Funnies

Some final Funnies from Finland:

When we would wait outside for the taxi (for Josh and Claire to go to school), the boys would get 'cold', and instead of wearing gloves and a coat, they would put shoes on their hands...and then walk around like 'doggies'.  So silly!!

Peter catching some bubbles!  I love it!

Time to ride on the train!  I especially like Peter's 'cool dude' sunglasses!

One more view of the backyard...Sigh.  Oh, I'll miss this place!!

O Suomi.  Such wonderful memories we have of you!

Girl in a Whirl

The past few weeks have been a complete blur for me.  I can hardly believe that we've been away from Finland now for almost an entire week.  Peter is still crying for Ari every night, and we're still having some issues with the jetlag and shellshock (the states really ARE different than Finland), but we're ok.  Just for fun, though, I never did blog about all that we did the last little while, so I thought I would put up our last few weeks in bullet form, using mostly pictures, and some notes from my calendar...

• We had a night out with friends--A Prom organized by the Marines.  We got Peter down to bed, and our good friend Ari came and had a movie night with Andrew, Claire and Joshua.  The kids were over the moon to have Ari stay with them without mom and dad! :) (Here's a sad funny, though...the cost of the prom was 5 euros each.  We got in the car to go and realized that all the  money we had was 6 euros in change--and we're talking some serious change!  Mostly 5 and 10 cent pieces.  Doh!  So, we ran to an ATM to get the money, and it was denied because we only had 18 cents left in the account!!  Gah!!  Well, we had two choices:  We could just call it good and go home, or just go and pay later.  We went anyway.  However, I think in the whirl of the end, we never managed to find more euros.  I think maybe I should mail something to them...)

(The 'sleepover' with Ari)

(On our way! I wore my African dress.)

(The sky outside as we were driving home...at 10:30pm. I admit, I miss it!) 

• Some friends from church threw a sort of 'going away' party for us and some other friends who are leaving.

(The kids played upstairs: cars, video games, ice hockey/foosball, dressup, etc.)

(We sat and chatted on the deck)

(Eating is important at every gathering!)

(Andrew sitting by Uncle Ari)

(Annika, Hillary, Tara, Ruth...all my good buddies!) 

• The packers came to take away all our stuff...

(It's a very Smurfy company.)

(The beginnings of taking apart the living room)

(The moving truck...Oh, how I will miss this view!!!)

(All boxed up.  Sad.)

 (The cleanest you will EVER see my kitchen!!)

• The night before we left, Ari came for one last bedtime story time.  We love Ari.  (You'd BETTER come visit us in Jordan!!!!!!)

Some other interesting happenings that didn't appear in picture form:

• We had only one car...and then none...so we finally utilized the Finnish transportation system and had a ball!!  Why didn't I use it before?  It was SO nice not to have to find a parking spot for many of our outings!  However, it DID take most of the day!  For example, on Sunday, we were gone for EIGHT hours.  We did have dinner at a friends' house, but getting to church, to our friends' house, then back home took many hours!  Wow!  But, it was still fun!
• We had end of year school presentations and parties to attend.
• I played my clarinet at a baptism of the son of some good friends...and at church.
• Park and beach outings with friends.
• Our traditional Memorial Day at the local amusement park (Linnanmaki).

This makes it sound like I didn't do too much my last 2 weeks in Helsinki, but Wow.  Life was definitely a blur.  We will all miss Finland.  It's such a beautiful place!  But more than anything, we will miss the friends we made there who became family.  Please keep in touch.  We love you.

Girl Time

I was looking over things, and realized that I never posted some pretty important girl time outings!!  There were two big ones that Claire and I did...so here they are!!

First, we went to Disney on Ice!  We had a great time hanging out by the spotlight guy and watching all the characters dance about and burst into song!  It was in Finnish, of course, but we knew most of the songs and just enjoyed the time together!

We also went to a real ballet!!  We saw Copellia.  I managed to get a few pictures in before I was told that cameras weren't allowed in the Opera house.  DOH!!

We feel very cultured now. 

Stress: It's a killer!

I've always had issues with stress.  Usually, I just shut down, or get a cold sore.  This time around, I think I've been more stressed than normal.  To date, I've had cold sores, broken out in hives, had some sort of stomach ulcer issue, and even eczema!!  Holy Cow!!  On top of that, I'm suffering from the worst case of seasonal allergies that I've ever had (think runny nose, itchy eyes, itchy ears, itchy throat, and asthmatic-like closing of the wind pipe--I sound like I have a smokers' cough, as if I laugh too much, I start to cough uncontrollably)!  Let's pile on some more, shall we?  While on our bike ride, I pinched a nerve somewhere in my arm, and the two small fingers in my left hand are STILL numb...makes it hard to play the piano, organ, clarinet, or type on the computer!  Then, on Monday, I only put sunscreen on my face...and wore a t-shirt with a scoop neck.  Six hours in the sun without sunscreen and not having seen the sun for months is NOT a good mix.  I got a pretty severe 2nd degree burn.  It burns and itches like MAD and is driving me CRAZY.  My face itches, too, from hives, eczema, and a slight sunburn.  I don't have my after-sun aloe vera stuff since it's all packed away and on its way to Jordan.  Dang.  So, I've been on more medication in the past two weeks than I have in my entire life!  Claritin, Dimetapp, Benadryll, Hydrocortizone Cream, Lavender/Tea tree oil, Ibuprofen...there isn't much relief, though. 

And here's the funniest thing: Last night, my sweet visiting teaching partner invited our whole family to dinner.  (For those who don't know, the two of us, as visiting teachers, visit a group of women from church and share gospel messages with them, and serve them and stuff like that.)  I love this woman to death!  Her name is Kaija Tapola.  When she has us over for dinner, she makes a TON of food, and won't take no for an answer!  (It doesn't help that her hearing isn't as keen as it used to be and while her English is really fantastic, sometimes she misses things...oh, and she's 78 years old.)  So, she made a wonderful meal with chicken, meatballs, salad, french fries, pasta...and we all ate until we were stuffed!  THEN, she pulled out this GORGEOUS cake.  It was covered with cool whip and strawberries and caramel sauce and had strawberry jam and bananas layered in the middle...  Oh dear.  Most people know I've sworn off sugar.  Normally, I just tell people that I'm sorry, I just can't do it.  But with Kaija, you can't do that.  I haven't had any sugar, or anything like that at all, for almost 4 months!  Honestly, I didn't even want any, but she started cutting me a piece.  Claire piped up and said, "Give mom only a LITTLE piece, because she's on a diet!"  Well, it's not really a diet...  Anyway, she replied, "No diets today!!!" and slapped a big piece of cake on my plate.  Now, if I didn't eat it, she'd feel super bad, so I did.  And I had to fight against her giving me more!  However, here's the funny part: I broke out in a HUGE rash after eating it!!  HA!!  I'M ALLERGIC TO SUGAR!!!  Ok, so that is, of course, only theoretical, as it could have been the flour, too.  But if I'm going to break out in an itchy rash all over my body after eating sugar/flour every time I do that, then I am most definitely NOT going to eat it anymore.  Ugh.  It was SO awful!  I was SO itchy and had to take a double dose of Benadryll in order to sleep.  Just add it to the list, I guess.  I'm falling apart!  But, it was a blessing, really.  I love everyone, and I'd never want to hurt anyone's feelings by not eating their special treats...but please don't offer me anything with sugar or wheat/white flour.  I'm honestly not going for weight loss.  It just makes me feel horrible and doesn't agree with my aging body! :D  I'm having a hard time dealing with all the weird reactions I'm having to everything.  I think it's time for the stress to be over.  Bleh.

Kiitos

The house is empty.  I feel like I'm living in a perpetual bathroom with the echo that we now have!  I still feel rather disoriented as I reach for something that I know should be there, only to find that it's gone.  It's funny; we've lived here longer than any other house we've ever lived in, and yet it feels like our time here has been shorter than most.  Why is that?  I feel like I'm just getting started!  I've never counted down the days until departure.  I started doing that just a few days ago, as I realized that there are less than 2 weeks now until we fly out.  I feel so unprepared--mentally--to move.  I'm not sure if it's simply because I didn't do any sort of countdown, or because I've just plain been in denial, but it's still just not real.  Our house is empty of all our stuff, and it's still not real.  Devin brought home our plane tickets and it's just not real.  I unpacked all our packed bags and put them away in our drawers today--yes, I'm still in denial!  What is my problem?  I've been sweeping and mopping and vacuuming up the dustbunnies (and let me tell you, they are MASSIVE!!  I was afraid that they'd eat me once or twice!  Note to self: Dust under the furniture once in awhile!!)--I've been decluttering for months.  I'm more physically prepared this time around than I've ever been (while completely ignoring my friends--I'M SORRY EVERYONE!!!!), but mentally, I'm not quite there yet.

Well, regardless of when we leave, I want to enjoy my last few days here in Helsinki.  I will miss so many things.  I've learned SO many things here!  I will always have very fond memories of Finland.  I've learned a little about how to get out of my comfort zone and just do things and meet people.  I've learned that I actually don't like DARK days (I used to think I preferred dark days to sunny ones)--I still like STORMY days, but there is a marked difference between a DARK day and a STORMY day.  Can't say I'll miss those super duper short winter days...the months at a time when you don't actually see the sun at all...*shiver*  I've learned I do actually like the sun!  I've learned about my passion for all things exercise and outdoor sports!!  Who knew that I had a runner/biker in me?  It's thanks to the amazing walking/biking paths and the safety of this place that I began running and bicycling--which led to my desire to up my cardio exercises and change my diet to a much healthier one!  I've learned I have severe allergies to birch pollen.  I've learned that if the police are standing in the middle of the road, they want you to stop so they can check your breath!  I've enjoyed the Spring, Summer and Fall here more than anywhere else--the seasons are SO marked, and SO beautiful!  I've learned about skiing, walking on frozen lakes, swimming in summer lakes, the importance of the sauna, and the goodness of rye bread!  I've met Santa, traveled through amazing areas of lakes and land bridges in a motorhome, and gone on a 100+mi bike ride through chains of islands in a Northern Sea!  I've learned to dislike shoveling driveways in the winter (ha ha), but some of those roads in the winter just take your breath away with their beauty and serenity. 

Yes, I've come to love Finland.  Kiitos, Suomi.  We are moving on to a new adventure, but I will leave a part of my heart here. 

Allergies and Boxes

Pollen will be the death of me.  I walk around like a zombie most of the day with itchy, swollen eyes and a runny nose.  At night, I'm exhausted...but as soon as I lay down my airways close up and I can't breathe anymore.  I've tried Claritin (and knock-offs) and even Dimetapp.  Dimetapp works like a charm for about an hour or so, but I can't imagine drinking a whole bottle for one good nights' sleep.

Last night was one of the worst nights yet.  It could be that today is moving day.  It could be that I worked a little too hard yesterday and was too tired.  It could be that some well-meaning person left the window open all night long (while the temperature here is GORGEOUS right now, I just can't take the pollen).  Whatever it was, I couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight (went to bed at 10) no matter what I tried.  Then, at 4 am, I woke up and knew it was futile.  There was no way I was getting back to bed.  My eyes are swollen, my nose is running, the cough is hovering on the edge, and I can hardly breathe--think asthma.

So, here I am.  I've checked my email, chatted with my sister on facebook instant messaging, and generally enjoyed the morning.  I missed the sunrise, but that's ok.

I still can't believe moving day is actually here.  We've lived here longer than we've ever lived anywhere else, and yet it feels like the time has flown by so quickly.  It still doesn't feel real.  We can't be leaving.  Not yet.

Well, it's now 5:30am, and it sounds like the cavalry is rising.  I will soon by joined by some little boys.  Everyone's up early today!  Looks like it's going to be a long...and interesting...day.  I will have to post pictures of my house all packed up.....maybe after I get myself another box of Puffs with Vicks.  I just used up my latest box. *sniff*

Countdown

The clock is ticking and things are really winding down.  I feel like all I've been doing for the past month + is decluttering and organizing my house.  I've pared down SO MUCH, and it feels great!  However, it's become rather addictive, and I admit that I'm eyeing everything I own and wondering if I could just throw it away... Ha!!  Sometimes I feel like moving is like committing suicide in a way... Yes, that's a super morbid analogy, but really--a part of my life is dying.  I won't be living in Helsinki again--maybe we'll come to visit some day, but that's different.  I won't be around these special people anymore--only through emails and perhaps an occasional visit.  So, I'm sending out my 'warning signs'--I'm giving away all my possessions!  Anyone want our old winter clothes (for the kids)?  I've still got 2 large boxes of books left to get rid of.  I'm sure if you came to my house and asked, "Can I have that?" I'd give it to you.

Bicycling for 2 (part 2)

So, the cottage...  Well, it was your typical Finnish summer cottage.  A small building with only the bare necessities...well, maybe not even that.  It had a bed, a small table and two little couch/benches by the table.  This one, thankfully, had electricity, which was marvelous, as we were COLD by this time.  It did not, however, have running water nor a bathroom.  The bathroom was a good 200 meters away.  Lovely.  So, we got to shower in a nice warm shower...then run back to the cottage and get all cold again!  Ha!!  The BEST part, though, was the middle of the night (2am) when I woke up and I just REALLY had to go.  Dang.  So, I hauled myself up and realized that there was a RAGING storm going on outside!!  Perfect.  So, I got to do a 200m dash through a CRAZY storm at 2am!  Ha!!  I had my jacket over my head, but that wind was blowing and you could see those poor docked boats going crazy and there was a thick fog...pretty intense.  But, hey, at least there WAS a bathroom, even if it was a ways away, as I don't think I could have done the forest in the middle of the night in a storm.

The next morning, we were up and raring to go by 7am.  We saw there was a light up in the office, so we thought that's perfect!  Let's go check out!  We knocked on doors and windows, but no one answered.  Doh.  The opening sign said 9am, so we decided to wait it out.  Nothing is open in Finland until at LEAST 9am, so we just went back to our cozy little cottage and played Scattegories.  We're funny like that.  At 9, we jumped out ready to check out and head out...and there was a note on the door saying they would open maybe around 10 instead.  NO WAY!!  Time to go!!  So, we left all our cash we had on-hand (no atms available so early) and the keys inside the cottage (no paper or pens to write a note) and hoped they wouldn't be too mad!  (We have since contacted them via email to pay for the remainder--no worries!)

Off we went!!  DAY 2: ~78km

It was a lovely 5K to our next ferry ride:

And we headed on down the highway.  We were now on mainland Finland, and it was a different ride.  We rode for 40+km on the highway, and I have to admit that it was much more stressful hugging the shoulder and hoping I didn't get sideswiped by a giant semi!!  There were lots of pretty farmlands (well, there was the entire way, actually, and sometimes the smell was pretty overwhelming) and more bridges to cross:

The highway was, admittedly, slightly excruciating.  We finally hit a turnoff for a side road that would take us through a more scenic (and less traveled) route.  The only problem: Now we had a serious headwind.  Blech.

Hooray!!! Merimasku means we're almost to our evening stop!!!!

Once we hit the turnoff for Merimasku, we found ourselves on a gorgeous dirt road--with no headwind!!!  Hooray!!  We put the pedal to the metal and had a blast doing some 'off-roading'!

Hooray!  Inside Naantali lies our stop!

Such a pretty road...

A killer hill.  It doesn't look so bad in the picture...but it just kept on going up and up and up and up and up...

The view at the top was worth it, though.  It always is! :)

We made it!!  Here we are in front of the Naantali Spa Hotel where we stayed the night.  Now, let me tell you that THIS is where you need to stay after a long bike ride!  Wow.  It was pretty much amazing.

This hotel was amazing.  It had all kinds of sections to it.  There was a hostel, there was a main hotel area, there was a 'residence', and there was a YACHT section!  Yes, there was a large yacht that had been made into part of the hotel, complete with some pretty impressive rooms.  Since this was an anniversary outing, and we were all alone sans enfants, we had a very sheik room on the yacht!  We had a seaside window to look out of:

Since this hotel is a spa, they provided bathrobes!  There were people walking all over the hotel wearing their bathrobes.  I thought it was hilarious!  So we put them on and took a picture using the huge mirror in our room:

(We ARE dressed underneath, I promise...)

We're so silly...   When we were looking into this place before our outing, we saw that there were pools, etc., but considering the fact that this is Finland, we figured the pools would be SUPER cold, and who wants to swim in a super cold pool after a long bike ride?  Not me.  So, we didn't bring swimsuits or anything.  Then, once we were at the hotel, we were reading some of the hotel info, and noticed that they had 2 indoor pools (heated to 27C!!!), and OUTDOOR pool (heated to 30C!!!), two huge jacuzzis, saunas and even a Turkish bath!!  Now, all of that sounded absolutely MARVELOUS!!!  So, we began a search for swimsuits--and luckily this hotel knows that sometimes people come without swimsuits, and they sold them in the spa center!  Sweet!!  So, we bought ourselves swimsuits and spent a glorious afternoon swimming in heated pools inside and out and sitting in jetted jacuzzis and enjoying saunas and the Turkish bath (which was pretty cool, too)!  Wow.  What a treat!  Then a buffet dinner and a leisurely walk through a park (it was 8pm, still light, and so lovely and calm) before turning in.

The next morning, we got up early, made our buffet breakfast just as it opened, then ran over to the pools when they opened so we could get in another hour or two of swimming before heading off for the last (very short) leg of our journey.  Oh, it was so nice!!

Thus it happened that, feeling refreshed and ready to go and play with our kids again, we checked out of the hotel and headed over to the bikes.  We got there, and something was wrong.  Devin's bike was there.  Mine was not.  It was gone.  Someone stole my bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That has to be one of the worst most sickening feelings in the world--when something you depend on is stolen.  Devin hopped on his bike to drive around and see if maybe someone took it for a spin and dropped it off somewhere else (not likely, it's a NICE bike), and I sat down on the spot where my bike should have been and sobbed.  Honestly, I just kept feeling like it couldn't possibly be gone.  That just couldn't happen!  It's still here close, I can find it!  But then I reminded myself that it was just gone.  I prayed and prayed that we could find it--that it would just appear--something!!!!  It couldn't be gone...

So now what??  We went into the hotel and reported it to the front desk, and they gave us the contact info to the police (which was totally useless, as we called and they were closed!!) and told us where the nearest bus station was where we could catch a bus to Turku--our last stop before loading ourselves onto the train to get home.  I just felt empty and devastated.  My bike!!  That was my mode of transportation!  Yes, we could make it on buses and trains and walking...and yes, I could get another one, but it's my bike!  I felt violated on a personal level...like the rug had just been pulled out from under me.  I was looking forward to the end of our journey--to making it to our official 100mile mark.  Now, we were 7km short.  It was all just sickening.

Tearfully, we walked into town and found the bus and hopped on.  Devin, half-jokingly, said we should watch out the window and maybe someone will be riding my bike.  I admit that every time I saw a bike or a person on a bike, I felt a little anticipation and hope that it was mine.  Then, about 5 minutes into our bus ride, Devin looks up and says, "THERE IT IS!!"  I look out the window, and lo and behold, MY BIKE is sitting propped up against the side of a little cafe not 500m from our hotel--in the opposite direction from which we had walked!!  Psychotically, we reached over and started pushing the stop button and yelling about how we needed to get off and get my bike and there it is...I KNOW those poor Finns on the bus were thinking something like, "Crazy loud Americans..."  I just couldn't believe it!  The bus driver, of course, couldn't stop until the next bus stop, but luckily it wasn't far, and we hopped off.  Devin rode like the wind and I sprinted after him (obviously I didn't run as fast as he could bike).  As I got to the top of a hill, here comes Devin holding both of our bikes!!

What can I say?  The rush of gratitude to my Heavenly Father that I felt in that moment was incredible.  I KNOW that He inspired Devin to look up at that moment and see my bike.  That is the ONLY way we could have found that needle in a haystack.  I ran up and hugged my bike and hugged Devin and my heart was full of prayers of thanksgiving.  It was such a 'little' thing, but it meant so much to me.  It was a wonderful reminder to me how God is aware of even the small things in our lives that are important to us.  I hopped on that bike and felt such a glow of happiness to have it back again--and such an awareness of God's love for me (and Devin, too!!!!)--I think we rode twice as fast, both of us with giant smiles on our faces and gratitude in our hearts.

I did have to wonder what the person who stole my bike would think when they came out of the cafe: "Hey!  Who stole my stolen bike??"  I don't know.  I'm sad they did it in the first place, but I don't feel angry toward them.  I just hope they don't do it again.  I was crushed.

But how amazing...  Our trip was marvelous.  We were SO blessed to have great weather the entire time we were riding (except one small rain shower), when rain was forecast for the entire time!  We even managed quite a bit of sunshine--but mostly the weather was PERFECT for riding!  So in that, we were blessed.  We were blessed to stay in wonderful, comfortable places where we were protected and rejuvenated.  We were blessed with the strength to ride for hours at a time--and while we kept it at a pretty leisurely pace (we averaged about 20km/hour, except for our ride to Turku and ride from Espoo center to home, where we averaged around 30+km/hour, which was our Day 3 ~25km altogether), it was definitely further than I've ever gone at any one time before!  I was never tired, I never walked my bike, I never felt like I just couldn't possibly go on, I never felt like it was too hard, too long, or was never going to end.  I had all the energy I needed and was able to truly enjoy the entire trip!

If our trip would have had 'only' those blessings, I would count it as a great trip.  But then, we were blessed to have the experience right at the end.  The bike was stolen, then it was found, and we know it was only by inspiration that it was found--and it became an incredible and miraculous experience!  I am ever so thankful for these small (and not so small) miracles that come from every day experiences!  I'm SO thankful for a loving God who watches over us and cares for us and cares about what we care about--who is mindful of us at all times.  I'm grateful for a husband who is so marvelous and amazing--who listens to the spirit--who is funny, kind, patient, loving, and phenomenal.  I love him and I'm so grateful we were able to do this outing together--to enjoy time alone to remember why we got married--why we're still married--to spend time just the two of us, enjoying each others company!  He kept me laughing the whole time we were riding.  We had so much fun talking, quoting movies, and generally being very silly together.  I'm grateful for the 10+ years we've spent together, and look forward to many more!

178km on bicycle + 3 days together = Priceless memories to cherish for a lifetime!