In case somebody has forgotten...

... we celebrate Christmas because of Jesus.

No other man's birthday is still celebrated 2006 years after.

Two nice pictures...

Look at this picture.
I found it at the web, and it's called "Colourful Sunset".
It's quite beatiful...

Then:
Look at the picture below:
This photo is taken by my littlesister :)
Isn't she clever?
It's qutie similar to the one above...
And it's taken 3,5 km from my house :)


God has made a very beautiful world.
Thankyou!

"GOD DOESN'T EXIST!!!"

... an anonymous person said in a commentary at my last post.

WOW!
I was challenged! Inspired! Excited!

Why?
Pourquoi?
¿Por qué?

First the feeling of being challenged. The easiest way of meeting a challenge like this is a bit childish, but it expresses your opinion in one sentence: I believe God does exist.

The challenging part is "How can I say that God does exist?".
Well, mr X over here didn't argument about why God doesn't exist, so why should I? Am I able to convice anybody anyway? If I say the universe is too incredible to not have been designed and constructed by somebody with an higher IQ than us, would anyone get convinced? If I told you that 174 000 people today decide to follow Jesus, existing-God's own Son, would it change your decition? If I said I've been healed for migrene when I was younger, and that lamb, deaf and blind people get healed in Jesus' name every day, would you accept the doctor's papers, or would you try to explain it in other ways? If I told you I know God, would you believe me or think I'm insane? I don't want to write another long school article about the topic (have just finished one about arranged and forced marriage), so I'll leave the questions to you, the reader...

I was inspired! To keep telling things about God when I have the opportunity. I really should take the opportunity more often.

I was exited!
I realize people don't know God the same way as I do, so I was inspired because I see how lucky I am. WOW! Think about it! I, an ordinary - or quite ordinary - girl without any special status in this world, KNOW God, the One who has the highest status in the universe!!! You might claim He dosen't exist; you don't get above Him anyway. I think all people can get to know God, they just have to give Him the chance. He does no break-ins, you see! But do you dare to give Him a chance? It might rock up your life a bit...

When you have such a certainty about God's exist that I have, you don't think thoughts like that. It's logical: If you know the air is there, you don't make an effort thinking that "the air doesn't exist!", especially when you know that you need the oxygen which is in the air to keep breathing and living. For me it's exactly the same with God. Without Him; no me. I wouldn't have existed if He didn't.

Party, party...!

Friday night we had a little gathering, a little party in a way, at my house.
The keywords were Christians at my school, lasagne, salad and white bread, talking, smiling and laughing.

Some weeks ago, the New Generation group at our school decided to arrange a party for the Christians at our school. Not to exclude others, but to make a stronger unity among the ones who believes in Jesus at the school.
To realize this, we put up a list consisting of names on "supposed Christians". Then we planned, made posters and invitations, and waited...

Seven out of the 15 names we'd put up on list, were able to come. Some just couldn't come because of other things, like journeys. This was anyway an excellent number of people to make a relaxed setting. Though I was the hostess, I felt like I could relax (which was very nice after a quite busy school day..).

I think everybody agreed that this sort of gathering should be repeated.

... just the beginning...

Longing back to Saint-Malo...
Intra-Muros...

Sweet!

A Norwegian lesson out of the ordinary

Our Norwegian teacher fainted today...!

She said she didn't feel well and asked the class to behave extraordinary calm and quiet... She started the roll call, and was half way to the end when she stopped and leant her back against the chair while closing her eyes. The class became more and more quiet... Then she opened her eyes again, and continued the roll call, but with greater problems. She quitted again, and rested her head and arms against the desk in front of her. It was weird. I suggested to my friend that we maybe should go after somebody. But then our teacher suddenly fell sidewards onto the floor.

We were quick, though. A couple of girls ran to her at once, while some other of us ran after grown-ups. The situation was quite weird, a bit creepy, and seemed in a way fake. We were told to leave the classroom, and were updated from time to time.

She regained consciousness after a little while, and sat up by herself. The ambulance came, and she went to the doctor.

Our poor teacher! She wanted to continue the lecturing after she "woke up"! She's that kind of person who hates staying at home by reason of sickness, but now she needs to be home until Thursday...

This incident made me think about two things:

* That I, when she fainted, actually didn't know exactly what to do, the right way to react, (that's maybe why I ran after some grown-ups instead) - what if I come into a more serious situation later, which require me to act even more quicker? What if it is about life and death? Hello! I even wondered if it was the right thing to give an unconscious person water!! My knowledge is really imperfect at this field...

* That some people don't know they're own limitations and that this could harm them very badly some day (even though everything went very well this time, after all...)

Good things happens

During the last week, a lot of good things have happened.

E.g. last Friday, when I had a long talk about Jesus, God, the gospel, sin, the Old Testament, the New Testament (and the difference), ++, with a good friend.

Or Tuesday, when the school year's first praying meeting gathered six people - twice the number of people normally gathered last year.

Or yesterday, when a girl I often talk to at the bus, came together with me to 3pStation, our church's youth group.

Or today, when New Generation at my school arranged a stand in the canteen, which made our school mates in a good mood, and moreover gave a friend of me the ability to preach the gospel to some of her class mates.

:)

(Photo: Illustration)

Back to school...

Yesterday: First day at school. A lot of talking from our always-talking-Norwegian-teacher-who-this-year-will-teach-not-
only-Norwegian-but-also-citizenship-and-because-of-that-she's-
going-to-talk-in-not-lesser-than-eight-of-my-school-lessons--
teacher...
BUT also a lot of nice talking to my school mates who I haven't seen since June! :D That was nice :)

Today: The school year's first lessons...
Spanish, Chemistry and Maths.
I had to concentrate more than usual during the Spanish lesson today, since I studied French this summer... (It's "Me llamo Silje," not "Je m'appelle Silje", and "ahora," not "maintenant"... hehe ;P)

We've got homework. Already. In all today's subjects. But not much. Luckily.

I have a new teacher in Maths this year! I'm very satisfied, because last year's teacher made me feel like Maths was boring (and I know it really isn't...). It seems like Maths is going to be more interesting this year...

We have got four new students in our class. One of the new girls is taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry, so probably we'll do some co-operating :)

At Friday we're going to make body lotion in Chemistry.
Cool!

Vacation

I've been away from cyber world for a looong time, but now I've received my new Tundra 1500K, so hopefully things will improve... :)

It's Sunday.
It's a nice day.
The sun is shining.

School starts tomorrow... :P

I've made my decition!

Yesterday I ordered a Tundra 1500K!
It was even recommended for exactly what I am going to use it for!!!
I found it just after I had been looking at the Fujitsu Siemens for a while.. It was really a coincidence! Or maybe it was a God-incidence...??
The design is much cooler, don't you think?
And it was 1500 kr cheaper than the other one.
I actually want this one! :)

I'm back... And I'm looking for a new laptop...

Hi folks!!

I've been away for a long, long time...
But enough about that - I don't have time at the moment to tell you about anything that has happened during the last 6 weeks...

But: I'm looking for a new laptop...
And today I found this one (I discovered that my last favourite (Acer Aspire) didn't have firewire, etc...).
It's a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro V2085 - and it's not that expensive either. As I can see, it has "everything" that I need. The only thing I don't like, is the design - which I think is quite boring...

If anyone has any experiences with this laptop (or other Fujitsu Siemens laptops), please tell me!

I need it to:

• edit films (with Studio 9...) (that's why I need 80 GB and 1024 MB RAM...)
  
• write!
• surf the internet (as quick as possible... ;P)
• listen to music (not that important..)
  
• look at pictures/photos, etc...
• study French...
• ... and a lot more that I don't remember at the moment...

Thanks! :)

I'll be back in a month...!

There are only three days left before we leave North-Norway and go to Oslo.
There are only five days left before we leave Norway and travel to France.

I don't think there will be any activity on this blog before the end of July / beginning of August.

But if you're interested, we've currently posting from a travel blog we've just made which will update you from our stay in Saint Malo, France. It's a kind of this-is-happening-at-the-moment-(and-hopefully-documented-with-pictures)-blog. Enjoy!

Visit Hilsen St Malo!

Have a nice summer!

An interesting story about filling up a glass

A teacher was lecturing in front of his his students.

On the desk in front of him he had a glass, a little heap of middlesized stones, a little heap of gravel, a little heap of pebbles and a little heap of sand.

Without saying anything, he placed two middlesized stones in the glass. There was not any place left for a third one.

"Is the glass filled up now?" he asked the students.
"Yes," the students said.
The teacher looked at them for a while, then dropped some gravel into the glass.
Again he asked the students if the glass was filled up, and again they answered yes. Then he dropped some of the pepples into the glass, asked again, and at last the sand filled up every empty space in the glass.

"Is it filled up now?" he asked.
They all agreed.

Without saying a word, the teacher lifted a jug of water from the floor, which he had hidden, and poured the content into the glass.

The glass was now full.


Make sure you've filled up your glass, your life, in right order.

The most important things first.
The foundation.
Then the important things, then the less important things, and then the small, but still, important things.


My foundation is Jesus Christ, and I've experienced that when letting him be The Middlesized Stone in my life, I don't feel that anything is missing.

There's still plenty of room for the rest - the things that are important for us. Family, friends, job, education, - when prioritating in the right order.

St Malo travel blog made

Hey folks!

Now we've made a travel blog for our stay in Saint Malo.
We're leaving in 11 days, only!!

Currently there are three posts at the blog, including two more or less funny photos of the two of us... We're really having fun!!!! And it's going to be sooooo fun when we're THERE!


What are you waiting for?
Visit our brand new travel blog! ;)

Dream camera

This is what's on the top of my list of wants for my 17th birthday. An Olympus mju 700.

Nice design!
Choose between silver, black, blue or orange.

Seems like an excellent camera.

Did you like it too?
Read more at Elprice!

I need a new computer...

My recent computer has unfortunately seen better days, and luckily the seller has offered to take it back as he know more about how to fix computer problems than I do...

Yesterday I spent some time researching lap-tops at the internet, and I found an Acer that I liked quite a lot.
I just wonder if anybody out there has any good or bad experiences with Acer...?

It's an Acer Aspire 1642ZWLMI. (Read more at "Elprice")

At the moment I don't have enough money to buy it, but when summer's finished, I'm back from France, and have spent three weeks working during the vacation, I probably can buy it...

Saint Malo...

Just found a fantastic picture of Saint Malo that I want to share...

This will be my home city for almost three weeks this summer!

... Only 2 weeks left now...

Piglet banished

Most of the times, little Piglet from the 100 Acre Wood, is a nice guy. He is cute, friendly, and cares about his friends. Someone might claim him as the cutest of the cutest.

Maybe it was one of Piglet's outbursts like this to the left that made Turkey kick Winnie and his friends out of the country?

It seems like the Turkish government have had their bellyful. The TV channel TRT, owned by the state, has quit sending "Winnie the Pooh".

Why?

Because Piglet is a pig.

In Islam, pigs are impure.

Poor Piglet!

Read more about this in VG (Norwegian)!

Sleeping Beauty?

One could think that the longer you sleep, the better...
(Did I hear anybody say beauty sleep?)

Yesterday (or today...) I fell asleep about 1 am I think. (I don't have school these days, you see...) Usually I wake up by myself before time has passed 11 am, but not today :P
My littlebrother came into my room at half past noon! First then I woke up! I really can't understand how I manage to sleep almost twelve hours!

But here's the mystery:
Often, when I've slept for a very long time, I wake up with a headache.
That happened today too.
I had to swallow an Ibux to make it go away :(


Does anybody know why this happens?

Mountain tour together with mum :)

Today mum and I was going to take a little walking tour, just to get some fresh air...

Mum put a couple of chocolate sandwitches, some lemonade, some cake, some coffee, and two Mars chocolates in a bag, and then we left the house, from Rise (down to the right).

We followed "Skydalselva" (the river which goes to the left direction), and suddenly found out that we wanted to go up to the lake "Gluntvatnet" (the little one of the four lakes, to the right). I guess Gluntvatnet is about 300 metres above the sea, so there was a quite long walk. There we sat, besides the lake, and ate all the food we'd brought - an act not difficult at all because there was so little of it... When sitting there, we discussed many things, among them; if we should walk further up - towards the mountain "Rishatten" (about in the middle), or if we should just go home again. We chose the first of the mentioned, and continued walking.

At this stage we'd no food left, only a half-empty bottle of "Siesta". We climbed higher, and walked up the side of the mountain, just between the two lakes "Gluntvatnet" and "Storvatnet". The tour turned out to be much longer than first expected - the distance from the place where we climbed up to Rishatten was rather big, especially without food. It was quite windy, but not cold. We got to the cairns, looked at the small houses (among them, our house), and started on the return. Mum didn't want to slide down the side of the mountain, so we had to walk almost back to where we came from. There we had to climb/slide down, and finally we got to the rocky road... Then it was just to walk down, down, down... Think we walked for an hour before we were home again.

A little walk became a mountain tour taking almost six hours.

And we got dad-cooked pourage at home :)

It was a fantastic tour! Really refreshing!
(and it's always good with physical activity, especially for me, 'cause I'm not training too much, I'm afraid...)

Creation

Have you ever heard of the screws, the cogwheels, the lump of aluminium and the piece of glass, which smashed into each other, exploded, and suddenly, after millions of years, found their way to each other and formed a wrist watch?

It's a silly story, you say. You shake your head, and maybe laugh a bit. How can a wrist watch form itself, you ask.

Yes, how?

I want to tell you another story.

Have you ever heard of the big lump of matter, plumped out from the big, dark Nothing, which suddenly smashed into another lump of matter, exploded, and, after billions of years, formed into the great Universe? In this Universe, inside one of the millions of galaxies, in one of the millions of solar systems, we find a solar system and a living planet; Tellus.

Earth - a planet of water, sand, plants, animals, birds, fish, insects, men!
A planet of life!
A planet where the proportions are perfectly perfect!
A planet of colours!
A planet which we have not finished exploring yet!
A planet where the finest instruments already have been there for millions, billions of years! (Think of e.g. the eye. Still we haven't made any camera as sensitive as this!)

Does this story sound familiar to you?

It's strange! Here we're sitting, on a little planet in a little solar system in a big galaxy which is only one among very, very many other galaxies, which together form the Universe.
Here we're sitting, "knowing" where life comes from. Where the Universe comes from. Where mankind comes from.

Back to the wrist watch...
How can it form itself?
The answer is that it can't!
A watchmaker has to make it!


What you choose to believe is up to you.
But I use my logical sense.

There has to be a Watchmaker.


(PS: I know him!)

Finished, done, the end!

I don't have any school left this semester!
Unless I get an oral exam.
But that won't happen :)
(My teacher said the odds were inconceivable low...)

... and it's only the 9th of June!

"Hostfamily Placement"

Yesterday we got a letter from STS with a sheet of paper with the heading HOSTFAMILY PLACEMENT. It said that during our (Siri and me) stay in Saint Malo, we're going to live at Marie Baelen's place. I'm really curious about who this person is... Is she old? Young? Does she have a family? Is she nice and kind? Is she a bit cool and crazy? Is she, does she, how, or, if....?
We'll wait and see... There were no photos or other information about her, only an address and a telephone number. But I don't dare to take a call... But I'm curious! Actually that curious that I yesterday searched Google for "Marie Baelen". I got three hits. Unfortunately, none of them could be her. (One of the Marie Baelens lived in France at the middle of the 1800s... hehe! I chose to believe that she wasn't the right Marie... ;P)
Only 24 days left now!!!

4 weeks left!!!!

Today it is only 4 weeks left to I'm going to St Malo in France together with Siri :D
We're travelling with STS Education, it's going to be SOOO fun!!!! :D
We're going to go bathing, sun-bathing, shopping, we're going to Paris for two-three days, and we're going to learn French :)
Do I like it?
Yup!!!!

Mission completed!

Phew!!!

I've just come home from the concert where I played Grande Sonate Pathétique by Beethoven. It went well! The church, where the concert was held, was ice-cold, so some parts were rather difficult to play, and I didn't play perfect. But I recieved a big applauce and several people came to me afterwards almost congratulating. That was very encouraging!

I've been nervous about this concert for weeks, so I'm very relieved at the moment! Funnily enough I've not been, and I'm still not, nervous about the exam tomorrow because the nervousness about the concert has been so much bigger! Hehe....! Another good thing about this: I'm going to play the sonata on Saturday (in my littlebrother's confirmation), on Tuesday, and probably on next Wednesday too (on another concert), and I'm not nervous at all! Maybe I'll get a little bit nervous the very moment before I'm going to play, but after this concert it feels like a burden has fallen off my shoulders... And that is wonderful!

Concert completed,
Silje happy,
Silje not nervous,
Silje ready to concentrate on the exam tomorrow (hopefully...).

Btw: Thanks to Marita, Benedikte, Tor-Hugo & Irene, and of course; mum, for coming!
I really appreciated it!

Beethoven pathetic tomorrow

Look at this handsome guy! Ludwig van Beethoven, a great composer, and on this picture, still quite young.

During the last year I've been working on his famous Grande Sonate Pathetique (for piano). And now the time has final come when I'm going to bring this masterpiece to...
... a hopefully grateful audience. That will happen tomorrow. A lot of butterflies in my stommach. Ten pages long, but with the repetition, thirteen. From pianissimo to fortissimo. Legato and staccato. With pedal, but also secco. I have to use all I've learnt -during more than ten years playing the piano. Often my left arm hurts when I've been practising. Because I'm playing octavs in eights. Page up, page down. Ouch! Tests my endurance. I'm playing without the sheets of music. I'm going to play by heart.

But, wow! What music! I think it's fantastic!
I wonder what was going on inside of him when he wrote that sonate.

Patetique means emotional.

Click the picture, or here, to listen to Grande Sonate Pathetique! (It's not me who are playing!)

Visiting visitors from England

Today my uncle, aunt and aunt's mother from England visited my home place with the Hurtigruta. We visited them at the ship "Midnatsol" ("Midnight Sun").

It was great seeing them again! I haven't seen my uncle and aunt since they were here for Christmas, and my aunt's mother I haven't seen since last summer. They're having a holiday on the Hurtigrute (kind of cruise ship) and started yesterday from Tromsø. At Tuesday they're in Bergen, and will then go back to England again.

We were only together for less than three hours (we took the ship together with them from Sortland to Stokmarknes) and I really wanted to go with them all the way to Svolvær, and from there take a bus home again at night... But my parents didn't think that was a good idea - we still have a lot to do before me brother's confirmation next weekend...

But it really was great to see them, though time shouldn't have passed that fast.

Friends

On Wednesday I was together with a friend on a concert. After the concert, which was arranged in a pub-like cafeteria, we decided to sit down and chat while drinking coffee.
I believe that is the best investment of time I've done for weeks! We hadn't done anything like that for ages! We sat there talking for about two hours, I think. About everything, actually. Like friends should do. The fine thing about chatting like that, is that you come closer as friends. And that is important. We're going to France together this summer. We're looking even more forward to that now! :)

Exam time...

The class are to be examined in English next Thursday (1st of June).
There were only two out of five classes (on my level) that are to be examined.
We got to know yesterday.
The sports class are to be examined in training doctrine (?)...
It's not that bad.
This is my final year studying English, actually.
Maybe it'll be a nice "the end"?
And the probability for having an oral exam is now rather small... :D
Not bad!!!

I am driving!!!

Last summer I remember counting the days to my birthday. Then I could start driving prastise.
On my 16th birthday, my mum took me to a shut down flight strip to drive a little bit. I was excited. It was fun! I even rounded 80 km/h! I thought I would drive a lot this year.
But I drove a few times more, and then it started to rain. It rained all the time all the autumn, and I actually didn't dare to or wanted to drive when it was raining, in fear of losing control on a slippery road while driving.

But now it's springtime! Soon summer. The roads are dry, the nights are light and Silje wants to drive! (And remember to ask her dad if she can drive a little bit...)

Monday night was a milestone for the driving practise history of mine...
For the first time I drove on the main road! Where the lorries are. Where you drive fast.
The experience was good! The road was much more wider, meaning you didn't need to worry if a car passed. Earlier I had only dared to drive on a little road in the neighbourhood - a road where the max speed is 60 km/h and where there are many houses and many playing children... (Luckily none of them have run out in the road while I've driven...)
I was proud when I came home.
Had to tell my mum.
I even managed to swing into the driving up!

Tonight I drove again! And things went even more well than on Monday. I even remembered to turn on the flashing when driving into the driving up! And I drove a longer distance. And I wasn't that nervous.

Driving is fun!

I have to tell some praises about my dad.
He guides me alle the time while I'm driving.
- First clutch, handbreak off, first gear, accelerate, carefully drive out in the road.
- Use the mirror.
- This is where you're supposed to place the car on the road.
- Clutch, gear, accelerate.
Without him, the roads would have been dagerous both for other people driving and for me myself. Of course. I'm under practise!

That reminds me of that I have another Father who are guiding me.
Through life. Through good times, bad times.
Gives me good times. Guides me to good times. Good choices. Victories.

That's my Father. And I want to praise Him. And tell praises about him. Like I do about my driving-practise-guiding-father.

A few thing to remember when driving practising:

Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will strech out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.

(Proverbs 4: 25-27)

Happy Birthday, Norway!

You could also say "Happy Constitution Day!" or "Happy Independance Day!"...

Anyways!

This is the day when people...
dress up in national costumes, wave with flags, eat layer cake, soft ice, and go in processions.
This is the day when the royal family stand on the balcony and greet the children and the sixth formers.
This is the day when we sing our national anthem and many other nationalistic songs.
This is the day when you see everybody you know and don't know.
This is the day when the chairman of the county council speak to the people.
This is a celebration day.
This is a nice day.
This is a happy day.
This is the Norwegian day.

Happy Birthday, Norway!

Springtime???

It has happened again.
Snow. On the 15th of May. This time in 2006. Last time in 2005.

Are we happy?
No.

Did anyone (e.g. me) say springtime?


It started yesterday. It was cold. Freezy.
But the sun shone. A bit.
Then, around 6 pm it started to snow.
It snowed. And snowed. Around 10 pm the ground was covered.

Green trees hidden.
Green grass covered.
Tulips and daffodils dressed up in white.

The idea has hit me. Making a "Snow on May 15th 2"-movie.
But I feel it too depressing.

Now, as I write, it is snowing outside.
Many cold, freezy, frozen snow flakes.
But the ground is no longer covered.

Green trees hidden.
Green grass covered.
Tulips and daffodils dressed up in white.

I should make a song!


(The photo shows Åndalsnes in the south-eastern part of Norway.)

Brilliant vocabulary program

My sister came across a brilliant vocabulary program where you can can learn words and phrases in languages such as Spanish, Portugese, French, Russian... You can choose between multiple choice and single choice when answering what e.g. "to grow" is in Spanish...
Very simple to use, AND you can make your own files too, consisting exactly the words you have to learn before the next glossary test...
It's completely free.
Download Interlex here! (Or click the icon)

Enjoy!

Snow? Again?

TV tells us that it'll snow and sleet this weekend!
The weather has actually been colder these days... The jacket was too cold today.
Let's sort this out:
Last Sunday I lay on the veranda in bikini, this Sunday I maybe make snow angles.

North-Norway will never change...
It always surprises me.

But soooooon it'll become SUMMER!

... maybe...

Computer fixed; virus-free, spam-free, etc etc

YEAH!!

At Tuesday the man I bought the computer from in January helped me to fix the computer!
THANK YOU!!! You're always so helpful! 3 times 3 HURRAY for Øystein!
When I was ready to go home that night, the computer was just like how it was at the time I bought it. (Yup, I had to install some programs again...)
But, yeah!!! Happy day!!!
It's not slow anymore, I'm not worried of virus (the antivirus program works as it should do) and today I bought Norton AntiSpam (the 2004 edition) for only 30 NOK! AND the AntiSpyware software functions well :)

... makes me so happy...

Springtime!!!

Here in North-Norway, "spring" sometimes doesn't exist. Season just switches from winter to summer.
BUT NOT THIS YEAR!!!
It has to be the most summerly spring I've ever experienced here in Norway!
I don't even need a jacket!
A t-shirt is good enough!
WOW!
And I'm getting sun-tanned! In early May!
Unbelievable!

The trees are green. Soon...

For comparison:
Last year, at the 15th of May, it snowed.
My father went skiing in the garden.
My little sister made a snowman.
I made a film of it all. So people can believe me in the future...

But it's May!
It's green!
It's wonderful!


"I'm walking on sunshine, oh-oh-oh...!"


Btw: Nice drawing?!? ;)

Problems... Again!

My computer has some serious (don't know if it's REALLY serious) virus-, spy-, and probably adware problems at the moment...
That's why I can't update the blog(s) that often...

If you have some experiences (good antivirus programs etc) that might be useful, I'm glad to know!

Picasso Clue

What is the similarity between

you

and this Picasso originale?

You are both worth millions!

Some nights ago, when I couldn't fall to sleep, this clue stroke me "as a flash of lightening from the blue sky". (which really wasn't blue the particular night, but black, cold and cloudy. And btw: I don't like exaggerated use of set phrases like this, but I just couldn't come to think of anything better to say...)

Picasso was a completely ordinar man from Spain. I don't know when he started to be famous (or when his paintings started to be famous), but I'm sure that Picasso met many arrogant people on his way laughting at his painings.

And why did they laugh?

The truth is that I understand them very well!

Look at Picasso's paintings! They're quite funny! Strange! Some of them (some would say: many of them) are even ugly!

"Even I can paint that!"

"What IS this supposed to be?"

Picasso himself once said: "I paint things as I think them, not as I see them."

This made him famous. Very famous.

His paintings are worth millions!

Billions, I don't know.

And then it's you...

Your're an original too. Designed. Unique. Valuable.

Valuable.

People may laugh of you.

They may think you're ugly. Strange. Funny.

"What will she turn out to be?"

"Even I can do that better than him!"

Once one painted you based on what was on his mind.

He planned.

Painted piano fingers, green fingers, carpenter hands.

Football legs, volleyball knees, ballett toes.

Created.

People may laugh.

But you're still valuable.

The Painter once lost his paintings.

The paintings he'd spent so much time on thinking, planning, painting.

Lost.

They were in someone other's hands.

Their own carpenter hands.

Owned by the Destroyer.

Lost.

The Painter wanted his paintings back.

Wanted to tell them where he'd planned to place them in the living room.

Planned.

Lost.

The Destroyer decided a price.

Thought the Painter would fail anyway.

The Painter's own Son.

Lost.

The Painter didn't fail.

His Son. The price. Dead. Won. Victory. Life.

The Painter's originals.

Back in the living room.

But some are still

lost.

Some would say many.

People may laugh.
But you're still valuable.

You're a God-originale.

Nothing
is more valuable.

Bride & Bridegroom

Here's the bride and the bridegroom :D

Ingrid & Johnny

Married for a week already!

(But we're still congratulating!)

Photo: Ronny Lassesen

Problems solved!

The problems are solved!
The blog is now "perfect" again.
If anyone wonders: it can sometimes be an idea to use Explorer instead of Mozilla..
I read somewhere that blogger.com and Mozilla are not good friends.

Thanks to God :)
Always :)

Easter holiday...

Oh, what a wonderful Easter!!!
When we arrived in Lillestrøm (near Oslo) by the train the Thursday before last Thursday, we first met our uncle, Ole Petter - my Daddy's little brother. He took us to my Grandma's house where we ate a lovely dinner together with the rest of my uncle's family - his wife and four children (age 16, 14, 10-11 and 7-8) :)

Then we spent a whole day in Oslo trying to get a suit for my little brother who will be confirmated in June... We didn't find one. Hehe... (but we found one some days later in Lillestrøm, thanks to Solid :))

Then we were at my other Grandma's house. Saturday (not last) we were all invited to a family party. That was very cosy - I think we were about 18-19. My mummy's brother Geir & family, sister Veronica & family, a friend of one of my cousins, we, and of course my grandma. My sister Ruth Therese, who came from India the same day (she had practise (medicine) there for a month...) was there too :)

Some days later, after being at the first Grandma's house again, we drove to Bergen. That took a long time! And the car was little and narrow, and we were too big. But finally we were there. We lived in my aunt Camilla's house. They're six in the family, and we're five, so we slept everywhere. My father, for instance, slept in the entrance hall...

Then Wednesday - the Wedding Day!
Lovely wedding, to say it short. Picture will maybe come later.
The bride was very pretty - the dress was awsome! and the groom was handsome in a white suit. We were celebrating to 4 o'clock in the morning... A bit tired I was then, but anyway: I hope they'll live happily ever after :)

The rest of the holidays I met a lot of lovely people because we were at an Easter conference. There were about 4-500 there, and, yes!, I met a lot of new people too :) But many people I knew already, and was very happy to see again: Janne, Ragni, Anne Guro, Aleksander, Marit, Ruben, Rebekka, Line, Jeanett...

And then, very suddenly (or after travelling in ten hours with car, aeroplane and bus, I was home in North Norway again... Oh, unhappy day....

But the weather was very nice when I came up here! VERY nice! Wonderful!
And the holiday is not over for me yet! I start school at Monday which gives me 5 more days off...

Problems...

Recently I've had big problems with the blog...!
The template doesn't work as it should resulting in no link list, no Read more! links and no new photos added to the posts. It's quite frustrating!!! But one good thing about it all is that I have a template backup. So when there's one day possible to edit the template my link list, read more links and sitemeter will again turn up :)
Until that day.... Who knows!?!

Btw: If anyone recognizes this problem and knows how to deal with it; please let me know!!!

Leaving...

In 30 minutes we leave home and head towards Oslo...
We're going to take the train from Fauske (have to take the bus for 6-7 hours :-S) and then we're in Oslo tomorrow after 3 pm or something... There we'll meet my sister! :D And then we'll go shopping. And meet a lot of realatives; my grandmas, some uncles, aunts and cousins :) All our family live sown there. We're the only ones who live in the North of Norway...

On monday we're going to Bergen. On Wednesday: Ingrid & Johnny's wedding!!! (which is the reason we're travelling south this Easter). Oh, happy day! This is gonna be FUN!

Bye, bye!
C ya soon, blue balloon! ;)

Great consert last night!

Rudi Myntevik really met the expectations at the consert last night. It was really, really, really great!

My daddy first sang a song by Norwegian Ole Paus; "Det begynner å bli et liv" ("It begins to become a life" or something), then my friend Ida sang "Heaven on Earth" before Rudi entered the scene.

Rudi started by putting God into centre, proclaiming Him as God. Rudi said he used to say that he only had God as the audience - we were the choir. I think that is a fine explanation on yesterday's consert. It was for God's glory, a gift to Him. So everybody participated, joining Rudi in singing songs to God.

Often we Christians are too good in using "Christan" words and phrases. In that way, Rudi's songs are great, because words everybody can understand are used! One of my favourites, "Faller" ("Falling"), starts by saying, "You've spoiled my life, my boring, hopeless life". That is language everybody understands! And it's different. Exciting. Great!

Rudi sang songs from both his cd's, "Gud din skjønnhet" (God Your Beauty") and "Sentrum" ("Centre").

During two of the songs, his wife Ragnhild danced. Beautiful! And she is so kind and everything! Got to know her a bit during the weekend :)

WOW! It was great!
And God was near with His presence.

Praise! :)

The Up-Creative Festival has started!

The Up-Creative Festival has started!!! :)

Yesterday there was an opening show.
Song, dance, story telling, dress show, poems, praise...
I wore one of the dresses at the dress show :)
It was sooo pretty! In gold. In a light fabric.
I'm maybe going to borrow it for Ingrid & Johnny's
wedding the 12th. Maybe... :)

Today we've had...
a gallery, shops, stands, creating-with-
paper-stand, balloon-stand, dress show (again) and a
family show.

I instruct a dance group for girls age 9-12, and they were the first ones to perform.
They were very clever, I was so proud :) They danced to a song called "David" by
the young singer Lisa Børud.

Tonight it is consert with Rudi Myntevik! I bought his last CD plus the music
booklet today. The consert is going to be GREAT!!!

Visitors from ALL the world!!!

Hurray! I just found out that I've had a visitor from Australia on my site! That means I now have had visitors here from all the continents of the world!

Weeeeeeeeee!!! :D

(In Norway we have this saying adage: "Små barn, store gleder!" (Small children, big enjoyments!) I guess that saying adage suits me rather well at the moment...)

Thoughts about the weather

Everybody likes to talk about the weather. That's at least how it seems.
I love to talk about the weather when it is nice.
Now the weather is really nice!
It is actually quite hot here at the moment, maybe 1-2 degrees!
That is quite hot for being the combination North Norway and March!
But I was not going to talk about the temperature.
I'm going to talk about the weather - how it looks...

Sun!
Blue sky!
Snow that makes everything very light, shimmering, bright...
Bright, snowy mountains!
Sunglasses!!!
Good mood!

Actually some friends of mine basked in the sun today.
They lay on the paving stone outside the bus station.
In thick winter jackets.
I basked in the sun too while I waited for the bus to arrive.
But I sat on a bench.

Oh, I love North-Norway when the weather is like this!

(Picture taken from "Sykkelsiden".)

Rudi Myntevik is coming to Sortland!!!

I am just so looking forward to Rudi Myntevik's consert in Sortland next Saturday!!!

Rudi has a great gift in leading people into God's presence through praise and worship. His songs are sung in churches all over the country and he's released at least two CD's and a DVD. His first album, "Gud din skjønnhet" ("God your beauty"), is one of my personal favourites.

Rudi is coming to Sortland to participate at the Opp-Kreativ Festval (Up-Creative Festival) next weekend. The festival is going to be so great! Shows, dance, music, art, gallery, bookshop, café, balloons and a clown, children, adults, cinema, more music, worship, laughter, "American auction", service, praise, creating with paper, dress show, poems... To mention some.

This is gonna be fun!

See you there!

♫♪ Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.... ♪

Today it snowed. All day. A lot!
More than a half meter. Maybe one. And that is a lot for a day, even in Norway!

Yesterday it didn't snow at all. Actually - yesterday it felt almost like spring. The sun shone bright and yellow and you could walk directly on the pavement (instead of walking on snow).

But today spring became winter. Again.

Today the snow caused that I had to stay out for two hours, shovelling. In the beginning of the day the snow lay on the roof of our house. In earlier years, the snow used to just continue lieing there - peaceful - on the roof. But during last summer we put up a new roof. The new roof is very slippery. The result is this: All the snow slides down from the roof. Down on our verandaes.

Because snow is so heavy (especially if it later starts to rain - which there is a positive possibility for here in North Norway), we decided to go out and clear away all the snow from the verandaes.

And we did.

There was a lot of snow! One and a half meter maybe. Because all the snow that fell on the roof was consentrated on the veranda.

It took time.
And my muscles still hurt.

A two hours workout of strenght and endurance.

Praise to God that I'll still stay fit :)

(The photo is not from here.)

I love Sundays!

Here are some reasons:

- Sundays are peaceful
- Sundays happen during a weekend (which means no school!)
- Sundays are like having a vacation between two weeks - that's maybe not that strange, 'cause
- Sundays are holidays!
- You can't go shopping on Sunday - then you don't use money - and you don't have to stress! Actually...
- Sundays are stress-less!
- You can use more of the Sundays for sleeping than other days
- You can rest a bit more
- You can smile and be happy - on Sundays too!
- Often the Sunday dinner is more than delicious (Thank you, Mum!)
- Often the Sunday breakfast is delicious - egg scramble, salmon.... (Thank you again, Mum!)
- Sundays are made for resting
- Sundays are holy
- Sundays are blessed

"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all His work which He created and made." - Genesis 2:3

¡Aprendo!

"¡Aprendo!" is Spanish and means "I learn!".

Four hours aweek I learn Spanish at school. It's one of my favourite subjects because I've always wanted to learn it.

At primary school I borrowed "Learn Spanish!"-cd's from the library, but it was hard to try and teach myself! And I didn't learn that many basic things, such as telling my name. Instead I learnt how to book a hotel room, how to explain what went wrong when renting a car, etc... Cd's for tourists actually.

Today I've created a Spanish blog about learning Spanish!
¡Bienvenido a mi blog nueva!

The Creator

There are three posts I've promised to write... Creator, Creative and Creation.
Here is the first one, about the Creator.

You know what? I know the Creator. I actually KNOW Him!!!
Well, enough about me.

I'm going to start by first singing his praises... Tell his good points... :)
There are adjectives that suits Him very well, e.g.: good, fantastic, creative, fair...
And there are nouns....: He is love, he is kindness, He is justice, He is comfort...

The Creator has done a lot of good things:

First: He created the Universe. That is a very good thing, if you ask me!
Look at the stars! Look at all the fantastic animals! All the detailed flowers! All the coluorful fish! And look at yourself! A piece of art!!!
A watch is made by a watchmaker, the World is made by the Creator - God!!! :D

Second: He created humans! And: He did not only create them because He one day felt a bit bored... He created them in His picture! And he created them to be with Him - to be His friends! And when mankind made a big mistake that separated them from God, God sent His only son (Jesus) to make a way back to Him!!
That's the God I'm talking about! A loving God! A God who WANTS to have something to do with us!!! He is SO good!

Anyway: I want you to be fascinated by God! When you look around - see all the stuff he's made, all the cool people - you are to be fascinated! And he's still making new things... and makes old things new... Old hearts for instance...

"And He that sat upon the throne said: "Behold, I make all things new." And he said unto me: "Write: for these words are true and faithful."" (Revelation 21:5)

Who's God?

What is your picture of God?

- old?
- cool?
- good?
- creative?
- far away?
- ...

Leave your comment and let me (and others...) know!
(Feel free to be anonymous.)

~Silje~

Thanks!

This is very, very inspiring and encouraging:
More than one hundred visitors have visited "Made by God" during less than two weeks...
Thanks to all!!!
:)

(The picture is taken from Muppetcentral.)

Heavenly sleep

Thursday night I slept 13,5 hours!
That is double dose!
Normally I switch the light off at midnight and wake up before 7 a.m.
Thursday night was different...

I am that kind of person who never wants to go to bed early and who always gets incredible good ideas just before midnight. Who always thinks the day has been too short when the night comes again. And, yes, you're right. In the morning the first little step called "bed-to-bathroom" is very difficult! Still there are very few times I sleep to more than eleven o'clock.

Thursday night was, as I said, different.

Mummy came home after work Friday and asked what I'd done that day.
"Not much," I had to tell her. My winter vacation started at Friday, so I can say I had the ability to sleep a bit longer than usual.
"Do you know what?" I asked her. "I fell asleep at 11 p.m. yesterday!"

That is very unusual. As I said: Often I am not even sleepy at midnight!

"Oh, that was nice to hear," she replied. "Yesterday night I actually prayed that you would get some extra rest."

If I sleep long - too long - I often fail by purpose to tell her. Too long can be for instance 11 a.m.

I started to laugh.
"I think maybe you prayed too much then, mum! I didn't wake before half past noon!"

Friday night I fell asleep at normal time (midnight). Normally I have great problems in falling asleep if I've slept too much during the day.

But not this time.
This time was different.
This time was refreshing.

I think that night was blessed by God.

Another thing: Very often I wake up with a headache if I sleep too long. Yep, right again! I did not have a headache when I got up. I just felt refreshed.

Good night! :)

A shallow text about homework

I like school...

I like the people there...
Especially those in my class... :
The people I know very well in my class...
The people I know a bit in my class...
The people I nearly don't know in my class...
Most of the teachers...

I like most of the subjects... :
I like Spanish...
I like English...
I like Nature & Science...
I like Mathematics...
I almost like Norwegian...
Most of times like P.E. ...
I sometimes like Economy...

But I really don't like homework!
Especially when I don't fix the tasks...
Especially when it's in Maths...
Because I normally fix all the tasks in that subject...
But today I don't.

I'm glad my teacher in Maths do.

Creator - Creation - Creative

In our church there has been a growing interest for being creative.

This idea comes from God, the Creator, himself.

How?

God was very creative and created us as a part of his creation. But Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created man in his own image(...)".

That means we take after God.

Since God create, we're able to create = being creative.

Later I'll write more in posts with the headlines

• Creator
• Creation
• Creative

Thanks for your patience...

Heart message

A year ago I wrote a song:

Her heart is closed

I saw her when she closed
her door today
She looked a bit upset
and threw the keys away

Her heart is closed
and no one gets in
Even not herself
She has no place to go
No place to call home
She threw the keys away
And no one heard her cry

I saw her when she tried
to open her door today
No one inside heard her cry
No one would open - nobody knew

Her heart is closed...

I wonder if anybody
will find the keys to her heart
I wonder if she'll ever get back
home

Her heart is closed...


"Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that's where life starts."
(Proverbs 4:23 - The Message)