Gingerbread Fun II - An encouraging cookie event

An Allison Post

I was expecting to feel this "ominous, metamorphic" osmosis into motherhood and parentdom...but I have to say, I BASICALLY FEEL THE SAME, just a LOT more cuteness in my life!!!

Sure I'm losing some sleep, we might be repeating the easiest meals in our dinner planning, and I'm still waiting to turn back into a pumpkin, or rather not look like I still have one sitting under my shirt (nobody told me it stays for as long as baby's been growin'!) But thanks to the many open and present women in my life, I've been feeling mostly prepared about being Allison + baby. My really issue was bottled up in this question: So what do I do now?

I felt the Spirit's guiding in that life with my baby (now known to be our sweet Zoë) would be a part of inviting people to live with me where I am sent. Discerning how to do that was my next task. So we're 6 weeks post Zoë arriving and being on maternal leave, and don't get me wrong, I'M SUPER ENCHANTED and fascinated by my daughter,  and it's cold outside so you know that I choose to be faithful to my couch. But it's time to use the B-word out loud to communicate that it gets a bit boring to be at home and not apart of what's going on in the world outside me for more than a month.

So it's December 18 and we're right around the corner from Christmas. What better to do with my recovery time than bake some "Pepperkaker" (the Norwegian contender to gingerbread, pronounced pep-per-kokk-yuh)! I don't really know what i'm doing when it comes to baking, especially cookies. Coq Au Vin is my forte. Give me a basic sugar cookie recipe and my success rate plummets. So who can I call to come help me get in the Christmas spirit? I turn to my girls' small group facebook page hoping i can get at least 2 girls to come since only 1 came last year. In the past, it hasn't been easy to try and gather groups of young teenage ladies, a bit like herding cats. I pitch in at the end of my invitation that they can get to hang out with the new baby and hold her. That must've did it because I had 4 ladies show up to bake with us that night!

And so the 2 hours I had initially suggested turned into a 4 hour hangout that really didn't have much to do with the cookies, but with wisecracks about boys, lessons on how to change a diaper, and muscle toning from trying to stir really thick cookie batter. And it's funny because I see me expanding in these different roles and experiences I take on in my life. Flexibility and Submission, when coupled in God's work, produce a lot of contentment and optimism about what God can possibly do around me and in me. It was a great night with some unexpected engagement as an older woman to these young girls, peership amongst these young ladies, and comfort for my boredom. God knows how to orchestrate these events and bring people together. All we have to do is open up our hands and ask if God is willing to do it.

Jeremiah - God is Our Home

          The days have been getting more and more exciting as we draw closer to the birth of our first child! The anticipation is killing and I'm just constantly checking up on Allison to see if she is having contractions or feeling strange or different. I am going to be a father soon! As I think about all that it means to be a parent and have the responsibility of caring for another growing, living, human being I get a little worried that I won't be good enough.

          We have prepared every square inch of our apartment for the arrival of this baby. I have started thinking about what things I need to maybe take out of my day to day routine like what kind of movies I watch our video games I play and how much I use that kind of entertainment to fill my time. I don't my child to be glued to the TV or phone screen. I am thinking about how I can build new life giving habits like conditioning my body for stamina and strength. In fact just before summer came this last year my back went out, and I was stuck in bed for about a week. I don't want that to happen again especially as the baby comes. I am also planning for the weeks after we come back to the U.S. in July. Also, the years after, and what our ministry will look like in combination with our job choices. This can be really stressful as I realize that their is just a lot to think about. With all these thoughts it's easy for me to get overwhelmed and wonder if I can be the father, the parent I want to be. However, I have been developing another great practice. This practice is simply being still before God.

         The last thing I want to do when I feel overwhelmed is be still. Logically, if there are many things to accomplish and to be done then it makes sense to start making moves to progress towards these goals. But I am experiencing just how God is building me up and strengthening me in these moments when my body and my mind are simply still. My mind needs a lot of healing. It is so easy to get discouraged and distracted by my own thoughts or concerns. So I have been taking about 15 minutes a day to sit down and do what is referred to as "centering prayer". I have a word that center my thoughts around and this word is something that reminds me who God is. In the beginning of our time here in Norway my word was "trust". So I would find a quiet place and sit and close my eyes and let my mind go wherever it wanted. However, every 30 seconds or so I would remember my centering word, trust and it would center me back to just being still before God. My centering word has changed through out the last year. For a while it was, love. After that it was, life. Really, no matter what it has been it has just been a reminder that God is good and is with me as I practice moving away from using Netflix or Video Games or Facebook to pacify my anxiety or stress. Recently the word, home has been my centering word. And this word reminds me that God is my home where ever I live or my family lives, and no matter where my friends are or my community is. This provides me with so much freedom to confident in moving forward in the midst of feeling overwhelmed sometimes. Not only am I finding my safety in God being my home but I know that God my child's home. Even though I can't quite see the future house we will live in I know that God is going to be with me, with Allison, with our son or daughter, with us every step of the way. God is our safety. God is Our Home

Jeremiah - Ping Pong Pals

   
          It was so nice to get to visit our home in the U.S. this last summer. I really underestimated the impact of not being around people I know so well. Being in a new place with a different language is hard, but being away from the relationships I rely on most to keep me sane has been the hardest part. Developing and maintaining relationships here in Norway is just different than the way I keep up with my friends at home. However, I have managed to find some really great friends over the course of the last year and I have been trained in the ancient art of ping pong!

         I have two main friends that I have been able to play ping pong with. Amin is incredible and has mastered the technique of super fast spikes on the ping pong table and my friend Reza is like a kung fu master with spin and speed. Both of these guys are from Iran and are seeking asylum here in Norway. Reza has been here for almost 10 years and Amin has been here for about 4 years. They have applied to stay in Norway and they have been waiting literally for years, the whole time they have been here, to receive an answer. This is a really scary situation to be in. At any moment they could receive a letter in the mail telling them to pack up and get ready to be taken to another town or to be escorted out of the country. So really when we play ping pong together it is one of the few moments where they get to relax and forget for a few hours about their state of limbo.

       After every church service on Sunday we sneak away downstairs to a secret room where we play ping pong for hours. We also get to play at least one other time during the week, and sometimes more people join. This has been a place where I have been able to find friendship, and also a place where I see God's face the most. In the midst of the intense competition we forget about our problems or how different we are and are free together. This has been a life giving space.
       About 2 weeks ago my friends Amin and Reza received word that they have been denied residency here in Norway. This has made them ask all kinds of questions among them being "God if you are my father and I am your child then where are you now?"

       I have been asking this question with them and pleading with God because I do not know how to answer this. I don not know what to say or what to do in these really sad and life changing moments other than try to comfort my friends and tell them that God is still in fact our loving parent, and he will never leave us.

      We have been praying that God would show them that he is still with them even in this hard time. Reza and Amin have been transferred to different cities now and are waiting for one final decision. I am so glad that I have been able to share this freedom with my friends. Even through our differences we found friendship and joy. I never knew God could use ping pong in such a strong and important way. Please pray for my friends, God's children, Reza and Amin as they search for their next steps.

My Life in a Basil Plant - Allison Post

thankful that God makes us better through unexpected change.

an allison post

It's WILD to look back and see where we've been before. In the last post, we were in Latvia, and I was unaware of being 3 weeks pregnant (which explains the beginning of some food aversions and sensitivity to smell!)

Fast Forward, we are just hitting 37 weeks pregnant and its an ENTIRELY different ball game. I've been up for hours trying to reconcile my hips attempting to separate themselves from the rest of my body, but hey, it's only temporary, right?! I figured this was a perfect opportunity to unpack something I was thinking about yesterday.

So over the past 9 months we have been UP and we have definitely been DOWN. (Sometimes it can be easier to dwell on the down, but balance is everything.) While pondering on the fight for balance, i sometimes ask myself what it's worth to endure suffering (be it minimal and momentary or long and difficult). I turned to my windowsill yesterday after starting this mental discourse and it just hit me: I am my basil plant!!!!

I've killed a lot of herbs and household plants this year, including my birthday cacti. As Kristin Cobwell says, WE DON'T JUDGE! But I have this ONE basil plant that has been more than faithful to me for the past 3 months. Its very green, many fronds, and had many stalks. Super healthy plant...maybe a little TOO healthy. It started needing some crowd control for one thing as the stalks were pushing against each other, blocking one another from good airflow and harvesting which also lead to a small mold problem. Jeremiah suggested chopping off two of the highest stalks which had tons of perfectly fine leaves on them. I was skeptical, but let him thin them. After observing the plant a little more, I saw that some of the stems were pushing to the borders of the container -- this little guy needed a new pot. So my landlord gave me a ton of dirt and my choice of potting containers, and we transplanted. I was concerned that all these changes were gonna kill my plant, stunt it's growth. But to my surprise, it has yielded more happy fronds. It's healthy AND made new again.

I can not tell you how much I've seen me in this plant since we committed to going to Norway. I was doing pretty well where I was, thriving in my cozy Richmond and searching for purpose. Finding it even. But I believe that God knew to prune me. There are ways that I've grown here in which I couldn't have had I stayed in those "good places" at the time in my life. For the eyes God wanted me to have, and the maturation of my spiritual walk, this transplantation has surrendered me into an incredible balance in my life. My dependency on Jesus more than my loving families, trusted friendships, and noble causes has had to define me and compel me in my pursuit to love people, and to love God for that matter. Even though it's not always easy, I see what God has done for me and in me. And I'm better for it.

a Latvia Trip Reflection - An Allison post

An Allison post



A lot happens in 3 months. (We apparently aren't juggling masters when it comes to multiple technology options.)

We've been here for 8 MONTHS!!!!!!!!! Since Sunday anyway. The sun will soon be sharing equal running time with the moon. Sunrise (Soloppgang) currently happens at 6:58 and Sunset (Solnedgang) currently happening at 6:05. THIS is hope for us. 

If you've been reading our monthly newsletters, you know that we've been traveling a bit around North Europe, Latvia and Estonia as new notches to our travel belt. It's been eye-opening in many ways regarding how people view each other and their relationships to one another in this part of the world. On one hand, people are self-dependent, closed, hardened exterior as if to protect themselves. But on the other hand, I can see how much people take pride in the legacy of their families withstanding oppression and staying alive through some tough history. THIS is relevant, and experience similar to the stories of many people I know around the world, including the stories that resonate in the life of my own family.

We took the trip to Latvia a few weeks ago accompanying the "Konfimasjon" group on their service-mission. **Konfirmasjon is a common practice in the Lutheran Church (as well as Catholic/Anglican) where young people confirm the faith that was dedicated for them in their baptism as a baby.**  While there we met a lot of people, and whereas many people remark only of positive experiences, I do remember experiencing some unsavory moments with several people. One woman in particularly was a lady I was asked to help in setting up for an evening gathering of young adults. As someone suggested to her that I could be of help on her team, she protested saying, "Who, Her?! Help with what? I don't need HER!" The argument turned to hostile Latvian in my midst and I was at a loss for why I was even there. I was a little embarrassed but growing more angry as I pitched I would do the job myself. In the middle of my brooding, I heard God saying, "You don't work and give for the sake of people loving you. You are here for me, and your work for me because the glory is mine." A tough pill to swallow. I'm one of those people who lovesssssss serving, when people are kind...or at least not opposed to me. But then this scripture was washing over me:

7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8)

How could I show real love, like God's in this moment? I took the opportunity at the end of the night to say "thank you" to that woman for providing (even unwillingly) some help that I had needed in order to get through the evening with slides. It wasn't what I wanted to say, or what she deserved, but it was what was right. I saw her melt for a second and she walked away saying "Well, of course, that's what I'm here for." There wasn't any major resolve for happy moment that came afterward but I saw 2 things:

1) God wants my obedience and my unwavering devotion as I've been called

and

2) God's goodness changes people and communicates more than what we can logically prepare.

Not my favorite experiences, but some defining and significant lessons that the Lord has prepared me with. I'm closer to God's heart this way, and that's so much more whole.

ADVENTKALENDAR - trying for an advent season approach besides "Getting to Christmas"!

An Allison Post

Today is Day 7 of the Christmas Countdown, or Jule rather (pronounced "yu-la"). Per usual, time passes quickly as we try to savor every bit of this holiday season including but not limited to:

-decorating christmas trees that measure up to my knee

-singing with 53 christmas songs on my playlist that I'm trying not to get sick of after listening to for just 3 days

-making gingerbread houses that cave in after a day because of the humidity in our house

We bought our plastic spruce at a
place called "Plantasjan"! It was all of 20 bucks
and even came with little lights. SHOUTOUT TO
MARTINE for the ride, The LORD knows I did NOT
feel like walking!!!! ;)

But OF COURSE these little details are not the why for Christmas which is why we can happily laugh and thank God for the meaning and reason of Advent. We look forward to Jesus coming to us this month, this week, daily. We see Jesus coming when we walk in the bitter cold to find our 1-foot tall Christmas tree, only to be stopped by a girl we've only met twice who wants to give us a ride to there and back and keep us company. Jesus also comes when people still want to celebrate your birthday 4 months after the fact by taking you to movie they'd rather not sit through (Oh btw, if you're planning to see Allied, be prepared -__-') Anddddd Jesus has also come when friends of friends of friends invite us to a birthday party because even though we are 3 times removed and only met once for coffee, they think we're worth having at special moments in their life.

Maybe I didn't realize how blown away I was be Jesus showing up these recent weeks in the midst of Go Go GO circumstances and unsurfaced lonliness & longing. I wished it were these times that I vividly remembered when people ask me, "How can you SEE Jesus? He's not real!" Christ grace for the world is real, and huge considering how long we've been missing His presence both incarnate and in the heavenly realms.

Pray for my eyes, that they'd be open to see how real Jesus is everyday. I want to see Him!

Jeremiah - A Weekend at Trovassli

- Jeremiah

This last weekend we were at a camp called Trovassli with our youth. Usually by the end of these weekends I am in need of rest, and struggling to find energy. Typically my introverted characteristics show strong when I am around groups of people for a fews days in a row. Even though I was still tired by the end of this weekend I was really excited to see God giving me strength in a new way. It's funny to think about how I was able to stay engaged with the youth in new ways just by being myself. But the hardest part about that is being comfortable enough to let my true interests and desires come out. A few ways I was able to engage in new ways was of course playing guitar, but also playing a fast paced card game called Egyptian Rat Screw. I have no idea why it is called this, but it has been an amazing way to include new people in some great fun.

At Skien Baptist there a few different groups a young people. Skien Soul Children are a large choir consisting of young people from around 12 to 18 years old. Another group is a group that is about 11 to 13 years called the Tweens. Then we have another group that is called the Bæggers group that consists from ages 15 to 18. There is some overlap in these groups, but at the camp this last weekend they got to finally spend more time with each other for a couple days back to back. Here in Norway meeting new people is hard. I would say it is even more difficult when it involves middle school to high school awkward moments. I realized as we were arriving that part of my job was to help those who didn't know each other at least acknowledge each others presence. By the end I could see new relationships being formed.

So we played fast paced crazy card games, we also jammed on guitar, and then since it was snowy we got ski and do some sledding!!

On these camps where the youth are meeting new people it is hard to create spaces where they can feel safe to open up about their lives. But it just reminds me how Jesus is always calling us to him. Whether we are ready or not He is always ready for us. I felt God telling me that even if there are some youth that are not open it is important to continue to talk about God's desire to be with us. Part of my testimony is that God was ready for me, but I ran form him and I ended up in really lonely and empty places. But when I was at my loneliest He was there still ready.

The divorce rate here in Norway is very high. Many of the young people we come in contact with don't have the best relationships with there parents. Also, it gets really cold and very dark here so people don't want to leave there houses in the winter. This creates loneliness too. All of these things contribute to loneliness and can lead to being very closed off to talking at all. Church may be the only place where they get to experience true friendship and love. Out of this friendship and love it creates a safe place for young people to talk about what is actually going on in there lives. It also creates an opportunity for them to talk about how they have seen God bless them so that others can benefit from their testimony.

So we have a responsibility and an opportunity to follow the example of our God. Our God gives us grace when we don't deserve it. Our God loves us even when we run for him. Our God is always ready for us whether we are or not.