Å leve fra Ånden...

“Grief changes shape, but it never ends.” Keanu Reeves said this in an interview in 2006.  I read it then and again today. His life was full of tragic events - his father abandoning him, his best friend (actor) River Phoenix dying of overdose, his daughter being stillborn in 8th month and then her mother dying in a car crash. Through these events he´s had a lot of chances to contemplate these profound words. A friend of mine in his late 30´s, who lost his Mom suddenly at the age of 18, told me: "It changes, but it never really gets better!" I´ve seen people and friends flipping out or totally closing up because of grief, for years and decades, and I´ve seen it used to bring up other issues and giving them a chance to deal with brokenness in their pasts and lives. And then we have the everyday-grief. Huh, is there an everyday-one too? I don´t know, but I think so. What about the smaller grieves we face daily or weekly - the painful memories we just can´t forget about...

It´s been two intense weeks here in Hawaii, and I´m finally getting some downtime to process these weeks. People coming and going, visits from Norway, preparing and then hosting our first conference, celebrating Easter and just a lot of "doing" and "going". Now it´s time to rest, and then get into my studies again.     My good friend Kayla (in the middle), one of my students in July´14 Awaken DTS that also went with me to Korea in January, was leaving us and Hawaii to go back to Canada for a while. It´s been hard to let her go, having been so close for a while, and not knowing when I´ll see her again. I guess the beauty and pain of this life, is the amazing people you meet that you become so close with, but then also so many of them coming and going in and out of your life. At times it´s heart wrenching, and it was when this lady left.     Right before my first conference I was given a "firkløver" - yes, with four of them! Is ...

  It´s been some hectic last weeks! Three countries in three weeks! This picture kind of sums up the mood of our trip to Korea. It was A LOT of laughter, and a lot of junk food and eating out, and just being together. Then we said our tearful good byes, which to one specific boy was really hard, and left - Alea and Kayla to Hawaii, and me for Norway! Coming home for just 12 days was kind of crazy! I was jet lag for a whole week to end, I had too many plans, and so many people I wanted to see, dentist and doctor appointment, meeting with professor for studies... On top of it I ended up getting a sick in the end.  But it was still great - got to be there for our big yearly church party and hang out a lot with family and some of my friends. Here at my sister Christina´s place with Cathrine, Ina and Kristin for a late night supper! I feel like more happened at home these six weeks away than my previous six months! New babies, people buying houses and movin...

Living life together with your friends is kind of amazing. It´s more than "doing things together", more than "working together" or "sharing", to me it means to have someone so close that they know the good and the bad, allowing them to see my weaknesses, someone I can call 3 a.m in the morning when I´m in trouble, and someone who keeps me accountable and tell me if I´m doing something wrong. It also means working together towards a common goal, and going through challenging times. I think it means sharing meals, sometimes sharing money, and car and beds or whatever is needed, and putting others above yourself. It is allowed to be an individual, but it´s seeking the good for everyone, the good for the community, and finding out how we can act collectively, not just as individuals. It means believing in someone greater than yourself, and to make life better for someone outside yourself. I´m so lucky to be living life like this with several peop...

Hi there! This is me now . I´m sitting here on my bed (read: floor) in my little room, preparing my next interview with Chinese orphans. I´ve already done 4, and it was amazing to hear the girls´ and boys´ stories, but also very emotional. So many things I take for granted, the most essential things in life, like being thankful for my mother yesterday on Norwegian Mother´s Day. What is more important and basic in life than having a Mom? I don´t know. I feel like I don´t ever want to complain again about petty little things when I know I have some of the most basic essential in life - a mother´s love. I don´t cry when I am here, and sometimes it feels like my emotions are shut off. Maybe it is so I can handle living here, with them , or to be able to have an objective view when I interview and write about them. But when they told me their stories of losing parents or long years of waiting without parents, I could feel tears filling my eyes, just seeing how vulnerable they are in som...

First a little history. From 1997 - 2000 I was in Korea 5 times, all together living there for about 7 months. It was my first time back to the country I was born in, and it changed my life. I always wondered if I´d feel at home coming back, it being my birth country and all, but I felt like such a stranger, and as much as a tourist as my fellow Americans and Norwegians that came with me (there were 80 of us, located in the north, with a main task - to pray for Korea. It was amazing, maybe the best time in my life). But all the same, feeling like a stranger, I also had a lot of other emotions filling my heart - love, respect, fascination, annoyance, shock, and the like. This time around is my 7th. After more than 14 years I came back here 12 days in September, and am now here for six weeks. Everyone that´s been here after 2010 has told me how changed Seoul has become since the 90´s. So I didn´t know what to expect these times around. But to me, it looks exactly the same . Very litt...