Just because there's not really any photos that go well with this story I'll just give you some of our family instead...just to remind you; "this is us, and we love having you in our lives!"

So here is my first little story, a fresh one as of this week:

Just the other day I came across this bible verse:

Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor…”

As we’re preparing to move to Norway we’re in a unique position where we are getting rid of things anyways. Not everything will make it across the ocean. In fact as little as possible will make it across the ocean due to shipping cost. But there has been the struggle in our minds and hearts about what to do with the things we leave behind. Should we sell them and make as much money as possible to have a start up fund when we get to Norway and need to start purchasing new things? Or should we just give our things away and bless others, trusting that God will somehow work it out so we get what we need when we need them over there too?

Not until just the other day when I read that verse did this matter get settled in my mind. We are not going to sell our things for our own profit. What we sell will be sold to provide for the poor, and items that can be donated directly to the poor will be. When I spoke with Daniel about this he agreed, and what a joy it was to have this matter settled, knowing that we’re doing the thing God wants our family to do.

It’s fun to partner with God when it’s clear what His directives are. That gives us grounds for trusting that He also will work things out so we’re provided for as well.

A fresh photo of our family, from last weekends trip to Grand Junction. Goal for our trip: seeking wisdom from pastor frinends of ours about this next stage of our lives.

The fun thing is that just last night a friend happened to ask me if I possibly could make a list of needs; things we needed to get still that would be shipped to Norway. WOW! I don’t know if anything will come from that list thing, and really that’s not the important thing about this either. The thing with real value here is how God clearly sent me an encouragement to show me He has it all under control. Isn’t God cool?! Really, with real possibilities to get labeled a freak, I still have to just “shout it out”; I LOVE MY LIFE! It is such fun to get to be part of what God is doing, to see Him actively at work in the lives of people around me and in myself, challenging us to mature and live out the lives He planned for us all along. So cool!

The official Kosova flag next to the US one. Time to celebrate!

Most of the Kosovar people we celebrated with had dressed more in honor of the US than any of us Westerners; red, white and blue! I myself; pink! =)

I have to admit that I still don’t understand the full story of what happened during the time of the genocide, but I’ll share some of the stories I’ve been told to give you a better understanding of why the Albanians in this country would celebrate their rescuers so much.

An old grandma living next door to us told me how the Serbs came and forced them all to WALK all the way to Albania. The Serbs took their passports and all documents they had and destroyed them. They also forced them to give up everything they had of value, or else face death. It took this old lady I met a week to walk to Albania. The ones that couldn’t make the walk got killed along the way.

A Norwegian named Josef Martinsen was sent to Kosovo after the war to help clean up wells for the Albanians living in the villages around this country. The Serbs had killed the men of the villages and thrown them into the wells, making sure the rest of the people would struggle for survival as well.

The village we work in, Tushile, had most of it’s people survive because the Serbs had an old map of the area, not showing one of the fields. The night the Serbs came through to kill and the destroy 600 Albanians were quietly standing in the field hoping to survive – and they did!

Most of the people I’ve met have lived in foreign countries; places they went to try to escape the genocide. One of our translator’s family was split up : mom and 2 children in one country, dad and 3 children still in Kosova. They all got reunited eventually and now all live here in Kosova again.

One family I’ve met are only here on a visit this summer. They moved to Norway during the war. Now they no longer have Kosova citizenship, due to Norway not allowing dual citizenship. Now obviously Norway is a rich country, possibly now their choice of place to live, but still as a person that have lived many years already as a stranger in a foreign country I have to say it would hurt if I had to give up my citizenship to my home country – the one thing that kind of defines best who I am.

There are lots of stories, and I’ve only heard a few. Regardless, this is how our 4th of July experience was in Kosova:

It all started last night (July 3rd) as I was lying outside on our balcony enjoying the fresh evening air. All of a sudden the shooting begun. Loud, cracking sounds, echoing all over town. And yes I could see the yellow blasts of the guns as well. Where do they fire their guns you might ask. I tell you; into the air! INSANE! What happened to the philosophy…no; correction: the proven theory that everything that goes up also comes down?!

July 4th started out with loud local music blaring all over town. Sitting inside the apartment I could clearly hear the music and festivities, but at 7.30 am I was not quite ready yet to enter the outside world and check it out first hand.

Later in the day I realized that the celebrations might not have been quite as dramatic here as I’d first pictured, but we did enjoy a whole wonderful afternoon celebrating together with Americans and Kosovar friends in Pristina, the capital of Kosova.

One of the elderly Albanian men held a speech and made a toast to the US for their continues work for human right.

Our kids enjoying the party together with American and Kosovar friends.

Bedtime for our kids is before most of the festivities started here, so we dropped one of our team mates off to go celebrating with local friends at a restaurant and then later a concert held in celebration of July 4th.

Heading down Pristina’s main street towards home, we see…

...a statue in honor of Bill Clinton...

...several stores named after Hillary Clinton...

...and the main street itself is called Bill Clinton Avenue.

Bill Clinton might not have done everything right, but to the people of Kosova he sure was an angel of life.

Yes, this is the boy who's prespective on life in Kosovo you'll soon get to read. Be prepared!

Me: “What do you like about being in Kosovo?”

Calem: “Well, I like it when I get to work a lot! It’s real fun, it’s been my dream! It’s fun when I get to do my dream.”

Calem getting to help move a well "ring" that accidentally got delivered to the wrong house...

Me: “What kind of work do you get to do?”

Calem clearing the area around the well so that we can put down a cement skirt to keep rainwater from washing dirt back into the well. Mind you, we are not forcing the boy to work, he's very much choosing it himself. This is something else than the city life he's used to!

Calem: “I get to smooth out the cement, and I get to help fix wells. And I get to walk around in the city, and yesterday I got a fishing pole so I got to go fishing.”

(Editors note; his “fishing pole” is a long stick he found laying around with a fishing line attached to it. A local guy formed a hook for him from some wire he cut off a fence, and voila; Calem got a fishing pole like the other boys in the village. One very satisfied boy!)

Calem and the village boys with their fishing poles. Seriously I hope no one eats anything caught in this filthy stream! That seriously can not be very safe!

Me: “Have you made any friends here?”

Calem: “Yes, I have made quite a few friends.”

(Editor’s note; yes, that’s right. This boy sure does not have any trouble making new friends! He is one social little dude!)

Two boys Calem became friends with during the two days we worked on their well.

Calem met a guy with an energy level to match his own! I don't think I've ever seen so much action before!

Me: “What is the most fun thing you’ve done in Kosovo so far?”

Calem: “1st – that I got to work, 2nd – that I got a fishing pole and that I got to try fishing yesterday”

I think half the fun for Calem is that he gets to ride the rental car with the team when they go to work in the mornings. He gets to sit up front, as it is the only seat with a seat belt, and to a boy that's been in the back of the car in a child safety seat his whole life that's a big deal! =)

Me: “We’ve only got 2 more weeks here. Do think you want to come back here in the future?”

Calem: “Yes. My dad will come back here soon, but me and my mom and Emma and Mikayla I don’t think will come back here soon, but pappa will, ‘cause he works here and he’s made friends here.”

(Editor’s note; yes, pappa will be back here for a couple of weeks towards the end of the summer while the rest of us are with my family in Norway. Our next chance at coming back here as a family will probably be next summer.)

The first well Calem got to go help the team repair. Only thing left to do is shock the water with bleach and put the lid on. The pump is installed so there is now no more need to use the old bucket hanging on the post behind the well.

Me: “How was your day today?”

Calem: “It was good. We got to go to church, and it was pretty fun. I met my old friend, and it was pretty fun.”

(Editor’s note; we go to church in a city an hour away from where we live and work. Where we are at there are no churches. Calem has made friends with an English speaking boy at church, and thoroughly enjoys his Sundays when he can meet up with him again.)

Down this lane live the Murati family that from today on will have a safe water source.

1st part of the project, completed yesterday: a trench dug from the well to the house, where electric cord for the pump will be burried as well as a pipe leading the water into a plastic storage tank we've installed in their attic.

Mikayla and Daniel surveying the almost finished trench... =)

The next part of the project was getting the pump installed. A local plumber “master” as he’s called here put the pump together while Daniel and the rest of the team tried to pay as close attention as possible so they could learn the master’s tricks. =) The trench then got back filled, and we got a good nights sleep before we started tackling the rebar and the cement this morning.

The rebar needed to make a skirt around the well was layed down this morning. The purpose of the skirt is to hinder rain water from seeping into the well along with any kind of dirt it brings along from the surface. With a big cement skirt around the well we hinder new contamination of the water after we've got it shocked (with bleach) and the germs killed.

The local cement "master" at work on the cement skirt around the well.

The finished product! All we're waiting on now is for the lid we ordered to be delivered this afternoon. Then we'll shock the water with bleach and the family is good to go! Imagine safe water being pumped directly into their house for the very first time!

The Albanian housewives! =) They've started calling me Albanian because of the fact that I've already got 3 kids, and well, after having spent as much time as I have dealing with water related issues, or rather LACK of water issues the last week, I feel like I'm starting to relate. Regardless, sweet Mrs. Murati will forever more NOT have to go haul unsafe water out of her well for their daily day needs.

Sweet Mrs. Murati and her daugther made us a tasty lunch as a thank you today. YUM!

In the process of making lunch the Murati daugther let Emma Joy try her hand at baking with an old, outdoor wood stove.

What a feast!! Mikayla absolutely loved the Albanian dish we got served!

As always; thank you for following our journey and supporting us as we try to help one family at the time getting both a safe water source and the news of how to get the springs of living water the Bible talks about.

Love, the Hefleys

Our welcome to Kosovo last Wednesday.

As we arrived Skenderaj, our team of three interns from the States welcomed us into our new home that we’ll be sharing for the weeks to come. We have a two bedroom apartment on the 6th floor of a new apartment building, about 15 min drive from the village we work in. The Hefley’s get one bedroom, the two girl interns one, and our male student get to camp out in the living room at night together with our male translator. So far it’s working out great. We’re learning to live with limited access to water and electricity as they both get turned off at odd hours, and there is no telling when it gets turned back on. We’ve already experience having to buy bottled water just to wash our hands, but definitely see ourselves blessed that have the finances to be able to do just that. I don’t doubt a minute that the people in the village would not be able to afford such luxurity, and wouldn’t have that possibility anyways as they live too far away from the stores. They do have their own personal wells that as far as I understand was dug by some aid organization that came to help them right after the war. The only problem is that the wells were never completely finished and thus the water is unsafe, and also some of the wells run dry 3 months of the year which leaves the people at a place where their only water source left is the polluted stream running through the village. This stream I’ve now seen with my own eyes, and my kids have been strictly forbidden to go anywhere near it. It’s the dumping place for the villages trash, and also where a lot of their sewage is piped to.

All the bottles and buckets we had filled with tap water before the water got shut off. Now empty, and we're on to using store bought water to wash in. =)

We’ve had a few days in the village this past week, though most of this week has been more of a prep time for the coming month, and a time of settling in for me and the kids. Our team of students had a long weekend off to go see Greece, thus we only yesterday started getting a full days work in at the village (since our arrival). Calem got to help repair a well today, and I’m so bummed I didn’t have my camera so I could have taken a picture to show you how cute he was smoothing out the cement apron/skirt they were making around the well so the rain wouldn’t wash more contamination into the water. I’m saying “they” when sharing about who does the actual cement work and such, referring to the men. Women in this culture are not doing such physical labor, and thus I get to hang out with the women and the kids, drink tea and try to communicate as best as I can while the men suffer under the burning sun outside trying to secure a safe water source for the families.

Just to give you a visual of how things look like here. This is the view from our apartment in the big town.

Well, I think that’s going to have to be all for now, our you’ll get so tired of reading you won’t even want to open my next blog entries…

As always; we’d love to hear from you! Let us know you’re following our journey, and share yours so we can be a part of your lives too!

Much love from Signy Margrete and the rest of the Hefley crew.

We definitely seem to get our fair share of complications trying to steal away our focus, so keep praying for us. As we’ve tried to be involved at this conference as much as possible one kid after the other has gotten sick, there was a huge mix up with our room at the hostel (read; lots of frustration), and conflicts in Kosovo that Daniel had to deal with.

The conference is now in the past and we’ve already had one night in a beautiful little town in Germany, and are now at a little hotel in Austria getting ready for our second night on the road. Tomorrow we’ll conquer another 3 countries; Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia and 656 km of driving…whatever that is in miles (just divide it by 1.6 and you’ve got your answer). We’ll have our last overnight stay in Serbia, and then we’ll be in Kosovo with our students that are waiting for us there the day after tomorrow, what ever day that is. I’ve totally lost track of days and time, so yes, I actually don’t know what day it is today…hehe

NOW SOME OF MY “TRAVELING WITH KIDS” OBSERVATIONS:

1: ALWAYS take the bus/metro if you can, especially when you don’t have a stroller. Don’t walk even if it’s only ½ km (1/3 of a mile). Believe me, it’s worth the money!

2: Be prepared to answer some interesting questions traveling in this part of the world. Thankfully I don’t think the kids noticed the kissing men we passed the other day, but I guess it’s only a matter of time until they do.

3: Bribing kids with candy is not a bad thing! Neither is letting the kids see movies in the car. It helps us all stay sane!

4: Don’t even for a moment think that you’ll make it through a road trip without needing to deep clean the car afterward.

5: Oh yeah…Hostel rooms without an attached bathroom is not a good idea. Especially when the kids are too young to wander the hallways of the hostel on their own and you’ve got two other kids you need to watch besides the one you have to follow to the bathroom. Of course they always decide they have to use the loo right when Daniel has left the room and I’ve got three kids on my own. What’s up with that?!

I apologize for not having any photos in this post, making it more interesting for visual people (like myself). My computer has a full “start up disc” (can anyone tell me what that means?) that makes it impossible to download more photos from my camera. Sorry! =(

Lots of love from Signy Margrete and the crew

I want to start by thanking each one of you that follow us on our blog (despite the lack of new entries), facebook, by phone or in person. You are so valuable to us, and your prayers for us on our journey count more than you know.

Well, this blog was written Tuesday, as we were driving south towards Denmark. Only now, 4 days later am I getting around to posting it due to lack of internet and lack of time. Still, I want you to get an update on what we’ve been up to so here you go:

Right now I’m sitting on a 4-hour ferry from Norway to Denmark. The upcoming events are a Vineyard leadership conference in Copenhagen where Daniel and I will be introduced to the rest of the pastors in Vineyard Norden. Can you say “being on an audition” anyone? Hehe. We are looking forward to a time of fellowship with everyone, and the kids and I will have a few days of exploring the city of Copenhagen. Unfortunately the conference doesn’t have a children’s program, so Daniel will have to attend it alone. It’s a bummer not getting to be more involved, though I have to say the kids and I are excited about a chance at exploring a new city, in a country that’s new to us.

The last few weeks have been eventful. We started our trip visiting old YWAM friends that have kids the same ages as our kids. For the kids it was wonderful to have other little ones to play with after a long stretch of time on my family’s farm with only grown ups (mostly only their mom) and few activities.

Our friends made a princess cake for Emma Joy and celebrated her birthday a few days early. Believe me, she LOVED it! Princess cake, new skirt, shirt and tights, our friend's princess tent to eat cake in and girl friends everywhere. Our little princess had quite the day! =)

Ok, I have to just show you all this AMAZING view that our friends enjoy every day out their livingroom windows! Can you believe it?! The Norwegain fjords are just BEAUTIFUL! I think if I lived here I'd get nothing done. I'd just sit by the window all day long, drowning myself in this beauty!

Trondheim was our next stop, where we spent another 2 ½ weeks with the Vineyard church, family (cousins and aunt/uncle), and friends. On top of that the YWAM base Daniel and I met at, which is an hour drive from Trondheim, has been put up for sale, and we got a last chance at visiting our former home and say good bye to it and our friends there.

May 17th, Norway's nationalday was celebrated with our cousins close to Trondheim. This day is like Independence day for Americans, just that it's quite a lot of a bigger deal for Norwegians. We go all out: fancy clothes, flags, parades, church, games and fun at each school property, hot dogs and icecream and family parties.

From Trondheim we turned our noses south-east. Daniel was asked to come share at a church close to Fredrikstad about the work we do in Kosovo. Last year this church collected 9000 NOK / $1400 to help fix wells and build water storage tanks for the people of Tushile, Kosovo. To our surprise they again took up an offering again this year to collect money that will go directly to helping the people in this village! What a sweet group of people! They only heard about what we do through a youth conference, and decided to help!

While here in the eastern part of Norway we’ve been visiting two families who are long time friends. Oh, what a blessing it is to see friends, catch up on each others lives, and find that despite the distances and the years it’s been since we’ve last met we still have a fellowship that only can be found amongst people who share the same faith and lifestyle. We’ve been blessed tremendously the last few weeks, by the friendships and the support we find in people around us, and by the chances we get to be of support and encouragement to them.

Some drama when our friend's neighbor's boat got loose. Daniel and our friend got in the freezing water and saved the day! =)

Again; visiting friends that live by BEAUTY! Here the kids are getting free entertainment as they observe our kids' dad the other kids' mom get into the frigid water to save the boat!

We truly are a blessed family! On the ferry today Calem totally unperturbed shared with one of the crew how he’d been given new toys and the girls were given new clothes the last few days (hand me downs from our friends). He keeps declaring over and over how blessed he is! =)

Thank you for praying for us and enabling us to do the things we do!

Love, the Hefleys

How old are these kids we'll be hauling around, you might ask...The answer is they are 2, 4 and 6. We're insane, I know!!

Now, why on earth are we spending that much time on the road? Well, here is the low down. In September we got asked to start praying about taking over leadership of Trondheim Vineyard, here in Norway. That was 12 days after God had spoken clearly to both Daniel and myself about moving back to Trondheim. Thus we’ve been spending time with the congregation here as much as possible this spring, and they’re bringing us along for a leader/pastor conference in Kopenhagen, Denmark in June, and then later in July for a Summer camp for Vineyard Norden (Norway, Denmark and Sweden) somewhere in the Swedish forests. But before that we’re heading back to Trondheim for a couple of weeks to fellowship with the church in their home city.

Trøndelag, my future home. The city of Trondheim should be along the fjord somewhere, but don't ask me to pin point it for you yet...I need some more time getting used to things here before I get that good.

Right now the kids and I are at my parents place while Daniel is finishing up his second trip to Kosovo this spring. He’ll be back in a few days, and by then the kids and I hope to have our road trip started. We’ll go spend time with some friends and let him meet up with us en route to Trondheim. Between our two Vineyard events this summer we are taking our family for the first ever trip to Kosovo together! Only Daniel has been there so far, and it’s time for us all to go. For those of you that don’t know what we’re presently doing check out the website of the ministry we’re part of www.waterforlife.org.

One of the wells Daniel and his university inters have helped the locals in Kosovo to restore and seal off with now safe drinking water.

Right now we’re helping a small village of 800 in Kosovo to get safe water. Presently they are drinking contaminated water from open wells that run dry 3 months out of the year. We’re helping raise the money for the work, and then training them in how to cover their wells, put in pumps to avoid the dirty bucket being dropped into the water, and how to build water storage tanks they can collect rainwater in and save up for the dry season. For years the kids and I have been part of this from the sideline, sitting at home either at our place in Colorado or at my parents place in Norway while Daniel’s been there on his own working with the people in Kosovo. But it’s time for us all to go. It’ll be an adventure for sure! Am I a little nervous; yes, but do I think it’s the wrong thing to do hauling my kids with me to a (to me) completely foreign country; no.

Some of the village boys we'll hopefully get to know this summer.

I’d love to share our adventure with you. Keep your eyes posted for the next update! I think one of the first updates will have to be the miracle of how our car in the States sold so we could have a down payment for the car we’ll now be driving all over Europe this summer. I am so thankful to God for this car. Imagine us trying to haul 3 kids and luggage for all these different events/situations on public transportation! I get sweaty just thinking about it…

JANUARY:

Daniel started school! When we first moved from Hawaii to Fort Collins to continue the work with Water For Life, Daniel was wondering about going back to school to learn more about water, and to connect with the water professionals in this town. God totally worked a miracle, and landed Daniel a chance at studying, tuition covered, through some random guy we met at a store. Well, obviously it wasn’t random, because only God could be behind such a crazy story, and the outcome was that Daniel got to start his masters degree this month. It all started a year back when Daniel chewed the kids out in Norwegian at the store, and a guy sitting close by asked him what language he was speaking. Little did we know that he was a professor at CSU that later would take Daniel on as his student and pay his tuition! God, You are just fun!

Celebrated our surprise baby's (Mikayla) first birthday at Great Grammy's house in Grand Junction, and a few days thereafter Mikayla finally started crawling!

At the end of the month, just as we celebrated Signy Margrete’s 29th birthday started a journey for her that felt like hell, but ended up with a good outcome. She started having panic attacks, and anxiety to a level never before experienced, and started a long journey of discovering lies of the enemy she’s started believing about herself, and how tiredness and sleep deprivation had gotten her eyes off of God and onto the stresses of life. The next 1/2 year was hard, but God provided a way out, and today she can say that she’s free and restored.

FEBRUARY:

Our preschool! School year 2009/2010 four moms got together and ran a preschool/discipleship group for our kids. On this particular day I was teaching the kids about the armor of God. Can't you tell? =)

Signy Margrete finally took a step of obedience and got baptized. Yes, she was baptized as an infant, but had for years been convicted that she needed to make a public declaration of her faith like the early Christians did in their baptism. Thus, finally at age 29 she got it done. =)

Calem and Emma Joy...do I need say more?

Still can't walk, but I'm trying...really I am!

Calem is quite the little artist! He does have quite a talent and interest in drawing.

MARCH:

March weather in Colorado is a little easier to handle then the Norwegian March weather...

APRIL:

Let the celebrations begin!! Calem turned 5 on April 14th, and with Emma Joy having her birthday a month later she got celebrated as well. Our kids sure didn’t lack attention for their big days. =)

Grandpa and Great Grammy came to help celebrate Calem and Emma Joy!

Then Nana (Grandma) arrived with cakes...

...and cake overload, but what fun cakes she had made for the kids!

…oh, and yes (!) Mikayla started walking this month! =)

MAY:

We celebrated Emma Joy's 3rd birthday and the last day of preschool together at a fun bouncy castle place. What a fun celebration for a little girl!

Then we turned right around and started getting ready for our trip to Norway. Suitcases sure are fun to play in! Daniel had his finals at school, and 5 days later we were flying across the Atlantic!

We love morfar (grandpa) and the tasty Norwegian waffles. M-m-m!

JUNE:

Beautiful Norway!

As Daniel and I got ready for our trip to Norway this spring a very strange and powerful homesickness for Norway filled us both. This has never happened before in all our travels to and from Norway, and we decided we’d better pray and ask God if this was His doing. As we were praying with some friends both us and them got clear direction from God about us moving back to Norway, timing being sometime spring 2012. WOW! This is definitely something we had not anticipated!

As I (Signy) was enjoying this beatuy one night (yes, this is summer night in Norway) God spoke clearly to me and challenged me to lift my eyes to Him and look at Him for who He is, not for what He can do for me. That became the end of a long journey of dealing with almost constant anxiety as it showed me the path to freedom! Read more about all of this in previous blogs if you wish.

Calem with a real life reindeer! That's exciting for a 5 year old!

Calem on his very first row-boat experience! We love having uncles and aunts that can take us on fun outings!

JUNE/JULY:

While mamma and the kids enjoyed the Norwegian summer with family, pappa and a bunch of university students from the States made their way to Kosovo to help a village of about 800 people get safe water.

One of the "before" drinking sources in the village - full of contaminated water.

Daniel and the crew working on a new and safe water source. It's hard work, both with the actual hands on part and the fund raising part that takes place beforehand, but oh how rewarding when people's lives can be changed!

Hehe. =) Daniel checking out the storage tank they built to hold water for the 3 months their wells run dry.

Daniel and part of the crew inside one of the water tanks they were building together with the locals.

JULY:

The family gathered back in Norway, this time visiting Signy's sister in Bergen. "Roadtripping" was the word for the summer, and we got to spend time with so many of our close friends there. Some we hadn't seen since our wedding! Priceless to be able to connect again!

Trying to get a decent photo of our kids together, but that's not easy as I'm sure most of you with multiple kids already know. =)

The kids enjoying the summer temperatures (meaning freezing water) at the lake where mamma grew up. Isn't it just gorgeous?!

AUGUST:

I (Signy) got my very first night away alone since the kids were born almost 5 1/2 years ago! The 2nd night of my school reunion Daniel came to join me for our very first night away together for equally as long a time. Way overdue vacation! =)

On our way home from Norway we had a one week stop in Pennsylvania. Our friends, the Rissler family, invited us to come help out at a Discipleship weekend at their church. We absolutely loved our time there, and honestly I think they just used the weekend at the church as an excuse to get us out there so they could spoil us with some vacation time! They arranged for us to spend time with an Amish family, something Signy Margrete had secretly been hoping would happen in her lifetime, and they took us to Valley Forge to learn more of the American history, of course on top of much fun time with our friends whom we haven’t seen since the Discipleship Training School we lead back in 2006.

Mikayla checking out the Amish rides.

George Washington's room at Valley Forge.

This is what it looks like when a family of 5 lives out of the suitcase for 3 months.

Back in Colorado we started the new phase of our lives – educating our kids! God spoke clearly to Signy Margrete about keeping the kids home this year and strengthening their foundation in Him. He also promised her that He would take care of the academics, and He’s definitely kept His promise. Calem is doing math from 1st grade work books, and is starting to read. All with minimal effort from mamma’s side. He is very quick at learning, and remembers things like no other. It’s been a joy to be on this journey, but also humbling as I recognize how much work a parent take on when they choose to home school their kids! Phew!

Emma Joy - so proud to be big enough to start school!

Calem - so excited!

SEPTEMBER:

At the end of August Grammy (Daniel’s grandma) announced that she would be moving to Alaska to be close to her oldest son, thus we spent the next month and a half driving back and forth between her place and ours to help with what we could and to spend as much time as possible with her while we still had a chance. The drive is over 5 hours, not counting the numerous breaks needed with kids, but by the end the kids had gotten quite professional at long distance survival in the backseat of a van. =) A plus about spending so much time on the Western Slope is that we finally got Mikayla dedicated at our friends’ church over that way.

Mikayla's dedication Sept 5th! Pastor Dave and Marilyn have now dedicated all three of our children =)

September 10th, Daniel and I sat down and prayed about where in Norway God wanted us to settle. The answer was very clear; Trondheim. It was so clear in fact that we both realized that there had to be a very specific reason for God to want us to be there, something more than running our part of Water For Life from there. Thus we started asking God about this. 12 days later we got THE BOMB, right in our email inbox; Our pastor from Trondheim Vineyard asked us to start praying about becoming the senior pastors of the church as he was moving on to do another church plant. SERIOUSLY?!! The church members are praying over this with us at present time, but thoughts that have been going through our minds a lot the reminder of this fall have been ‘CRAZY’ and ‘INSANE!’ =)

Calem also started his running career this month. He has run 3 one mile races this fall, his very first one ticking in at 8 min 32 sec. His good friend Jade also runs the races, and they do their best to beat each other. =)

We got our very first pet! Not sure how excited we are really, but it was a neccecary distraction to try to get Calem to forget about wanting a dog. Dogs and our lifestyle do not go well together! Neither does a fish for that matter, but it's easier to pawn off on some friend when we go traveling. This poor dude has been transferred so many times over the last few months I'm afraid he's going to have a heart attack one of these days. =(

OCTOBER:

Seeing Grammy (Great Grandma) one last time before she moves to Alaska. (Her brother, Uncle Marv, in the background)

Then life returned to normal for a while (whatever ‘normal’ means). Daniel busy studying, Signy Margrete and the kids doing school, play dates, leading a small group of women at a church bible study etc.

Emma posing for the camera...

...Mikayla attempting to do the same.

Our three little treasures! Aren't they cute?!

NOVEMBER:

Fall is here, and we've been raking leaves! Mikayla is a little unsure about getting thrown in the leaves with the other two. =)

The kindergarten/pre-K group at church that mamma has been volunteering at this fall. Calem is the tallest guy (blue shirt) in the middle of the photo. =)

DECEMBER:

As we were heading into Advent this year it was becoming more and more apparent to us how God has put a lot of people in our lives this fall that are struggling financially and/or are in a difficult situation somehow. Christmas this year has gotten a new focus as we’ve spent much of our time and resources on helping people in need in various ways God has shown us, and we eventually ended up hosting a family of 4 in our little 2 bedroom apartment while they were hunting for a new home. It was tight quarters, but we’re used to it from all of our travels, and what a joy it was to be able to help a family that was in a desperate situation.

This has been a year of so many blessings. We are very excited about the fun things God is letting us be part of, and the many blessings given to us by friends around the world. We love you! We thank God for you! You are a joy to us, and we can’t wait to see each one of you again! Thank you for sharing this God-journey with us!

Much love (and some silliness) form us to you! We love you!

]]> http://thehefleys.com/2010/12/a-year-in-review-2010/feed/ 5 http://thehefleys.com/2010/12/pepperkaker-by-far-the-most-popular-norwegain-christmas-cookie/ http://thehefleys.com/2010/12/pepperkaker-by-far-the-most-popular-norwegain-christmas-cookie/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:28:38 +0000 signy margrete http://thehefleys.com/?p=483 Pepperkaker is a gingerbread kind of cookie, but not quite like the American version. It’s a little spicier and crisper then what most Americans associate with gingerbread cookies. I was just asked what recipe I used to make mine this year, so here it is. I found this on someone’s blog (I hope they won’t hold a grudge for me copying them), and I loved this recipe! I hope you will too!

Pepperkaker (Norwegian Christmas Cookies)

NB: This recipe is very large and is enough for a huge pile of cookies as well as a couple of houses so I suggest you reduce it to half the first time you try it.

Yum!

Ingredients:

• 500 g (17.6 oz) butter
• 3 dl (1.26 cups) fancy molasses
• 6 dl (2.5 cups) white sugar
• 3 dl (1.26 cups) whipping cream
• 20 dl (8.45 cups) white / all purpose flour (you’ll probably need a lot more – see below)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 5 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp baking powder (not baking soda)

PS! I don’t use fancy molasses, but a special syrup I bring from Norway. I hope they will taste the same with the fancy molasses (I’ve never seen fancy molasses, so I have no idea what it is. hehe). You also don’t have to use cardamom or cloves. I’ve seen plenty of recipes without these ingredients, but the cookies sure get extra good if you have a chance at using these.

In Norway we have this tradition of making pepperkake houses sometime during Advent. I have no idea where the tradition stems from, but it's fun non the less. My family always break the house and eat it on New Years eve.

Making the dough:

Mix butter, molasses and sugar in a heated pan until sugar is melted. Be careful because the mixture will be very hot and if you get it on your skin it will burn like nothing you have ever felt before! When everything is melted, mix in the whipping cream. The different ingredients do not mix well and will constantly separate. That’s normal.

While the mixture is still hot, take about 5 dl of the flour and mix in all the spices and the baking powder. This will ensure that the spices are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Mix in the flour bit by bit to ensure that the dough gets an even consistency. As you add in more flour it will get really tough so if you have one of those kitchen machines with a kneading arm I suggest you use it instead of wearing yourself out.

The dough is finished when it has a light brown color and a slightly sticky consistency. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and put it in the fridge over night.

Making the cookies:

When the dough is well rested, you are ready to make the actual cookies. You could either make the cookies directly on a sheet of unwaxed parchment paper or another non-stick surface, or use a little flour on a slick surface and roll the dough there. The ‘pepperkaker’ are very sticky and can be a little tricky to get off your baking surface onto the cookie sheet, so the parchment paper route might be a good way to go at least the first time you try baking these cookies. You then just roll it right onto the sheet and cut the cookies there. Anyways, cut out a  fist sized piece dough, place it on your baking surface, roll the dough out till it is about 1 – 2 millimeters thick and cut out shapes with standard cookie cutters. Pepperkaker are actually better the thinner they are so try to avoid making them as thick as regular ginger bread. They also don’t rise in the oven which helps.

Place the tray in the middle of your oven and cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When the cookies come out of the oven they will still be a bit soft so take them off the tray and let them rest on a cooling rack for a while before putting them away or eating them.

A note on flour

The flour is different depending on what continent you are on. In Norway this recipe works fine with 20 dl of white flour, but in the States nearly 30 dl of all purpose flour was needed to get the same consistency. Unfortunately this means you have to experiment. I think you’ll be safe with about 25 dl but that might also be way off.

That’s it! Good luck and don’t eat too many cookies all at once!

FOR THOSE OF YOU DOING MY ADVENT CALENDER:

Ok, this will be a little note that only those with my advent calender will understand fully. Below is a photo for you to see what I described in the calender. You make the icing easily by mixing powdered sugar with a tiny bit of water. Enjoy!

Heart shaped pepperkaker to hang in your window to remind us of God's love for us - the reson we celebrate Christmas.