Happy news!

I received my E-2 employee visa application today. It got delivered at work and the first feeling that hits me is joy immediately followed by this really intense feeling of anxiousness.... I now have to make an appointment at the US Embassy for my interview - that was the part I dreaded the most.... After thinking about it some more and reading through the application from the attorney in Tulsa, I'm no longer nervous about it. It's done very well and I really think I have a good shot at this. I've waited for this day for months and it's finally here....:) My steps are ordered by God. I knew it was right for me to come here and I also know it's time for me to come home :)

My appointment is Thursday nov. 6th at 9am (7hr time difference from Tulsa). Please pray that I'll have favor with the people at the US Embassy and that they'll approve my visa quickly.

It got a lot colder outside today.... I think winter is coming on full force and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Not a huge fan of the cold.... We just turned back the clock one hour (Sunday) and now it's dark when I leave for work and when I come home :( I love fall, winter not so much. Good thing there is Christmas to look forward to.

Romans 12 (message bible)

I just love how this is worded in the message bible :) This is all about growing up and maturing in the things of God and if we can master this we'll be a great witness to the people around us... :)


So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

If you preach, just preach God's message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

I'm back in Norway again after two awesome weeks in T-town :) I arrived yesterday at about 2.30pm local time (which is about 7hrs ahead of Tulsa time) and I was exhausted. I took a little nap, went to bed at about 9.30pm and slept until 5.30am when I had to get up for work. I only woke up once during the night which is pretty good - those of you that have traveled some this way will know this is true. I made it through work just fine, better than expected and now I'm enjoying some delicious Dillano's Black Label coffee before heading over to a friends house with some stuff I brought her from the US.

I let my manager know today that I want time off for Christmas to spend time with my family in Tulsa and she asked me if I was planning on staying there from then on.... So, I think this will work out just fine :) I was hoping she would let me go early and not have to stay on for three months... and it looks like she will (yay!!!) I thank God for his favor!!! It seems like I'm just walking down his path with everything pretty much worked out before I get there - I just have to take every step by faith. Now all I have to do is get my papers from the attorney in Tulsa and take them to the US Embassy in Oslo to apply for my visa. Piece of cake!

Went over to October fest tonight. Had a bratwurst with sauerkraut, some nachos with jalapenos and a free Pepsi...since I was my own dd (designated driver). Got free parking.... Thanks Paul! :) Hung out with some friends for a short amount of time and then went home cause it got way to cold out there..... mainly cause I didn't dress warm enough.... sorry Abby! Now, that I'm warm and cozy again I would love to just sleep, but have to go to the airport in about an hour to pick my brother up from the airport. Yay!! LOL!

Church tonight was really good. The pastor spoke about the three kinds of love (Eros, Phileo, Agape). Eros = romantic love, Phileo = brotherly love or friendship, Agape = the God kind of love. It's the God kind of love that completes us. Without that we keep searching for completion without any luck. It is the kind of love that goes out of its way to do something for someone else just for the sake of blessing them without expecting something in return. That is the highest kind of love! that is the love that never fails that 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 talks about. If we, as Christians, could only get to this point, to get our "love walk" down, the world would definitely notice and be drawn to it. After all it is the Love of God that compels us! Nothing else. The love that gave his only Son so that we could be saved, with no guarantee that we would love him back....

I am sitting in my old bedroom again in my parents house and it is so nice to be back. I know this is where I'm supposed to be. Not in my old bedroom in my parents house, mind you, but back here, in Tulsa.... This is home to me now. God lead me to go back to my home country for a while to do some things and to grow in some things and I really have. I can see the changes in my own life when I look back at who I was seven months ago..... It has been a good seven months even if some days have been really challenging. I'm growing and changing into the woman God called me to be and it's an exciting time to be alive :). Not just to be a proverbs 31 kind of woman, but like Mrs. Hagin says; a Philippians 4:13 kind of woman. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!

Hi all!

I'm sitting at the Chicago O'hare airport drinking an iced tripple grande non-fat latte and let me tell you how awesome that feels right now. After being up since 5.15am Norwegian time (it's now 9.20pm there) I'm in great need of some caffeine. I thank God for favor on this trip and it's gone smoothly all the way. I don't know what it is about my passport though, but the last two times I've come to the states I've had to step into some creepy waiting area to get checked out by the security guards. Everytime I sit there and wait while they take my passport into some other room, comes back out after a few minutes and just say "thank you ms Tomren, have a great trip". No one tells me why I have to be taken aside.... It freaks me out everytime, I think what have I done? nothing! I'm here on a regular visitors visa this time and last time I had a valid business visa - no need to scare me like that! Oh well, no matter the reason, I still have favor with both God and man and now I'm about ready to board my flight to T-town :)

Ciao for now and remember; Acknowledge God in all your ways and He will direct your path!

I'm a day away from being home and I can barely contain myself. I'm spending the night at my friends apartment in Oslo since Fredrikstad is a bit too far away to be able to get to the airport in time for my flight tomorrow. So, I'll get up at 5.30-6am, get ready and head to the buss stop for the airport shuttle. My flight leaves Gardermoen airport at 9.35am for Stockholm, Sweden. From there it's straight to Chicago O'hare and then to Tulsa int'l, arriving at 4.40pm!!! Yay!!

I do wonder a bit how Sheeba will react when she sees me again. She's my dog and I haven't seen her since February 28th..... maybe she'll just ignore me for a day.... it's happened before.... Oh, well. We'll have to wait and see.