Merry Christmas!

Ingrid

Shalom! Jørgen and Ingrid speaking. As of today (18th of December, 2015), we have been together for 4 years, 8 months and 4 days, married for 1 year, 6 months and 13 days - and pregnant for more or less 3,5 months! We will become parents in June. It is exciting and nice, but also, I must admit, somewhat scary. A totally new, little person, for which we are responsible! Man! And my oh my!

This spring I wrote my master thesis, and am now officially a Theologist. Now I just have to finish the last, practical year, and then I’ll be a priest. This summer or next - depending on when the baby shows up. Jørgen just finished his fourth year of medical school, and spent 9 weeks at a hospital in Stavanger this fall. So we got to try out long distance marriage. Which we do not like that much. Quoting Jack Johnson, it’s always better when we’re together.

This summer we were both staff at KRIK Action, a Christian summer camp with more than 1000 participants. Jørgen instructed soccer and I got to preach. That was a very interesting and fun challenge! Later in summer we were both teaching at a Bible School with Youth With A Mission in Switzerland. We were there for a week and hiked in the Alps during the day, and taught Bible studies at night. A great and meaningful experience.

Magnar

In last year’s Christmas letter, Ingrid mentioned that I was “rather much in love”. I can with joy inform you that I am still so. Lillian and I have been together for almost a year now, and she is a really splendid girl! The same day that Lillian and I got together, I also started in my new job, so this year had a very exciting start. I am now working as a program developer in Dynaplan, together with my dad. I’m working from my home office in Bergen, so I almost don’t have to deal with people at all! It is great ;) Working takes a lot of time, so I have decided to scale down my work as a photographer. For 2016, I’m planning on not photographing a single wedding! Working as a photographer has been very exciting, so this is a bit wistful. But I’m looking forward to having photography as a hobby again. That will be fun :) My other big achievement this year (to catch Lillian is the greatest) was to, together with Johan - a friend from the university, become the best Norwegian team in NCPC - Nordic Collegiate Programming Championship! The Christmas swim is getting scarily close now, so I think it’s time to stop writing and start dreading. I wish you all a good and blessed Chistmas season!

Solbjørg

The rain is pouring down and I am home with my family, celebrating pre-Christmas before Ingrid and Jørgen are off to spend the holidays with Jørgen’s family at Sola. So nice to have family time - great food and great company:) I have enjoyed 2015 a lot. In May I defended my PhD thesis. That was a challenging and surprisingly fun day! I would love to go on working in research, but the job market is rather strained at the moment, so we will see what is possible. 2016 will be exciting, I am looking forward to it. This summer I went to northern Norway and got a great fish - as you can see in the picture. And if you’ll have a another look at the picture I’d like to present to you my boyfriend Mathias :) He is great and likes physics a lot, and the mountains. I am lucky! I have actually been thinking a lot lately, about how lucky we are. In a time when no jobs seem safe, and more and more refugees are arriving in need of safety and a home, I am glad it is Christmas so that we can be reminded to love each other, see each other, include and share. 2016 will indeed be exciting. Merry Christmas everyone, and good luck!

Dad, Magne

This year both Astrid and I were asked to write our own part of the Christmas letter. I guess it might be a little forewarning that the kids might be wanting to write their own letters soon, and that the parents will have to learn to make due on their own. We’ll see:)

I am lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. Maybe they are the reason I feel like a man in my prime;) Most of my wake hours I spend working at Dynaplan together with energetic and hardworking colleagues. We supply strategic planning technology and services to large corporations.

I am always ready for a bike ride around the Radøy island or on a longer trip around Nordhordland on my Trek Emonda SLR, preferably together with good bike buddies, such as Per or Johannes.

Astrid and I enjoy living here at Helland, and that is great, as there is always a lot of work to be done here, both inside and outside. One of the main projects this year was to complete my 30 year long plan of tiling the garage floor, and building wardrobes for clothes, shoes and equipment. Anyone visiting are welcome to tour the facilities;)

We live by the philosophy not to own too many things, to reduce the risk that our possessions start owning us. This makes it extra important to have good friends and family with access to cabins and apartments around:) Thank you for invitations and stays this year! And we are already looking forward to spending Easter with Elin and Helge in their condo in Spain!

Mum, Astrid

Christmas will be extra long this year! Ingrid and Jørgen are celebrating with his family but came here for pre-Christmas. That was great, and the Holidays are not yet started!

As Magne mentioned, work takes most of our time. But we have also had a great trip to Paris this year, celebrating spring, easter and my birthday. Together with my sisters, daughters, nieces and my mum, I went to Bath in September to take part in the Jane Austen Festival. We had a wonderful time! But if I go again I would, however, like to stay in a hostel built, or at least fixed up, in modern times:) Ingrid and Solbjørg sowed their own regency dresses and took part in the great parade.

After the festival we rented cars and drove to see Stonehenge and then to the airport outside of London. Solbjørg drove the car on the left side of the road, greatly impressing nervous passengers.

We are so lucky to have our family and such great friends around us, and only wish we had more time to spend with you all! This year has provided us with opportunities for spending time with our kids’ friends. All of a sudden they show up here, or we will meet them in Bergen. In February a big group of them came out here to dance through the night in our living room. So many great memories!

We now look forward to Christmas, to being together with family and friends, and to celebrating God’s miracle: Christ born into our world to foster reconsolidation, joy, and peace. Never has His example been more relevant than it is today: «In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus!» (Phil 2,5)