another evening in Finland ...

there are many stories i would like to share with you guys ... but that will have to wait until i get home and can post pictures ...

it has truly been a whirlwind trip .... tomorrow will be the last visit with my aunt and uncle who lost their eldest son - my cousin ... that will be sad to give them that last farewell hug ...

there have been so many tears and laughter mingled ... plus those strong, bone breaking hugs, the kind where you rock back and forth ...

and times of eating until my tummy is full ...

sauna's every night ...

and many folks who i just do not have time to see - are disappointed ...

through it all, i have had a peace that the Lord is with me - even though my prayer time and bible reading have been limited ... He knew ahead of time and prepared my heart, then prepared others to pray for me ... and i thank Him for that ... and i also thank those of you who have remembered me ...

we head home to canada on thursday ... but i don't think i will get home to leo until sunday ... unless my flight can be changed ... we shall see how things fall into place ...

blessings to you all ... time to head for bed!

(even though the time underneath is early afternoon - it is close to 10 p.m. here)

blessed day

the funeral is now over ... tho' sad, it was done so beautifully - that all attending were blessed ...

the minister said all the right things, and i found myself nodding my head and quietly saying "amen" as he spoke ... the family grieved, yet they also seemed to accept the fact that someone so loved, had lived out the time that God had allotted to him ...

i presented my flowers (picture a lone figure, dressed all in black, standing by a white coffin) and read Revelations 21:3 ... in Finnish ... it seemed right ...

the whole day was taken up with honouring my cousin ... he was so respected by his family and the community ... it touched my heart ...

thank you so much for praying ...

Lord willing, i'll be posting pictures when i get home ...

tomorrow we are going to church in the morning, and it will probably be another longer type day ...

big hugs to you all ...

in Finland!

greetings from finland ... good trip here, just snow everywhere! in every city from winnipeg to toronto to frankfurt to helsinki! and then we had to drive 2 hours on yucky highways to get to our final destination! i was too tired to be nervous! besides the verses on trusting, rather than fearing - were being lived out!!

i've had a good sleep (hopefully jet lag will be non existent!) ... and i'm waiting at one cousins place for another cousin (different sides of the family) to come visit ...

i've spoken with leo a few times and he is being visited every day, by a neighbour or friend or even both! he's probably seeing more people now, then he has in 2 years time!

we will be leaving here a day earlier, because of booked flights on the friday - but that is all in God's design, since we have arrived a day earlier than originally planned ...

thank you for your prayer!!! sending (hugs) love, saija

He is Risen!

Happy Easter Morning blog buds! the Victory has been won for us! *smile*

i may not get a chance to post for some days ... i will try to drop a note from Finland ... thank you for your prayer ... and may God richly bless each one of you!

the following is a post from 3 years ago ... just sharing it again ...


our Good Friday has been quiet ... we watched the Gospel of John movie, which stayed true to scripture ... tho’ we should have watched it in 2 sittings because a solid 3 hours was lots to digest ... not too many "fast forward" parts in it either ... i would recommend it, even as a possible teaching tool ...

the movie got me to thinking about my role as a woman of faith ... even tho’ Jesus’ 12 disciples were men, He did number women in His close circle of friends ... what particularly struck me (and why i posted the above picture) is the fact that it was a woman who first heralded the good news of a Risen Christ ... a woman who first saw Christ ... after centuries of being in the role of a lesser being - it was a woman who first glimpsed His resurrected Glory! ... maybe it was the forgiveness our gender was seeking for Eve’s seduction back in the Garden ... do you think?

getting ready ...

thank you for your encouragement ... for the trip ahead ... i so appreciate it!

i have been doing the "getting ready" things ... such as: ordering some euros (the bank said it usually takes 2 weeks to get the money in, but they did it in 24 hours - no charge!) ... buying appropriate clothes (it worked out they were on sale, and so comfortable!) ... and one of the students who works part-time at the library, will do my hours for me, since it is break time here in manitoba!

2 of our old neighbours will look in on leo ... the local grocery store will deliver leo his chocolate milk and other food stuff - all he has to do is call ... things are falling into place ...

i am undecided on how to get to the airport ... i do have a few options ... just praying for the best one for all concerned ...

tomorrow is a work day for me ... so maybe it will be good to just do the library stuff, and put all my thinking & figuring on hold for the day ... the Lord has been so good in working out even the smallest of details, there must be something eternal that will come out of this trip ... i'm praying so!

tickets are bought

my tickets are bought ... i leave on the 25th ... my cousin's funeral will be on the 29th ... then, Lord willing, i will get home on 6 April ...

i know the day of the funeral will be sad ... yet - i want to be there - i haven't experienced a time of mourning with my paternal relatives ... the service will be at the village church ... it has an old cemetary around it ... that is where my father's parents are buried ... and my great-grandparents sleep there too ... and that will be the same soil my cousin will be laid to rest in ...

i will keep you in my loop ... as much as possible ... if you can pray for me ... when i come to mind ... thank you!

a trip?

at the moment - life is fast paced here at condo central ...

as i type this, i am 95% sure that i will be going to finland ... either next week or the week after ... for my cousin's funeral ... they have a different time frame for their funerals ... the service happens 2 or 3 weeks after the death ...

it will be a quick trip ... my companion will be my aunt maija (click here ) ... in fact, it was this sweet aunt of mine who called and asked if i wanted to go ... she was able to get me standby tickets for half price - making it affordable ... and this isn't even her side of the family - it is my dad's - my aunt maija is my mom's sister! she just has a tender, sweet, heart ...

so - i will find out on tuesday which weekend the funeral is on ...

leo is supportive of this trip, i wouldn't go otherwise ... he wants me to be there with the family ... and i was so gungho about it yesterday - so positive! ... but today, fear started taking bites out of me ...

i thought ... what if leo gets a fever? (i will be away for at least 12 days) ... what if my sister maria dies? what about the new doctor's appt.? the one i'll have to change ...

what if, what if, what if ...

then - like always - the Lord reminded me through His Word ... "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 ... God hasn't given me a spirit of fear ... so if my feelings aren't from God - who is trying to butt into my spiritual heart? ... the heart that belongs to my Saviour, who has redeemed me for Himself ... He conquered sin, conquered death ... and He has given me His Holy Spirit to dwell within me ... that hard won peace that Jesus died for! there is no fear in Him ...

so i resolve to take the trip, trusting the Lord to have worked out all details ...

i will continue in prayer (could you pray for me too? and leo?) ... and i shall let you know how this all develops ...

oh - one more thing - leo would like to borrow someone's cat for 2 weeks - so he won't be so lonesome!

God's grace ...

i was just remarking to leo about God's grace towards us ... He has already started to heal the broken hearted ...

sad news

this morning started with tragic news ... my cousin, only 48 years old, died suddenly ... in much the same way as leo's sister ... a prolonged headache ... an aneurysm ... then death ...

he lived in finland ... the distance is great ... yet the grief that my family over there is feeling - is felt here in our home too ...

just another reminder of our mortality ... the brevity of life ... and a need to live each day, as if it were our last ...

daffodils, snowbanks and light rain ...

i went for a walk on the icy streets of our little town ... a light rain falling ... dirty snowbanks all around ... i prayed as i walked ... tho' the prayers seemed to be bouncing here and there ... not really having a "productive" prayer time (as if one should rate their prayer time!) ... the verse "be still and KNOW that I am God" played through my mind ... sometimes it is good to just be still ... and always always KNOW that God is God of all situations, circumstances and just every little thing ...

be still ... KNOW that I am God ... my Heavenly Father reminded me ... and it made the rest of the walk more peaceful ...

winter scenes from today ...

thank you for praying for leo ... the latter part of this week has been way better then the beginning was!

and the verse i shared with you in the previous post - met me again today ... i had forgotten that i had made a little summer scene scipture message - with Romans 12:12 click here - so i will try to continue joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer ...

winter continues here in manitoba ... though today was a lovely day for a walk ... and since there was an ice-fishing derby taking place in town, i thought i would share some of the scenes of the day with you!

here is a ski plane that dropped in to do some fishing ... *smile* ...

there was a real good group of fishermen out at the derby ... i stitched 3 pictures together, and still didn't get the complete crowd of folk! days like this are always a boost to the local economy ... we live in cottage country and i'm thinking that the winters can be difficult for the local merchants ... days like this, when the town is teaming with people, are heaven sent for the stores and restaurants!

but we all long for spring to arrive ... when the beaches and parks are filled with folks, enjoying a warmer and more hospitable climate!

do you think "patient in afflication" applies to the length of our winters? *grin* ... blessings on your weekend!

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all. ~Emily Dickinson

my story of the day ...

poor leo had another fever yesterday ... it arrived at 4:30 a.m. ... first it started with him being cold/shivering/shaking - then the fever just HIT ... :o( ... so i was up with him ... of course this was another inventory day at the library for me ... i didn't want to leave them at work with one person short - but if leo's fever didn't go down, i would have no choice ...

i was rolling my eyes, thinking sheesh!

i had left the salt mines in the park because it was too far to come home and check on leo when he got sick ... now i'm 2 streets away and it's still too far!! ... sigh ...

plus we haven't been to the new doctor yet, so i was feeling a little "lost" ... but thankfully, the fever went down some what, and i did go to work and the inventory did get done ... i only have about 6 weeks left at the library - then over the summer, leo and i will re-evaluate my little library job ... you see, when leo gets sick like this, he's really not able to take care of himself ...

we DO trust that God knows all about these mystery fevers and about work schedules, etc etc ... and He always sends encouragement our way ... let me share how the Lord did it this time ...

i was doing shelving & scanning - feeling tired and even cranky, thinking about Leo at home alone ... one of the books i was handling had a bookmarker in it ... i didn't pull it out right away ... but about 20 minutes later, i was shelving that particular book and again noticed the bookmark ... this time i did pull it out ... and guess what? it turned out to be a christian bookmark (see the pic) with a verse ... the verse said "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12 ... that made me smile ... i love those little coincidences that the Lord arranges to cheer my flagging spirits ... and to encourage me to HOPE, be JOYFUL and keep PRAYING!!!

just sharing ... and sending blessings your way too ...

understanding God

i've been thinking about my limited understanding of God's ways ... why does He supply one need quickly? yet not the other? ... why does He answer one prayer with "yes", another with "wait" and yet another with "no"? ...

all this thinking just leads me to one conclusion - maybe i should just quit trying to figure out His ways! if i could understand Him, then He wouldn't be God ... my mind is so finite, how could i possibly grasp the Infinite? i can't even fill out my own income tax forms - why would i even think i could "understand" the ways of an Eternal God?

and if i did understand ... then He wouldn't be God ... just something i made up ...

we try to put a label on Him ... a religion to contain Him ... political beliefs that we are sure He is bound to ... all that to make Him more manageable ... to fit our own way of thinking ... maybe to even make our ways seem righteous and above question ...

yup ... the more i try to understand ... the more i realize that to remain a child of His, who simply trusts that He knows what is best for me ... in all things ... that is the safest place to be ... that way i can expect the impossible, believe the unbelieveable ... and with sweet simplicity, confound the wise ...

it was all planned before time by my Heavenly Father ... who sent His Son Jesus to die for me and for you ... so that we can be redeemed - for all eternity ...

i love that sweet mystery of Faith ...

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2