Saturday, June 23, 2012

Pictures Finally

Here is our house that we will officially have on the 12th of July! We are excited to start our ministry with the Mysen Methodist Church,and excited for all the new people in our lives,but we are also sad to leave all the wonderful friends and church members that we have loved these passed 5 years.

Please continue to pray for our transition, it would be very appreciated.

We thank Jesus for his provisions for us, we are truly nothing without Him.

Blessings,
Laurie

Monday, June 18, 2012

At the Speed of Life

Hello All,

I know, I know...I told you about a house and then didn't post any pics.  They are coming...but not on this post.  We are running at a breakneck pace at the moment and things don't seem to be slowing down right now.  So I have stolen Steven Curtis Chapman's song lyric for my title because it simply seems to fit right now.  

Well as you have seen on my posts we had the final Sunday service for the Alingsås Methodist Church, we drove up to Norway and bought a house last Monday, Wednesday we had Samuel's little ceremony for the end of school and said goodbye to teachers and some friends (pictures to come), then the same day Andreas left for the annual conference in Norway. Thursday I ran Samuel to the hospital in Borås because he still had an infection in his operated ear, we received more medicine and all seems to be doing well. Then on Friday I dropped the kids off with Farmor and Farfar and headed to Norway also, for Saturday to celebrated our 15th (yes, you read that right) anniversary, then on Sunday Andreas and I flew, bussed and drove home, only to go back to Gothenburg today to attend Morfar's funeral.  The speed of life...I am emotionally and physically exhausted right now.  Somehow I need to find the energy to pack and plan a few fun things for the kids before Thursday when we head to Grebbestad and then Friday back to Mysen to sign some papers on the house.  Then we will spend the weekend at Grebbestad because it is Midsommar here.  This is when the Swedes dance around the ancient fertility symbol and sing about little green frogs (no, I am not kidding).  I find it quite amusing actually, but we don't really attend any of the festivals.  

Below I have put up some pictures of our time in Norway.  The pastors and people of the Norwegian United Methodist Church were very warm and welcoming.  They made us feel a part of the conference and even had the fun of embarrassing me by clinking their glasses on our anniversary so that we would kiss in front of them all.  Even though it was embarrassing at least I got a great kiss from the most handsome man ever!

Andreas had arranged to borrow a car on our anniversary and we drove around the area we were staying at.  The area is in North Norway and is called Skånland.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I would have named this post Norway the beautiful...but that might make a few Swedes wonder about my loyalties (he he he).  I loved the time with my amazing husband and am in love with this man even more 15 years after our wedding.

I couldn't help myself with this pic...
 The Lord has blessed me beyond measure with Andreas.  I have no doubt that the Lord delights in putting to hearts together, bound by love and devotion to Himself as well as each other.  Andreas has been romantic, wonderful, safe and steady, patient and incredibly loving with me.  He challenges me to become better and deeper in my life with Jesus and chides me out of my foul moods.  He is an amazing daddy and I love to see him with our boys.  I look forward to the next 15 years and more with this man that I have the privilege of being married to.  Thank you Jesus for putting us together and for knowing so much better than I did on choices of men!

Some of the scenery as we drove around



The color the water was amazing and clear.  Every turn brought a prettier scene.



After our drive we went back to the conference for an all you can eat shrimp fest.  Yummy!

Then a bunch of people from the conference...including Andreas and I went out to see the midnight sun.  This was as far as the sun set and then it just went back up.  Not life altering to see... but cool.  
 Blessings,
Laurie

Monday, June 11, 2012

Say What....?

Amazingly enough, we are now Norwegian house owners...at least in contract.  Yes, today we signed a contract to buy a home in Mysen, Norway!  We will sign more papers next week and then we will do a walk through on July 11th and sign the last papers (and pay) on July 12th.

We drove up today and drove back and are now home at 11:00 pm. So the pictures will have to wait.  Please keep praying that all goes well and everything that is being fixed on the home goes well.

Blessings and good night...sov gott!
laurie

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Triple Post Day

Well, I guess it is actually 4 posts with this little blurb.  Today I was doing a little backlog posting.  Life is a bit crazy, but don't forget to keep scrolling for all the news with us Kjernalds.

Blessings,
laurie

One Last Sunday

Today was the last Sunday worship for our church.  We are sad in many ways, but also know the Lord sees the bigger picture.  We are incredibly thankful that another church needed a place to call home and will be able to use our building that has been a meeting, worship and prayer place for so many over the years. It is interesting that once the word got out (and it did in every paper in the area and on the radio) that we were closing we had more people coming to our services than ever before. 

Today we had a packed (actually overpacked) church... what a great way to end a ministry.  We had people come that were here as kids.  They were able to show the older church members that their lives and ministry has made eternal impacts for the Kingdom of God.  There were able to encourage when it was very hard for some for this day to come.  I am so thankful that God sent them, and I have no doubt that He did.  

The sign says, ''Welcome to Alingsås Methodist Church and to the Service'' Theme Jesus  (that is always a great theme)

My wonderful husband, whom I am so thankful for.  The Lord has taught him a lot through his first charge.  We will both carry these people in our hearts our whole ministry. 

It was quite wonderful to see a packed church.

This is a common sight.  This is Sten.  He has been playing the organ and piano in this church since he was ten!  I won't reveal how old he is now, but he was gifted and has used it for Christ his whole life.  

This is Sven (yes, that name really exists, not just a stereotype), he has been in this church since before I was born.  Him and his lovely wife have recently moved back to their childhood home in the South of Sweden, but he often sang for us on Sundays, we were so glad he could come and be with us for this last Sunday. 


Sten at the piano

After the service there was a luncheon to say thank you and goodbye.  It was a special time for tears, but encouragement also.  I will really miss this place and these faithful people who have been so kind to us.  They are so excited for us as we move to Norway, even in their own sadness.  I will always be thankful that God placed us here for our first church.

Luncheon

wonderful husband

Me trying my best not to cry as Sten says thank you and goodbye!

There were a thousand more pictures and wonderful people of this church, but I would overload everything if I tried to put them on...so this is just a taste of today.  Please pray for all the members as they move to other churches and ministries.  They are precious, wonderful, faithful people and I pray they can still spill out their lives for Christ in different ministries.  

Blessings,
Laurie

Morfar

On the morning of June 8th, Morfar, Rune Persson, left this earth and stepped into eternity.  He was a faithful believer and we know he is now with Jesus.  Morfar lived an amazing life.  Andreas has said if he can think of a great life here on earth it would have been the life Morfar lived.  He came from humble beginnings, was generous and kind and faithful, built the American dream here in Sweden, traveled the world, had an incredible wife whom he loved deeply, had two wonderful children, 4 grandchild, and 8 great grandchildren.  

In recent years Morfar had been experiencing dementia, and although could be quite stubborn at times, was still kind and funny.  I love that even when he couldn't remember most things he could still sing the hymns (word for word) that meant so much to him when he was younger.  

I have been blessed to be a part of this family for 15 years now and have many fond memories of Morfar.  He loved to fish, so did we (before we had kids), so that made us instant friends.  Andreas and I spend many weekends with Mormor and Morfar at their house in Grebbestad (fishing on the ocean) or at their house in the woods (fishing where ever we could find water).  No matter what, he always caught a bigger fish than I did!  We considered him a friend and he would come knocking on our door at the house in the woods if we overslept... he wanted to go out and play! Morfar dropped an eel in my lap one time while picking up a long fishing line we had left overnight...that was quite an experience!  We went fishing in a marshland one time and we came out with nothing, but he came out with two huge (I mean tell stories about them huge) pike.  One of them left him with several scares on his hand because it really didn't want to be caught.  Morfar loved to have conversations with me even thought he didn't speak any English and I didn't understand or speak any Swedish.  He loved to build things, fix things, and always made sure to measure properly (which is funny because Andreas and I just wing things without measuring most of the time). In his eighties he was helping us put a metal roof on our shed out in woods... even though we were quite scared he would fall.  

Morfar is sitting on the sofa to the left...the third in from the left.  This is mom's dad.
Morfar was always there, always kind, always generous.  He was the patriarch of this family and will be missed dearly!  Thank you for all the memories and love.  We will see you on the other side of eternity in Heaven.  We love you.

Laurie

Sweden's National Day

June 6th was Sweden's National Day.  It is kind of like the 4th of July for the Americans or the 17th of May for the Norwegians.  However, Sweden has not had a National Day for so long and the festivities are...well...subdued.   This is actually the first National Day that we have been a part of, but David became a citizen last year when he entered Sweden.  So this year we were all invited to the party in Alingsås.  It was a quaint gathering with folk dancers, really good choirs, rock band, speeches and all. The boys had a great time and then we were all invited into the Nolhaga Slott (the mansion in town) for dessert.  It was a fun experience.  

My Swedish boys


This was David asking me to wait a minute in sign language.  He needed to chew his food before I received the smile below...it was worth the wait.  

That is a great smile...not to mention that he is finally smiling when we take pictures!

My little Swede!

My toothless Swede

This was part of our New Swede Citizens March...David wasn't so sure about it all, but hey...we were able to stop traffic and walk on the road...pretty much the coolest part for the boys.  

We were all given these flags and on the inside of them the Swedish National Anthem was printed.  At one point we sing that we want to live and die in the North...okay...so I sang...but I don't really want to live and die in the North (but I will if the Lord asks it of me)....but I'd rather be on a warm beach in the Caribbean or something.
So that was our experience with the Swedish National Day...Next year the Norwegian National Day...and I hear they really party...bring on the fireworks!!!!!!

Laurie

Friday, June 08, 2012

Chaos...not organized!

Sorry for the long hiatus, but it is crazy around here.  We are packing, Andreas is gearing up for his last sermon, here in Alingsås. this Sunday, only a few more days of school for Samuel, an ear infection in his ear that just had surgery (yikes...but okay), speech therapy and everyday schedule with David, making plans to go see another house in Norway, saying goodbye to some of my wonderful Bible study ladies and so much more.  It is all making this mamma really tired and stretched.   

Overall we are doing well, but when it's time for bed....I am out! Somedays I don't even get a chance to check my email, let alone blog for a while.  Tonight I finally crashed, after dinner I came into my room for a minute, laid on my bed with David to do some tickling and cuddling...that was it...I was out.  I woke up to screaming and laughing in the hall, but can't manage to get my body in action tonight, so I listened and took it easy.

On the church front, Andreas does preach his last sermon here at Alingsås Methodist Church, this Sunday.  I can't believe we are already here at this point.  As always the churches go together for the summer, but there will be no services held here.  In the Fall another church will be using these facilities for their services.  It has been a long process to come to this time, but I think that the few members that we have left have come to some closure.  This church as been faithful for over 100 years and now the Methodist church as a whole will not longer exist in Sweden.  The joining of the 3 denominations is almost complete in Sweden and we pray that they will truly follow Christ as this endeavor moves forward.  There are so many emotions as all this unfolds, but still believing and trusting that God knows the bigger picture when we can only see a glimpse of what is going on.

Samuel is enjoying the last few days that he has in Vittra (his school).  I know he is excited to move, but he will also miss his pals.  I am really proud of how he has embraced our move and the enthusiasm the he exudes for making new friends and having new adventures.  He is growing up before my eyes and there are days I see the pre-teen on the horizon.  He will always be my first baby...but don't tell him that...he wants to be old now. He is doing well, but we have found out he has a small infection in the ear that had surgery.  We are thankful that the infection is on the outside of the eardrum and we are using drops to get rid of it.

David is sensing all the changes and so I am doing my best to talk, encourage and cuddle him a lot.  He is such a resilient little guy and I am so proud of how he is rolling with the punches.  David was given a bike by a friend and he is thoroughly enjoying it.  He has picked up really quickly and he is so proud of himself because he can now be like his big brother!

Monday Andreas, David, Farmor, Farfar and I will be headed to Mysen, Norway to check out another house. We are very thankful for the amazing friends we have that are willing to help us by picking up Sam and having him over for a while.  A couple weeks ago we bid on a house, but lost the bid (In Sweden and Norway they have bidding wars...not like the States at all).   We are really excited to see this house in person.  One of our wonderful church members checked it out for us and sent pictures, so now is the time to go, see and maybe seal the deal.  We are excited to see what the Lord has planned and ready to know where we will be living.  I am so thankful for the support of the people in the church.  They have been so incredibly kind and helpful to us.  I am greatly humbled by God's provisions.

At the end of next week both Andreas and I will be in North Norway for the Methodist conference.  We will also be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary.  Wow...has it been that long...when did I get this old?  I am still so deeply in love with my amazing husband and thankful to our God who delights in marriage and sustains us  (even when Andreas is putting up with a hormonal wife!!)

And...and...and...and... I could write all night, but my pillow is calling my name.  The biggest thing on my heart cannot yet be written.  However, please keep Andreas' family in your prayers as we are all about to lose a beloved family member, not for good...but for now... the place is prepared... Jesus awaits him. Praise Jesus that this world is not the end!  We cry today, but there WILL be JOY in the morning!

Blessings,
Laurie