Nepal

We moved here in Finland 3 years and half ago. After few months my husband found his first job, a painting job in a restaurant in town. He was working with a nepalese man. We got to know him rather well in the few weeks they worked together and his story was really uplifting, knowing that such goodhearted people do exist give big hope for the humanity.
He run a B&B in Nepal and was also a guide. He told us he was rather well off for Nepalese standards so every years in the last 10 years or so he has been spending 2-3 months up in the mountains building schools, and watering systems, and buying supplies and delivering them in the poorest villages.
He was here in Finland to rise money for helping more people. Beside the painting job, he was selling children's drawings and we bought one that is very dear to us. He also had these prayers flags, which i love, but they were all sold. He promised to send us one from Nepal as soon as he could afford the shipping. I couldn't tell him goodbye because I gave birth to James the day before his departure. Months went by and one morning ( one of those bad morning filled of bad moods in which everybody seems to fight with anybody else ) we heard a knock on the door. As we opened there was this finnish guy standing tall on our steps '' Hello, I'm just back from Nepal, Bahdra send you this'' and he handed us two nepalese prayer flag buntings. We couldn't believe it. We were so speechless that we not even invited the guy in. Those flags are hanging in our kitchen here in Finland and in our caravan, to follow us everywhere and remind us about love and friendship.
When yesterday I heard about the terrible earthquake in Nepal I couldn't help but thinking to our friend over there, his family his children. We lost contact with him so there's no way to know how he's doing. The only thing I can do now is sending prayers for him and his people and his beautiful country.

Spring and fairies

Hello world ! Wow it has been a long silence it feels almost strange to be back here on my apple tree posting. Very busy days in a rather demanding family with a lot of work to get ready for summer's markets and events in which hopefully I will sell some of my creations. My creativity has the tendency to roam very wide in very different fields, so I have busied myself with jewelry, mixed media, crocheting, painting\drawing and photography. Little by little I will show here some of my things and maybe I might consider to start selling also online (maybe on Etsy ? I need to check it out, prices and stuff ... ).
So as the title says it seems that spring is slowly showing up here in Finland too. It is still quite cold ( only we reached +9C only after hours in the sun - a cold sun it seems ) but we already have very long days with the sun rising around 6 am and setting past 8 pm so lovely ! I've always been an early bird, but the winter darkness basically switches me off and that is something that I really dislike, but the light of spring\summer !! It's my thing totally, I also welcomed spring with a two weeks detox\cleanse with no gluten, dairies, meat and filled with raw vegetables and fruit and boiled eggs. It's not much far away from the way I usually eat, but in normal 'days' I enjoy some cheese or latte and ocasionally some chicken meat. During my detox I also started every day with meditation and prayers and Bible reading, which usually helps me a lot to go through the day. Well this depends a lot on James, if he wakes up earlier I usually have to give up meditation or Bible reading, but accepting this season of my life I'm sure it's a big step in the direction of mindfulness and awareness and acceptance of the will of God.
Anyways, as I said today we had some sun, so with the precious help of two of my children I went outside to take some pictures. Well .... you won't believe what I found ! ...our garden was filled with fairies ....
(spoiler alert : it's part of a nice little project I'm carrying on ... ) so .... welcome in my garden  !

... As I was getting ready to shot some pics of the wild crocuses I realized that little friends had gathered around the flowers as well. I'm sure the fairies have missed flowers and sun as much as I did during the winter. I wonder where do they hide in the dark and cold months ...

 ... And look ! I'm not the only one who is excited about rhubarb season .... this little one is probably rhubarb fairy !!

Hopefully you're life have been filled with sun and joy and a little kind of magic as well.
Have a great week !

Alive

I really need to write it down, to share it, because it feels so incredibly good that I need to let it out and to give a readable shape to these feelings to remind them in the dark moments that will sure come again ( as it happens to everybody from time to time ). For the first time in many many years I feel alive. Not exactly alive, because it might seem that until now I was numb and depressed all the time, and it not true. I feel like if I found my true self again. Like meeting an old dear beloved friend that you lost any kind of contact with and all of a sudden you meet her again. She aged, she's greying, she's heavier, but it's her, and you're so happy about meeting her that all the changes are not important at all. I'm not really sure how it happened. I started meditating daily and praying daily and most of the time I'm doing both at the same time, Christian meditation that's it. And I tried to just soak in beauty, and to practice mindfulness and to be fully in the moment, whatever moment it might be. And I found myself sitting on the thick carpet of my living room, with a box full of fabric scraps, colorful wooden beads, tiny silver bells and my little one freely ravaging through it all giving me all the freedom to let my mind and soul go and I found myself sewing and arranging and playing and having plain old fun with it all and when i felt it was finished I felt like waking up from a very vivid dream, still a bit dizzy, with a beautiful piece of ... art ... do i dare to call it art ? ... Yes, I can only call it a small, lovely piece of my very own art. My. OWN. art ... So liberating. So invigorating. I read lately, that if God gives you a gift, He will give you the chance to live by that gift.... Maybe ... This is what I'm talking about. Welcome back Flavia, here you are, in your beautiful uniqueness. In your imperfect uniqueness. In your perfect God-made uniqueness. This has been a real Easter for me. I feel I'm born again to a new fullest life.

Every new beginning, is some beginning's end

Here we are once again. One year is ending, a new one is about to begin.
This year has been nothing I could expect. It has been terrible and beautiful and depressing and challenging and finally peaceful. The 2014 began as usual, with purposes and hopes and dreams. Half way during this year I suddently realized that the dream I have been chasing in the last 5 or 6 years simply will not happen. I realized that I had a dream and was so focused and involved in it that i never payed really attention if the rest of my family was following me. Well it turned out that the rest of my family had totally different dreams. That has been a very hard moment for me. I let myself slip in depression and self pity and resentment and anger. I ate myself away gaining even 2 kilos a month ( yes :( ). Then a couple of months ago something just changed in my mind and heart.What does it mean that my dream is notcoming true ? In wich book I read that my way to happiness was only the one I had in mind ? I'm a woman of faith and even if i may seem a bit of a peculiar Christian, I have a deep faith and friendship in Jesus. Would he simply abandon me ? I don't think so. And i realized that a great part of my dreams might as well being fullfilled right here where we are and where my family seems to dwell quite good. And anyways life can change and turn in every moment, so sitting in despair eating sweets wasn't probably the best way to be prepared just in case one day my\our life might turn in the direction I wish. So I decided to take action. I stopped with the junk food and lost 10 kilos in few weeks ( during the holidays I might have gained some kilos back- I didn't checked- but now I'm not afraid of it, because I know I will start eating healthly again in few days because you see, I don't need to fill my heart with calories anymore); I started to get out with my lovely toddler as much as possible and to be as active as possible at home. Sofa-time it's made to be interrupted as many times as my family needs it, moving keeps me in better shape. I'm watching my whole life with totally different eyes and finallt I feel in peace. I feel that there's so much I can do and be happy about. I feel i can have the success I want in what I do, but I need to be doing something to get it ;) So this has been my 2014. What 2015 will hold for me it's up to the Lord, what I have to do and want to do is to roll up my sleeves, work as much as i can, eat healthly, excercise and have fun, have fun and have fun, trust the future, love my family and myself, learn new skills and make new plans. Forgive others and myself, let go of leftover resentment and anger and be free in my new lightened body and heart.

Have a great 2015 everybody,

life is good.

Christmas days

Christmas Eve was a very relaxed day. After dinner as we always do we watched 'Nativity' and talked about the birth of Jesus. After the baby was sleeping and the older children were upstairs me and papaF did some final wrapping and went to bed. Before going to sleep we noticed it was snowing again. We woke up on Christmas day in a fluffy and white world, with a blue sky and beautiful sun and -14 degrees. PERFECT.
After enjoyng surprise on James face and the unwrapping of the presents, we relaxed with a movie and then, while lasagne were cooking we wend out of the door with James to enjoy the beautiful day. We pulled him around in Seba's stiga but after a while he asked us to go back inside because it was so cold. The day passed beetween movies, chatting, playing with the little one and a lot of knitting for me ( I was in need of a new woolen hat and now I have it ! ). A light(er) dinner and another movie after to finish the wonderful day.
This morning it has been snowing again for a while but today we spent the day inside. A lazy morning watching 'The desolation of Smaug' a quick pizza lunch and the afternoon spent chatting with Gaia and trying to figure out what to knit now ( still no idea about that ). Homemade Tacos dinner and Lord of the Rings read aloud while nursing Jimmy to sleep. A very peaceful Christmas indeed.

So this is Christmas,

for once a lovely one,

 ok not for once really,

but indeed a lovely and peaceful one.

 

Unexpected gifts

It happened again. The kindness of strangers. This is the fourth Christmas we spend here, away from our homeland, away from our relatives and longtime friends. It could feel a bit sad and lonely. But every year we've been surprised by unexpected gifts. So after the incredible kindness showed by some of the guests we had during the open house weekends ( four different people, three of whom we didn't know , brought us a present during the visit ) today poured on us so many gifts that it's stll hard to believe ...

 Incredible isn't it ? One present for each child and one for the entire family. We couldn't believe it and we feel so humbled and gratefull for this. And if this wasn't enough for today our friends who own a restaurant in town gave us some freshly made sushi ...

 I have to admit i was very skeptical about sushi, but after tasting it with this yummi ginger and soy sauce ... well I was wrong, it's quite good and more then worth eating ( or over eat as in my case ;) )
Well the miracle of Christmas once again, baby Jesus is about to come and the unexpected kindness remind us what Christmas is all about: LOVE

Here the last two days following the light, then the new moon and the solstice will draw a new start. Light will come back. and no, before you ask I find it perfectly fine loving Jesus and honouring the light and celebrating the solstice. I've come to believe that Jesus' birth is in this period because HE is a light as well so if I was the Almighty and I could chose the perfect moment for my son, the Christ, the Light, to come on earth, I think I'd chose this time of the year as well.

Sunrise at 9:21

Sunset at 15:07

Hours of daylight 5:45

same as yesterday