My new brother

Petra and Paul at their wedding

My new brother and I

Pet and Paul

My siblings!

I have always wanted a brother. Ever since I was about three or four I wanted to adopt a Chinese baby boy, or at least have my parents adopt him so I could have a little brother. Pet and I would sometimes sit and think what we would do if we had a little brother. I think we would have spoiled him totally with all that we planned to do. When our good friends Annie and Gigi got a little brother we spent so much time with them, that he was like a little brother to us. Sadly, they moved away, so we had to give up our "little brother".

Last weekend all that changed. My sister got married on Sunday to Paul. I think if I had to find my own brother, I would have chosen him. Good choice Pet, and thanks for finally giving me the brother that we've always wished for! :-) Welcome to the family Paul!

Klausie boy

I found out yesterday that our budgie died on Friday. He was the best bird one could ever want. Whenever you were sad he would fly over and give you a kiss and whistle to you. We got him when he was a chick and therefore he really didn't know how to "speak parakeet" but only spoke in our language and whistled the way we did. He could speak in 3 different languages: English, Chinese, and Russian and he was working on Spanish and Danish. His favorite phrase was "I love you! God loves you too!" Often when we would be cooking in the kitchen Klaus would be sitting up in the window, whistling and saying "God loves you!", he also might say a cheery "Ni hao me!" or "Martina!" Sometimes he would get phrases mixed up and say "Merry ChrisKlaus" (instead of Christmas). When Petra or I would practice our instraments Klaus would love to sit on the ground and talk to our tapping toes, sometimes jumping on our feet and riding up and down as we tapped to keep in time. He loved to fly over and see what you were doing and maybe get a snack of fruits or veggies (red pepper was his favorite). He always had just the right things to say to cheer you up, and always knew how to make people happy.
I think that even if I have other pets, I will always remember my dear Klaus and think of him. I hope that soon all of us will meet together in Heaven where we will never part again. That is a day to look forward to!





"How lovely are Your dwelling places O Lord of hosts! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herslef, where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You." ~ Psalms 84:1-4

Night Visitors

Last weekend I went to the Heiberg's house with some of my friends from the Witness For Life group that arrived in April. Allie, Shannon and Ricky are all students from America who are here for the leadership course that we are having now. We headed out on Friday evening, and we had an awesome weekend hiking, and spending good quality "chum" time.
On Saturday night Ragnhild (a little homeschool friend from Fredheim) came over for her birthday and wanted to spend the night in the Heibergs Stabbur with me. A stabbur is a storage house that many Norwegians have on their property that is standing on poles so that mice and rats cannot get into it. Many Norwegians use the stabburs into guest houses, and the Heiberg's stabbur has some very old beds in them that are only about a metre in length.
I have always wanted to stay out in the stabbur, so when Ragnhild asked me to join her out there I jumped at the chance. We chatted for a while before going to sleep. I didn't see a lock on the door, but I didn't think that there would be any problem because the Heiberg's house was just across the lawn. I drifted off to sleep very comfortably situated in my bed hoping that nothing would go wrong.

For the past year at EBS I've been getting up whenever God wakes me up to read my Bible and pray and Saturday night was no exception. I woke up at 2 o'clock to see what new things were in God's word for that night. As I was peacefully reading I thought I heard footsteps. I brushed it away thinking that it was just the wind and it was all my imagination about the footsteps. I did however turn from Ezekiel to something a little more calming in the Bible. But for some reason I thought I could still hear footsteps. Then I heard scratching on the wall. My room at EBS has mice in the walls, so that was nothing new, but I thought it was odd because the whole point of stabburs is to keep mice out. I rolled over and tried desperately to quiet my imagination, but somehow it was getting a little more difficult for me to concentrate. Then I heard Mimi barking, and more footsteps, now I was sure that someone was in the stabbur. Visions of crazy rednecks in the backwoods of Norway drinking in "empty" stabburs rushed through my mind. I tried to see if Ranghild was awake but she was still sleeping peacefully. I was trying to figure out what to do. Since I was acting "big sister" to Ranghild I could frighten her about the situation, but now I was sure that people were in the stabbur. Then the door creaked open, and a form paused at the door. I am sure that if I was not trying to be brave for Ranghild's sake I would have either screamed or fainted... or both. Then three people came running in with sheets over their heads and yelling


and to my utter relief, I recognized... Robby, Shannon, and Ricky!