a lot of the regulars were out of town. After the service we had a social time with cookies and juice where we were able to meet everyone. One couple, John and Anna Gretta seem fun. We hope to get together with them soon. They live in town (the church is in a suburb) and they have a 7 week old. John is actually from Houston but has lived here for 5 years and Anna Gretta is Norwegian.

After church we went to Luckey and Christa’s house to hang out and have dinner. By the end of the evening it felt like we had known them for a long time. We had a great dinner and they had a lot of information and tips on getting adjusted. They let Sam use the internet and I used their VOIP phone to call mom. I plan to get together with Christa to shop this week and after their kids go to school next week I am going to go over and teach her how to blog. Being missionaries we think this will be a great way for her to stramline some of her email and prayer letter updates for a large distribution list. We look forward to being involved in this church while we are in town and to meeting people through this church.