The month ahead

This next month is going to be busy busy busy! I did two blog posts to catch everyone up since we didn't have internet for the last few weeks...

I was approached by franks mom about a month ago and asked if I would like to work with her at her job; a group home for adults with special-needs. One of the employees is on leave for the next month and they needed someone to fill in. I decided it would be a great chance to get experience. I am not sure it is what I would like to be doing in the future. However, you never know if you never try! So I am going to "give it a go". I have spent a couple of days "training" and the first day I was nearly ready to drop the hat... it was so overwhelming, and I felt so inadequate for the job. I have NEVER worked in any sort of health care, only child care, so it was a little scary (it still is a bit, but it is looking a bit less daunting every day.) I still couldn't say if I love the work or not, but I am starting to appreciate it. To know you are making someones day better every single day is a good feeling. The patients range from needing just a bit of help and guidance to those who need you for everything, including wheeling around, feeding and hygiene. My parents have brought us kids to nursing homes our whole lives to visit the elderly and brighten their days. It is an environment that I am a bit familiar with, and not intimidated by, I just have always known that working with the elderly is not the type of work my personality is compatible with. I love children, and I love teaching new things to them. This new work is a bit of a mix between both types of work, and in that I think I can do the job, and perhaps come to like it. So far, though, I still prefer working with children, and hope to find work for after Christmas in childcare/education once again.

On top of working 75% (I think 35 hours a week?) at the group home, I am still working one night a week doing English club (which I totally enjoy!) and cleaning for one of Franks aunts (which I also have come to enjoy, but mostly for the company!) It's going to be a busy month, that's for sure!

Speaking of Friends

I just re-read my last blog post after about a month since I wrote it. I realize that it sounds pretty lonely. I didn't mean to make it sound as though I have no friends here in Finland. On the contrary! I probably have more friends than I can count. It is not friends that I find lacking some days, it is simply a best girl-friend.

You know those days when you are feeling sorry for yourself and you forget to pray to the One who loves us most? That was one of the days. But you know something amazing? He listened to my lonely heart and sent someone to refresh my spirit anyway. He sent me a friend that fit almost every description that I expressed a desire for. As I re-read my blog post, I just couldn't help but smile to myself, and maybe shake my head a little. I should be talking to God about the desires of my heart, and not complaining to the world. 

The week before last, Sari Seppanen from SD stayed at our house before heading back to Sweden. She has been in Scandinavia for a few months, but this was only her second stay in Finland, the first being while her parents were here. I feel so refreshed after her visit. Every day was full of conversation and laughter over many a cup of coffee and slice of pumpkin bread. We both were able to talk as fast as we wanted in our own tongue, using whatever expressions and idioms we wanted without worrying about the language. We stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, and I felt what it was like to get that over-tired hilarity again. Something I hadn't experienced with another friend in such a long time! I was able to be myself to the extent that I could be weird, and share my dumb sense of humor (The one that most of my friends die laughing at in the very same breath that they rolls their eyes and tell me what an idiot I am) and in the next moment be serious and discuss things from the heart. There is something about people laughing at you (in a good way) or with you that makes you feel so appreciated.

Think about it. What do you like about your best friends? Is it that they tell you their troubles, and you tell them yours? or is it because you can laugh together? Same thing about girls looking for a mate... Do you really like guys who just make you laugh? Or do you like the ones who appreciate and laugh at your humor in return?

That's one great thing about my father-in-law. He has made me feel appreciated from the first day I sat and chatted with him, because he laughs a lot. Frank has (jokingly) told me before that he can't understand why his dad laughs at me sometimes because I have such a dumb sense of humor... I blame it on my Matson-Somero mix of blood. It was around that time that I realized how much someone chuckling over something you've said can mean a lot.

just a random photo with a couple of friends

Knowing from Experience

You know that young married girl in church... the young one who just married a local guy. Have you asked her to come over? Have you invited her out shopping, or took a moment after church to just chat?

Sometimes you never know what someone might be going though until you have been in a similar situation. Normally I wouldn't talk about this because I would see it as a weakness. I would fear that someone else would point and say "she is not strong enough, she is lacking in something because she is not happy, she is not trying hard enough" But today I just need to write about it because I have no one else, except my poor husband who has heard it enough time already and can't do anything about it.

Most days I am great. I am happy. I see the world though rosier windowpanes. But some days, I feel like I just can't do it any more. I think everyone goes though those blue days, whether it just be hormones or lack of sleep, or just a down day in life.

Today I want to pack my bags, and fly somewhere, somewhere where I can be with a real true friend. Someone perhaps closer to my age who doesn't care that I speak English... someone who laughs at my dumb jokes... someone who I can be honest with and say "I have no money today, let's go home and eat" without feeling completely humiliated. Even better, someone who I don't have to pretend like I am "not in a shopping mood" while I watch them try all kinds of fun things on for hours and hours, because we are still a young married couple still trying to get on our own two feet and today new clothes isn't int he budget. I want a friend who I can tell them how disappointed I am that I am not pregnant yet, and will not think I am silly even if it has been only 5 months since I got married. Someone I can BE MYSELF with! (Oh, I miss being myself with other people besides those select few such Franks family, and Patrick and Miriam Hagman) But mostly I just want a friend. A friend who's house I can just drop by and walk in without knocking. A friend who will come by anytime she likes... to bake with, laugh with , talk with...

Mom, I know you say, I went out to find a friend, blah blah blah... sometimes there is no one to "be friends" with, because they don't hang out with you because you are married, and they are single. Sometimes you make friends, great ones, but they are married and years older than you with 10 kids and they can no longer relate to you in some things. Sometimes culture is such a huge player that you just don't understand each others mindset. Sometime they just have their own life and they can't see that you really just want to be friends.

I hope, after knowing this loneliness, I can better see when someone else just needs a friend! I hope I can know when to smile, laugh at their jokes, or just listen. I hope I can know how to ask questions that encourages friendship, rather than make them feel like I am just trying to be polite and I don't care!

Tomorrow, I will probably feel better. I will probably not feel so lonely, I will probably look at the world though rosy windowpanes again. But that doesn't been that longing for a female companion won't be there. I don't want anyone to "feel bad" for me, because I am probably doing enough feeling sorry for myself to cover it. But, I know I am not the only one out there... I just want other people to reach out and be a friend with someone who probably needs it!

There... I feel better already :)

Teaching again...

It's great to be teaching again. I got a position one evening a week teaching "English Club" for children who have are attending or have graduated from Kindis (Jacob's Kindergarten). It is a once a week program for these children to practice their English skills. I have free will with these children, and no set lesson plans. The basic idea is just for the children to hear and speak English, which makes it fun for me! It isn't much work-wise, but it is a great thing for me to ease back into the classroom setting. I have the children for an hour and a half, but was just complaining to someone that it is almost too short of time for me to plan lessons, as it is only 45 minutes of actual "teaching", the rest is snack and playtime. Those 45 minutes tend to feel like seconds for me, and makes me want to get back into a whole or half-day setting again!

I did an Apple unit with the children, and we made apple pies at the last English Club. Whew! It wasn't much work on my part, but the children were so excited that I had a hard time getting their attention on anything but pie! The pies turned out delicious though, and the kiddos were SO proud of themselves! Even so, it is such fun when you know the children love to be there.

The most difficult thing about teaching English Club is the age differences. I usually have about 12-15 students, ages 4 to 8... that makes such a difference, not only in their understanding and control of English, but mostly in their attitude and interest toward the lessons! How do you make lessons fit for such an age difference? That question goes around and around in my head while planning. I have to think of things that will get the older ones involved, and the younger ones understanding; songs that are not too childish, yet not too difficult, and games and activities that the older and younger children enjoy alike. We made an "apple pie graph" during one lesson, and I feared that it might be too advanced for the children, but they all really enjoyed it, as they could all get involved one way or another.

The crazy thing about this group is that I have met nearly every single one of these children when they were in Kindi's in 2010. I remember them well, so it was easy to learn names and such, but none of them remember me except the ones who have been there when I have come to visit over the years! I can't believe that was nearly 4 years ago already! Time goes by so quickly...

Kitty, My Cat

I didn't want a cat. I never really liked cats too much. When I thought of owning a cat, all I could picture was hair on all my clothes, and more unwanted, unnecessary responsibility. After all, we already have a dog which consist of all of the above (for me at least). But, regardless of my protests, Frank got "me" eh*hem (him) a cat, and since I had no say in it, the only request I could get him to listen to is that we could only have ONE cat, and that it had to be a boy. We nearly ended up with two cats, as Franks parents at two kittens and they were "best friends" and would be too sad to be apart. The mean wife that I am put her foot down on that one. I was NOT going to have two kittens in my house, which would shed white and black hair everywhere. One it would be, and the boy one please... It was not a boy. Months after we had it I was examining it's backside  (something we forgot to do when we got it) and realized that Tom, was not a tom after all. So "kitty kitty kitty" never got a real girl name, and eventually I decided that it would just be Kitty. I couldn't think of a name that fit it better than Tom!

When I was growing up we had a few cats. They could be friendly once in a while, but mostly they were selfish little beasts who kept to themselves and were good at keeping the mice and bird population down. Franks parents cats were the first personable cats I ever met, but the amount of hair they shed kept me from liking them too much.

When we first got Kitty, I could have drowned it in the toilet. It meowed all night, and eventually we took pity and let it sleep in our bed. Halfway through the night I was woken by a cat batting my ears and licking my face and meowing up a storm. It was not a good start, but by the end of the week we convinced it that there were no monsters in the living room and that it could sleep there. Even so, nearly every morning, the second it hears one of us stir in bed, it is outside our bedroom door mewing and meowing and whining.

I never met such a person-needy cat as Kitty. When I am home it follows me around like a child; always underfoot,  or in my lap. When I bake it sits in a chair next to the table and watches me stir and mix. She's just curious and hardly ever attempts to taste. When I fold laundry she wants to snuggle into my freshly folded piles, or else bats at whatever it is I am folding. When I am at the computer it jumps in my lap over and over and over, no matter how many times I put it down.  If am am outside, she stares out the window meowing to come out. If she is outside for too long, it sits and stares in the window at me meowing to come in! When she is happiest, she purrs and purrs and purrs, and snuggles, and rubs her head in your face. If I lay down, it is snuggling on my stomach or neck or legs, or else just above my head. sometimes she will lay right in front of my face, look in my eyes, and rest both of her paws on my cheek. It's kind of weird, like she is saying "I love you". I never knew a cat that knew how to "love". Dogs can "love", and horses can "love", but cats?? Kitty has chosen me to be her special human. More special that Frank, and even more special than Fia, who spoils her and gives Kitty ham or milk every time she meows. Just don't tell Kitty that I would still give her away most days. Like when she tears up my plants, or meows over and over and over at 5 in the morning. She isn't even a good hunter...yet.

Kitty fawns over house guests, and makes them feel welcome. Maybe a little too welcome... she begs for food from them, climbs in their suitcases while packing or unpacking, and loves to get whatever black item of clothing they just put on covered in white hair. She loves all people. If you come to visit our little house on the hill, I hope you like cats that like you back!

Barely time for Berries

I am supposed to have frozen away liters and liters of berries by now, but it hasn't happened! So much has gone on that has prevented my berry picking and our larder will not be quite full this winter ;) Thankfully we have had a warm August and it has given the blueberries and lingonberries an extended season! When I have the time (like the day before yesterday) I will go out and pick a few liters. I have barely a liter of lingonberries though, so I will probably go out and pick more today. When Laura Conover was here from the US, we took the boat to "Big Isand" (vs. Small Island which is not far from it) and picked Havtornbar (or Sea-Buckthorn berries). They are known as a miracle fruit, chock full of vitamin C and only found naturally growing in northern Europe and parts of Asia. In the US we have buckthorns, but not sea-buckthorns. They are a sunny orange berry that grows in tight clusters on thorny bushes. That means they are a literal pain to pick! Thankfully, because they are so strong, you do not need much! We have about 4 liters in our freezer, which will probably be enough for Frank and I.

Fia taught me how to make Fruit Soup yesterday with Havtornbar. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be! You simply put about a 3/4 cup of whole berries to 3 liters of water (you can use more or less berries depending on the fruit you use. Since we were using Havtornbar, which are quite potent, it requires less berries!) and bring it to boiling point. Before it starts bubbling, pull it off the burner and pour the water and berries through a strainer into a bowl. Mash the berries in the strainer until as much juice is out of them as you can get. Add sugar to taste (and more water if it is too strong). Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring to simmering point again. In a seperate bowl mix 4-8 tablespoons of potato starch with cold water. More starch = thicker soup. (Thick soup is actually called "kräm"... between a soup and a sauce and usually eaten cold) Slowly add potato starch mix to soup, stirring all the while, until it reaches your desired thickness. Do not let soup boil long as it diminishes the vitamins, and can also cause the soup to thin out! When it is done, let it cool a bit and add a sprinkle of whole berries. With Havtornsoppa/sea-buckthorn soup Fia usually puts sea-buckthorn berries, and/or chunks of bananas! With blueberry soup she usually adds some whole blueberries and raspberries. Enjoy this treat warm or cold with cream, over ice cream, or even in porridge!


 Update: I made some on my own using corn starch instead of potato starch. It came out ok, but the cornstarch leaves a hint of a starchy taste that the potato starch does not leave.

I made Frank's family's 'famous' bread all by myself yesterday, and it came out quite edible :) Usually I have Frank lend me a hand when it comes to how sticky the dough should be. It is a quite runny and sticky dough when compared to my mom's "just bread" recipe, and it is made into rolls so it can be a bit tricky! Frank will think I over floured the batch, but they were so sticky I am just glad they look and taste like bread! :D

Wistful for homebits

I confess, I am feeling a bit nostalgic today. Not in a weary, sad way, it's just that I would love to be able to drop by home for a visit! There are little bits of home that I miss. Little sights and sounds. Smells. Little people. Kids grow up SO fast, and in just three months I feel like I have missed SO much with Annika and Lily. Lily went from a baby to a mischievous toddler. Annika is potty training, able to string together more complex sentences, and is imagining she is a ballerina and flitting around the house in princess dresses. Life goes by so fast, and skype doesn't cut it (especially because the connection is too bad to capture much of the life of a 1 and 3 year old who are always on the move!)

The other morning I had the weird sensation of thinking I was home again, in my old bed, waking up from a dream. I love my life now, but that sensation did start to bring on the little longing feelings. I miss the smell of home. That dense, warm smell that drops over the world in the evening. It's a mixture of red clay, sun baked grass, yellow poplars and gumball trees, pines and bark mulch. I remember coming home from vacations as a kid, climbing out of our van and taking a deep breath, thinking how sweet it was to be home again. I miss the smell of the fabric softener that mom buys, and the smell of the inside of the house. It's kids, home baked meals, cleaning supplies and Carolina sunshine all blended together.

At night Franks computer sometimes makes funny noises. At first it bugged me but then I realized that when I closed my eyes it sounded like crickets. I had forgotten about the night noises at home, and it dawned on me that I missed them. I don't miss the cicadas so much. When I was younger I used to wish for one moment of silence at night in the summer. Now I have almost complete silence at night. I do miss the crickets and grasshoppers and whatever other little noise-making creatures are out there. How many Springtimes and Autumns did I play outside to that tune? How many nights of camping did I go to sleep hearing the chirp chirp of crickets and frogs? Uffi jokes that I grew up in a jungle (especially because of how loud it gets at night!), and I can imagine how wild NC must seem at first glance to a Finn. (At least we don't have bears and moose and wolves to worry about!). But those tunes are the song of my childhood, and I can't help but feel a bit lonely when I step outside at night here with no friendly bugs to sing and tell me that all is well with the world.

I miss Fireflies! I hope that some day my own kids will be able to run and chase after fireflies some summer night. I hope they stain a shirt or two with firefly guts. Summer has no night here, which is awesome in it's own way, but with no night then you can't delight in the dance of the fireflies. Remember chasing them? One moment they were right in front of you, the next they are high above you blinking as they escaped your dirty little fingers. Remember catching one and being amazed at the bright green glow as they crawled around your hands. Remember trying to make a firefly lamp out of an old soda bottle with a couple of holes?

Sometimes I wish I could go back to one day in my childhood, about ten years old. I would build forts, skin my knees, tramp in the stream again, catch turtles and toads. I would chase fireflies, scratch myself on blackberry brambles in an effort to pick cups full of those bitter sweet wild treats and pretend to be an orphan again (that was probably my favorite 'pretend' game.) I would climb trees and look for four leaf clovers, which I always seemed to be able to find, but can't for the life of me find any more! My auntie Kathy was folding my clothes one time when she was visiting, and all of my pants had grass stains and holes in the knees! She said "You sure know how to play hard!" And it must have been true! I think this is why I love teaching and kids. You get to go back to that same level, and enjoy life through a kids eyes a bit more. Maybe even more so with your own children, which I hope to be blessed with someday :)

Becoming Family

What it means to become ‘Family’....

To become part of a family, especially a big one, means if you let a little talent show (even if that tiny bit that shows is ALL you have) then your talent will be put to use! It means kiddos will come over and go straight to the candy dish on the kitchen table. It means they will also be brave enough to make a mess in your house, pull books off shelves, and build towers of blocks just to knock them everywhere. To BECOME family mean that you will be asked to do a ‘quick favor’ for someone and end up staying a whole day at their house, giving baths, ironing clothes, and playing with kiddos. People will show up at your house with no warning, and dogs will be kept at your house, barking through the night while their owners are on vacation. Children will wave to you along the road because they know you, and always a grin and a nod in the very least will be given when passing if there isn’t time to stop and chat. I have been waiting to BECOME part of the family, and it is finally happening! I love it!

Two incidents have happened that made me realize this, and both in the past week or so. One of Frank’s aunts, Linko, called and asked me to photograph her baby Maja and another cousin, Ethel, who both had just turned one. The reason they chose me, Linko said, was because my “camera took better pictures” than hers ;) So I am not sure that it was my *eh’hem* astounding talent that got the ‘job’. It was supposed to be a quick ‘session’ if I may call it that. It was supposed to start at 11 and be done quickly. When I got to the house the children are wild and hungry (what do you expect from 6 boys!) Maja needed a bath, and Maggo (Franks other aunt) was not there yet! Linko handed darling Maja off to me and told me to bath her while she made lunch. When the bath was done, and lunch was eaten, I was given Majas clothes to be ironed while Linko cleaned up. About 1 o’clock Maggo was finally there, the babies dressed cutely, and we were all set to start out 1 ½ hour photo session. That is a long time with two spunky one year olds! All in all, it was fun, and it made me feel like I belonged; like I wasn’t anything special or different to be impressed. I felt like family.

(This picture of maja was taken with a cheesy filter on my camera... but I thought it was kind of cute in an over edited sort of way :)

Today the other incident happened. Thankfully I had just tidied up the house because without warning another aunt, Cesi, pulled up with a van full of children, looking a bit desperate. Maggo was supposed to do her hair for a wedding, but something had come up last minute and the hairdresser couldn’t take her in so short of notice. Two weeks ago when we were in Sweden, I had done one of Franks cousin’s hair just for fun. In Cesi’s desperate search for a hair dresser, Gunilla (another one of Frank’s aunts) remembered my “skills” (ha!) and sent her in my direction. So there she was at my door asking if I had time to do her hair. Yikes! Of course I couldn’t turn her down, but I had never done anyone but my sister’s hair for any wedding, and I am not professional in the LEAST! After several tries (I was so nervous, lol) I finally managed to make it look halfway decent, and she went away happy. But the whole thing struck me again with that same feeling. I felt like family, I felt like someone who you could turn to if you needed help (yes, even if it’s just a hair-do). I love it that her kids messed the house, and that my table still has half eaten sandwiches on it (not to make Cesi look bad, I told her to leave it to me as she had a wedding to get ready for!) I am finally feeling like a niece, and not a foreign girl who married their nephew.

(This picture is from when I was doing the girls' hair in Sweden)

Visit from my brother, and my brother from another mother

Malachi, and Zach George came a few weeks ago and rode home with us from Sweden where they had been spending a few days. They both went home with lots of memories, and I think Finland left Zach with a good first impression :) We totally enjoyed having them here, although it was a bit hard to entertain them at first because they are young single guys out for the ladies ;) and we are old married folk who like to sit around and chat... and being that we are the only married couple of Franks friends, it makes it a bit awkward for us to run around with all the single Folk! Thankfully they met and knew some great people who took them around and gave them an awesome time  doing things like going to amusement parks, cliff jumping, and staying up till 7 in the morning to play "mosse fotboll" or moss/bog soccer. We gave them a taste of Finnish summer; relaxing at the summer house, boating, sauna, sauna, swimming, and more sauna. We sure miss them now that they are gone! Thankfully our list of American guests has not ended there yet! We are expecting Zach's aunt Laura Conover and later Sari Seppanen who will be in Scandinavia until November. Who knows, maybe some more folks will drop in :)

Zach is being tortured by flying ants!

Bug Juice

Yesterday evening Franks mom pulled her family by the ear to pick raspberries. There are a few things I learned about picking raspberries.

1. never...NEVER forget the bug spray. I must be getting somewhat immune to mosquito bites because I am not itching anywhere today, but it was pure torture to be bug food for 1 hour (that is about how long we lasted).

 2. Guys are bigger complainers than girls when it comes to picking berries and swatting mosquitoes. Frank and Philip complained the entire way there and were the first ones moaning of bug bites. Every few moments one would exclaim "Oh man! This is taking forever! Can we leave yet?"

3. Just because there are a lot of bushes and berries, doesn't mean it's a great place for berry picking. Bushes can be 'moldy' and berries can be tiny and EW! full of worms! Between Frank and I, we got a nice bucketful of worms with berries in them :S

Because the berries were so wormy we couldn't just freeze them like one would normally do, so Fia suggested I make 'saft', or juice concentrate from them. I actually happened to find a recipe online and it didn't look too hard so I went ahead and made blue-raspberry juice last night. It came out pretty good, if I do say so myself! And while boiling the berries I could skim the worms as they floated to the top of the batch :P  If that makes you squeamish, just don't ask for juice when you come for a visit! ;)

There is one thing about living in Finland as a housewife. It is advised that you harvest as many berries as your freezer can hold to take you through the winter. So far there are blueberries (I may need a few more liters though) Cloudberries, eventually I will have raspberries (picked from my own back yard, and hopefully NOT wormy!) and lingonberries which will be picked in the gloomy months of Fall. Lots of vitamins for those winter months! My measly 5 liters (a little over a gallon) of blueberries (which are actually smaller berries that we would call bilderberries) is nothing compared to what others pick in a normal season. I have heard of some having 50-100 liters (12-25 gallons) in their freezer for the winter! We will make things like saft, fruit soup, fruit sauces, pies, fruit salads, and sprinkle the rest on oatmeal... berry delicious! ;)

Oh for the love of babies

I have an announcement to make... I am NOT pregnant! ;)


Not that I wouldn't like to be or anything, but I keep getting those knowing looks anytime I have a complaint of headaches or upset stomach or tiredness. Franks sister Fanny tries to be subtle with her "WHY does your stomach hurt?" and "Why are you so tired?? hmmmm?". Just yesterday I was a bit tired (it was about 11:30 and Frank was still not out of the summer house sauna with his dad and Toffe) so I relaxed on the couch; my hand unconsciously laying on my stomach. Fanny sits beside me and stares for a bit before asking in a hopeful voice "Are you feeling sick? Why are you holding your stomach?" Of course I could be reading too much into it, but I just have to chuckle because my own sister doesn't even try to be subtle. Any time I talk to Victoria one of her first questions is "Are you pregnant yet?!". Oh the joy that babies bring!

I started thinking today of a precious scene I saw this past weekend (that is where I got the topic for this blog post... a bit random, I know). Jonas and Maria recently had their 5th boy, and a darling little guy he is! The amazing and wonderful thing about babies is that every new addition is just as beautiful and cherished as the last. I watched as the eldest of Jonas and Maria reached into the pram and picked up his new brother so tenderly, that one can hardly say that boys are not effected by babies. I witnessed such a look of love  and protectiveness in big brother's eyes when he cradled his baby brother and held him close that it made my eyes get moist and made me see boys in a whole new light. What a great thing it is to have a big brother! What a great thing it is to have a little one :)

I remember in third grade my parents made the announcement that baby number 8 was expected the next Fall. How excitement filled the house! The look on my dad's face when he made the announcement, the grins on my brothers faces, and the content look on my mom's face when she looked around on all of the joy it brought. It was supposed to be a secret from the rest of the world, but that minor detail escaped me somehow. Although I was not told we could tell people the news yet, I also don't remember anyone telling me not to tell! The next day at school I was eager to share the great tidings with my friends and teachers. And since it was Awards Day at school, I also shared it with my friend parents and my aunt and cousins (I guess it wasn't a secret after that!) From every teacher I got the exclamation "Another one?!!" I am sure they didn't understand how baby number 8 could be so exciting, after all it should be old hat to our "humongous" family. Only someone who has grown up in a large family, or is raising one can fathom the great love that multiplies rather than divides! Every new baby is a gift from heaven. Every new baby is there to bring more happiness, laughs, smiles, and love to the entire family. 

On a side note, we did not know what gender baby number 8 was until later, but I prayed and prayed for it to be a little sister (being stuck in the middle of 6 boys made it hard to appreciate brothers at the time!) and please could it perhaps have red hair like me! When Marika was born with a fluff on red on top, I told my mom that she was exactly what I prayed for... And after that I never had an excuse to complain of little sisters and sharing rooms :P "You prayed for her!" is the famous admonishment anytime I complained about little sisters messing in my stuff, and later big little sister taking my clothes and sleeping in my bed while I was away... so, moral of the story is; be careful what you pray for! ;) (Kidding!)

"Why this is very midsummer madness!" -William Shakespeare

It wasn't quite mad, yet it wasn't quite the normal weekend either. Normal? There is no 'normal' weekend here. In fact, I have been living in perpetual spontaneity since we moved here! There hasn't been a week where we went to bed at the same time, or where I woke up at the same time, yet. Sometimes when I go to bed I think "man, I can't wait till Fall, so that the days are evened out again!" But I know that it will never happen. Anyways, back to the subject; Midsummer weekend.

Midsummer evening was a Friday night, and most people had the day out of work. We spent ours at Franks parents summer house with their family. Not really doing much, just eating out doors, enjoying the sunshine, and me pretending to be a kid again. Not growing up going to the summer house every summer and free day, I don't quite have the memories that everyone else has. The memories that make the summer house a glad retreat from every day life. A place to go and reminisce, and just be glad simply because of the fond memories attached. For me, I get slightly bored sometimes, so I have to make memories for myself. I always have this itch to go explore places like I did when I was a kid. Climb on rocks, pick flowers, look into all of the nooks and crannies. Wade, fish, find baby birds nests...  So, in the pretense of amusing Fanny (who really does need amusing quite a bit) we head off and do all of the things I long to do. Midsummer evening, we clambered around a cluster of rocks and I picked wildflowers for my midsummer crown.

That evening Franks aunt and uncle were invited over for coffee. So what do they do? they float their entire summer house over to ours (no joke!) Actually there is a story behind the floating summer house. They are not allowed to build anything permanent on the land they own on an island (some gov't regulation) so, until they get permission for that in about 20-60 years (if ever) they have done all kinds of creative "non-permanent" things on the land. For a while they had a huge mansion of a tent until if recently got  a hole in it (?). That is when Kenneth (Franks Uncle) decided to build his floating summer house. Something sturdy they could live in, yet not actually have it built onto the land.

Saturday Frank helped his dad build a deck/dock at the summer house, and it was more relaxing, trampoline jumping and later sauna and swimming. Sunday was church services at a local park on an island called Köpmanholmen. The small island was surrounded by boats, big and small, and packed with people and children. The services were so peaceful, with the lull of the preachers voices, and the rustle of the wind, and the singing of the birds. The sun was high, and the air was so warm. It was a beautiful day to be out on the sea, which is exactly what we did afterwards. We piled into two boats and motored our way out to the edge of the Ostrobothnian archipelago to have coffee on another island and simply enjoy God's creation. I will remember that sunday, because it was the first time this summer that I was on the sea and was not chilled by the wind. Frank wishes I would go out on the boat more with him (and more willingly) but I try to explain that it isn't the boat or the sea that I don't like, but being cold. Oh, how I hate being chilled! If everyday were as warm as that day on the sea, I would be out there every day. One random thing I learned that day also; I saw a mamma duck with the most ducklings I have ever seen in one badelynge, with probably 15-20 ducklings! I pointed it out to Uffi, and he explained that another duck had abandoned the ducklings and the duck I saw had adopted them for her own, and that it wasn't unusual with that type of duck. Pretty cool!

Hem sweet Home

Since I have moved here I have noticed that people all tend to ask the same questions of me, all with good intentions of course. "How is it to live in Finland?" "Are you home sick?" "When are your parents coming?" "Do you call your mom every day?"... and the list goes on. That last question though, is what made me want to start another blog. It's really difficult to call home often, and usually it is with much frustration. Our WiFi is not very good in this house, and neither is it the greatest at home. The best way to call is with Skype, and with bad WiFi it can be an excruciating experience. I long to talk, and have a real conversation and be able to SEE everyone without shouting "can you hear me? can you hear me now? Yikes! now I can hear myself! I can't see you at ALL! The video is bad... what? what did you say?" ughh, just thinking of it makes me crabby. Anyone who has had experience with Skype will know exactly what I mean! (And to think, I have been in a 4 year relationship with Frank, mostly over Skype...so glad we're married now!)

Well, Mom, and everyone else who reads this, it is high time for a tour of the home-sweet-home! I am really loving being a housewife, and am secretly glad I don't have a "real job" until Fall. I realize that I am still in the honeymoon stage of "house-wiving", and want to enjoy it while I can! It would be a lot more difficult to enjoy if I had to come home from work everyday, and scramble to get the house in order, and make supper and everything else that has to be done normally. It would be possible, of course, but it would not be so enjoyable :) I still feel like I am playing house most days! Our house sits on a hill overseeing Franks grandpa's land... a couple of hay fields and lots of wilderness. It is pretty windy here... even on a warm day you get chilled by the wind most days because we are so close to the sea. Some day I would like to move a bit more inland to get away from the wind. This house is actually Franks uncle's, and we are renting it for the duration of their stay in Sweden for work, which will probably be about a year, maybe longer. It has an unfinished upstairs that Uffi and Fia (Frank's Uncle and Aunt) are planning to complete as their family grows.

 The mudroom/laundry room

This is our full bath... plus the sauna

Entry way... and the stairs that lead nowhere ;)

The Kitchen... do come over for coffee! I would love some company :)

Our living room... our whole house is sadly bare of small things like rugs and throw pillows... Fia left me some of her curtains to borrow until I have my own, and this is their old furniture (so thankful for it!) I will have to post before and after photos when I do some of my own decorating :) 

Our bedroom... the bedspread is from the US, and has lovely pillow shams to go with it...when I get around to buying more pillows! Montana Pennala also gave me some throw pillow shams that go nearly perfectly with the bed! The lamps were left behind by Fia, but I have added my own touch to them!

 Our Guest room... sorry, only available for single folks for now ;) hehe.. anyone want to come occupy the room and give us some company?!! We would love it!

our half-bath... pretty plain-jane at the moment!












I still have lots of little things to get... rugs, bed-side and coffee tables, pictures to fill the picture frames, curtains...etc! But I am enjoying having a place to make my own, and feeling very content with life right now. To answer those questions at the beginning of this post; Living in Finland is great, it feels like just where I am supposed to be in life right now and that gives me great peace and contentedness. God is taking care of me and Frank, and I can see it most when He smooths over all the little hardships of starting out a new life as a young married couple in a foreign land. No, I'm not homesick! I really miss my family, but I don't feel that it is quite the same. Oh, I would dearly love to grab Annika in a tight hug, and hear her telling me things in her sweet baby voice. I would love to tease my nephews, and be at home for Sunday lunch with everyone else. I would love to be there to receive Christiana and Gabriel's lovingly drawn pictures and see their eyes light up and watch them get shy when I exclaim how awesome their pictures are. I miss my mom and dad and all of my siblings, but no, I'm not homesick.  I feel at home here, in my own little home with my own dear husband. Anyways, lastly; I have no idea when my parents are coming! But it would be great if it weren't too far off! ;) HINT HINT!