never doubt ...

i was trying to organize some of my pictures ... and of course got side tracked (normal occurrence for me!) ... and ended up making this little poster ... :o) ...

just "fly by blogging" ... life has had a steady normal rhythm this week ... filled with work, play, gardening, biking and even a call from my doctors office ... i apparently have high cholesterol and need meds ... * smiling, shaking head* ... i knew eating all those chocolates would eventually catch up with me!

may your weekend be blessed ...

50 years ago today

a half century ago we took a transatlantic flight from paris to montreal ... thus began a new life in canada ...

i don't have very many of my own memories from that trip ... or the second part of the journey - a train ride from montreal to winnipeg ... i do know that at the end of it, i was a very tired little girl!

50 years ago a trip from finland to canada was almost an epic journey! ... i mean, were jets even invented? i don't know - but all the commercial flights were on those propeller planes (4 props were used on the long haul flights, across the ocean) ...

i do have one memory of paris ... i remember our whole little family running on the tarmac, towards the plane ... my folks could only speak finnish, and somehow they had misunderstood the departure time - we were really late! ... i guess the stressful situation stayed with me ... i still remember the cool air hitting my legs ... it was dark, with a light rain falling ... and the plane looked huge as it loomed in front of us ...

we started out as a little family of 4 ... mom and dad were excited about a new life in a vast new country ... starting fresh ... they had big dreams and plans ...

the couple who sponsored us in winnipeg, were total srangers ... they were transplanted finns and wanted to help a little family start out ... we met them for the first time when we arrived in winnipeg ...

my brother and i quickly adjusted to life in canada ... we were itty bitty kids ... i think it was more stressful on my 28 year old dad and 23 year old mother ... even though they were still young - they had left everything familiar behind ... they were the first of their families to leave finland ... my dad remained the only one of his people to immigrate ... mom was blessed and thrilled beyond words when her older sister arrived in canada - one year later ... followed soon after by my widowed grandmother and 4 younger children ...

this post could turn into a little novel if i wrote all the stories from those first few years ... slum housing (though my folks weren't poor - just taken advantage of) ... with rodent problems (one mouse even ran across mom's face during the night) ... a curtain dividing our living area from another families ... one bathroom - shared by 4 families ... yup, those were interesting times!

it has been an adventure ... a journey that has made me into who i am today ...

so today i celebrate (along with my mom and my brother ... dad died in 2001) 50 years in a country that is now home for us ... thank you Lord!

"t'was grace that brought me safe thus far ... and grace will lead me home ... "

Psalm 30:11-12

coped from http://jrbell.com/ ... encouraging artwork page ...

how is your week going? mine has been nice so far ....

i thought i would be blogging more over the spring ... you know, now that i am at home ... but obviously that hasn't been the case!!! life has been pleasantly busy, with lots of "puttering around the house" ... and a little bit of visiting ...

i've also done some baking!
this pic was taken on monday ... i made an applie pie and a choco pudding pie ...

the pudding pie is all gone (since it is one of leo's favourites) ... and there is one piece left of the applie pie!!!! :o) ... we both like sweets!

i have some more projects lined ... like staining the 2 little decks we have ...

the mornings are taken up with my own devotional time ... and then when leo gets up, we have devotions together ... it has been a real blessing to "have time" ... instead of "making time" ...

just giving you a glimpse into our everyday type of living ...

blessings sent your way!

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. ~J. Lubbock

sunday greetings ...

I am not the brood of the dust and sod,
Nor a shuttled thread in the loom of fate;
But the child divine of the living God,
With eternity for my life's estate.
I am not a sport of a cosmic night,
Nor a thing of chance that has grown to man;
but a deathless soul on my upward flight,
And my Father's heir in His wondrous plan.
~ Alva Romanes.


This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

Romans 8: 16-17 ~ The Message

there is no ones child i would rather be - than God's!!! *huge smile* ...

may you be blessed!

well, it's a start!

i just took these pics of the "flower garden" ... finally - springtime is finding us ...
as you can see ... we are at the very very early stages of bloom ... in fact the trees are still bare, with only a hint of bud happening ...
so those of you who have been enjoying flowers blooming and the smell of freshly mown grass ... count your blessings! we have yet to even hear a mower in our parts!!!

but all is well - the temperature is forecast as a balmy 21C (70F) today ... wow-wee!!!!! it doesn't take much to make me happy ... a few buds coming up - and seasonal temps ...

hope you are all BLESSED this week day ... i'm feeling that way ... *HUGE GRIN*

Pass it on

by Kurt Kaiser

It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;
That's how it is with God's Love,
Once you've experienced it,
Your spread the love to everyone
You want to pass it on.

What a wonderous time is spring,
When all the tress are budding
The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;
That's how it is with God's love,
Once you've experienced it.
You want to sing, it's fresh like spring,
You want to pass it on.

I wish for you my friend
This happiness that I've found;
You can depend on God
It matters not where you're bound,
I'll shout it from the mountain top - PRAISE GOD!
I want the world to know
The Lord of love has come to me
I want to pass it on.

I'll shout it from the mountain top - PRAISE GOD!
I want the world to know
The Lord of love has come to me
I want to pass it on.

little boxes ....

"Men who do not soar always have small views of things.

Wings are required for breadth of view." ....

~ Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

during my last airplane flight, i thought about the houses that held people and all their treasures ... from the air, they were similar little boxes - whether it was winnipeg, toronto, frankfurt or helsinki - the boxes just changed colour and maybe shape ... yet remained these tiny places where so much effort and money were being poured in to ... a place to collect all that stuff we love ... homes that one day will be left behind ...

i thought of the verse "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:20-22) ... just made me wonder which place i was stocking up more diligently ... the man made little box - which can be destroyed by nature, war, etc. ... or that heavenly home - which nothing can topple ...

just thinking outloud ...

the chronic pain side of life

we had an unexpected - but most welcome - visitor last week ...

the visitor? a pharmacy student, in her third year of study ... our local pharmacist called us to see if leo wanted to chat about his meds with her ... and in return, she would see if she could help us with some of the problems that meds can create ...

leo said "sure!" ...

our local pharmacist (she's had that job for the last 16 years) came over as well and we had a most productive time ...

then a few days later ... the ladies came back with helpful hints ...

we were so grateful for this blessing that came out of the blue! we have already started implementing some of her suggestions ... then in july (Lord willing!) we can talk to leo's doc about some possible med changes ...

you know those mystery fevers that leo gets? well one of the side affects of some of his meds - is a fever!!!

also, leo gets these varying temperature changes ... an example: in the shower the water might feel cold on his chest, burning on his back and lukewarm on his head?????!!!!! ... the student did some research on arachnoiditus (since it was a new term for her) and discovered that those are common issues of the disease - extreme temperature changes over parts of the body ... we just thought it was leo's "faulty wiring" !

our saying has always been - "you never know what a day holds" ... lately we've added "and remember to look for the hidden blessing within" ...

"... despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." Romans 8:37

seasons of life

i took this picture yesterday ... i was enjoying my first outdoor sauna of the season ... the ice was still trying to cling to the shoreline, but the warmth of the sun was loosening it's cold grip ... soon - very soon - there will be no more ice on the waterways and the first flowers will be breaking out in every garden ... *smile* ...

My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather.

~Loire Hartwould