This one is for my dear uncle Per...

Well.. when I talked to Nina yesterday, she mentioned that she had talked to her dad, which is my uncle, and that he was wondering what is happnening since I havent updated the blog since October 8th.. so.. uncle.. this blog is dedicated to you....

Oh well.. the days have gone by quickly, and we have already been engaged for three weeks. THere is soo much going on, and life is full in every area. College is big at the moment, with major assignment coming up. Internship and office is full on with lots of stuff preparing for our annual Christmas Production. WIth lots to do in churchlife and school and office, there is not much time left... But we are trying to live in the moment, and also really enjoy this last few weeks....

Friday morning Adrian and I are flying up to Brisbane. His granparents have bough us tickets to come up and spend a few days with family up there, since they wont be able to make it for our wedding in Norway. I am really excited to hang out with the Westbrooks, they are a crazy bunch of people that is for sure.....

Except from that we are preparing our engagement party which will be November 20th. I have to say I do miss mum a lot... and I would love to have her here at timees like this organising all kind of stuff for the partyl... Oh well... i guess I just have to do my very best

Oh well. full day tomorrow with assingments.. I need to get my head on my pillow
But Uncle Per.. I will see you very soon.. Ill be home Christmas Day.. Thanks for being sooo awesome.. You are auntie Tove is amazing!!

The BIG Adventure

Well, we are engaged! Guess that is enough information for the male readers of this blog.. but for you girls (and the boys that are into the details), here is the full story of our October 7th Adventure.

Well.. it has been a few busy weeks, and not much time for Adrian and i to hang out, so when he left me a note in the mail telling me he was taking me away for the day, I did not think in any shape or form about getting engaged. Ever since we got back from Norway, we have talked future, and obviously started making plans considering that we made the decision to move to Norway, but he has been telling me over and over again, that he is soooo annoyed that he is not in the financial position right now to buy a ring.. Well I have been trying to assure him that hey... it is not so important with that ring.. so anyways, my mind was totally shut off to the idea of him proposing on this day...

Well, he had given me a card with instructions, and 6:20am, I was ready to be picked up. He had borrowed a good friends nice car for the day, and we headed off towards the central coast where his parents live. As we got closer, he suddenly took off from the road, and we drove into an airport. One of his best mates from the coast, Matty is a pilot and imports smaller airplanes and sell them. Anyways, we met him, and he took us for an hours flight in a 4 seater..
Matty, Adriand and me

It was amazing, such a beautiful morning, and believe it or not: I FLEW THE AIRPLANE!!! It was scary, but sooo much fun!!

Well, after saying goodbye to Matt, we jumped in the car, and went straight to Adrians parents place where Mama Sue had breakfast ready, and we had a great hour with Adrians family. they are really awesome, and it had been a while since I had been at the coast, so that was really nice... Well.. Adrian then dropped me at a lady called Yvonne's house. She gave me 1 hour FULL BODY MASSAGE, and I have never felt so relaxed in my life. It was AMAZING!!

Adrian then picked me up, asked me to change into my swimmers, and we headed towards the beach. But it wasnt just any beach, we drove 40 minutes to get to Pearl Beach which was the beach where we had our VERY FIRST DATE!! Adrian had organised a picnic bag, and Mama Sue had cooked more food, and we had a lazy hour at the beach chillin and eating. Neither of us were really hungry, but we had soo much food. We didnt even touch a quarter of it..... He then gave me a little card with the next location, and next stop was Max Brenner. For those of you that have never heard about this, it is a cafe where everything they serve is chocolate. I LOVE CHOCOLATE! We have often talked about going there, but never been. So we went there and got waffles with strawberry and lots of melted chocoalte over... YUMMY!! it was delicious!!

Well, I thought that Adrian was not able to keep things a secret from me... but it turned out to be wrong.. He even got other people involced in "lying".. So one of the days we were sitting in the office, he showed me an email from Julie, she is the one overseeing all the singers at church. Adrian had already said no to sing in church this saturday because we were going away, but he thought that I started to know something, so he organised for Julie to email him saying that they really needed him to sing, so I now thought we had to be back at 4pm. Well... i thought he was telling the truth, why wouldnt I, so he suddenly said that Julie just called and that someone else could fill in for him.. Oh well.. i didnt think about it any more, but just said that that was perfect, cause it meant we could spend more time together. Gosh.. how could I be so naive... So we went back to his parents place, and had a shower and got dressed up in the nice clothes that we had brought. And he told me he had made reservations at our favourite cafe in Manly which is one of the most famous beaches in Sydney. We drove about 2 hours to get back down, and had a really nice dinner at Bluewater Cafe. It was full moon and the stars were out too, but it was really really windy. When we got out from the restaurant, he wanted to go for a walk, and me with my dress on was shaking as the wind was really cold. But he insisted that we went for a stroll along the beach, so with his suit jacket on, I was armed for the "enjoyable" walk. Finally he had to admit it was too cold, and we got in the car and drove up towards Northead (I think that is what it is called). THis is a viewpoint over the whole city, and we always drive up there when we are at Manly. He put on Kurt Nielsens "On my mind", which has been our song since he sang it to me on our Valentines Date in february. He made some random phone calls, but I still didnt think that he was up to anything. As we came to the parkinglot, I FINALLY understood as his guitar was the first thing I saw as we drove in. Big letters LOVE was on the ground, and flowers and candles. I just bursted out " CRAP", and held my hands in front of my face. Hehe.. Adriand had to ask me to get out of the car... sooo funny looking back.. oh well, so he placed me on the grass, while he sang me a song he wrote to me. It was absolutely stunning. If I cried? No, I actually didnt... not then, I was sooo overwhelmed that I didnt really do anything else than smile.... But as he asked me to stand up, I couldnt help it anymore... then he got down on one knee... and proposed IN NORWEGIAN!! GOSH!!! He is just the most thoughtful person in the world!! And he pulled out this gorgeous ring, that he designed and picked diamond for himself...and gosh, he did sooooo good! It was just the perfect ring for me!!

So what can I say... tears, joy and excitement all together! After a long day, we were suddenly engaged.... to be married.. scary but at the same time SOOO amazing!! I truly am blessed with an amazing man, and looking at all the details he has planned blows my mind....

(Thank you to Katie, Morten and Jamin that did all the practical stuff so that the actual proposal could take place.. it was amazing!!! Katie and Morten couldnt help but cry hiding in the bushes.....hehe)
Well.. what else can I say.. It was the perfect day with the best man I could ever imagine....
and one thing is for sure...

.....THE FUTURE AWAITS .....

WE ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More details and photos to come VERY SOON!!!!
We are happy and really excited!!!!

WE ARE MOVING TO NORWAY

WE ARE MOVING TO NORWAY!!!Well, the decision is made, and the flights are almost booked. Adrian and I are moving to Norway and Aalesund in January. HOW CRAZY!
It has been a process this past year that we haven’t talked too much about it, as we wanted to be sure that this was the right thing to do. But God has really been working on our hearts, and the passion for Norway and Europe is increasing, and the doors have opened for us in many ways. We are stoked that we now have made a decision; at the same time it is bittersweet as we are leaving family, friends and a fantastic church here that we love. But we do know that we are to be a part of building the Church in Norway and beyond, and HIS HOUSE.

Also.. for those of you that don’t know. WE HAVE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! When we were in Norway, all the paperwork was signed, and when we move to Norway, we have a brand new duplex house to move into. So please everyone, come visit. It is a 3-bedroom house, so we have a room reserved just for you. I’ll put out some photos soon, so you can have a little look.. it is amazing how blessed we are in every way, and how God is totally setting us up BIG TIME.
We are really excited about this next season, and to see what will take place in our city and nation. Adrian is continuing to learn Norwegian, and he is really excited about having his own garden and house to paint.. ha-ha…

Well.. Adrian will be working part time in my home church “Agapekirka”. And we will together take on the Worship and Creative Arts Team, and lead this, which will be really exciting! I will be working full time and the first few months Adrian will be doing Norwegian classes. So he will soon speak fluently.. so that is cool!

Oh well.. lots to share, Lots to do… we really want to finish this year and the season at Hillsong STRONG! So though we are excited to think about all the stuff we will be doing in Norway, we choose and want to really BE in the moment here, soak in everything we can and learn and glean from the leaders. WE are truly blessed here with great mentors and leaders that we are inspired and challenged by.

Oh well… Trust you are doing fantastic! Look forward to see you soon!

Road Trip

Monday was a public holiday (we all love those), and the 5 girls in our house took off for a road trip. We drove about 2 hours south past Wollongong, that doesn’t really mean anything for you maybe. But that is the only name I can remember. Don’t even remember the name of the beach we ended up at, but that is ok.. Well, one thing is sure, we had LOTS of food. Katie and I got up (a bit later than we had planned), but we organised food, food and more food and the back of Katie’s car was packed when we all got in there ready for a day out. With two Canadians, one American, one Latina and one Norwegian, it will be an adventure. Lots of noise, fun but definitely great quality time.
Well… as we drove on, we of course had to get a little lost, cause what is a road trip without getting lost.. a little bit tensed in the car for a few minutes, but Autumn ran up to the fire station and a really nice fire guy gave us clear direction, and it was ALL beautiful.
The beach was great! And we got our blankets out and the food and the drinks.. and we ate… put on sun lotion (that means I was the only one using it… ) and laid down. Five minutes later, the biggest sand storm was all over us, and we could hardly talk. Katie with her dark hair looked like she had a severe scalp problem, with sand everywhere! We didn’t last long there, so we packed our stuff and moved up to the park close to the beach and had 3 really lazy hours there, listening to music, talking and sleeping. SOOOOO GOOD!! Of course it involved water fights, rolling around in the grass, taking photos of each other while we were sleeping and all that fun stuff.
Well… After a great day we got in the car and turned our noses towards home… Traffic was BAD, so we shouted, sang and did all the crazy stuff that girls do on a road trip.. People must have thought we were going mad, but it was such a refreshing and great day with the girls!
We truly are blessed with a great house and great girls that have become like sisters..

Away and Thinking of Trine...

Sunday Night after Church I drove up to the Central Coast, because I got some part time work at my old workplace. So today and tomorrow I am up here selling things and making some money...
So I wanted to post this blog to say that I am thinking of you trine...and I love you soo much...

Adrian xxoo