Month: June 2016

Anya was not up for heading out, so Diane and I headed out to the conservatory at Como Park. This is one of my favorite places in The Cities (local slang for the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul).

I was introduced to this beautiful conservatory while finishing up my bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota–Duluth with a major in biology. For the course “Plant Diversity,” we came to the conservatory on a field trip. I’ve been back several times. For a suggested donation of $3, it is a great place to visit on a budget.

Diane and I wandered through the gardens inside and out (the Japanese gardens).

Highlight pictures include:

When leaving the WMPL guest house, I ran into Carmen. What a wonderful moment! Carmen is amazing. We were classmates at the Lutheran Bible Institute. She also was an emotional oasis of care and giving hope during a difficult year at university. She works with the Peace Rehabilitation Centre in Nepal which prevents, rescues, and restores young women from the sex slave trade. With such a heart rending issue, it is encouraging to hear these powerful stories of hope and healing.

Anya needed some lunch so we stopped by the Mall of America (again) because we knew there was food options there. We dropped into the Fjällräven store again (a Swedish outdoor clothing and gear store) and discovered a Swedish Midsummer celebration.

We put our names into a drawing for a backpack, for which one needed to be present to win. We figured that we had just enough time to wait for the 3:30 pm drawing and then pick up Faith and Oona from the airport. The odds were good, with our 2 entries and the 35-40 people there for the drawings, but we didn’t win. We did get a free Swedish flag!

We made it to the airport in plenty of time (having to make one loop around) and then drove the 4 hours to Mount Carmel camp just north of Alexandria, pretty close to where my dad grew up on the farm.

My parents are here. My entire birth family is here! This (amazingly) includes my brother! Anya has only seen him twice before in her life. My sister, Elenn, is here with her husband and two of her three stepdaughters, and then her two step grandchildren. The middle sister, Faith, is here with her granddaughter. (This is the girl that we were all ready and approved to adopt in 2006, but the offer was rescinded just two weeks before she was born. I realize that I’m a bit more distant from her than I usually am with kids, so I realize that I still grieve a little about this.)

It seems that my departure to Sweden is an incentive for getting everyone here!

Off for the night. Let’s see if I can get to my cabin (after using the lodge’s wifi) without any mosquito bites!

With blessings,

Beth

I travel with ear plugs and an eye mask. I was grateful I had them due to the early morning light and the freeway noise of the city. I slept better than I had in over a week.

We had plans to make it to the Mall of America at 10:00 am when then opened, but a message outside our door on the way to the main kitchen for breakfast informed us of a coffee/tea break at the World Mission Prayer League (WMPL) office at 9:45 followed by a time of prayer. Anya was willing to accommodate and allow me to go and greet people. I had met everyone before, some here, but some in Washington. The hospitality included being upheld in prayer for our travels to Tanzania and the move to Sweden. Most of these folks have had major international moves, so they can really empathize and say heartfelt prayers to encourage and support us. I hope all of you readers have praying people like this in your life. It is truly wonderful.

We headed off to the Mall of America (MOA) for Anya. My former housemate, Diane D. (DD) drove up from Sioux Falls that morning, and we met at the mall.

Anya cruised from store to store following a route she had previously prepared from an online map. Diane and I tried to keep up with her power shopping pace.

After a pause at Starbucks at Barnes and Noble, we were walking out, when I told Diane, “That woman looks like Ann J.” who is a mutual friend (as well as our former pastor’s wife, as Diane and I attended the same church). Diane knew it was Ann and greeted her. How crazy! Ann just moved to Duluth and was bringing friends to the airport with a short stop at MOA. What a Providential connection! For about 8 years, Ann and I spent most Wednesday evenings together for worship team rehearsal (she plays the guitar and I the drums) and then also Sunday mornings! It was so great to see her and catch up.

With our big move, I told Anya that this really wasn’t a shopping trip, as we have limited space for packing to go to Sweden. Here are the results:

But with some super sales (50% off at the Levi’s store), and the high tax rate in Sweden, she talked me into some things, as well as a birthday gift for a friend.

I actually bought something too, but it is about the size of a thimble.

This lens magnetically attaches to the phone and takes a picture at 90 degrees from the direction you’re looking. My dad had one of these in Hong Kong and took some beautiful surreptitious photos. This may come in handy in Tanzania!

We introduced Diane to pho’ (Vietnamese noodle soup) and headed back to the guest house for a mellow evening of talking and stories. We sat in the beautiful living room. Here are some pictures:

A day filled with friends and fun, including a little visit by our guest house managers with their 3-week old baby!

With blessings,

Beth

It’s been crazy the past few days with all the cleaning and packing. I did take a break for a Swedish lesson, because that keeps me pushing forward with the learning. I often listen to a podcast of Swedish news broadcasts in simple Swedish. It attunes my ear and gives me a sense of the current events in the country. Because I am such a visual learner, I really have to work on strengthening aural comprehension.

My Swedish lesson probably paid for itself as I found out from my wonderful tutor that Icelandic Air allows for 2 free checked bags, while KLM allows only one! She knows, as her family goes back to visit friends and relatives every year. I was looking at ticket prices but hadn’t purchased yet, so this is perfect timing!

Anya took her driver’s test while I was having my Swedish lesson. She drove one of the cars she took her lessons in. She passed–and did well! Now, Anya can get her license and drive for 2 weeks before she leaves! The age for driving in Sweden is 18.

After her driver’s test, Anya was power washing the deck and backyard patio last night until 9:00 pm. She has been a great help.

Thanks to the Boysens for the loan of the power washer!

I sleep well, but not long enough. I awake with the birds and can’t get back to sleep. So, I just start the day. There’s lots to do to keep me going.

Anya wanted to get her license at the DMV, so we went to get in line about 5 minutes before the doors were supposed to open at 8:30. But we learned that on Thursdays, it opens an hour later. We couldn’t stay as we needed to do a few more things before getting picked up by Kristi for a ride to the airport.

We cleared out most of the things from the two bedrooms for painting. Jean and Marv offered to paint while we were away. How wonderful! The office is quite chaotic, but the area in chaos is slowly being reduced. I have found people who can use more furnishings, so the stuff will be a blessing for them and reduce my storage. One friend’s niece and fiance’ are closing on a house in Shoreline soon. In addition to the piano, they’ll take a desk and some storage/shelf things with some pots and pans. The other is a new family from China who just moved here from Mexico. The housing market is so hot here, that there are bidding wars for every property. We just met them on Saturday at a neighborhood block party after just a handful of nights in their new home sleeping on the carpeted floor.  So, they could use some help with some basic household furnishings. Anya’s bed will get passed on to their son.

I slept well on the plane, which took off the edge of the unsettledness from the frenzy. We arrived after an uneventful flight to Minneapolis and picked up our rental car. (A good deal at $12 a day!)

We are staying at the World Mission Prayer League guest house in Minneapolis. I’ve stayed here a few times before with my sister, but this time it is just Anya and me with new guest home managers (who have a 3-week-old baby). I met the mom at Trinity Lutheran College years ago, as we are both alumni from there. The WMPL family is special, and it was nice to meet the young dad that I had heard of and prayed for. We’ll share some greetings in the morning with the office staff.

The guesthouse is huge with 3 stories plus a basement. It is a beautiful old house with stunning wood fireplaces and banisters. It is truly lovely. I’ll take some pictures tomorrow. We are in a 3rd floor suite with a full kitchen that is cozy and comforting.

Our stay here is at the grand cost of $6 per adult per night! (I’ll just add a donation out of my appreciation of this oasis.) But the best part of being connected with the WMPL family is the people and links to amazing ministries around the world. (We’ll stay with WMPL friends in Wisconsin next week on our way to see Eric’s relatives.)

The wi-fi here is giving me a chance to catch up on some Duolingo Swedish lessons, (I did review of my tutored lessons on the plane along with some vocabulary flashcards with my Anki phone app.)

We drove over to “eat street” for dinner. Anya was in the mood for Mexican food, but after dinner, we decided that Minnesota may not be the best place to eat Mexican food. Anya’s description was “mediocre.” The best part was the butcher paper and crayons on the table for some creative expression.

My former housemate, Diane, drives up from Sioux Falls tomorrow and will join us here. But we won’t be going back to that restaurant. We will, however, go to the Mall of America!

With blessings,

Beth

The days are full. So was my house! I look at stuff differently again now that I’m moving. It is a reminder to travel light through life.

Marv and I hung the door on the wall separating my storage space. It went amazingly well! With Marv’s oversight of this project, the door fit so well that it didn’t need to be shimmed! He totally impressed me!

I spent the rest of the day decluttering the garage and transitioning tools to my side of the garage. The remaining portion is for some yard tools and storage. It looks so clean and functional now!

Yesterday, the UPS man brought my U100 kit.

If you want to see what it looks like unfolded, set up, and in a final form, here’s a link (a preview of coming attractions).

I am passing on a piano. If anyone in the Bellevue area is looking for a piano, it is yours for the moving of it. It is the perfect piano for a beginning student, and the price is right! I’ll be putting it on Freecycle after July 4.

Oh, I forgot to put this in the first published edition of this blog post, but I’m officially “created” philosophiae doctor. I received an email from the rektor of my school, formerly Misjonshøgskolen — now VID University, that the Board did make it formal. The diploma is in the mail!

With blessings,

Beth

Things are bit crazy around here! You have to be careful where your walking! I went to the kitchen one night after the lights were out and rammed my shin into Anya’s American Girl doll chest. Ouch! Now, the pathways are so narrowed, we turn on the lights all the time! Perhaps they are rabbit trails, taking us down seemingly unproductive ways!

The Swedish(!) Kirsten doll is being passed on to a dear friend with two daughters with Scandinavian roots.

Sunday after church was again celebrating Midsommar (Swedish spelling) at Vasa Park with the Grette family. (Eric worked construction with the Grette’s, and they did our remodels.)

The afternoon was demolishing the zipline and tree house in the back yard. Janet and Mark were wonderful workers! Janet will reuse a lot of the wood for a shed project. However, my demolition work gave me tennis elbow on my left arm. (Fortunately, my left arm, as I’m very right handed.)

The last demolition project was tearing out the old fireplace with Marv in 2013. I ended up with tennis elbow in my right arm. So, where in this chaos is my tennis elbow strap/brace?

Monday was construction with Marv. It was hilarious! An English major and a theologian, with help from a music major! Now anything project with Marv makes me laugh, but at one point I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!

We built a divider wall in the garage. My stuff will be stored in about 4/5ths of the garage, leaving a galley for emergency exit from the kitchen and storage for the lawn mower and other yardwork tools.

While we weren’t very efficient, we have a very nice wall and had a great time making it! Jean’s brother, a retired engineer, came in the afternoon to help with a plumbing and electrical project. He was wonderful! These are tasks that when they got beyond my skill set, I’d have Eric do. (It usually meant that I’d start the project, get as far along as I could, and then have Eric come with his construction experience and muscle to fix, and then, I’d clean up.)

The new renters are Young Life staff moving up from Colorado, who also served in Uganda. I’m sending pictures to them to determine if they’d like any of the furnishings. Anything I leave make life easier.

Anya spent 12 hours painting yesterday.

She isn’t very efficient yet as a painter, but that is partly due to developing skills and I’m paying her by the hour! Though, Eric put his way through college painting, and he always said, “You can’t rush painting.” It did take two coats of primer to cover the orange and yellow waves on her room.

So, today, we hope to reduce the chaos! I will have to take a break and be with Anya as she practices driving. Her test is tomorrow!

With blessings,

Beth

I received an email this morning from my future boss, Kjell (pronounced shell), that a decision has been made by the Swedish immigration department. However, the decision was not stated!

I will hear the decision first, but through the San Francisco Consulate General office, which is the closest one to me. I waited by the phone all afternoon. I will call later this morning (the 16th), because if accepted, then we will probably make arrangements to go directly from Africa to Sweden. The $500 fee for changing the flights and some payment for extra bags will be less expensive than buying one-way plane tickets for both of us at $2,000.

I’ll keep you posted on what I hear!

Meanwhile, Anya and I are in major sorting and packing mode. She is more ruthless than I am on getting rid of stuff. I think this reflects on the reality that she has had more things and nicer things come easier to her in her life. As a missionary and pastor’s kid in a family of six, we made due with what we had. Our needs were always met, but it meant that things beyond needs were treasured.

So, the closest thing I get to gambling is gambling with stuff. If I save an item and later find the perfect use for it, jackpot! The payoff rationalized the other myriad of things in my garage (though my car did fit in my garage until the moving began). The intermittent reinforcement is actually more powerful for reinforcing this behavior! So, I’m undoing 51 years of conditioning!

With blessings,

Beth

Those who know me well know my planning/administrator side. I analyze the critical path and make a plan, always adjusting with new information and more details. It is what makes me a good administrator and causes me to be unsettled at times with international travel. So, I’m up early this morning, as I can’t sleep. My mind is racing.

I tried all my tricks I learned after Eric’s death, as I didn’t sleep through the night for almost 10 months. None of the tricks worked in the wee hours of this morning, so I might as well make myself productive and tackle the task list that is keeping me up.

An international move is a major deal, but it seems very different from when we moved to Tanzania in 2002. I miss having an adult partner to talk things over and come up with a collaborative and better plan. Anya is rising to help with tasks and some idea exchange, but I have to be careful that there isn’t too much expectation of or responsibility upon a 16-year-old. In this stage of adolescence, sometimes she is a surprisingly mature young adult and sometimes she’s a kid who needs a mom to help her cope with life. The trick for parenting is knowing what she needs at that moment, as it can change multiple times a day.

Likewise, sometimes she is distant and needs to deepen her own sense of independence–a natural and healthy part of development, and sometimes she is deeply engaging and conversational. I’ve learned to respect the former, and when the latter shows up, I try to drop everything and turn my total attention to her, savoring the sweetness of the moment.

Anya’s end of the year track banquet was last night. It was a three hour program because of a large track team with many sub-teams. Anya’s pole-vaulting coach, Amy, was wonderful! She was Anya’s favorite gymnastics coach, so Anya had her as a coach for 2/3rds of the year, which was a tremendous blessing. You could tell that Amy had a great rapport with all her vaulters, but I know that Anya was special. It was hard for Anya to say goodbye to her last night.

My days are also filled with steaming the banners for our Tanzanian mission team. These were the banners that Anya and her friend, Annaliese, worked on so hard over Spring Break. Each one has to be in a 212 degree steaming chamber for 2.5 hours.

So, I babysit the steamer and work on my task list: decluttering, packing, Swedish language learning, logistics for Tanzania and Sweden, and bits of my dissertation revision.

Unfortunately, the New York based publisher uses British English and European punctuation, so I have to do quite a bit of piddly revisions on my dissertation.

So, I’m wondering… Will I be in Sweden for the rest of my life? If so, I need to ruthlessly downsize. If not, I can put more stuff in my garage. For example, do I take family pictures that hung on the wall out of their picture frames and send the frames to the thrift store? Or do I put them with frames in a box and put them in storage under the stairs (away from the temperature extremes of the garage)? What about bedding?

Then there will be renters that are moving into the upstairs, do they need furnishings and household items? Shall I leave the fireplace poker set? Would they enjoy having the piano? I should find out more soon on this, as we have a nephew and wife of our contractor friends who have done quite a bit of work on this house (originally enclosing our carport into a garage for storage when we went to Tanzania, but also new windows, front door, bathroom floor, and a kitchen remodel with great custom cabinets).

I am getting rid of Boomer’s dog crate and dog food bin today through Freecycle. It is like the free portion of Craig’s list. It is an easy way to pass on stuff to people who want it. I will send clothing and other items to a thrift store and get a bit of a tax deduction (but with no salary this year, it may only be a little financial benefit).

A few days ago, I was able to put some scrap from previous home projects into a neighbor’s dumpster. They just had their roof redone, so I could fill the corners with some things and save a dump run. I sold them my Toyota pick up, so I could just use the truck for a few larger things.

I have a lot of books that need to be passed on. I think I’ll drop of Anya and the books at Half Price Books in our neighborhood mall and make her be the one to stay while they process the books. She can read or do things with the WIFI there.

Marv is going to help me put in a divider wall in the garage in a few days. That will give me storage space while leaving access to the exit from the kitchen through the garage for safety and a place to put the mower.

This is a little late in posting, but still an insight into these past week or so.

With blessings,

Beth

This past week had some highlights and things not so high.

The highlight was a celebration thrown for my by Carol and Greg Springs at their home in Anacortes, WA. It is a two hour drive from here, but a wonderful group of people joined in to celebrate the completion of my PhD.

Another highlight was the fun of hosting many of the youth from our Tanzanian mission team for a movie night at our home. It was Tanzanian food, and we made them eat with their hands to be prepared for a possible–but not probably–similar experience in Tanzania. We watched The Lion King along with a game of movie Bingo and had some meaningful conversation. The evening spontaneously moved outside for some soccer in the street, and one of the neighbor boys came and joined in the fun. We also played some Speedminton with a glow in the dark birdie.

The less enjoyable aspects of the week were related to maintenance, mine and my car’s.

For me at 51, it was time to have a screening colonoscopy. Previously, I said that you know who your best friends are: they are the ones taking you to and from the airport. But now, there is a special place for Jean, who also takes me to and from my colonoscopy. All is good. Insurance is supposed to cover everything, but it seems like you never know until you get the statement.

Less physically grueling but more emotionally grueling was my car repair. After $2,184, I drove away from the replacement of the vehicle stabilization module (VSM, related to the anti-lock brakes) on my Honda Fit that is less than 4-years old. Within 18 hours, the light came back on. Now, I was told it was the powertrain control module, but it was under warranty. Yes, they said that it wasn’t a mis-diagnosis of the VSM, but two critical systems failed simultaneously. So, no refund. On my way home from the mechanic, the check engine light and vehicle stabilization warning light came on again! So, tomorrow morning, I’m back to the mechanic. Its a good thing that I stayed cordial to the service rep and shared my disappointment with the manager.

Here are some other tidbits of the week:

With blessings,

Beth