Receiving gifts

We were given a beautiful cupboard about two weeks ago, and that set me to thinking about everything we have been given since we came to Finland.

• A lounge suite and chair
• Diningroom chairs
• A full set of crockery
• Cutlery and kitchen utensils
• Pots and pans
• Linen, duvets, pillows, blankets
• A bed and mattresses
• A baby cot
• A chest of drawers
• Bedside tables
• A desk and bookshelf
• Plants
• A freezer
• A washing machine
• A clothes drying rack
• A microwave, snackwich machine, kettle, blender
• Toys for Annabel
• All Annabel's clothes (I think we have bought maybe a handful of items), including most of her expensive winter clothes
• All Annabel's shoes
• A pram
• A computer, wireless modem, wireless mouse and keyboard
• A set of cross-country skis
• 2 bicycles, one of which is the nicest bikes we've ever had

We are completely blown away by the generosity of the people around us, but also recognise that God is using them to provide for us. This raises an interesting question - why would God give so abundantly to us when we come from two very rich families (compared to most of the world)? I have no deep philosophical answer to this, except that He promises that if we put His kingdom first he will provide for all our needs (Matt 6:24-34), and this promise is valid for all people, rich and poor, in wealthy countries and in poor ones.

Annabel has something to add to this:

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Travels and other news

It really has been a long time since I have written anything here, and that is some indication of how busy life has been. It would be impossible to give an overview of the whole six months of absence, so I'll just tell of a couple of highlights.

Tracy travelled to France in October to see Shawn, Mel and Charlie. They stayed in Rick and Ulli's beautiful cottage for about a week. It was the first time that the two little cousins met each other, and I think they got on quite well. Annabel loved going to a winefarm, and eating the grapes. They are right on the top of her favourite things to eat list, and she just about exploded when she saw the amount of grapes that could be collected in one place.

I travelled to Copenhagen in November for a week's conference with the theme "Power relations in Music Education". It was an interesting conference, although I cannot say that this kind of research really convinces me, but I met some very nice people and got a chance to present my work and get comments on it.

We also travelled to South Africa in December. It was a welcome break from the snow, which had come early this year, and was already half a metre deep. It is still half a metre deep, and we have had some ridiculously cold temperatures these last two weeks. The highlights of our time in SA were the times with friends and family. We really had a full program, and saw so many people, all of whom encouraged us and gave us fresh impetus to keep going here in Finland. Especially encouraging was our time with Paul and Shannon, who have planted a church in Harding, and are seeing wonderful restoration in people's lives, and Brendon who has started a church in Cape Town that approaches community in a very different way. They encouraged us to keep praying about our current situation and to look for more of God's activity in those around us. We have come back to Finland carrying a greater expectation that God would use us, and that He would be glorified here.

Since getting back it has been a wild rollercoaster ride. I organised a week of prayer and fasting for our church, preached at a student's meeting, Tracy led worship at a women's prayer meeting, we were invited to go and pray for a group of Chinese believers - who God touched wonderfully, including healing a lady of the pain she had in her shoulder for three months after I has word of knowledge about it. It has been busy at work as well, planning a school trip to Spain, preparing for two conferences, rewriting my research plan, all this on top of leading worship every week, and a bible study, and being a member of the church board, and being a family. Having written it all down, I have to say that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, because I don't think we would be able to keep going without that strength.

Birthday, conference and travel

It was Tracy's birthday last Sunday. It was a big round one, but I won't say which...

To celebrate, we spent the weekend in Stockholm. I had a conference there the week before, and Tracy and Annabel joined me on Friday. We had a lovely weekend. We didn't have a map, nor a guidebook, so we just aimlessly wandered around most of the time. Johan showed us Skansen - an open-air museum - which was lovely. I think we'll make more trips there in the future. It was Annabel's 6th country - if you count her stopovers in England and Turkey. I remember when we were still in South Africa and Izak visited Stockholm, how expensive we thought things were. Now we realise that Stockholm is a cheaper place than Helsinki. It was weird though to see prices in the hundreds instead of the tens. The Swedish Krone is close to the Rand in value - so we got an idea again of how much things cost when you convert. We haven't done that in a while, and you forget that 5 € are worth over 50 rand. Five euro can't get you very much here, just about a sandwich for lunch.

I had my first international conference presentation. Somehow I didn't get all the mails and didn't know when I was speaking. So I packed two shirts and flew in a t-shirt. Turns out that I was scheduled to speak on the first afternoon, so I presented in my t-shirt and then wore shirts for the other days. The presentation went ok, and nobody threw tomatoes at me. I made some interesting new friends and good contacts.

Tonight we bought our tickets to South Africa in December. We are flying on 16 December to Johannesburg, then renting a car and visiting ouma Miemie in Bethlehem, then a couple of nights in PMB, hopefully a night in Harding and in Aliwal with our friends there, and then Knysna for Christmas and New Year. Cape Town is the final stop and we leave again on 11 January. Let us know where you are and when you are there so that we can hook up!

Annabel has started standing on her own for short periods, whenever she is busy with something she forgets that she cannot stand. It is a lot like the cartoons when someone walks over a cliff. You know the fall is coming, but you cannot tell exactly when it will happen. She is also walking with a little trolley, pushing it around on her own. Someone just has to be close because she has not found the reverse gear yet, and tends to bump into stuff.

We have been eating lots of mushrooms which Tracy picks on her daily walk with Annabel in the forest. They have come a bit late this year, but are superabundant. We went yesterday with Milla and Markus to Nuuksio, and found even more interesting varieties. Milla taught us a couple of new very nice ones. We are becoming more adventurous, although I think Tracy is more adventurous than I am, and willing to try things that might still be the death of me. There are some mushrooms in our book that are marked as both deadly and delicious at the same time. Apparently you just have to prepare them in the right way, but I am not sure I want my last meal just yet. The ones we have eaten so far have been very tasty without killing me.

Crawling, Camping and Concerts

Annabel has learnt to crawl in the last two weeks, it has been coming for a while, but she is now confident enough not to moan about it everytime we don't pick her up. She is not hurtling around yet, but can get from place to place if the urge hits her. She still would prefer holding someone's hands and walking around, if that is offered. She has also gained two more teeth, so she is now the proud owner of six teeth. How our understanding of being rich change as we grow up...

We went camping on Friday night with Simon and Sini in Nuuksio park. It was Annabel's first campout, and she had a tremendous time. She was carried everywhere and got to sleep in a tent on her sheepskin and in a sleeping bag between mom and papa. She even extended her normal sleep time for the occasion. We were hoping to find some mushrooms and pick a couple of berries, but this year is not nearly as fertile as the previous, and not only did we not find many edible mushrooms, we also found almost no poisonous ones. Last year you almost had to be careful where to walk if you didn't want to step on a mushroom. We did find 5 kanterel mushrooms and one viinihapero, which is not really worth writing about, but I just did, so there. Other than a lack of success, the weekend was really pleasant, and reminded us of the value of getting into the wilds.

While in the wilds, I got an sms from Conrad, asking if I wanted to go to U2 (U-kakkonen, as it is said here). What a blessing. I had seen the posters go up, and had secretly desired going to see them, but the shows were sold out, so I had little hope. In the end we had fantastic seats, behind the stage, but very close and quite high up. The concert was really amazing, good music, a fantastic stage and 1% of the Finnish population in attendance. I was struck by the depth of their lyrics and songs again and again through the night. The members of the band are Christians, and somehow I could see that in the way they went about their job. It was a pleasure to see them live. Tracy had seen them in Cape Town so didn't feel too bad about missing out, but this was my first major concert since Depeche Mode in the 90's. I really enjoyed it.

Tracy has been well, and recently had her first article from her Honours degree published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. It is quite an important journal in the field and is a great honour. Of course she was helped, especially by Mark, who added some data to her originals, but still, her name is there as an author. We are settling in to our new house, and she has really managed to make it feel homely, even in the short time we have been here. The environment here is so much better than the previous place, and we already know the names of many of the little kiddies that run around here, and are slowly getting to know their parents. But I think we have met more people in two weeks than in our year in the previous place.

It has been a very busy two months, which is why the blog posts have been scarce. I attended two conferences back to back, actually a pre-conference and a conference, both on music education philosophy. During the conference, Guillermo from Costa Rica stayed with us, and it was really good to have him with us, even though we were both immersed in the conference and so we had little time for discussion. Directly after the conference Tracy and I helped to lead a confirmation camp for 6 days. It was quite intensive, with four adults leading and 2 teenagers who were being confirmed. I reckon they had the hardest time, since we had to take breaks to look after Annabel and cook. The camp took place at our pastor's summer cottage, on a lake in central Finland. The mosquitos were incredible, creating black swarms whenever we ventured too close to the edge of the lake. We rowed and sailed on the lake, which was blissfully mosquito free.We then had a week to recover and then took part in the annual midsummer retreat hosted by our church. I presented two workshops on singing and worship, and played all the music, so was very busy. Tracy was forced to look after Annabel single-handedly for most of the weekend. The program was really packed full, and I was finished by the end of it. Tracy really enjoyed it. Maybe we should swop duties next time.

A couple of days later we departed to Washington, D.C. to visit my parents. Both flights were relatively easy for Annabel, she was still small enough (just) to fit into the bassinet, and managed to sleep a lot of the time. It was a really fantastic visit, and after a couple of days, Annabel really enjoyed her grootouers. She even let us disappear a couple of times, once to have a salsa dancing lesson, which we truly enjoyed. We signed up for a group lesson, but were the only people there, so got an extended private lesson instead. We have been practicing a little in our lounge since then, and are continuing our lessons by watching YouTube videos. We spent a lot of time walking in museums, since it was exceptionally hot, and museums have aircon. We were there over the Independence Day celebrations, and got to watch the broadcast from the mall on TV and then saw the fireworks from our apartment roof. The fireworks were truly spectacular. The best part was seeing our parents, and allowing Annabel to spend time with them. She now recognises them on Skype when they call, and has long conversations with them using language that she hardly ever uses with us. She has also become a complete computer maniac as a result, and can hardly see a computer without wanting to touch it and talk to it. We'll have to find a way of taming that desire before it costs us a computer.

Since arriving back we packed up our house and moved to a new one - all in the space of just over a week. We had applied for a new place in January, and heard just before we left to Washington that there was an apartment available. We quickly went to look at it and had to decide the same day whether to take it and pay the deposit etc. Lots of friends praying helped us in our decision. So far we have been very happy, apart from the (slightly) longer travel times to our usual destinations. The flat has 2 bedrooms, and a larger living area, and also has easy access to a little park in the courtyard where Annabel can play in the sandpit and swing on the swings. A whole lot of friends helped us to move, and it went amazingly quickly, everything was out of the old place and into the new in less than 2 hours. What a blessing!We are still living with boxes everywhere, but have managed to clean the kitchen (it was disgustingly dirty) and have a more organized bedroom as of tonight. There is still a fair bit to be done - the previous tenants were not hot on the cleaning side of things. You can see some pics of the place here.

I am trying to get back to work, and have been cycling the 30 minutes to the office. I will be fit if the good weather continues for a month or two yet. Tracy has been enjoying the larger space, and has been working hard to make it homely. It is taking shape, and I think we can be very happy here. I had an extended discussion in Finnish with one of the little boys who live here while Annabel and I played in the sandpit. I am hoping we can also have those kinds of discussions with their parents at some stage. It would be good to be part of a community here, and it looks like it might be possible.

We have also had some other additions to the family. We are godparents to a friend of ours, Lynn, who was baptised at the midsummer retreat. She is a recent convert to Christianity, and has asked us to help her along in her new-found faith. We also became aunt, uncle and cousin to little Charlie, who was born to Shawn and Mel at the end of July. We are really happy about this, and cannot wait to meet the little guy. Hopefully he and Annabel will be good friends, and manage to spend time together.

Reunion and a big week

It has been a big week, we have learned to sit, made a tooth, and started (or tried to start) eating solids. Notice the royal we, seems I cannot separate myself from my family anymore. Well I tried, but it was not nice. Tracy and Annabel returned safely after yet another easy flight. Our bible study group had been praying for them for both flights, and Annabel really did not make any trouble, she slept much of the way there and back, and charmed the socks off the fellow passengers and the air hostesses for the rest of the time. What a blessing to have friends who pray.

The two of them had a fantastic time in Cape Town, mostly spent with Tracy's parents who were every inch a grandfather and -mother. Annabel got her first swim in the sea (more like a toe dip, the Cape water is fridgid) and first mountain climb under her belt. They also got to see many friends and all Annabel's uncles and aunts on both sides, and many of Tracy's extended family.

Tracy brought back some biltong, custard powder, rooibos tea and a 2.5 kg bag of maize flour. We have been really enjoying eating 'krummelpap' for breakfast. O, and a lot of books and toys.

Summer has arrived this weekend. The leaves all came out overnight, the temperature rose by 10 degrees to a warm 26, and the sun has been out ever since. We have had a picnic lunch in the park, and got our first nettle stings for the summer. We also spent a lovely day having a braai with the Hickeys, pap and homemade wors.

My grandmother has moved into the digital age and now has a laptop and has succesfully communicated via email! Baie geluk ouma!

We are hoping to travel to my parents in Washington, D.C. in July. In June there are 3 conferences and a weeklong camp for me, so by July I will need some rest time. We are hoping all Annabel's papers will be sorted out by then. No, she still does not have all the things she needs to be a world traveller - although she will have the biggest carbon footprint of any baby I know, I think she'll be planting trees for the rest of her life to sort out all the mess created in her name...

Augustine once famously said that all humans have a God-shaped hole in them. I have recently developed a family-shaped hole. Tracy and Annabel are in Cape Town, they just made it before the volcano cloud. When I dropped them at the airport, all the flights north were already cancelled. So let's pray for some favourable winds in the next week or so, so that they can come back on schedule. Annabel was great on the flight, not really crying, and coping well with all six the takeoffs and landings. The grandparents and great-grandparents are very happy to have her there, and it sounds like they are having a roaring time with friends and family. The photo is one I took with skype, hence the poor quality.

I am stuck in Helsinki because of the volcano, I was meant to travel to a conference this morning, but no planes took off. So instead of one week at a conference and one week at home alone, I now have two weeks at home alone. So far it has been ok, considering the circumstances, but it might get long. The plan is now to work as much as I can, and I have been trying - there is not much else to do...

Spring is sort of arriving, there is not a lot of snow left, only in places where it was heaped to get it out of the way. Nothing much is growing yet and although little buds are starting to form on the smaller plants, everything is still very brown. The temperature has also not been much above 10 yet, and I was thinking of going camping with some of my free time, but when I was walking to my office in the cold I realised that it might not be such a good idea. I'll wait a month or two.

I have recently signed up to Spotify, and it has been worth every cent. There is so much good music on there, and since I no longer have my CD's with me, it has been a real blessing. If you are also a member - search for the Bluegrass Worship Band, I really enjoy them at the moment. They re-imagine current worship hits in a Bluegrass style, it is quite fun.

We had a great weekend away with Willem, Hanna-Leena and her extended family in Paltamo, like we did last year. It was quite a bit warmer this year, and the skiing was not nearly as good as last year. In fact, we had much better skiing in Helsinki than up there. But we had some great conversations, and some amazing meals. It was a real blessing to have a bit of a rest, and we came back tired from the long journey but refreshed from the good company.