ElastiGirls

I don't think many of you know this. We've sort of kept in on the down low in this family to protect the privacy of my sisters but I've decided to let it out. When the screenplay was written for The Incredibles my two sisters, Kyrie and Chalice, were the inspiration for Elasti Girl. It's true. The director of the film met them many years ago and as they interacted Kyrie and Chalice started throwing kicks and dancing around like they normally do, and this character shot into his mind. He came up with Elasti Girl. So basically I have the two real life elasti girls as my sisters and it's humbling to say the least. A couple days ago when we were hanging out in the kitchen eating chips and avocado they were being their flexible selves, throwing their leg up to the top of the fridge and resting it there or against the doorway compleatly vertical from floor to cealing. I asked Chalice to teach me since she's a dancer and knows how to teach. So I started stretching and then gave it a try... slow and steady. I went slow but not very steady... check out the pictures to see how far I got. Maybe one day I'll be an elastigirl like Kyrie and Chalice... for now though, their entertainment is quite enough.

and now it's my turn

and that's as flexible as she gets...



past pictures of ElastiKyrie and ElastiChalice:





yeah. they're sort of amazing.

the strange glory of ordinary things

I like John Piper. He likes Clyde Kilby, an old English professor of his at Wheaton College. One reason it's been nice to be home from Norway is that every morning I get to steal Kyrie's "Taste and See" book again. I could read this book all day. I begged my little sister to let me take it with me but she wouldn't agree, no matter how much I pouted. I'm glad to be back with this diamond of a book that has daily readings, much like a devotional. Yesterday Piper gave a list of resolutions from Dr. Kilby about "drinking up the remedies of God in nature". Piper describes Kilby as a man with a "pastoral heart and a poet's eye." <---(i love this combination)I know you're going to be tempted to go check your email right now or instead click another blogger link to see whose posted new pictures because image can be more satisfying then words at times, but please read these... it will refresh your outlook, I promise, and remind you to stop... and look at the strange glory of ordinary things... from Dr. Clyde Kilby:

...At least once every day I shall look steadily up to the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

...I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

...I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are.

...Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic...but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the architect who calls himself alpha and omega.

here's some of my sister's photographs, where Brae has seen the strange glory in ordinary things. be inspired.

lettuce

trashcans

pay-phone

a leaf

twinkle lights

a living room

mother&child

now click "comment" and tell me if you feel refreshed. okay?

rewind

I went to The Pulpit Rock. All the way to the top. Signe and I hiked almost two hours up rocky slopes, down steep ones; we hiked along cliffs and through freezing streams, along wooden bridges and across open spaces of stone slabs. It didn't get old. We passed people from Germany, Poland, Holland, and America.

Twice we thought we'd made it but realized it was just over that cliff or just beyond this stream. We kept going without disappointment, taking in the mountain's air and the sky's blue color. But then Signe pointed --- it was there! It was that cliff, the one the tourists call "The Pulpit Rock".

My words are feeble as I try to think back. Standing there, on the top of the world, I could say nothing to Signe. My head shook back and forth in wonder and I think I kept laughing. I felt tiny. So tiny. Even insignificant. Literally, it was unbelievable (un•be•liev•a•ble – adjective, 1. too dubious or improbable to be believed.)

I walked to the edge immediately and sitting down I tried to wrap my mind around it. I tried to wrap my camera around it too. I try now to wrap my words around it but I don't think I can. I sort of grasped it with my eyes but then a boat, way down in the fjord, would sail past and the size of it was as small as the period at the end of this sentence. I didn't understand. I thought I had my eyes around it but then a bird flew across the sky but it wasn't above me or even closely below me. It was so far down as it spread its wings and dissapeared into the trees. I was higher then the bird. I threw my apple core off the edge in one more attempt to understand the height from where I sat. But it disappeared before crashing to its death. I held the camera to my eye to "grasp" the moment but something was lost. The camera couldn't even understand it. (I know my yearbook camera would have understood... I miss my baby)

I went though and I saw it. My God is an amazing artist. It was a sight I may not understand but now, millions of miles away, its magic is trapped in my memory.

many more on my flickr.

sunshine girl

to all who are lonely, sad or depressed ---- this post is for you. Just look at this face, the most precious ever, and you will be sad no longer.

i love you bethanscree!!!

home&happy

Yesterday I traveled for 23 hours and got in to Baltimore at 8pm (2am norway time!) and saw two of my favorite smiling faces. my papa and kyrkyr! It was wonderful and they even had food waiting in the car! ...

Mom's homemade apple muffins and my very favorite; wheat thins.

I woke up this morning at 4 and decided to just get up at 5... I couldn't sleep. I walked downstairs and wispered "outside...outside" and Jember soon appeared. I slipped on a pair of Pax's shorts and Chalice's shoes and we were off. I speant my first morning with Jember down by the water and we really got to catch up... I told her a little about Norway while she kept obnoxiously darting off towards the squirrels and rabbits. She reminded me how she still likes to lead and how much she detests the water and rocks no matter how often I take her. We brushed up on some commands, "Jump!", "Stay" and "STOP pulling!". I tried to get her to walk along the rocks but she never will without me pulling her real hard. She tried to get me to take her down the road that leads to Mrs. Lisa's but in the end we decided to just sit on the rocks and watch the ducks swim past.

It was a memorable morning to say the least. I really love my dog.

bouncin' back

The next time I blog i'll be back in the

motherland with my sisters.

he loves and then we can too.

Okay I just figured out I don’t know how to cook. The test is when you have few ingredients or just the basic ones and from there if you can make something tasty and not stomach-hurting then you can cook. I didn’t have many ingredients. Some eggs were in the fridge, butter, half a bag of noodles in the cupboard and some powder mixes in the drawer under the sink. I should have just gone with the eggs. They rarely let you down. But I decided on the noodles and instead of just being content to put butter and salt on them, I had to use one of the powder mixes. That would have been fine at home but here the (basic) directions are in Norwegian so I have to guess on what to do. Mom never reads the directions though and her stuff is always amazing so I figured I could wing it too. Well, I couldn’t. You must have needed milk for this powder or something cause water and butter just did NOT work. Man… my stomach hurts now and I only had 3 bites of whatever it was I made.. ugh.

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to a girl I didn’t even know very well but I think I’ll miss her in this strange sort of way. Her name is Tourne and she lives about an hour away so we only saw her a few times. She works as a hair dresser in the city of Krisstiansand with her twin sister. I love how they work together and I really love watching them interact. They’re comfortable. Content. Honest. Happy. with each other… just the two of them. Even though they speak a language I do not understand I can tell because they listen, ask each others opinions when they’re doing a clients hair...they hang out after hours and have the same hair cut and color. You wouldn’t have the same hair cut, specially the same hair color if you weren’t good friends with your sister.

A couple weeks ago when Signe and I went to the salon, Tourne spoke with me in the parking lot afterwards. She seemed discontent and sad. She started telling me about it. She had met her best friend 7 years ago. She said they were perfect together. Always comfortable and always laughing. They could talk for hours and they could have talked for the rest of their lives. But Tourne was sad because her and her boyfriend had decided, after 7 years of friendship, to leave one another because “it just wasn’t right.” It wasn’t either one of their faults and nothing unfaithful or tragic had happened… only the realization that it wouldn't work. There was something about it she found too hard to explain but kept saying he was her best friend and somehow that wasn’t enough. They had gone 7 years though.

Listening to Tourne made me think. She thought she knew what she wanted and she thought she’d really found it or at least… she wanted to think she had. For 7 years. She loved this person but not enough. She didn’t really even know why either, only that it had to end. She was so sad. It's made me think and her words have stayed with me because I could tell she hurt and that she wished it wasn't this way… she was confused. The whole situation reminded me of a something I read before in Table Talk, an issue my dad had sent me when I was on the mercyship. Mark Dever, says about love; “We love, as John said here in chapter 4, verse 19, because God first loved us. If you don’t know or believe in that love, no other love in this life will finally make sense.” I don’t know if Tourne knows the father’s love but I do know that as I talked to her this one evening she was so confused why this love of her’s couldn’t make sense forever… I wanted to hug her or maybe just tell her of christ' love, a love that could give her peace and maybe have caused all this confusion in her life to settle or make a little more sense… But I didn’t.

That’s why I think I’ll miss her. Because I almost got to know her and I think I would have liked her. I wish I could have offered her more hope.

turn her up!

Before you push play, turn your speakers all the way up. This one deserves some volume. Signe and I got into Scissor Sisters in Liberia on the Mercyship and their new cd just came out and we've been shakin' it down to this one. Click here and enjoy!

his name is Larry.

The other morning I was driving to work, Mr. Mister sang,

"The wind blows hard against this mountainside
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road..."

It was timely.

The sun had been up for hours and already woken the trees. The lakes seemed to be winking at me the way the sun shimmered on them. I was pulling down the rear view mirror trying to put my last bits of makeup on. The "Kyrie Eleison.." part of the song played now. I always love that part.

I pulled into work only to have my quaint little drive shattered in embarrassment. I'm driving stick now. I'm in a constant state of stress and panic. Stopping is my worst nightmare and I avoid hills of all kinds, even bumps. They are so mean to me.

I pulled into my normal parking spot and sighed a breath of relief... then I looked up. Dang it!!! There was a trailer in the grass in front of me and they needed to get it, so I had to move. I had to put it in reverse in front of everyone. And I was on this huge hill! Actually it was this tiny little bump, but it's all the same with stick. I turned off the music so I could hear the car. I got it into reverse successfully and slowly rolled back. I shoved it into first and for some reason my little hands were shaking. Settle down, Sienna, just settle down, I said. But the hill didn't want to be my friend that morning. The car cut out. It wasn't too loud, maybe they'd hadn't noticed. I turned it back on and tried again, no go. It was out. I tried again... out. Oh gosh. "Listen to it, Sienna...just listen." At this point I was a little over zealous and pushed the gas way too hard. It screeched and jerked violently and cut out. Now the guys sitting on the picnic tables turned around and stared, smiles on their faces, soaking up the morning entertainment of the new girl they all knew had just learned stick. My boss even happened to come outside and walk past, with an annoying little grin on his face... "a little rusty" was all I muttered shyly. I closed my eyes and asked God to PLEASE help me. I turned the car on and the hill finally decided to be my friend. I got out of the car and pulled out my cell phone (that doesn’t work) and pretended to be talking to Signe. "Hey girl... yeah. I know... you got this though, you can do it... just go get some chocolate. We’ll rent a movie tonight, okay? love you too..."

I know I’m pathetic. But I couldn't walk alone past those smiling guys... man!

The rest of the morning, as I cleaned, I kept laughing about it.
It's actually pretty funny looking back.

At work I have a friend. His name is Larry. He came from Holland with his wife and he works as the plumber at Troll Mountain. He's the only plumber, I'm the only cleaner and the rest of the employees are rafting guides, so Larry and I sort of stick together. When I asked him why he moved to Norway he said because Holland is way too expensive and taxes are 60% or something. I asked him how he adapts so well with the language and all... He looked at me and said simply, "you just learn it." Hmm. I wondered why I hadn't thought of that.

Larry has been a real friend to me. I won't see him anymore because I had my last day of work on Friday and will soon be coming home. Larry can tell when I'm down because I don't hide it very well. One day I was cleaning a cabin in the very back of this resort and my supervisor, Kai, had given me no mercy all day. I could do no right and my spirits were depleting by the second. Larry showed up at the door. It surprised me because the cabins are far away from the rest of the place and Larry would have had to walk all that way, taking time from his work. "Don't let her get to you”, he said, “She does it to all the new ones. You're her b**** right now. I was too in the beginning but then you came, and I’m free. Stick up for yourself though and don't worry, okay?! It's not worth worrying about. It's not you, it's her. Just do your job well and worry only about that. You're doing a good job, by the way."

It was all I needed. He doesn’t know much English so it's hard for him to understand me all the time... So I said in as few words as I could. "Thank you... I really needed that. And I really appreciate your kindness." He nodded and then proceeded to tell me his entire Holland tale. It was a little stressful because I was supposed to be working and I was ready for Kai to pop out any second. But I just enjoyed his story and was happy for his friendship.

When Brae taught in China, written on a map in her bedroom were the words: "everyone just needs to be accepted." She kept this in mind when she taught her students and I witnessed how hugely she accepted each one of them and how aware she was of the importance in that. That's all I needed at Troll was to be accepted and told that I belonged.

Larry is a good man.

He accepted me and reminded me, through his friendship, to accept others. And I am grateful for that.

they're precious.

These are my neighbours, Adrian and Amelia. They're best friends and live next store to each other. Rumour has it they'll get married one day but I think they're just really good friends, content to follow each other around, scootering up and down the street, jumping on the trampoline with their sticky popsicle fingers, rambling Norwegian to one another, and stopping by on Saturday mornings to visit me. Amelia has this smile. It makes me laugh every time. While Adrian talks in words I try to understand, she just smiles so big and her eyes scrunch up and then she'll make some goofy face that I'm sure is unintentional. When I show her the picture I took of her, her eyes scrunch up even more and I wish Kyrie, Brae, or Chalice were here to see. Brae says children are like drunk people. I think this is true. They walk around completely liberated from the awareness of others and do and say the first thing that comes to mind. It's funny how we start out.

i get to go here!

I get to go here in 5 days (and stop by Ikea on the way!!!). Signe and I will take our 2nd road trip and this one will last a couple days since it's 4 hours away. Signe won't do it but I can't wait to lie on my stomach and look over the edge!

I will take pictures. don't you worry your little selves.

imagination & reality

today I had a short day at work. I got off around 11:30 and headed out in Signe's black Volkswagen. She taught me stick and I drive alone now.... it was sunny today. so sunny. Finally the heat poured in the window and after stopping at the paint store to meet Signe and pick out a color for her new apartment walls, I headed home to sit in the sun for an afternoon. I grabbed my book, a piece of pizza, ketchup, and my sunglasses. I was lying there, soaking in the sun, when I remembered that I hadn't walked the lane to the mailbox yet. I jumped up and ran half the way... a package from papa, the prettiest envelope and art work from annie, and one more thing that I almost missed because it was in between the newspåper and magazines... a letter from chelsey. I smiled so big.

there was this quote on the card...

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are."

-unknown

To me, this is exactly the point of travel. To walk around in other's shoes and try to understand, no matter how hard it may be, the details of their reality. It's like Atticus Finch said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” It's so easy to assume or imagine but it's something quite different to go and actually walk around. I'm grateful that I've been given this chance even though my imagination didn't expect the challenges. Reality is something good to be aquainted with. I'm really grateful the sun came out today too and that the mailman brought me letters from my dear ones with words that resonated so deeply.

“Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.”

-kerri russel

deciding what to do...

amusing myself.

brunettes are better.

change in all things is sweet.
-Aristotle

(more on my flickr)