Sunday, July 27, 2014

At home, finally

We made our journey from Finland again - and boy is it becoming tougher each time. M & J keep me hopping around the airports, and I had too much stuff to take care of. I believe they are getting too accustomed with air travel. :) It was our first time on Qatar Air, and while the service during flights was fine, Doha was a disaster. Without the aid of a fellow traveller we would probably still be there looking at the airplanes going up. Even though they have enough staff to order the elevator or hand out a tissue in the toilet, I was told that there is no staff when I approached them for help with my three bags and two sleeping kids. I know I chose this connection, but would it have killed someone to take my bags or one of the kids to the plane??? I was just so happy to be on board and on our own seats. The benefit of travelling with two small kids, the space is plenty. I was able to lie on three seats and actually get some sleep. Travelling with the boys definitely a piece of cake, moving countries with the boys, by myself, with a flight connection in the middle of the night - kind of a lot to take. But we made it safe and sound, next time I hope we will have Tonny with us, and  couple of kangas, which will make it so much easier.



So we are home again. And after working hard for few days, the place is actuallly starting to feel like home. I wish I had 20000 euros, I would build a nice little place for us to live. Yes, it would only take that much, but it's not time for that yet. 

Boys adjusted far easier back to dar than to finland. Must be the sunshine, you just can't be grumpy I guess. Maybe also the fact that baba is around helps ;) Oh, the happiness when they met their toys again. I don't think I saw much of them that first day. They were too busy in their own room. Unfortunately our housegirl quit while we were in Finland, so I'm back to doing it all by myself. I have high hopes for finding another one and getting the kids to school asap. Maybe then I will be able to focus fully on my new challenge as a working woman again. When I get my work permit. Which will be soon. I hope. 


    ready for action

    the new look of boys room, after all the new toys found their home

    little m hates getting his teeth brushed, i'm glad we can tag-team on this

It's hard, it's wonderful, it's tough, it's full of sunshine. challenges, break throughs, dream hunting, self discovery, africa. We are home now.

 

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Hunting for Dreams

It started when J was born. He was too good of a baby and sleeping all day and all night long and leaving me with a lot of time to think. Think about my life, what do I want to do with it. I continued with my studies and 31 December before we left Finland I graduated with my Master's degree in Business. While it gave me great satisfaction to get my MBA I still don't feel fullfilled.

I look at Tonny and I am in awe (and if I am completely honest a little jealous). He is so determined and knows what he wants with life. At 31, I am still at a loss. So, I have decided to take this opportunity to take some time for finding me. It seems that living in Africa makes me more open for this. I guess it is the fact that I don't have so many responsibilities, or maybe it is the sun shine making my brain work better, but anyways now that I have the time and mental space for it I feel like I need to take advantage of this opportunity. We only have one life and I don't want to wake up at 90 and have a head full of regrets. 

I still don't have a clear picture, but I have started a wall of thoughts on things that I would want to include in my life. Whether or not they will be in my path, only time will tell, but just putting these on paper has given me great satisfaction and sense of ownership of my own life. My goal for the rest of this year is to look at these each and every day. Make changes if needed, add and erase. And by the 1 January make a rough plan for 2015 to start on a goal. 



What do you think? How do you see me? What do I do best and how could I share that with the world? And what are your dreams??


my favorite inspirational song

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Love letter

Measure in Love

It has been five years to date that we vowed to be together for the rest of our lives in front of God and our friends and family. So much has happened since and yet it feels like yesterday. You have taken me on an adventure that is life. You have showed me that anything is possible if you just believe. Before you came to my life, I didn't even dream of anything, because I never knew it could be possible.

Thank you for our beautiful little children, thank you for loving me. Thank you for making me fall in love with you again each and every day. I'm so proud to be your wife and so excited about our new adventures. I know wherever we are we can create a beautiful home together.

I love you with my heart, mind, body and soul. You are the one for me.

A song to remember our beginning...


A song for now...


A song for forever...


I'm measuring my life in love, and I am richer than anyone else in the world...



Happy 5th wedding anniversary my love!!




Saturday, July 19, 2014

My little beauties

I received a nice email from one suomi-koulu mom. Her son Andrei attended the school while they stayed in Tanzania last spring. Sadly (for us) he's staying in Finland now, but I got these amazing pictures of my angels from her. I am so grateful since I have no time to take pics while holding the class.

These were from the kevät juhla day, while I was setting up everything the kids played in the park outside the classroom.

Julius

Max

In Finland

Sorry for being so silent. Life rushes by too fast - which I guess is good in the sense that we are having a lot of fun, but in terms of tracking life to the blog it gets too busy.

On June 14 we packed our bag (yes, one, as opposed to the nine we came with :) ) and headed over to Finland for some vacation fun for the kids and packing up the house for me. We still haven't found a buyer, but I prefer to empty the house as much as possible while I'm in the country rather than leaving the task for my family. So the days are pretty much filled with meeting up with friends, trying to pack, all the while every two weeks getting the house looking clean and organized for the open house. Needless to say the daily housekeeping seems to be lacking behind in this organized chaos, but I'm yet to fail in setting up the house when it is time, so for me that is enough. At the moment 75% of our stuff is already packed up, upstairs is empty if you don't count some furniture that I still want in place for the house to look nice if potential buyers pass by.

Boy the number of cousins is adding up to alot... Max, Mikael, Julianna, Daniel, Julius, Matias 

As for the kids we have enjoyed my mom's summer house, some good quality time with the cousins, Särkänniemi and Muumimaailma, grilling sausages with Vaari, lots of play dates and being able to watch Pikkukakkonen in the evening. :) Max is clearly missing Tanzania a lot, he hated the cold weather we had in the first two weeks but is finally adjusting slowly. Julius adjusted quicker and I could see that he remembered the people and places. I love the fact that I keep getting  comments how he has opened up and blossomed during his stay in Tanzania. I am sure that a big part of this is the fact that his health has been a lot better in Tanzania. His asthma has disappeared completely and eczema seems to be fading away. Unfortunately return to Finland has made him suffer again. I wish I knew what is making him sick - just breaks my heart. He notices it now, witch makes it even more difficult. I hope next time we visit I can monitor him better and figure out what is it.
Fröbelin Palikat still does it




Everyone joined in :)

Loving every moment

My sunshine

Diego and Julius at Muumimaailma

I found my coca-cola :)

Dead tired after playing at Pikkukakkosen puisto




Cuteness @nuutajärvi

We still have some time before heading back to home. To Tanzania. We miss Tonny so bad and it truly feels like that Tanzania is our home. For now at least. ;)