culprits got caught!

yay! the dudes who stole my wallet got caught. Hooray.

I pray that this changes their lives in the best way possible.

For those who don't know, my wallet was stolen from our van (smashed the window to do it). I still can't believe I was too busy to grab my purse that day. A whole day of filing police reports, finding out my card was maxed and cancelling it, notifying a bunch of places would have been avoided if I had just grabbed it. errrr.

Anyway, the blessing was that, even though they took my wallet and maxed out my credit card, they returned my wallet and left it sitting on the drivers seat. No id taken, none of my kids id taken, our health cards still intact and oddly enough, only my Airmiles card taken.

I'm thankful for our local police who did a great job and caught these guys in less than a month. It was a robbery for a drug debt that these two guys owed.

I hope that God uses this to turn their lives around.

Thank you Jesus for good policeman, for strangers who return things they stole and for insurance policies that cover damage to vehicles.

If only summer was my excuse...

So, it's raining. It's pouring. Old men...you know...they snore.

Anyway, if only my lack of communication on my blog could be blamed on the fact that I'm out skipping in the sunshine and completing my summer list! No, no. I'm inside, watching the rain for the tenth day straight. Shaking my fist at the grey skies and sighing a sigh of boredom as the rain pelts the windows.

It's left me trapped inside...trapped and facing the inevitable: PACKING.

Yes, I'm back to brown boxing it. Stuffing all my stuff into boxes so that in a few days I can take them out of boxes and put them into a--hopefully--permanent home.

Ahh, rain...it's God's way of gently nudging me into a task I'd love to procrastinate over.

Self esteem and the old bag of bones

My kids are so great for my self-esteem.

Today SuperGirl and Missie-Moo played a fun game that made me feel like a queen...er, a humble queen.

It started when SuperGirl said, "Mama, you're the beautifulest."

Missie-Moo added, "Mommy, you're so cute."

SuperGirl reminded me, "Mom, you're the best hugger ever."

Missie-Moo giggled,"Mommy, you're just so wonderful."

SuperGirl said, most thoughtfully, "Mama, you are just so great."

And Missie-Moo , being two and trying to be thoughtful like her sister, put her head to the side and let the wheels turn. Eyes brightening, she said, "Mommy, you're so...so...heavy!"

We all burst out laughing and Missie-Moo said, "Mommy, you are such a big girl!"

Indeed.

Easy to get on a pedestal.

Easy to get off.

Finally, Yahoo news can get on with life!

I am so grateful that the US Democratic Party has finally chosen their leader.
 Why?

Because finally, maybe the news can get on with pointing out some actual news.
 I can't even say how bored I have become by the whole thing. For months we've seen blazing photos of both Hillary and Barak. This thing has dragged out longer then Victor Newman's return from the dead on the Young and the Restless .

What I would really love to see is the US just try and do campaigning Canuck style. Canadians have 58 days--that's it!--58 days of campaigning. For less than two months we hear talk and promises, we hear flaws pointed out and we get to hear a good little rant by CBC funny man journalist Rick Mercer. But that's it.

We vote. We got on with business.

How grateful I am that this is over? Very, very grateful.

But now...the long and never ending story part deux happens as the campaigning for President starts. Oh, that I had a US political news filter on my computer.

And in a stunning and shocking twist of events...

Guess who's moving? Again.

The art of taking a photo with Ed

I have an aunt named Edie. We all call her Ed.

She is such a fun lady. She is the aunt who has travelled around the world and has her own slide projection machine. If I had had the time this trip round I would have made her set up the slide projector and dig out the slides of the archaleogical dig in Israel, the trip to visit our missionary cousins in Indonesia, the California trip with my Grandma and, of course, always a hit with the kids: the photos of the giraffes licking her head in Africa.

She is a pro at taking pictures...and hiding in them! Here she is with my sissie trying to dodge me as I take photos.

And here's why: Ed is sneakily trying to hide her eye that looked a little bloodshot. She probably got this from some incident with the youth group she leads, no doubt.

This is a desperate attempt at avoiding her eye in the pic...but good for a laugh

Oh, Edie, you are sneaky. With this loving pose, you look like the angelic aunt that sings soprano hymns in Finn and gives good hugs...oh wait, that is you--go au naturelle. Very clever.

Gotcha! Happy sunshine face.

All that's missing is the famous family camera shot where everyone in the picture is asking if the flash went off.

Sleeping...er..beauties?!?

Since I was only in town for two days, Lori Ann and her girls decided to come and stay at Mom's house so that we could soak up every possible minute of fun. Lori Ann and I trumped Mom and took over her bed.

We said g'night at least 15 times and then would start off with, "Hey, did I tell you..."

And after a few conversations, we reflected on the fact that the room we were in was the first room we'd ever shared as siblings...and then we giggled late into the night recalling all our games of Old Maid and sneaky stunts pulled on each other to get the other in trouble!

So the following pictures are the result of not many hours of sleep.

'

Note how Lori Ann's eyes are closed

We tried the photo again. Lori Ann purposely opened her eyes wide, while I closed mine.

Third attempt. Didn't work so well...

We then realized that our third sister was missing from action so we thought we'd put her in the bed too. We're trying to mimic her smile in this photo.

This is what happens to Finnish girls when they get no sleep.

Scrabble laughs

Scrabble is mine and my Grandmother's game. As early as age 10, Grandma would get out this exact board and she would teach me how to make the most of a Triple letter score, to save my 's' for big point words and where to put my leftover letters at the game's end

Last weekend, as I spent the day at their house, Grandma got out the well-worn board and said,"Well, do you think you can take on this old lady ?"

To which I responded, "Do you think you are ready to take on this ol' pregnant girl?"

And thus the games began.

No one, with the exception of my brother, can make me laugh as hard as my Grandma can. When she gets bad letters, she says, "Curses!" When she she has too many i's she says, "What am I going to do with all these damn sticks?!" And when she gets letters that are hard to work with she says,"Well, how is anybody supposed to make a word around here?" So, it's a regular comedy show.

My favourite part is when I put a word on the Triple word score. Then she gestures her hands as if they were around my throat and says, "Kill!" You have to see her do it to understand.

I caught her giggling in this picture. And even though she was losing at this point, she was giggling!

And here's the final product. I beat her by a score of 100 points.

The last time we played and I tried to help her find a spot to make a word, she eschewed all aid and said, "I'm not some old lady who needs help you know?" And then when I won, she was kind enough to guilt me with the knowledge of, "Sure, beat an old woman with no mercy."

Visits with Gigi

This past weekend I had the wonderful pleasure of being in my home town (thanks Mom!)

One adventure found me at my Grandma's house--or Gigi as the great grandchildren call her.

My Grandma has always had a home filled with wonder. From childhood to parenthood, I find myself still fascinated with the little treasures that made her home my haven growing up.

For old time sake, Grandma humoured me and pulled out all the old favourites:

Grandma's spoon collection--collected mostly by friends in the form of gifts

The picture below is all the stir sticks she gathered from her different visits. She has some from airlines, hotels, casinos and vacation spots. After looking them all over I said, "Grandma, you are quite the drinker!" and she answered, "Actually, I'm quite the thief."And then she showed me which ones she actually took from bars that were along the beach without ever ordering a drink!!!

Happy Finnish Girl

Pulla! I love pulla!

I just got back from a visit to my hometown (photos to come) and my Grandma and I went to the bakery across from my favourite restaurant, the Hoito.

Just a side note, I love the Hoito's panukakku (pancakes) and order them well done or extra crispy with strawberry soupa. I didn't get time for any karjalanpiirakka but I did make it to the bakery to purchase my favourite coffee bread-pulla!

Oh sweet cardamom, how I love thee!