Tag Archives: William

Weekend fun & preteen celebrations

As I shared on Saturday (HERE), our William turned 12 years old. It really is hard to believe!We had a fun weekend celebrating him, and enjoying some fantastic weather. It was around 23 – 25 C (73 – 77 Fahrenheit) most of the weekend, with lots of sunshine. So most of the weekend, you could find us outdoors!

Friday afternoon we picked up a friend at the airport who was visiting us for the weekend from England. We then met up with friends to grill at the beach. It had rained in the afternoon, so the evening was a little cooler. But the boys and one of their local friends decided to go for a swim. Everyone is estimating that the water was around 10-12 C. The only word I can come up with is crazy.

 

 

 

Saturday we went for a hike, then came back to the house for lunch and William opened gifts.
(He received his gift from us several weeks ago: a much-needed new bike)

After that, we headed to William’s football club for the grand opening of their new artificial turf fields, and to celebrate the club’s 40th birthday. Daniel was excited to meet some of Sandefjord’s players!

Saturday night, William chose to eat at his favorite place: Star Grill. It is a small kiosk in our town that serves excellent burgers.

Then the boys were off to the small tivoli downtown (carnival). They enjoyed three of the four ‘big’ rides. They both looked a little green afterwards!

 

 

We finished up with William’s requested dessert: yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and of course, 12 candles.

Sunday was spent with more friends. We started off with brunch at our house. We introduced some of our friends to a true southern breakfast: biscuits and gravy, bacon, grits, breakfast potatoes, and grits. Then after a nice long walk, we finished it off with dinner at a friends house, and even got to meet a new family that has two boys almost the exact same ages as our boys!
I think it turned out to be a great weekend for our entire family.

One year away from a teen: Happy birthday William!

He is growing up so fast. The boy loves his family. He enjoys football (soccer), biking, reading, going to school, posting (too many?) photos on Instagram, and being outdoors. He is patient, kind, sarcastic (like his dad and mom), pensive at times, and a natural-born leader. I enjoy watching the way he looks out for his younger brother, and the way he also doesn’t put up with his antics too much. I look forward to seeing God’s plans for him as they begin to unfold.

Happy 12th birthday, William!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passion: about William

William loves football (soccer). The boy is borderline obsessed. He watches it. He plays, with a local club and every day at school. He reads about it. He talks about it. I imagine he dreams about it.
And while he can make your head spin as he quotes statistics and records, it is a joy to watch him play.He has one or two games a week with his club. Last week he scored his first regular season goal (he had only scored in a weekend tournament before that). Then on Saturday, he joined six of his classmates and played in the local Skolecup tournament. He scored two goals, including one on a header. He also played keeper in one game. He did well in that position, too, though it totally stressed me out!

We are thankful that he has found something he really enjoys. It is a great way for him to stay active, to make friends, and to learn some language

It’s amazing to think back to his first season, when he was that tiny 5 year old that had only been with us in America for about two months. Speaking no English and understanding very little, he surprised us with his ability to follow and play appropriately so quickly. Six years later, he is still playing the game he loves, while learning yet another language.

My prayer is that he will always pursue his dreams with passion, that he will live for Jesus with passion, and that he will find the passion and desire to learn this newest language.

 

Mother’s Day 2014 #thankfulthree

Happy [American] Mother’s Day from Norway!
  1. I am thankful I have two lovable, rambunctious boys who call me mommy.
  2. I’m so glad they have a dad who doesn’t just tell them that a man should love, honor and respect his wife, but demonstrates it for them every single day.
  3. I’m grateful for sweet gifts (including coffee, of course), a nice morning walk (we didn’t let the drizzle stop us!), and lunch in the city.
I love these boys!
During our walk this morning

 

 

Gifts from my boys

 

The boys’ school

Another great topic suggestion from a long-time blog follower…

They take the bus to school most
mornings. They walk to the main
bus terminal in our city and take one of
the city buses that is designated for the
school each morning.

You mentioned that schools in Norway are excellent. Why are they excellent? What do they do differently?  

Before moving, I read a lot about schools in Norway. And everything I researched told me that the system is great. Very forward-thinking and quick to meet every students’ needs. Of course, most of what I read was about the national school system. But as plans unfolded, we ended up placing our boys in an IB (International Baccalaureate) School.
February 2013
And I cannot imagine a better environment for them! Their school is very much hands-on. They aren’t taught concepts simply through rote memory, but are presented with units of study that are then explored through various methods that allow the students to learn practically and not just theoretically. There is emphasis on cooperative learning, helping students to work together and to develop positive interpersonal skills in addition to academics.
June 2013
They are taught in units/themes. Each unit lasts about 4 – 6 weeks. Through each unit, they may have the chance to work on reading, writing, research, projects, history, science, applied math, etc. Some of the units they’ve studied this year:

DANIEL: You Are What You Eat; Tell Me a Story; Money, Money, Money; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
WILLIAM: Heroes, Space Explorers, Force and Motion, Peace and Conflict

August 2013

They don’t sit at desks and read from textbooks. They typically sit in groups around tables, working with various mediums and materials that make the lessons more realistic and make the concepts stick. They use experiments, field trips, presentations and creative projects to expand and apply knowledge.

Most of the teaching is in English. They have around 5 hours of Norwegian class each week, but it’s basically teaching the same things from the current unit, but in Norwegian. So they’re building vocabulary around things they’re already learning about.

The school is culturally and racially diverse, very international. Many of the students come from international families, having one Norwegian parent, and one parent from another country.

I know I struggle getting services for my kids.  Is that process any simpler in Norway?
Our experience has been educators that are proactive in assessing needs and providing the necessary assistance. We don’t know if this is the norm, of if we are just extremely fortunate to have a fantastic support system at the school. We have one child who struggles with some learning challenges. The specialist at our school went above and beyond to get him the testing and support he needed.

And do the kids notice a difference in the way they are taught or how the day is structured?

Their school day is from 8:45 – 3:05. It is longer than a school day in the national schools, but similar to what they’ve experienced in other countries. They have more opportunities to be up and not just sitting all day. They get two recesses each day, plus PE once a week. They also have opportunities for Norwegian, computer, music, and art. They really love their school!
Daniel participates in a class song at assembly
Student-led spring conferences (2013)
World Peace Day activities

Two Starfish #adoption #ramblingthoughts

I was looking back through our pictures from Malaga. When I found this shot of Daniel, it brought to mind the Starfish story. (Never heard it? Read it at the bottom of this post.) And it got me thinking about our two boys.

We are thankful that our minds were opened to the concept of making a difference for one. Thankful that our hearts were opened to James 1:27.

Our boys didn’t necessarily win the lottery when they joined our family. We didn’t have a clue what we were doing. Okay, most days we still don’t! We are flawed, far from perfect. We mess up. Often.

But we are children of a Father who forgives. And each day we are learning a deeper meaning of the word family, what it means to be forgiven, what it means to forgive, and what it means to help each other through life. We are discovering the power of striving daily to take our focus off ourselves, and place it on the One who gave the perfect example of earthly living, and the ultimate example of love and sacrifice. If we can help them to understand and embrace this, what more could we want?

 

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27 (NLT)

The Starfish Story
A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.
As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water.
The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied,”I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen. “But”, said the man, “You can’t possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can’t possibly make a difference.”
The boy smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied “it made a difference to that one.”

Language Barriers?

It is amazing to see how kids quickly find ways around language barriers. We spent last weekend with dear friends in Jena, Germany. Our kids only know a couple of words in German, and theirs know about the same amount in English. But did that stop them from playing and having fun? No way!