DEDICATING THIS YEAR TO THE MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHER STANLEY H. CROW &
THE ENDURING SPIRIT OF MY GRANDFATHER
FREDERICK O. LANPHEAR

To Be of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
~ Marge Piercy ~


Sunday, November 28, 2010

Christmas is FAST approaching!






It has been awhile my dear ones! So..... Basically, the year is going at a pace I cannot keep up with, and to be honest it is rather scary! I am having such a rich and wonderful experience that it is hard to slow down at moments to catch a breath. I have been very busy with multiple activities, socializing with friends, learning norwegian, and trying my hardest in school and playing two sports. It is alot, but if you know me, I like to keep moving and don't really like having to much sit down time (or else i get antsy and start squirming).

Ah! Ok so, if you know... I love Ultimate Frisbee, and it has really been hard to separate my self from it this year. But in fact I do not have to do that! I have managed to find a group a kids (who already happened to be good friends) and got them excited and into the sport. At the moment they are all working on their throwing and catching abilities, but every single one of them are incredibly talented and are learning the throws extremely quickly! We are also in the process of finding a hall to rent out, because it is too cold to play out side... It has been so exciting for me to get to share my love of the game with people I really like spending time with. SO HURRAY!! :D

An update on the language. The progress is really starting to pick up, just in the past week I feel that I have really grasped ahold of alot more. I am pretty sure, and I think my norwegian Fam will agree with me on this, but it is because I am stepping up and getting past my fear and embarrassment of trying to speak it rather then just listening and thinking that I will learn it that way. I speak primarily in norwegian on Facebook now, with a few exceptions here and there. My norwegian friends and to die for! They are soooooooo supportive of me learning the language, and they work me through the challenging steps, speak only to me in norwegian and give me helpful feedback when I make a mistake. They are also always complimenting me, which is of course always nice. I have been sitting down with sisters Sunniva and Stine quite often in the evenings, and we have been working one on one or two on one with learning sentences and words I do not know. They give me a sentence in English and I have to repeat it in norwegian, and then they correct whatever it is that needs correcting. Sunniva has also started a list of words I need work on (one mistake and another word is up there!) It is getting long Sunniva :( haha, but no all of it has been extremely helpful! Thanks Ya'll!!

Christmas is fast approaching, and I am starting to get really excited for all the things that surround Christmas here! Family all around, suiting up, going to Christmas parties, and most of all the delicious food!! :D

Well I need to leave you now, I am headed out in the cold for a fun filled adventurous day! :D Hope you all are having fun, enjoying life and are keepin' it real! Love to all! I am putting some pictures up, the last three are from my extremely powerful experience with spreading Stan's ashes, and two are of the beautiful sky here.

P.S. I will be writing my blog in both norwegian and English from now on. (attempting to write in norwegian) :D
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3 comments:

  1. Nina RhysNovember 28, 2010 at 9:01 AM

    Beautiful post sweet boy. I'm so incredibly proud of you. I'm so grateful to your Norwegian family for allowing you to pursue the things you love. Where did you get a frisbee from? How exciting that you are now in the teaching role. You would make an excellent teacher of anything that you are passionate about.

    Daddy is getting together your package with the things you requested. Hopefully it won't take too long to get to you.

    I love you so much,
    Momma

    ReplyDelete
  2. KaliNovember 28, 2010 at 1:24 PM

    Yeay! Im so happy youre learning the language! Can't wait to see you writing in Norwegian too:)
    Love ya!

    ReplyDelete
  3. KanikaAugust 9, 2011 at 1:55 AM

    Norway is such a cool place- for this session I am too learning the language!
    Hope to read your next blog in Norwegian :)

    ReplyDelete

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