Happy New Year from Bergen!!

Hey, we beat you into 2005 (if you are in UK that is) by one hour.
We spent the evening eating turkey (hurray) and playing games at the Erlandsen house, then out onto the balcony just before midnight for the most concentrated firework display I have ever seen - only allowed to set them off at New Year, and on no other day.

We wish you a fantastic 2005, the very best yet. May God bless you.

Love Nick, Silje & Eden

Small girl walking

Wahey! Eden has taken her first steps today at the age of 11 months & 11 days. She has been close for a while, but always sitting down or grabbing a chair instead of walking, but today she walked to daddy from a table, taking 2 steps, and has since taken 4 in one go!!

As you can tell, we are quite excited about this! We have a great photo which we'll show tomorrow hopefully. That's all. Good night.

Proof of our White Christmas

Proper happy Christmas to all in UK celebrating the 25th! As promised, I`ve made a little collage of some of our snowy pictures for the Howes family & Boden family back home. I hear its sunny in London, but snowy up north.

Here we had about 8 inches fall from Thursday midnight until 8pm yesterday. We had great celebrations with the Erlandsen family - fantastic pinochet (salty lamb), cream porridge (with the hidden almond - like the sixpence in the Christmas Pudding), and present opening. No singing round the tree yet cos it got too late and the kids were sleeping, so we'll do that today. Anyway, those pics....




Lots of love from,
Silje, Nick, Eden, Dave, Leah, Nyah & Joel.

No more dreaming... its here!

We woke up this morning in Bergen to about 2 inches of glorious snow. We arrived on Monday to snow but since then its just rained... and rained... and rained... but now the snow is back.

If youre in England, you are thinking "its not Christmas yet", but it is in Norway! Celebrations on the 24th.

Have a "god Jul".
From the Howes family.

Winter wonderland

Wow, what an arrival in Bergen! We got off the plane around 2.30 in the afternoon to a beautiful snow-covered landscape... and it got better later on. Around 11pm we noticed it was snowing outside, not British snowing, but really heavy - it was amazing. We just had to go out and enjoy it. So awesome, so inspiring... thank you Jesus for treating us to this fantastic show!

We climbed a nearby hill with our bin liners and had a good time attempting to sledge down in pairs. Some great pics to show when we get back, for now here is a sample...




We will write some more later in our holidays. Meanwhile, lots of love to you all... and dont be too jealous... its been raining today, though we are still expecting a white Christmas.

early family Christmas...

ha ha, to all of you that have to wait to open any presents for another week! Because we are off to Norway on Monday, we had the Howes side of the family (Mum, Moira & Neal, Toby & Elliot) up yesterday and did a mini-Christmas which was really fun.

Eden loves her new rocking chair.

It's been a busy few days - yesterday was also my 30th birthday, so I've crossed over to the other side...and so far coping with it all right... it's just that i feel somehow...wiser, more mature, less concerned with external things of fashion, image and the like, possessing and deeper inner concern for the things of the soul & the spiritual issues of life.

Funny how so much can change in a day, right?

The Howes family at 'Together' leaders conference...

Silje, Eden & me have been having lots of fun this week at the church leaders gathering at Nettle Hill. Silje & me have been taking it in turns to go into the sessions whilst the other stays in my office which has doubled as creche!

Teaching this week has been Jim Thwaites - author of some key books on the nature of the church (Church beyond the congregation; Renegotiating the church contract), as well as Gareth Duffty, Tony Wastall & Ian Rossol. A good time of encouragement and learning new stuff... plus some really good lunches and fun with friends.

In the creche...(Office?!) the most fun discovery has been swinging Eden round on my big black chair, which she loves...