And the generations continue….
November 6, 2014 
Our children are our heart, our center. Yes. But then if any of them should give us grandchildren? Ah, then our heart grows bigger again to hold these little ones. We can only shake our head at the wonder of grandchildren. Who will this tiny person be? What will they do? What will they see and hear and feel? It won’t all be fun, it won’t all be perfect, but they have a Father in heaven who loves them and gives them a guardian angel to watch over them just like he did with children hundreds of years ago. We cannot follow them, we cannot protect them forever. That’s why we have a Father who will never leave them. Never. Ever. No one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. May they listen for His voice, their Good Shepherd, and follow Him all the days of their lives, and find His purpose for them, for in His book was recorded every day He had planned for them before even a single day had passed. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This is the legacy we pass on to our children, and now our grandchildren, and their children after them. Jesus loves me [insert your name here], this i know.
Religious, you say? No, not at all! Just Jesus. “Let the little children come to Me, and don’t forbid them.”
If you want to check it out for yourself, here are the references: Psalm 91:11; Isaiah 43: 5, 10-12, 13; Gospel of John 10:27-28; Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 29:11; Jeremiah 31:3; Romans 8:38-39; Mark 10:14-16
“heart” in Hebrew is “LeB” or lev, meaning the center of anything. This is where our Savior lives, in our center. Jesus stands at the door of your heart. Open the door and ask Him in, all the way in. He is bringing the gift of forgiveness and life. It’s all there. It’s all true. Find out for yourself.
With love, Nana
Gnomes, Gnomes, and more Gnomes!
“To my amazement I have heard that there are people who have never seen a gnome. I can’t help pitying these people. I am certain there must be something wrong with their eyesight.”
-Axel Munthe, from GNOMES, by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen
Gnomes are at once sweet, fierce, funny, stern, kind, tricky, and mostly old.
They are intelligent and compassionate caretakers of animals. They understand that God’s creatures are often the preferred companion over humans. Why is not hard to surmise. Sad, but true. We could learn alot from a gnome. They’re certainly not perfect, though, oh no! But, many being Norwegian, think very highly of themselves. A stubborn lot, they are! Or so I’ve heard. And may i say, stubborn is a rather positive trait, when owned by a good heart.
Gnomes need further study……Thinking this will be a series. Come back for Mini-Chapter 1, this being merely the Introduction, hehehehe. Owing to my personal tendencies, this will probably be kind of a picture book thing. See you along the way! Feel welcome to share your own Gnome stories.
Shelley Vikingsdtr
Odin of Asgard
This is a depiction of Odin of Asgard, here called Odin the Wanderer, disguised as a traveller.
Ok, so, here is a tale of my ancestry searchings…..I was gifted with names and dates back to the 1200’s by distant cousins in Norway, who i found 15 or so years ago on a research message board. They gave me their source info with each name and date. I was thrilled! Now, 15 or more years later i have come back to search some more on Ancestry dot com, and found all these little leaves when i entered my info. These mostly connected with other family trees, (some of which do not line up with your info, and some of which do). I followed the trail of the ones that lined up, which gave another bit of info and led me on, and on, and on…….. Not only did the line go thru several Viking Kings, but kept going, on and on, to, guess where? Odin of Asgard! Is this the vanity of Norwegians, these crazy Norwegians, to claim all their heritage stems from none other than Odin? I am thrilled, and honored (hehe), certainly….. yet…….
I remember my grandfather and grandmother, both 100% Norwegian, my grandmother always so gentle and sweet, and grandfather always so stubborn and certain! Daddy Dok was never sick, always right, and couldn’t carry a tune. Nanny was always sweet, never cranky, and musically gifted. I loved them so much. If i told them we were related to Odin, Daddy Dok would probably say “Ja, sure!” Nanny would probably giggle.
So, onward, with my month-at-a-time subscription, hunting for ancestry. Who were they? How did they live? What were their days like? I suppose i could keep reading the Sagas, which give us a picture of those days…
Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) wrote, “A man called Halldor, the son of Brynjolf Camel the Old, was a shrewd man and a great chieftain. This is what he said when he heard people saying how unlike one another the two brothers, St Olaf and King Harald (my ancestor, if all is correct…), had been: ‘I was held in high regard by both brothers, and so I knew their natures very well; and I have never known any two men so much alike. They were both highly intelligent and extremely brave in battle, hungry for wealth and power, imperious and haughty, able rulers, and ruthless in punishment. King Olaf forced the people to adopt Christianity and the true faith, and cruelly punished those who were slow to obey him. The chieftains would not endure his just and rightful rule and raised an army against him, and killed him in his own kingdom, For that reason he was made a saint.
‘King Harald,’ [my 30th great grandfather???] ‘however, went to war for fame and power, and he forced everyone he could into submission; and so he was killed in another king’s land.
‘Both brothers were considerate and generous in their everyday manner. They travelled widely, and were men of great enterprise. And all this made them outstanding and famous far and wide.'” (King Harald’s Saga, Snorri Sturluson. 100. A Comparison.)
Hmmmmm…..goes right back to “Religion, Politics, and Child Raising.” Needs more thought, eh?
UFF DA!
-shelley
Religion-Politics-Child Raising…Oh My!
Here’s a beautiful old Norwegian stave church building.
Their beliefs were not exactly like mine. Their children were not raised like mine. (See the book series, Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset. My copies are translated by Tiina Nunnally. wonderful.) And politics? Well, look at the Icelandic Sagas (Njal’s Saga, for instance) to see how they lived and served, both rulers and the ruled, way back “then”.
Was it much the same as it is today, a balance of one end to the other, good and bad, happy and sad? Probably. Perhaps there wasn’t as much fighting and arguing over these issues, though. Maybe they worked so hard, they didn’t have time to argue over issues. Actually, in Njal’s Saga, they seemed to just kill the ones they disagreed with, hah! Not much discussion there…..
Frankly, i am weary of arguments and disagreements. At least with knitting, there’s no wrong way. There’s a pattern and a yarn for everyone. No one cares what you knit with or how you do it or what you knit. They’re too taken up with their own knitting. You can even crochet if you want to, and i’ll just knit away.
Elizabeth Zimmerman, who would be over 100 if she were alive today, knit her way through WWII in war-torn England, and said, “Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crisis.”
So, i choose to leave the arguments to others, and instead choose to knit. I choose to think about my grandson, who is being raised by my son and daughter in law however they choose to raise him, and plot how i will spoil him. I choose to vote or not vote by my own conscience, not yours. Frankly, i don’t care about your vote, either. And i choose to love the Lord with all my heart, and love others, best i can.
That’s all folks! Look to hear your thoughts and ideas. Currently, i am knitting kilt hose for my 24yo son, who loves his kilts. Pattern here:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf10/PATTkilravock.php
Happy Day to you!
Shelley
Handed down fro…
Squire's Pure Leaf Lard. Makes tempting pastry. Has no substitutes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Handed down from Norway, my grandmother’s handwritten recipe for:
BLOD KLUB (yum)
3 qts blood
1 c. syrup and 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. (tsp.?) each salt, cinnamon, allspice
1 1/2 c. raw rice (boil)
flour these: leaf lard and raisins
1 1/2 graham flour (white flour) till quite thick, like waffle batter.
Sew in socks and steam in tall cans about 3 hours, grease cans well.
Take out soon as done.
Serve hot.
Thinking about …
Norwegian boreal forest in early winter. At some 350 meter (1100 ft) above sea level in the hills near Trondheim (Norway) the spruce trees are slim and grows in a spike shape, common in taiga forest. Norsk (bokmål)â¬: Norsk boreal granskog ca 350 meter over havet i Trondheim kommune. Trærne har en slank og spiss form. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Thinking about trees the other day…..riding down the freeway to see Grandmama, looking at all the trees on the sides. Wondering, could some of these trees be really old? Trees can get really, really old. Some were right where they are now before we were around. Old, really, really old. So, what did they see? Perhaps that sounds corny……but have you read the book The Education of Little Tree? I loved Grampa. He knew trees, he listened to them.
I see that trees have much significance, more when we give it thought. Thinking about trees leads to what they give us, beauty, shade, homes, warmth; what they represent, life, death, family generations; what they inspire, stories, poems, paintings. Ahhhh, trees!
So now, i turn my thoughts to the trees in the mountains where my ancestors lived and died. I feel trees are a connection to them, to all life. God says about those who believe Him that “they are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” What an honor, to be compared to a tree!
So, what do you think?
Who am I?
Norway - Stavkirke (Photo credit: PetitPlat - Stephanie Kilgast)
Who am i?
I am a Christian.
I am an American.
I am of Norwegian descent on my mom’s side,
Scot and Irish descent on my dad’s.
I love Norway and all things Norwegian, except Lutefisk.
I am a Knitter.
I am a mother, wife, sister, niece and friend.
i bake things.
i love to read, mostly historical fiction.
I am looking for Norway, her history, her stories, and her people who were my ancestors.
I hope to find more than their names, of which i have many, thanks to kind distant cousins in Norway, who traced names back to the 1200’s and so generously shared them with me. Mange Tak to them!!!
Who were these ancestors of mine? What were their hopes and dreams? What were their days like? Their homes? Their work? Their games?
And did they knit?
searchingfornorway 