Tuesday February 22nd- Day Two Photo Diary

Tuesday- started a little roughly, the plan was that Lilja would go to her playgroup. They were having a 'Go Texans' day and this included Pony Rides for all the children. Instead Lilja woke up with a raging fever. We had already said an early goodbye to Daddy who was flying to Dallas for a days meeting. On Tuesdays Naomi has an 'at home' school day. Her school is called a 'University Model' school, which means the parents sign up to co-teach their children. The University bit is a reference to the number of contact hours in the classroom, as the students grow older they work more independently. The work on the at home days it set by the school. Typically Naomi gets some work done before we drop Lilja off and then we work really hard until we pick Lilja up at 2, then we are free for the afternoon. Not today! Lilja did not touch her breakfast and got some rest and time at home, much to Naomi's annoyance:)

After getting showered and dressed Naomi tucked into her Maths work. Here she is playing shop, her task today was adding together three two-digit numbers. They have a daily drill in Maths including recording the temperature on a graph, calender work, fact quizzes, fact practice. There is plenty of repetition. It was a steep learning curve for her stepping in mid-term, but she has risen to the challenge. Lilja was a good sport and after her first nap came and worked alongside her sister.

Here is Naomi doing her reading comprehension on the sofa, she also completed her spelling work and grammar. Lilja took another nap and then when she woke up we ran some errands. Here we are at our local car garage (place of piano reference), it is pretty much at the end of the estate. Naomi and Lilja got to choose one piece of 'candy', they are very happy with themselves. Here is Lilja in front of the car with its replaced headlight bulb. No charges for the work, we are big fans of Adams Automotive!

Next stop our local grocery store, for a few items including some flowers for my friend Jean who has a Birthday tomorrow. Back home again for some more time on the sofa for a sick little girl and some computer time for Naomi. She is actually doing reading for her History and Science work. Screen time for Naomi is up there with candy as ultimate rewards. She covets any time on the computer or on a phone or other electronic device.

Our school day took longer than normal today given the circumstances and the fact Naomi is not 100% herself, but here is Naomi doing what she really wants to do after having to do what was required of her. She is drawing a picture.

On Tuesday evenings, I get to go out to Bible Study at our church, First Baptist. This week was a bit special as Jean was celebrating her Birthday and my friend Carrie (also lived in Stavanger, but now lives just outside Houston) and her Mum (visiting from New Mexico) were planning to come along. The Bible Study is massive, thousands of women attend, which means getting there early to get parking and a seat. Sick children and business trip to Dallas aside, at 5pm our sweet next door neighbour Madeline came to watch the girls as we headed out the door.




I managed to get a picture of the ladies I sit with each week (failed to get a picture of Carrie and her Mum, Amy). Here is Jean (with her flowers), Megg (who is in our Sunday School class) and Janice. This a picture of the Bible Study with Beth Moore. We are studying the book of James and it is very challenging. We had a wonderful evening and I got home to a tidy house, Ben back safely from Dallas and kids tucked up in bed. :)

Monday February 20th - Day One of 'Photo Diary'

So, back again! I have finally found the charger to my camera, charged up the battery and set myself the task of documenting a week in our lives as there are lots of family who I am sure would love to see what we are up to:)

It started well as I realised at breakfast I hadn't ironed Naomi's uniform and we hadn't done her weekly spelling test (due today). So just a few additional things to cram into our morning. Nothing new really. Here is a fab shot of breakfast (note: I am not the photographer of the family, we all know that Ben is the genius in that department). Here is also a picture of Naomi putting on her long white socks (after I retrieved them from the laundry basket, clean I might add) and the girls all strapped in to the car. It is always touch and go if we are all ready to go exactly on time.

So, Mondays and Wednesdays Naomi attends Trinity Classical School. It meets in a large church not a mile from Ben's office. The school uses the Sunday school classrooms as classrooms. Naomi has a wonderful teacher (note to self: take picture of class on Wednesday) called Mrs Scholl. She is studying for her PhD in Ancient History and so part time teaching is ideal for her and is great for us. She has wonderful humour, a gentle manner and high standards. Naomi has about 13 classmates, most of which are girls. They start the day with morning assembly, not unlike the School Assemblies Ben and I remember. The parents and siblings are permitted to sit in the assembly, Lilja and I always do this (note to self: take pictures of morning assembly).

Here is a picture of Naomi signing herself in, Mrs Hamza is our very kind and sometimes theatrical school secretary. (Last week she dressed up as the Mad Hatter for their Alice in Wonderland Party).

After drop off Lilja and I played in the playground for a little while and then drove to her ballet class. One of the Mum's arranged a small ballet class on Monday mornings with some of the siblings of children at the school. It has been a great way for Lilja to make some friends and me too (there is always a bit of time for chat in the waiting area and we have had lunch after on a couple of occasions). It is a fair trek to the ballet studio, and first impressions were not great. BUT, Miss Rita is extremely gifted with little children. She keeps them completely spellbound for an entire hour. It is cheap as chips. In fact we have a dance studio just round the corner from us and I signed up Naomi at great cost, she lasted 2 weeks and hated it and has refused to go since. Naomi got the chance to go with Lilja one Monday and she also loved Miss Rita, so you get the picture:)

Here are some shots of ballet and tap....

Lilja with her pals Kate, Marcell and Juliette.

After Ballet Lilja was feeling a little under the weather and wasn't up to much so I attacked the laundry and cleared the girls closet. Believe it or not I packed away a large chunk of winter clothes, it is still only February but it was 77 degrees F today. I think we have had our two weeks of winter weather. Going from a country where you can wear winter clothes for 10 months of the year to one where you can for only 2 is taking a bit of getting used to. Need to start stocking up on t-shirts. Anyway, I digress! Lilja and I stopped off on the way to pick Naomi up from school and had new passport pictures done. Will be nice for Lilja to have a picture in her passport that actually looks like her. Picked up Naomi, drove home and Lilja decided that she would go to bed and promptly slept until 6pm. This left Naomi and I to fill the afternoon. Naomi decided that if the school were to have a Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe party (which they may well do as they have almost finished the book, the Head of school reads to the children while they eat lunch) she wanted to be the White Witch. She then set to to find every single bit of suitable white clothing to dress up in, and described exactly how she would like her hair and makeup done. I allowed her to raid my jewellery. It was fun. We did some baking (Banana cake for Daddy) and then piano practice. OK another story... the other day we were having some electrical problems with the car and popped into our local garage and I mentioned where we lived and the lady owner mentioned how her kids piano teacher lives just round the corner. So I ask for her number and she mentions that she has a long waiting list, very popular. I call, and yes she has a long waiting list. However, because of our school schedule we can do lessons a bit earlier and so Naomi got a spot. We are only two weeks in, but a budding pianist in the making you will agree. Her teacher is very nice and has two gorgeous golden retrievers that from week three will be allowed to come and sit under the piano during lessons, to our dog adoring daughter this is total bonus. Anyway, an aside, but here is a picture of Naomi practicing, under no duress from her mother (no comments about being a Tiger Mother, please ). Final picture.... dinner time in front of TV, Lilja has just got up from her nap, I make her some eggy bread she pretty much falls asleep on the table. Back to bed for her and leaves me and Naomi to wait up for Benj to get home from work. He had a big day today, he is off to Dallas for the day tomorrow so had lots to do.. That was Monday. Phew. See you tomorrow.

Well this has been a while....
Thought I would pick up blogging as a way of keeping our family and close friends abreast of all the goings on in the Clarke household. Perhaps a more intemate way of communicating than Facebook, though at the time I started this blog, it felt very public. Now just a way of keeping a diary.

So, it is Thursday evening, we are getting ready for AWANA's and this morning we had the packers come and take a chunk of our belongings into storage so that we will be ready to 'stage' the house and keep the personal effects to a minimum! It is hard to fight the opposite urges of 'chuck it all' and 'keep it all' and walk a line between the two (with the time available to go through every drawer). I have been doing just this for the best part of a year and I fear there is some way to go. I think it corresponds with the girls' ages, that they have moved past the baby/toddler stage and it is taking some time for our home and belongings (and my warderobe) to reflect that. The result of decluttering is a much nicer looking home! Naomi went for a wee lie down in our bed and declared it very 'IKEA' quite like a B&B.

We are still waiting patiently for our US VISA........ but it needs to come soon if we hope to get the house on the market, and have time to say goodbye to friends and family in Norway, Scotland and England! Trusting though that God is never late. Probably more on this topic later. As for me and mine, we are off to have a fun evening of games and handbook time at AWANA's.
Let's Go!

Aboret

Temp +10, sunny

It is still amazing weather, the buds on the trees are bursting, the bulbs are all out, and IKEA can't get the outdoor furniture out fast enough! The farmers are very busy ploughing and muck spreading, and almost every household has pruned some bush or tree. We are spending lots of time outside. The newspapers have 'Drømme Påske' (dream Easter) as their headlines.

We have Granny visiting so I feel like I am having a break and the children are loving the extra attention. Next week we are planning to join in the Norwegian traditional Easter pursuit and go skiing.

Today after swimming we headed off to the Rogaland Arboret (arboretum) for a picnic, Naomi walked happily around without the buggy and found so much to play with. Rocks, sticks, mud, ducks to feed, houses in the trees etc etc.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Temp +18, BRIGHT SUNSHINE

It is just getting better and better (the weather that is) and there is so much more day to enjoy it!

OK this is a post that I have been meaning to write for a while. How to introduce Easter to a small person. I don't want to get into the whole Easter Bunny debate, I don't see a problem with celebrating Spring (bunnies, chickens, new life etc), especially here as the spring is so welcome. However the facts of the death and crucifixion of Jesus are a critical part of my Christian faith and we want our daughters to know those stories.

My dad wrote: Very nice - yes, Easter is a bit of a problem especially the bit that 'he died
because he loved us' Gives the wrong impression about love. Heavy stuff.

Not easy to defend in a short space, but 'no greater love is this, that a man would lay down his life for a friend'. I have trouble comprehendinng a love that would give up everything for me, but should we short change our daughter and not show her that kind of love??

So as is the way with me, I bought a book that we can read together and talk about. It is called 'The Easter Story' by Brian Wildsmith. It is the Bible story told from the perspective of the donkey who carried Jesus to Jerusalem. It has beautiful pictures and is a faithful story and is a book she can enjoy today and will grow into.

On a lighter note, the Påske hare (Easter bunny) did visit Barnehage today and gave all the children chocolate eggs. It was fun and like Father Christmas captures the children's attention for a fleeting moment, my prayer is that Jesus captures their hearts for longer than that:)

Time

Temp +15, warm and sunny

There is so much going on in our little life right now that I think it might be safest to talk about the weather. It is really really beautiful, as Ben said last week 'it reminds us why we live in Stavanger'. After a dreary winter it is easy to forget sometimes. It's warm and bright and the birds are singing. Warm enough to throw open the doors and play in the sunshine on the front step. Sunny enough that Naomi will wear sunglasses.

It was a quiet weekend on the railway as they had a working weekend, so there were no trains running. We walked up the little track by the railway and started inspected some of the work, at the moment its just some blasting and tree felling. They are well on the way to taking down all the trees to make a new station at Frøystad. The railway has done wonders for raising the neighbourhood spirit, nothing like something to winge about to bring people together. The good weather helps too, gets people outside. In the winter you just see people rushing in and out of the house to the car.

The clocks changed yesterday. This means we bought our house 4 years ago, it was a Sunday viewing and we recon that we got the house cause people got confused about the time change and missed the viewing. I am glad we did, I like our house, I love the view and 
the beach, and frankly looking at the housing market right now in Stavanger it frightens me.
Usually we get a very kind email from our Pastor to remind us of the time change, this year the email came quite late (about midnight) on Saturday, which caught out a few families on Sunday who arrived towards the end of the service... Unfortunately, time changes don't help babies very much, especially babies who have a runny nose and probably teeth coming too! Lilja is utterly confused by the whole thing.

Season of Singing

Temp +7, dry, bright

Yesterday was the first day of spring! It was the equinox. It never fails to disappoint. For the next 6 months Light will triumph over Darkness. Even if it is not warm it will be Light!!

This was the verse on my little calender yesterday.

See! The winter is past the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come... (Song of Songs 2:11-12)

Well the part about the rains over may not be true, but it was yesterday. And this week has been full of singing. Naomi is now singing both English and Norwegian songs interchangeably. How is it children love music so much? She was singing Ride Ride Ranke to the tune of Alle Fugler ending up with Twinkle Star the other day.

The other singing is in practice for tonight when Ben and some friends are leading worship for a new Prison ministry starting here. I think the plan is to start Alpha in the prison here. So Ben is leading the team in Norwegian praise songs. It's very exciting!

The other bit of praise, Lilja is learning how to clap (8 mo). You just forget what a fun thing that is, and the look of delight on her face when she sees you seeing her doing it. She wobbles her little body so much she falls over..