Okay, so that song is about a month too late...but in Kristiansand, Norway we don´t get much snow in the month of December!  The first snowfall this year was back in October, but since then there hasn´t been a lot of snow.  Typically we get snow during the months of January and February...so it´s coming.  Having just been in sunny southern California for 5 weeks, it was a bit cold coming back to Norway.  The day we arrived it was 4 below, celsius...brrrrrrrr.  Being a native Southern Californian, it was a bit of an adjustment.  My kids, on the other hand, were thrilled to see it was snowing this morning!  Well... I hope you are nice and warm while reading this post!  And yes, I just dedicated a whole blog entry to the "weather".  

Hello again!  We were traveling over the holidays which is why there have been no blog entries during that time...but we are back in Norway and ready to start again!  We stayed with my parents in Pasadena, CA for 5 weeks and had a wonderful time with our church family(Pasadena Foursquare Church), immediate families and friends.  It was a good trip to connect with everybody and for my children, Ida and Max, it was a very special time for them to get to know their relatives better!  As you see in the picture posted above, they wasted no time feeling like family.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!!  Until the next blog entry... 

We had the opportunity of going to Spain this year for our family vacation! As you read in the previous post, we were invited to Madrid, Spain for a Missionary Retreat, and were there a little under one week. We decided to take our family vacation after the retreat and rented a car and drove from Madrid to an area close to Alicante (about 4.5 hrs south). It was my first time in Spain as well as the kids, but Adam had been there previously for meetings.  We were able to rent an apartment through some friends of ours in Norway, and stayed there for a little over 2 weeks. The weather was nice and warm, and comparable to a Norwegian summer, even though it was October. We explored the area and found several beaches in the area, and had some relaxing days in the sea and of course taking in all the sun before returning to cold Norway. The kids had a great time and we had a lot of fun together as a family.   

Immediately after the visit from my parents, we were off to Madrid, Spain where those of us who are serving as Foursquare Missionaries in Europe gathered for a Retreat.  It was an excellent and productive time to connect with other families on the field, to talk about the future of Missions in Foursquare, to come before the Lord and worship together, to hear from the Holy Spirit and to have a fun time!  One of the highlights of the Retreat was that we were taken to a traditional Spanish restaurant in downtown Madrid, where they surprised us with live Flamenco dancing after the meal!  This has always been a dream of mine, and to be able to see the real thing in Spain was incredible!  And of course the food was excellent, but since I knew the performance was coming after the meal, I don´t remember much how it tasted.  Too excited!  It was a very memorable and relaxing retreat in Spain. (see additional pics in the Photo Gallery)

We had an excellent visit with Papa and Nana, Ralph and Pam Torres, or my parents (choose whatever you like).   They were here for 2 weeks and we pretty much stayed around the area of Kristiansand, which is the city we live in here in Norway, and it was a very nice time!  Alot of good time with the grandkids, Ida and Max (pictured above), which is extremely important since we live far away from our families.  Drank alot of Peet´s Coffee, as well as ate alot of Mexican food, prepared of course by the best Mexican food cook, my dad.  Nana had a great time walking with the kids and taking in some of the cool fall weather of Norway, before going back to the heat of L.A.!  (More pictures in the web gallery).  My parents were able to be with us for 2 of our youth meetings, and my dad led the worship and spoke at one of our Sunday night services.  We were able to introduce them to several of our close friends that we have made here, and it was chance for our friends to get better acquainted with my family.  It was a really fun visit!  

On August 28th, we celebrated Max´s 2nd birthday!  We had a "Thomas the Tank Engine" birthday party for him the following Saturday, and had about 9 other kids(and their parents), there to celebrate with us!  Max got all kinds of presents from clothes, a Lego Castle, Thomas Train tracks and trains, candy, more legos, and toy cars.  He was very excited but a little overwhelmed by all the people.  I made 2 cakes, chocolate and yellow and covered them in a beautiful blue frosting, which I found out later is hard to wipe off little faces and everyones tongue was blue for a while afterward!  But hey, it´s a kids party so that´s okay!  Luckily I had plenty of wet wipes for everyone.   

On Monday, the 25th of August, Ida received Jesus into her heart.  We had been talking about it for several weeks intentionally, and explaining how Jesus is waiting at the door to Ida´s heart and that she can ask Him to come in and live in her heart.  On monday, Ida and I were putting away clothes and she suddenly said to me "Mommy, I´m ready to ask Jesus into my heart now".  So we went downstairs and prayed together with daddy.  And afterwards she said that she felt good inside.

We had an excellent Outreach in Estonia!  It was truly Intra-Regional with a team from Kristiansand Foursquare(led by Adam Hartel), a team from Pasadena Foursquare(led by Pastor Brita Pinkston),in CA, and a team from Estonia.  We all met up in Parnu, Estonia and served with the local church there led by Pastor Sven Veedla.  During the day times we went out into the city and passed out flyers inviting youth back to a "Free Youth Event" at the location where Sven´s church meets.  We also did some Street Outreach Presentations, which served to draw a crowd and then we were able to invite the group listening back to the "Youth Event" that night.  The presentations included a band, led by Adam,  a break dancer, some dance and some other hip hop/rap presentations.  Many of the youth that we invited came to the church to see more presentations, have free snacks, participate in games and to get to know those of us who had invited them.  What was more exciting was that many came back again the following night and even came to the evening that was more focused on hearing testimonies from people and hearing about God.  Everyone who walked in the doors of the church was greeted and got a chance to observe and be apart of what Sven´s church was already doing.  We held nothing back and gave them Jesus through serving them and sharing about what the Lord has done in our lives.  Best of all, we helped to bring them into relationship with Sven´s church.  Thank you Lord!