Knock…knock…come on in! I have a story to tell! The other day I did a happy dance because I received a book in the mail that I was so wanting. It is all about making the Scandinavian waffle; not just a waffle, but all kinds of ways to serve the waffle. I was very excited! I tasted the Norwegian waffle while on my visit to Norway. In the wonderful hospitality of my cousins, it was served like a dessert waffle with a jam and whipped cream on top and each one was heart-shaped. They were very, very good and had a touch of cardamom flavor. What a treat! I immediately wanted the recipe. I have a couple other books and recipes, and now, I have this book. I have learned the history of waffles also. And the recipes!! That is really fun!However, there was a word in this book that really grabbed my heart. My soul immediately resonated with it. I have been familiar with its feeling, and always leaned this way in my daily life and 
living. But this word description put the finger on the pulse when I read it. It is described as the Norwegian word “Kos”. As with many languages, sometimes it takes many words to understand the meaning of one foreign word used, and this word is no exception. If we tried to translate it, it seems the word “cozy” would best work. Sort of…but not really. It is really described as more of a life style. It’s about the quality of life we live and making an atmosphere that totally makes you feel like, this is the life! This is what it’s about. But she talks about “Kos” not just being about the home, it’s also about getting together for coffee, or when you see someone you haven’t seen in a long time, or sharing a bonfire with snacks or hotdogs together with friends, neighbors and family. It is also about being out in nature on a walk or hike, or sitting on a deck and just enjoying what you see around you. Hearing the sounds, and breathing in life.
I remember sitting on the porch after arriving in Norway, at my cousin’s house, and we all just sat on the porch and took in the sights of the fjord, the sunset, and…coffee… with cake. And…conversation. We would also sit on the back porch in the mornings with our coffee and enjoy the view of the mountains and nature. I felt that same feeling when I went with 
other cousins, to see my grandfather’s church, and where his siblings and family attended, were confirmed, and lived their life. I walked the road where my grandfather walked and then went up the hill to where his house was. I traveled with other cousins to learn of my father’s mother and her life in Norway, and my great-uncle, who was a pastor, and gave his life to ministry in Norway, and later in the US. I walked inside of the house where my great-grandmother, grandmother and her sister lived. That was on my mom’s side.
I could imagine for a while what their life was like and how hard their life was. I could also look out the window at the beautiful mountains across the valley. I stood there a moment trying to imagine them waking up to that view every day! What a view a view it was. Did they stand at the window and dream about a time when they would leave these mountains and come to the land of plenty? Did they dream about a way to make a better life for themselves and for their family by leaving Norway? Maybe they prayed for provision and food enough to get by? Maybe their prayers were answered by our presence there that day. Stories…do we know them, or are we too busy to gather around small tables by oil light to listen? (I will allow you an electrical light too, or, candles are welcomed). Can we slow down enough to hear the stories? Everyone has one.
I think “Kos” isn’t about the just looking and seeing, it is about the appreciating it all; having a heart response. It is about taking time to give your heart and life a chance to slow down; take it in. That is “Kos”. It is about living in the moment. Right now. It is like sitting by a window or out on the porch at night, lighting a candle and enjoying the evening with a cup of your favorite thing…for me it would be a mocha or tea. Finding complete satisfaction in the moment. Feeling like this is what life is 
about. Whether by yourself, or with others, it is about squeezing every bit of enjoyment out of each moment lived. For me, one of them just recently was laying on the floor with my grandson and just talking and giggling. Listening to his story. I can remember many days going to my grandpa and grandma’s house after school and sometimes just sitting there in a rocker and rocking back and forth, the Generator wall clock is sharing it’s “tick-tock, tick-tock”, and the quiet…we just enjoyed being together. I have memories of my grandfather taking the time to teach me how to play solitaire. I play a game on my phone before I go to bed each night in his honor. Time. We all have it. What are we doing with it?
I remember going on a hike up the mountain in Norway and as we approached this mountain cabin, there was a small group of friends that were outside and eating 
their lunch together. They invited on in to share the circle with them. We ate our snacks there and they offered us cookies and coffee. Here we sat, strangers to them, my son and I, and yet they invited us in like they had known us for a long time. We were invited into the cabin for a tour. My heart fell in love with this cabin on the mountain. It squeezed my heart a little to leave, but I left feeling the “Kos” that day for many reasons. Walking back down the mountain, it WAS hard to put into words. But I know the feeling because my heart recognizes it.
So today, I am writing this post to not only teach you a new word, but to encourage you to put some “Kos” in your life. Figure out what that means for you, and then add it into your life style. Bring the outside in. Take your inside out. You know that I love nothing more than to sit on a covered deck, even in the rain. I enjoy the sound of the rain, and watching the flowers stand up straighter after a rain, the lawn becomes greener, and the air is fresh. Our culture is getting too busy for “Kos”. It should not be so. Slow it on down! Put the breaks on. Hang a light in the window, take your shoes off and enjoy the steam from a hot cup of cocoa, coffee or tea. Breathe in the moment and then say thanks. Invite someone in to enjoy this time with you. Make “Kos” your lifestyle.
I thank my Norwegian relatives for reminding me once again what life is about and what is important. I think God wants us to live this way. It was never His plan to be running so fast that we run away from life instead of running to it. We are running so hard that we forget to look around us at nature and what God has given us. We can’t even hear Him because we are too busy moving on to the next thing. I came back home with a reinforced perspective about this area of my life! I am passionate about it! I implement it in my home as well. I now understand why. It was how I was brought up. But it still takes ME to implement it. When we allow it, our heart and soul will speak. When it does, we have no choice but to listen and follow if we want harmony in our lives.
I want “Kos” in every area of my life. What about you? See that picture to the left? This is a road trip we took and we stopped for coffee and cake along the roadside. What a way to travel! Now that is “Kos”! Getting the idea?
Walking the “Kos” journey with you…
Today has been a double shot kind of day!! I have been reminded of the title of this post for several months now, but more particularly, in the last few months. I have to admit, I am a bit overwhelmed by the circumstances of this whole mess of selling and buying a home this time! THAT doesn’t happen often for me. But if it weren’t for some fun activity in my day today, I think more words and unkindness would definitely be swirling around our house right now. The thing is, people just don’t do what you expect them to do. When they don’t, things don’t go as planned.
Wow! What do you do when you get hit with a situation you weren’t counting on having to deal with?
So I approach the next few days with careful watch on my feelings because they can get me into trouble. I heard Laura Story’s song today as she sang about all the hardships we go through and the tears we shed, being what draws us closer to Him. Yep! Ok God. There is my answer. I will do my best to wait on your intervention; whichever way that should go. We aren’t new on the block of trials, so I press on toward the mark. Face the “new” in our journey and ask God to give me grace. Sound good? It is our only answer. The only one.
This has been quite the adventure as we close down the Shiley house here in Mount Vernon. We are down to the last five days. I have had back issues, slept on the floor, then on an air mattress that didn’t hold air, to finally last night, where we didn’t sink into the middle. We actually rested better than the last week. Of course with all that is going on, it couldn’t stop there. Nope. I had to get a sty on my right eye! Challenges…it’s all in how we look at them. However, with the help of essential oils that is almost gone! So that was a blessing. Don’t want to go out with that kind of thing! But you know, when we look for the blessings, they are right in front of our eyes. Many of them! We had the buyers of our home ask for an extension which we gladly gave because we were nowhere near ready to be completely out. We had a local clean up day where you could take anything and dispose of it. WHAT a blessing that was at just the time we needed it. I have also had wonderful friends who didn’t mind me invading their house to do a couple of loads of laundry so we have something to wear. We had a couple who were a real blessing when it came to moving the large things out of the house! So God has been ever-present to give us gifts just at the right time. His timing is perfect!
I have learned to:
unusual! I even started a group on Facebook for my relatives on my dad’s side of the family so we can share pictures and memories there. Those younger than me didn’t have the experiences I did. It’s fun to share them. I share encouragement through social media as thoughts come to me. It’s all a part of what keeps my focus in the right place. Sometimes we have to start with the right attitude and God will add blessing to it. There are times I have had to just close my mouth at times when I had a lot to say. I have had to slow down because my back wouldn’t hold up if I didn’t. For this task orientated lady, that can be hard. I am learning more and more to listen to myself and ask why I might feel that way about something, and then ask God what He may be trying to help me see or learn regarding a situation.
What did you do on those beautiful sunny days we had? At least for us in the Pacific Northwest, it is a real treat to experience nice warm days this early in Spring! But for me? These warm days created some more difficult working days. I am still packing boxes for a move. It got kind of warm to be doing that.
We aren’t just storing extras friends, we are storing a household! So, we make the move with all the boxes, and then we will have to move it all again to our new home. Bubble wrap and stretch wrap are my best friends!!!!! We were most fortunate to rent a small truck the other day and have some help with moving the large items. I am now sitting very gingerly in my chair at the computer as I try to baby my back and left shoulder in order to type this post. At this time, I can’t move my head to the left very far at all. But God blessed us with a wonderful couple to help us and my son get it done! God is good! You should have seen the comedy act with Terry and I trying to load our mattress by ourselves. It is not a stiff one. Of course, I thought it might be wise to wait until my son could help, but hubby thinks he can do anything sometimes. Of course through a series of what would have been hilarious strategies if I wasn’t hurting so much, we finally did get it in there. By the time we were done, I hurt so bad that I just couldn’t go with him to unload. I don’t even want to think of what it was like for him by himself!! 🙂 What can we say? It has to get done. Now you may be asking, “Why did you take your bed out so early? Why not wait until the last-minute, since we are working hard and having a nice place to fall might be helpful?” Yes. Well…I wondered too. Last night that left us with the floor. It’s kind of hard when you are already hurting. Today we get out the air mattress and it has a leak. So we fix the leak, we hope. But it has to rest for eight hours. Where do we sleep tonight? On the floor with every sleeping bag, afghan, and quilt that we have in order to have some cushion. Yep! This is life at the Shiley house! Never a dull moment! The 5:00 news report is, our closing has been put off for six more days! So I guess that is good. We have a place to hang out a few more days without paying rent, and a bit more to get it all out and cleaned. Hopefully with an air mattress to rest on!
Doesn’t that sound awesome?!?!?!? Well…we just found out yesterday that it is true, if nothing unforeseen should arise. But this decision has not come easy. We have spent weeks in this process. But God…He has been faithful! Let me share a little about this. I am learning it is always about our faith and trust.
We walked up to the front door and walked in. No bad odors or smells, quite clean for a home that had sat empty for a number of months, and oh my…I saw the inside and the office area, and the living area, dining area, the divider cupboard which was kind of funky but I liked it, and then…the kitchen! That was it! I loved the kitchen and the light in there! The cupboard space was amazing!!! I even liked the color! It was so bright and airy looking. Then…I saw the range! How cool is THAT??? The agent sort of said yes, this is an old style range, like I was going to hate it. But I started pushing buttons, and turning the light on, and told him this was right up my alley! So while the guys walked around, I stood in the kitchen and said to the Lord and myself, is this the one? I really love the comfort of this house. Then the agent showed me the plans for the house that were still there! VERY cool!
contract on this house and the real appearance was at least close to the pictures of it, we would offer full price. We made the decision that we would make an offer. At this time however, the agent has gotten notice that another showing will happen the next morning. We decide that we have to meet in the morning to do the contract. The next morning we travel over an hour to the office to fill out the contract. The agent gets another notification that the house is being shown. We submit our contract. Now, if they all put an offer in, we are competing with three other buyers! Just to give some background… in all the years that my sweetheart and I have bought a home, the home we like can sit for months on the market. Let us show ANY interest in the home, and all of a sudden there are multiple people and offers that come in. Now we are sitting across the signing table and we both look at each other and roll our eyes. It is happening again! However, we leave the Harbor and I was feeling like we would get the house. Just felt right. However, on the way home, we get a call saying the agent is not presenting the offers (2 along with ours) today like he planned, but waiting until the next morning so the other offers can be considered. Not only that, but the first buyer gets a courtesy call to say, “There are other offers and are you comfortable with your offer or would you like to change it?” What?!?!?! Wow! It doesn’t matter what number you are in line anymore, you are just one of the offers to the seller. I am just bummed.
shown towards me and this endeavor. That amazes me! I am very thankful to my family and their understanding, to each reader who shares a moment here with me, and my friends who don’t want me to leave, but are happy for me anyway. The dream is, I will have a dedicated guest room for visits. Another best part???? The ocean. I am thirty to thirty-five minutes to the ocean! That has been a long standing dream of mine; to be close to the water.
I still don’t know. We think we see the light at the end of the tunnel, but then there are the signs that tell us, no entry. We have had a hiccup in the process and we are waiting to see how big the buyers think the hiccup is. The kicker? If we have to put more money into the house to sell it, hubby wants to invest in the house for ourselves, and stay. WHAT?!?!?!???? I have packed half of the house up to do what???!!! STAY here? Oh boy! Breathe girl… breathe!
Today as I opened my Bible, I turned to Psalm 116. It talks of the author’s love for the Lord, and all that the Lord has done for him. He is praising the Lord for His goodness. That was lifting to my spirit today, as well as, a gentle reminder to stay in gratitude. What refreshment to my soul! My Gratitude Jar hasn’t been growing over the last month or so. That’s not good. When I am not dropping those hearts in my jar, I can easily let other things that come my way get the best of me. Of course, that is exactly what satan wants; he wants to discourage me in every way possible. So today, I have dropped a few hearts in my jar and told God I will continue as I always do to remember (my word for the year) to always live in gratitude. Today, I am very grateful for U-Turns that we are allowed in life. Wow! What a blessing to be able to know that God will forgive me, gently lift me up and turn me back around. What a picture word that is…u-turn. I have to allow it. I have to be willing to turn back around. I am the “U” in u-turn. I can either keep struggling, or surrender and let Him do what He needs to do in me.
allow a u-turn. You may be carrying around a huge amount of guilt from your past. Don’t be a martyr and carry that heavy load around. Unload it at the cross. Surrender it. We just experienced Easter and that is what Easter is all about. He doesn’t want you to have to live under the burden. Let Him pick you up, clean you off, set you down in the opposite direction, and walk the rest of the way with you. It is what He desires. You have the decision to make. I would love to walk up to the window of my life and look in to see what He has in store for me. But I can’t. However, He sees the end from the beginning and He will eventually help me see clearly through the window with out cracks, or brokenness.
Decisions. There are so many ramifications from the decisions we make. The decision may be a great change and exciting, the ramifications following that decision…not so much. Until…we get through it. God talks about through a lot in the Bible. So I am trusting in the “through”. It’s how I can make sense of all the stuff that happens in between the decision and the through.
great. We should be always willing to change and evolve. I believe God wants that for us. So, as we go through each day with high stress levels and disappointments, I am asking God often to encourage me. Remind me Lord that you are my Source. Show me. Show me your ways. Send Your Holy Spirit. Encourage me through family, friends and my surroundings. Remind me once again, that we won’t be living in a motor home somewhere out there because we don’t have a home to go to. 🙂 You may recall my word for this year… Remember… Hahaha!!! Doesn’t God have a sense of humor or what?!? In this case, I remember His daily faithfulness with me in the past, so that, I can trust Him more with my future.
Let me leave you with this. Staying in gratitude is important when you go through a big change; any change. Stay in the game. Ask God to be a part and to show you from His perspective. I know that as I am out there looking for our next home that we can BOTH agree on, I will be seeking God’s perspective, not my own. He knows. He has decided where. He just hasn’t told me yet.
FOR SALE: Today, I am writing in response to many who are asking me questions based on a few of my posts about moving. Some of the questions are:
JoAnn Shiley 