when everything goes wrong...

It is said that if God is with you, who can be against you? Well let me tell you who can be against me right now. My car. The sun. Illness. The car dealership that don't understand I can't actually get the car into the shop cause it won't start. Let's see. Who else. Time.
Well, they say God will push you, but never break you completely. I sure do hope that's right. If so, He's gotto start being nice to me. Cause I've been pushed as far as I can go!

Let me start from the top. Two weeks ago we took in a family of three, thinking they'd stay maximum three days. Well, two weeks later we're still sort of responsible, I guess we can call it, for their well being. I didn't think they;d stay as long as they have, and due to that, I didn't think I wouldn't get time to pack to go to Norway, and move down to WPB. Well, Tomorrow we are heading off to WPB, a 16 hour trip, and I have yet to pack. How did that come about? Well, stressing to find them a place, taking care of them, it's sort of had me busy these past few weeks. Then, this weekend, Christen and I moved them to Knowlton's house, and thought "now at least I'll have about 5 days to do what I need to". Wrong again!
They still came back and forth, I had to stay put to help them, blah blah blah, make a long story short, I ended up having three days to pack. On the first of the three days, I got sick. Fever, a bad cold, aches and pain, you know the drill. Then, I still had to help them, blah blah blah. Ok. Let me get down to it.

THe baby chewed up my car-remote-clicker-thing for the alarm and the lock and stuff. SO today, unlocking my car manually, the alarm started to go off. And would not come off, cause the alarm button on my car-remote-clicker-thing doesn't work. SO anyway, when the alarm ends, I put the key in the ignition, and the alarm starts going off again. And the car won't start with the alarm going off. So What does Marianne do when Christen's unreachable at work?:?? Well, I went to get a battery for the car-remote-clicker-thing. Walking in 35 degrees celsius, in humid Florida, not so very nice. By the time I got home, my whole body was actually, litterally dripping with sweat. It was nasty! It didn't really help that I had a fever while doing it...

Anyway, so I push the car-remote-clicker-thing to unlock the car, and guess what. It won't open. Oh joy. And the worst thing was, I was so excited, cause it wsa the last battery they had, and so I though "God is finally on my side!" Which then proved He wants to push me further. So I call the car dealership, where they're gonna fix our car, and they tell me to bring the car in to the shop tomorrow morning, before I go to WPB. Eh. Ok. Now HOW exactly am I gonna be able to do that? THe car won't start! aaaaaaaaaaaargh.

And I'm still sick. I am now on my third day of my three days of getting EVERYTHING done, and I haven't had anything done yet. And it is not my fault. Thing after thing after thing is going the opposite way of what I want it to go. SO now I'm in a race against time and my car, as I have no way of getting around to doing the things I need to do in church. It's a 20 minute drive, no way I can walk or bike it, and I'm basically well, in trouble. So I look up to the sky (since there are no mountains), and wonder where my help will come from.

So here she is. Little Marianne, actually planning, and excited, about getting things packed and done on time, not having managed anything. I can just sigh, and try to not think about the people we housed not getting approved for their apartment, and crashing into another car in our truck, and my car not starting, and biiping like crazy, and having to leave all my friends behind, and moving without having packed, and just all that crazy stuff. *Sigh*

So if any of you have any ideas, whatsoever, please! Don't hesitate to give them to me!
-Marianne, in desperate need of some more time, and medicine which unclogs your nose and mouth and ears all at once...

a baby

This week our house has been full. At church on sunday night our pastor told us they had called from Walmart, asking if there was anyone who could help out a young couple and their baby, because they had no where to go. Christen and I felt like we should help them, so here we are, a week later, with them still inhabiting our house. It's a long complicated situation, but in short: the guy is black, which leads to the mother of the girl kicking her out, leaving her all alone in Gulf breeze. They are only 17 and 18, and their baby is 1. They were sleeping in a laundrymat, and spending their days at Walmart, so help was definitely needed. So we're giving them a roof over their heads for now, and are hoping to get them into an apartment by the end of next week. After all, we're leaving in just two weeks...
They want to get married, but since the girl is only 17 she needs her parents signature, and they refuse to give it to her since he is black. So they can't get into shelters because they're not married, and because if she were to go by herself with the baby, she wouldn't be considered an adult, so she couldn't sign for papers, so basically that doesn't work either.
But thankfully some Catholic churches have said they can help with downpayments for an apartment, so we'll hopefully hear from them on monday. So if you would please help pray for this small family, we would all appreciate it. The baby is so cute, though, and Christen is always saying, oh, can;t we have one now? Sorry. Not yet...:)
That's about it for now. It's busy and hectic, driving around everywhere, calling everyone to ask for help and just getting more numbers to call, and never getting anywhere. So prayer that we'll not be too exhausted by the end of it would be nice:)
Love you all so very much!

Miami-Stavanger

On June 27th I head back to Norway for the first time since I got married. I arrive at 4:45 pm at Sola airport on June 28th!
I will bring with me lots of sunshine in my bag, and anything else you want or need from the US. If you want me to bring you back anything, just write me. You know my email adress.
I will stay all summer for my HOLIDAY, which means I'm coming back as a visitor, not a native Norwegian. Which means I'm not coming back to work. I'm coming back to visit my friends and my family, and just having fun. OK? :) If anyone wants to offer me small jobs here and there, like babysitting, or helping shopping or painting a house, I'll be happy to, but I'm not signing up for a month long job. This is my Vacation.
I'll stay for my parent's silver anniversary (August 8th), and then head back early in the morning Thursday August the 10th. I am flying from and back to Miami airport, because it is cheaper, and because Christen and I are going to visit the school on the 26th of JUne, and going house hunting (to rent for the school year). And when I return to the land of the free, it will be time to start school, which means I might as well fly directly down there.
Please pray that we'll find a house or apartment down there to suit our budget, and that everything will go smoothly on my journey:)
Another thing you can pray for is my friend Jen's health. She's, as I've said, had seizures lately, and thursday I'm driving her in to the hospital for MRI's and EEG's. So please pray that the results will be good, that she doesn't have anything wrong with her brain!

Thank you:)

God bless you all so much! And I can't wait to see most of you this summer! Helgoey anyone? Or maybe Os?...

So you think you can dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdr3QKffmfk&search=So%20You%20Think%20You%20Can%20Dance
this is a link of Knowlton's dance on the tv show "so you think you can dance". He was on last night at 7:30, and got more airtime than is shown in this clip. People are searching for him all over the internet, and it's really cool to hear comments about your own brother in law! Christen and I watched the popular show (the dancing version of Idol) at Whataburger last night, and were so shocked when he came on! It was really funny, cause it felt like he was in the room when he wasn't. Haha:)

Hope you enjoy it! He didn't make it further third round, but is hoping to get some recognition now. This morning an old couple asked Christen if it was him while he was at work today, pretty funny.

What Christen and Knowlton loved most about it was that it was during prime time, and they got free comercial for their business! Knowlton talked about being a road side meat vendor, and that they sell 20 steaks for 20 dollars... WOnder how much that would have cost to advertise...

And the last thing I have to say, is that my worst bug fear caame true the other day. When I was going to bed, I noticed a bug crawling in to my skin. IN TO MY SKIN!!!!! it was so nasty....
but now. well, what more do I have to fear??