Adopted.....but keep your receipt

So...Russo, the adopted cat was not working out. Will decided to have some peace about this whole thing and bring him back to the Pet Smart store. He will no longer be Russo...but his other boring name, Denim. There will be some serious deliberation of 'other' pet names---in which Russo will always be a first option I suppose. Imagine if you could do that with people too. 'Yeah, we'll adopt her!'

'And sir, if this doesn't work out you have up to 30 years to bring her back for a full refund, just keep your receipt.'

ha


good morning all my friends!

dumbfounded for sure

I have arrived here in Norway around 5pm. I have been traveling 25 hours! I began at 9am yesterday. To get to Skien, Norway was not easy. I took a car. I took a plane. I took another plane. I took a train. I took a bus. I walked. I was surprised to discover a dumbfounded feeling that came over me. I recognized the places, the language, and the procedures....but where was the excitement?? there was something bizarre (this is a good speed scrabble word!) happening. I just dont understand why I do not feel this unspoken excitement like the last two years. I am actually numb. I was so numb that I felt like I was driving into Sioux City, IA--boring! I hope I discover why I came here....and if that includes painting, teaching lessons, and being available I pray my heart is okay with that. I dont know what to expect! I just hate the feeling of nothingness. Yeah, so that was a weird feeling.

I took a bunch of photos of the whole journey you can look at them all here. I met a mother and two daughters before boarding Newark to Oslo. They were sweet. I was able to encourage them...and laugh too! The two girls were beautiful and their mother Robin was ALIVE! They live in Haugesund, Norway on the west coast. I hope I can go visit Anne Marit Pederson again and then I can see them as well. So...its been a long day and I am excited to spend the week relaxing....really relaxing! The whole YWAM Skien staff will arrive on Monday! Yoinks here we go! Blessings and love to you. If you would like to email me and be a finacial or prayer partner let me know erika@uioskien.no

Here I go!

My bags are all packed. Norway is just a 24 hour moment away. Its amazing! I have to be honest and say that I have been trying not the think about it because I just imagine myself dangling between life seasons---when I think about it I remember the pain of trying pull my arm away from the last place and let it join with the other arm that has already stretched itself out over the gap. Boy do I feel stretched out! I will fly at 1234 from Denver to Newark, NJ....then a straight over the water flight to Oslo in the night. I will arrive at 9:35 Norway time (7 hours difference) and then my beautiful roommate Ragnhild will be waiting there for me. We will start our journey by train. And then....I will post again. Until then, HA DET BRA (have it good)

Orange was a better time for us.

A tale of two instruments who can make lovely music, but perhaps they are out of tune.....

The task seemed to get harder and harder as we progressed on our painting adventures. Let's just say that there were glitches in the system. It all starts with the painting of the brown on the opposite walls in the master bedroom. So the short story is that the color brown brought disconnect and annoyance to those involved with painting. Of course now continuing to share it only makes it certain that there was frustration there. It was not Will or me to blame....but our styles and our levels of perfection. I suppose I discovered that I was a lot less perfectionistic. So, the season of brown painting was wretched! But we knew there would be a new season coming. And orange was that season. It was a better time for us!Starting in on the orange was a good idea. It was close to 10 when we started....oi! At least we were not using the horrendous Country Cottage Grandma Georgia Peach color they gave us at first. We demanded to get the color remixed to something like Copper Pot. We had a revelation about tape. We should use it.It was hot as boilers as I was sticking my hand up in the corner by the lights

It was cramped as cubby down there on the linoleum. Will found his joy by squeezing his brush in the most impossible places (behind the toilet & under the heater) Good work Will!Now I can surely admit that this time of painting orange was much, much better for us. But the orange time will always be a time of redemption. That has to be an encouragement to someone who is in a brown time. ...just wait the orange time is coming. Recieve the peace!Today we had a bundle of ladies over to paint with us. I finished the orange. The hallway, the living room, and the dining room were tackled with female gusto! In this picture are YWAM Denver cats: Chey, Will, Abbie. Trish & Sam. They were awesome workers and we had fun today.

Trish brought lunch! THANKS!

Meet Kerusso! Will bought a cat on Saturday. His name was one we discussed greatly. When the sound of Kerusso came around it was immediately a winner. He is a lovely cat, playful, a Russian Blue mix, and getting used to the new condo. (By the way, I have a shirt on....it just does not have straps---believe me that would scare the cat for sure)

Adventures on a bus to Colorado

This is the First Reformed Youth Group before we headed out on Wednesday on a Colorado adventure. I, of course, was all packed up for Norway....I will be spending the weekend with my friend Will (helping him paint his new condo) and then flying to Norway on Monday. I said goodbye to mom and dad. Oi!

The bus air conditioning broke so we used an old car wash to get cool!

It was a delight to be doing this trip with Christa. I had to say goodbye to her last night. But, since she will be teaching in England....we will spend Christmas together perhaps in Greece?

I was blessed to spend some days with the KOINONIA girls (Anna not pictured) it was hard to say goodbye to them. I will be looking forward to what God does in thier lives this year.Will came to pick me and Christa up, we got to see his condo!!! Yeah God! Later I went back to say goodbye to the group. Will said he felt like the jerk, driving off with me as I yelled goodbye out the window. It was a short, but straight forward goodbye.....just what I needed to do. Later, Will and Trish and I prayed over the condo and wrote verses on the wall. We began laying the primer for the master bedroom! Such fun!

Hi to all my family and friends! Love you all. Keep in contact!

My newest paintings posted here

Brielle Shaye Hydeen

July 16, 2008 - 8lb 13oz - 21 in
Brielle & Tante ErikaLillian & her new baby sister BrielleSteve & Andrea have three kids! I am so blessed to have been here for the birth of this one. In all of my travels I have been at all the births. That is a gift from God I believe. I can imagine that this type of miracle could never have been planned by man. I am grateful to God for his providence. I wish I could see the kids grow up and I could be closer to them, but in my life right now it looks distant. This makes an auntie sad. The place God calls me to is where I must be. Hopefully the kids eventually see me as the crazy missionary aunt who loves them from a foreign country and will send them crazy trinkets in the mail. I just hope we can be friends someday. The cry of my missionary's heart. Sigh.

ACCORDIAN TO THIS.....

Judy teaches me the basics of accordian. It's really amazing how multi-tasking one has to be.

Poncho does not know how to play the accordian, notice the confused face.

Dad does not know how to play the accordian and that was super frustrating for this master musician, notice his shocked face.

Dianne does not know how to play the accordian but it was her birthday, notice her maturity.

Erika does not know how to play the accordian notice her overconfident smile

So ACCORDIAN TO THIS......NO ONE CAN ACTUALLY PLAY THE ACCORDIAN! But thanks Judy!

Iowa: Time to say goodbye

ENGAGEMENT PICTURES
by The Hiding Sisters


Eric & Tracy
(our first customers...and maybe our last)

The Hiding Sisters

All of the kids plus Molly Keese and Lindsey De Jong on fourth of July

Jolly July in Iowa

GRADUATION FROM SCHOOL OF WORSHIP

Here we are in jolly July 2000 Gr-8! It really is a jolly time. I have to admit I have never been exposed to so many great people all at once. I came home from Denver about 2 weeks ago. I graduated! Yeah the school of worship is finished. It was a hard time....learning to love and learning to listen to God in a unique environment. I will miss some of those cats so much! My roommates all in blue! Kristin is on tour with YWAM Orlando, Katie has been preparing to head to Nigeria after selling her car & Sophie is visiting friends and staying with family here in the states before going back to PNG.

Mom and dad came down to pick me up and so we also got to ride back to Iowa together after saying goodbye to Denver. I must say it was obvious to me that the impact these 3 months had on me would not be apparent until unpacking my heart and mind on the drive home. I think I talked for more than 500 miles in one sitting. Thanks for listening mom and dad!
HOMECOMING IS SWEETThe strangest realities began when I arrived home and Andrea and Steve with the kids were hanging around now and then. Steve was playing a part in a local movie so the whole family was together. One night as Andrea had stayed at Round Lake with the kids it was just Steve, Christa, mom, dad & me in the house......wierd. It was the 3 kids and parents again.....only after we were all adults. It has been a blessing to also go to Wisconsin for three days to see my moms family and the cousins. I will just say that it is all very busy to travel and visit especially when that is ALL I usually do. I hope I find some rest soon.

Laurie & Tony's Wedding
Sister-Sister Coffee Time

Laughing with my friend Dianne
4th of July was spent in Omaha with Steve and Andrea and family. We have never done a barbecue type party with our family before. It's like we just started living! Lindsey De Jong from Dordt was flying into Omaha and we picked her up! I could not believe we were able to spend time here in Iowa together. What are the chances that Lindsey PLUS Rachel Pontier PLUS Diana Hoogerhyde (all my roommates from college) would be here at the same time. We have talked through every possible topic from comedians to dreams to Bachelorette (and how we are them) and how we will ever meet a group of friends like us again. Oh yeah we have discussed why they dont make a movie about us too.....I think they told me that Kate Hudson would play me. I am not sure what I think of that.

I am really looking forward to keeping this blog as a more recent update of what is going on as I look to head back to the mission field. I am really trying to figure out what kind of blog it is. It is not supposed to be a blog without an identity....and I want to be honest as I write in it. So......prepare to let me get a bit focused.

I leave for Norway again in the next 2 weeks. I will travel with the First Reformed Church youth group out to Denver as they prepare to go to Rocky Mountain High Conference. I will join them on the work trip first and then meet up with my good friend Will from YWAM Denver. He is in the process of putting down a payment on a condo....and moving into it. I will help him paint and perhaps he will help me learn to drive a manual transmission. I hope I hope I hope!!!
So....be blessed my friends as you have finally gotten caught up with this little missionary girl!

God is so good!