Finding time 6:25 AM

It's hard finding the balance between enjoying the beauty of autumn we are again blessed with and the impending changes in our lives. The days are slowly counting down, first until we are left homeless, but also until we pull up our anchor and set sail on our transatlantic journey. It's a double edged sword thinking about leaving the home we have built and nourished the past couple years. Yet, the reasons for moving on are still ever apparent, and thoughts of complacency are never long lasting. We need a change. We need to rejuvenate our dreams and refill our lust for life. We need to be able to get out, not just for an afternoon in the woods, but into the mountains, out to the coast. We need to be able to smell the cool mist of the Pacific Ocean, feel the warm granite with out finger tips. Will I miss looking out our big window at the changing colors? Yes, without a doubt, but will we find new landscapes to rival or surpass this autumn spectacle?

Soon the leaves will fall and the cold barren reality of winter will set in. Again we will have to look back on a season past, but this time instead of looking forward to a long dark winter, we have the excitement of the uncertainty of what lie ahead.  The balance is found in reminding ourselves that even the fall colors are impermanent and that we need to enjoy them while they last. Every morning I wake up and look out and smile at the beauty nature offers us if we open our eyes. At the same time, I wake up every morning and am grateful for the decisions we have made together as a family, for out family.

Leaving Home 5:18 AM

While in our own minds, our reasons for taking some time off to do some soul searching are well grounded, it seems as though it's hard for others to grasp the "why". Maybe some of the reasons are obvious, but others perhaps less so. Why are we leaving the refuge of a secure job, a comfortable home with a fantastic view, a safe environment for our kids with beautiful forests right outside our door, and much more? We have everything most people would be happy with, except for the one thing that we want most. At the very core, lie our values. We want to be understood, and accepted for our beliefs, not looked upon as "outsiders" because we follow a different path. Sure, we miss the mountains, granite spires, alpine meadows, sandy beaches, sunshines, but when it comes down to the day to day things, it's about what we eat for breakfast, what our kids engage in, what toys they play with, what books the read. While we don't aspire to be "normal", we want to be appreciated for our choices and find an environment where our values and decisions are reinforced. We want to be able to exchange ideas without having to worry about stepping on toes. Somewhere out there is a community that we belong to, people that share our ideas and live the same dreams. Our journey is about finding these people and places and being inspired by them. Maye, in the end the journey will lead us back to Norway at the end of the year. Often the things we are looking for are found right where we are, but we still need to see them from another perspective.

Beautiful landscapes, enjoying the agriculture diversity and of course family are also a big part of the reasons for our journey to California and beyond. Spending time with cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, skiing fresh snow, climbing clean white granite, running along empty beaches, communing and renewing in energy filled places. In the bigger picture a year is not a long time, but let's hope it's enough to at least revitalize and empower us to follow our own path.

Inspiration 12:12 AM

Inspiration. Sometimes everyday things get a bit overwhelming and time for ourselves seems rare or non-existent. Even with two fantastic kids, sometimes a few minutes alone to collect (or rather empty) our thoughts goes a long way. Whether it be a run through the forest, or just a few moments in solitary meditation. We all need these moments, yet we have to balance these with our routines of everyday life, children, work, making dinner, grocery shopping... At the end of the day though it all comes down to priorities and weighing up what really needs to be done today, and what in fact can wait. Sometimes our inner being needs to be fed more than our physical being.

In planning our adventures for the coming year, these times for spiritual nourishment are equally essential to pursuing our dreams as all the other activities on our to do list. We need to remember to plan for time for morning walks or yoga on empty sandy beaches, and time for afternoon reading in mountain meadows while the kids are off running picking flowers and collecting pine cones. Until our adventure begins, it's important not to let the chores of our daily lives cloud the beauty we already have around us.

Real Learning 12:44 PM

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."Quote by Richard FeynmanNobel Prize Winning Physicist

Everyday Blessings 12:25 PM

"When a child, no matter how old, feels our acceptance, when he feels our love, not just for his easy-to-live-with, lovable, attractive self, but also for his difficult, repulsive, exasperating self, it feeds him and frees him to become more balanced and whole".
Myla Kabat-Zinn