Shopping verdict

Yesterday my man and I took a spontaneous afternoon trip to a city called Kungsbacka. Why Kungsbacka you ask?? They have a mall :) By the time Samuel got off work and we took the hour drive... there as only one hour left to shop, but I didn't mind :) My American readers are going to think I'm insane for saying this... but I'm getting so bored with H&M! H&M in Sweden is like McD's in America.... it's on every corner - sometimes 2 or 3 in ONE mall! So I was ecstatic to see something new.... like Zara (a great store from Turkey) and Indiska ([my favorite] Indian store). Wasn't really planning on buying so much but then.... yes, I hit the jackpot! I got 2 skirts, 3 dresses and a sweater all for 260 ($41) Krona - and it should have cost almost 1500 ($240) Krona! Hallelujah for sales :) Samuel told the cashier when we were checking out, "I have a happy wife tonight!"...

...That's amazing for Scandinavia I must say. The cost of living and especially clothing is so much higher here.

For example ... Converse. You can buy a pair for $39.99 in the States and here in Sweden they cost at least $110! Same for jeans, coats, boots... so the verdict is... fly to America for your clothes!!! I miss good 'ol Gabriel Brothers. I love the hunt!

Amy

This post is dedicated to a true hero. A beautiful woman. An inspiration. An adventurer of life.

Amy

Amy's Blog

Amy and I come from the same church back in Youngstown Ohio. A few years ago I began to notice her at the front of the alter during worship. She was always the one closest to the stage. A true lover of Jesus. That was obvious to everyone.

Amy was diagnosed with cancer in June, 2007.

Many people followed her up-and-down battle with her terrible disease... but aside from her bald head, you may never have learned that something was wrong. She was so full of joy and life!

In the summer of 2009 Amy and her best friend Sherri backpacked through Europe! I wrote about that here. Their trip took place just before a massive stem-cell transplant was scheduled... when she got home though, the transplant was cancelled because she was doing so well! But a few months down the road, it was rescheduled...

She was pronounced cancer-free in October 2010! Since then, her body has struggled to produce new donor cells quickly enough to keep her healthy. She passed away yesterday surrounded by her family and loved ones.

I don't understand why diseases sometimes take away the people we love. I don't know why some have to fight so hard for the lives they've been given. I don't know why our prayers aren't always answered the way we think they should be. But... what I do know is that despite our inability to wrap our minds around the things of this world, God is always good. God's love carried Amy. Her faith in Him was strong through it all - even in times of frustration and pain, she leaned on God. She strived every day to be like Him. Read her blog. You will be encouraged and challenged in incredible ways.

Amy, thank you for showing me what an adventure life in Jesus looks like. I'll see you again someday :)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ...And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

mm mmm good

Over the river and through the woods.... or should I say over the highway and through the cemetery (literally)to grandmother’s the GROCERY store I go. It's such an journey to hike to the grocery store. But... I'll never need to exercise again at this rate... carrying those bags on my shoulders!

I wanted the house to be smelling good when Samuel got home from his road trip today... you know that overwhelming flood of some incredible mama-meal-on-a-Sunday-afternoon kind of feeling! I fixed stuffed peppers with tortellini and afterwards toasted marshmallows by candlelight :) I'm not going for a bettycrocker blog here... but food does just make the nicest photos...

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

My burden is telling lost souls about the Great, Savior, Warrior, King, God of the universe. I'm so in love with Him...

Storms and Post-it's

Our bedroom window (which had been closed!) was caught in the wind (it was so very windy!), swung open and slammed against the house yesterday afternoon.... shattering the glass. Both the livingroom and kitchen windows were opened at the time, so I think it created a wind tunnel. Thank goodness no one was standing below when it happened!

This morning Samuel and I were drinking coffee before he left for Stockholm when suddenly the sky turned black and a huge thunderstorm rolled through Varberg. I do love storms. Just not broken windows.

I've sticky-noted the whole house with Swedish words. Got to make sure I take them all down before guests arrive...

Samuel and I were making a quick grocery-store run yesterday when we ran into and Ethiopian couple!!!! It was so refreshing to be with them! We stood in the ice cream aisle, speaking such a messy blend of 3 languages (amharic, swedish and english) and plan on getting together soon for bona ceremony and injera :) Hallelujah :)

Can you tell my mind is jumping from one random thought to another?? Need. More. Coffee.

Up to

"So Gab, what are you up to these days???"

Learning Swedish.

Wedding Season

Exactly 2 years ago I was preparing to get married! Stumbled upon this old blog and realized that the things God was speaking to me then.... are the things He is speaking to me now ... and then some :) (but I'll save the rest for future blogs)

http://gabriellerae.blogspot.com/2009/08/wedding-season.html#links

Mural Monday

I'm currently listening to a worship playlist in my itunes and waiting for a citrus sugar cake to finish baking in the oven.... while googling images of India. This one was my favorite today :) Photos hold more than one thousand words if you ask me...

Chai Please

Lovely lovely day. Samuel and I walked around one million miles this morning. All over town. I enjoy not owning a car these days -- or for the last 2 years I should say :) I will regret saying that in a few months when I have to tromp through snow blizzards just for a few groceries, but ehhh what's wrong with a little adventure?! In Ethiopia we got around in "bajaj" the East African word for an Indian rickshaw. You'd be amazed how many people can squeeze into those things!! They're designed with 4 seats... Samuel once rode in one with 14 passengers!! No joke! We even have a picture of it somewhere. Another time I squeezed in the back of a bajaj full of goats! Ahhh.. good times. Speaking of livestock, I saw a man in northern Ethiopia driving a motorcycle with a sheep straddling him from behind --- yes, sitting upright with it's front legs over the man's shoulders! I need to start carrying my camera with me alllll the time :)

Anyway - back to Sweden - the city center was bustling with kids on scooters, old ladies with their market-finds and accordions on a few street corners. Such ambiance. Now I'm home alone for a cozy and quiet afternoon to myself. Samuel just left with his dad to go see Johannes Amritzer preach in a city South of us. My new 2nd-hand tea pot sits next to me full of Vanilla chai and I'm listening to a song about telling the broken there is healing. My heart is a land far far away tonight....

My handsome man on his way out the door. He's growing his beard out full so that he'll blend in with the people groups we're visiting in a few months... love it!

My new mix-matched finds :)

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring..

This has been the week of packages. I got one from mom and dad (it was pretty much my own things that were too heavy to stuff in my luggage when I left the islands) with a pair of cute black-leather-boots Sam and I bought for mom in NYC... which she will probably never have to use again... I on the other hand will surely wear them out by the time spring rolls around next year. Thanks mom! The other package was one that I sent to Ethiopia in April... they just got it 3 1/2 months later! Frustrating considering that it was stuffed with new-born clothes for baby Zebulon who is not so new-born anymore. But, my faith in the world postal service has been bandaged up a bit. Aren't packages fun??

Samuel was free from work yesterday. I love to have entire days together with him. We spent time with our dear friends Samuel and Lotta and their sweet girls Elsa and Siri (another little one is on the way in January!)... and then ran errands in the city because (da-da-duunnn) I got my Swedish version of a "social security" number. Bit by bit my immigration continues to fall into place.

Samuel and Lotta

Elsa

It is so dark outside and the rain is looks like it'll never stop. I don't mind though. Feels a bit Christmas-y... Christmas in August?! Eh, why not?

So long sweet summer

My day started 4am(after a spectacular dream). I love early mornings before the sun. I think it's the most peaceful time. Samuel was off to work and and I was off to laundry - well not yet, or I would be the most unpopular girl in the building.

Yesterday morning I got to skype with mom and dad in Hawaii. A normal topic of any of our conversations has to do with sailing. It's funny the way my heart jumps when I see a sailboat just because I know dad has an obsession for it! It really is a remarkable thing to do. The last time we were all out together was for a 3-day trip just a few weeks before I got married. So I decided to venture down [camera in hand] to Varberg's center and the marina...

My hair-do for the day. Fabulous.

I'm preparing myself to say so-long sweet summer. Atleast here in Scandinavia that is. The sun has a tricky way of luring me out and then not warming me up the way it's supposed to. The trees are still green but constantly flailing about in cold and gusty wind. Not sure if I'm ready for this. I'm African on the inside and my skin is still hanging on to the slightest tint of a Hawaiian tan. Maybe I can get a tanning-bed-package. If not only for some warmth...

+side

Interesting weekend. Who ever wants to have a cold!?? But on the +side it made for some sniffly, cozy, good conversation, movie, cuddle days at home with the hub. Now, he's a bit less sniffly and I'm a bit more... maybe we really shouldn't have been cuddling. Oh well. Yesterday we took the train South to spend some time with the hero Amritzer family. Always a blessing to glean from them. Love you guys!

On the train along the ocean...

Morning Love

What I love this morning:

*Holy Spirit LOVE

*FINALLY some sunshine! We thought we had seen the last of summertime after the past week... but no, there's still hope!

*2 espresso's instead of 1

*My new spectacular espresso machine

*The apple and pear trees just outside my windows

*Samuel's sticky-note fetish. They're everywhere. All the time. And usually I find some love notes for me too :)

*Good news from good friends :)

Wuz up doc

The sky's gloomy today and so is my husband :( He has a terrible cold and fever... moping around singing some kind of rap song that's so mumbled I can't quite make it out in between all the sniffles. Poor guy. I'm playing doctor and chef for the day. We watched Blindside this afternoon... great film.

I've been thinking about ROMANS 3! Read this!! SO simple and SO powerful...

"We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood... God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus."

What an incredible God I serve :)

[Modern] Bona Ceremony

I found an espresso machine at a 2nd-hand shop last week. But [like popping a child's balloon] when I got it home we realized there was a part missing. So it sat for a few days on our counter... unused, unloved and neglected. We hoped to find it's missing puzzle piece at another 2nd-hand shop and asked our friend Samuel to keep an eye out for us. Well, he found a new puzzle :) A bigger, better, steamy, sleek new little member of the family. Thanks Samuel and Lotta!

And to top it all off... our new espresso-blend is Ethiopian Harar. We've been living in Harar, Ethiopia and it's famous for it's rich and super strong coffee beans! Now we get to have our own [modern] bona ceremonies :) I'm a happy girl.

This picture is from a traditional bona ceremony (bona means "coffee" in Amerinja) with one of my disciples Adrianna :) It's a tedious process that begins with roasting your beans, grinding them by hand, boiling them in these clay pots and then letting the super-duper strong brew drip from high above sugar-filled tea cups. If you make your way to Ethiopia any time soon... make sure you have the opportunity to settle in on someone's floor for this experience - even if you don't drink coffee! Otherwise, I can fix it for you here in Scandinavia! I'm Ethiopian on the inside :)

IdaLotta

We celebrated the 1st birthday of my niece Ida-Lotta today. She's so precious. She was wearing a traditional Ethiopian dress - gift from Samuel when his sister Rebekha was prego with her first child(Aron)... turned out it wasn't a girl then :) But a few years later, looks perfect!

The birthday gal

Big Brother Aron

With papa Andreas

Samuel's oldest sister Pernilla is visiting from Thailand now. This is her son Prince Kayan Michael and his robot which he likes to chew on while he sleeps...

He speaks a wonderfully messy blend of English/Swedish/Thai... my kind of kid!!

Beach Mountain

Did you know if you translate my last name Strandberg... it means beach-mountain?? Love it.

God has really over-blessed me this year with His nature. I began 2011 looking over the Eastern Ethiopian mountains as they stretched on their way to Somalia. I watched the sunrise every morning and it just about took my breath away each time. I love the desert. I love the ear-piercing calls from the mosques, reminding people that it's time to pray... because it reminded me that it was where I was made to be. Reaching the unreached. I'm in love the nations.

The view from our balcony in Harar. Unreal.

It was this year when God also called us back to the West for a season of refreshment and preparation for a future among new people groups. I must admit, I did NOT want to be refreshed if that meant leaving Africa. I knew it was time to leave... our Ethiopian pastors and disciples had been brought up in the Holy Spirit to take our place... the land had been pioneered, churches and Bible schools planted, lives transformed to Jesus... our calling to the East-Africans now rested in the hands of our Spiritual children. But I didn't want to leave! Yes, there are unreached people in every country on the planet - East or West, but I am called specifically to the untouched people groups... the places where the Word of God just hasn't gotten to. My heart burns for the poorest, the most broken, the beggars, the prostitutes, the possessed, the starving, the destitute.

So, where did God bring me next? Hawaii. Maybe I was the only person in the world who just didn't want to go to Hawaii. Yes I knew it would be a paradise, but please let me go to Rwanda or Mongolia or Tajikistan! But, Hawaii it was. The Big Island was a stunning place, full of adventure, but (ask my mother!) I was fidgety and restless and spoke of nothing else but the field. When I left Hawaii however, I suddenly understood that I was indeed revived . My body and emotions and spirit were rested. The beaches and pools and mountains and waves and sunsets -- were God's exact prescription! He is so faithful that He not only calls us to be His laborers and warriors in the field, but He also refreshes us when we need that too! He used immigration-messiness to get me to lie on a beach!

Psalm 23 -

The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows, he leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength.

Now we're in Sweden. On more beaches! I went from desert Africa to the Pacific islands, to Atlantic Scandinavia! And now I feel such confidence in the season I am in. I know it's a season. The rest of my life will be full of spiritual pioneering and warring over souls. And sometimes God will bring me to more beaches and bbq's and remind me to just enjoy the simplicities of life. Our suitcases are collecting a little dust, our bathing suits are a bit salty, and our conversations are filled with dreams for the nations in South Asia and the Middle East. We see the horizon. We hear the cries of the lost. Our lives revolve around chasing nothing else but God's Kingdom. We work and save and pray and study and plan. And He is renewing our strength for the journey.

Sitting at the bay on the West coast of Sweden, watching the sailboats drift away...

The ferry on it's way to Denmark