Winter weekend pics

Weekend of winter

This weekend has been quite adventurous.
After playing a postlude for church (Robby on violin, and me attempting to play viola), Robby and I headed out to Fredheim (an Adventist sanitarium in Kongsberg). We met up with Werner and Berit there and partook of our midday meal, then Werner, Frederick, Robby, Mimi (Berit's collie) and I went for a hike in the mountains. We hiked up to a look out on the top of the mountain. The wind was so strong I had to lean far into it to stay on balance, but the scenery was superb! Hiking through the snow was a bit of a challenge; the snow's depth was a little unpredictable, so sometimes I would be buried in snow thigh deep! Fantastic!
In the evening we participated in a music night for the staff and patients at Fredheim. Robby, Berit and I played a piece with violin, oboe and piano, and also a piece with violin, viola and piano. Berit, Werner, Robby and I sang a quartet as well. Berit is an excellent poet and composer, and we all enjoyed hearing her compositions in the concert.
After the concert, Robby and I went sledding with some of the kids from Fredheim. This time we didn't go 75 km/hr, but we did get up quite a pace. Usually the kids would drive, but after pressing to find if I had a drivers licence, they wanted to see if I could drive a sled. That was a wild ride. I haven't had that much practice with driving sleds before, so we had tumbled quite a bit by the time my turn was done! With much screaming of us girls and battered knees and rosy cheeks we had a glorious time!
This morning I went cross country skiing for the first time. I must say that it is now one of my favorite winter sports. What can be better than being on the crisp snow, hearing the birds in the trees, and breathing the fresh cold air, not to mention getting a full work out while you are at it. Those who have never tried cross country skiing are really missing out on an awesome experience!
Tonight we got two more inches of snow! This is the life!

P.s. Pictures will come later, I am still trying to figure out this "techno" stuff :)

Back in snowy Skotselv

I'm back in Skotselv for a new year of studying. Right now we are doing a health course at EBS. This semester I am trying to stretch my mental capacity with different memorizations. When I arrived in Norway to my shock and utter horror I found that my oboe music was not in my music folder. It somehow was left at home with all of the bustle of packing. Thankfully my dad found the music and it was sent post haste to Skotselv. Meanwhile I tried my best to play as much music as I could by memory (yes my music arrived safe and sound to my relief). I have also been memorizing a lot of anatomy for school, botany for my own knowledge, Norwegian to get around, and the book of First John for the fun of it. It is so nice to get back into studying again, even though holidays are never unappreciated.
Coming back to Norway hasn't been only studying though. Last Sabbath we got 15 inches of snow. Not wanting to waste the great opportunity of fun in the snow, a bunch of us went sledding with our sleds tied to the back of Robby's car. It was incredibly fun, and Robby and I got up to 75 km/hr! What an amazing feeling with the snow stinging your face and trying to hang on for dear life as you go whizzing past surprised pedestrians! After we had sledded for quite some time we were ready for a nice hour or two by the fire with smoothies and listening to the Desire of Ages read aloud. To those who haven't tried spending Saturday night this way, I would highly recommend it!
Next weekend I am planing on learning how to cross country ski! It's great to be in cold weather and snow again!
Happy sledding!

Heaven is cheap enough

I'm dreaming of a white New Year...
I went for a roller blade this morning in a short sleeved shirt. In fact, I wished that I had worn some shorts instead of my jeans it was so warm. Just to let those out-of-stater's know, this is incredibly warm weather for Maryland for this time of year. Tomorrow's high in the forecast is an amazing 59 degrees Fahrenheit! Being a winter sports lover it is hard to believe that my whole "winter" break will be above freezing! Does anyone know how to sled in mud? Will it ever snow?
When I look around at the weather forecasts for other "cold climate" countries I find that they are in the same predicament. The ski resorts are suffering because tourists aren't very interested in spending their winter vacation looking at brown mountains. Will we soon see palm trees growing on Svalbard?

This would be a very depressing subject to write about except that I believe that all of these new developments in weather patterns show all the more how close it is to Jesus second coming. So many things have gone haywire in the past five years. People can't explain why there have been so many hurricanes, earth quakes, floods, famines, wars... the list goes on and on.
The Bible says in Matt. 24:7 "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places."

The good thing is that it doesn't end there. The Bible tells us not to be alarmed about all of this because once we see these signs Jesus will be following in their wake. We can read in Matt. 24:30 "they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."
That is great news.

So even though I am deeply disappointed that we have no snow this year, it is all worth it for that kind of an ending. "Heaven is cheap enough"