Starting normal life

We´re now living in our wooden house next to the "real" house and have started our normal daily life. I´m still getting used to the gas stove (tend to burn garlic and the like as the stove is so quick) and cleaning the house over here. There´s no hoover and there is loads of dust and sand everywhere. We bought the ultimate luxury washing machine that spins the laundry (as opposed to hand washing everything) and I´m loving it.

The kids are doing ok. Lucas has hardly reacted to the change but Luana has difficult days. Her spoken Portuguese is already very good (she did understand everything to start with) and she´s not a shy child so she gets along with everyone and she´s really enjoying the attention she gets from all of her "new" relatives. But she clearly needs loads of attention from us as well and she makes that very clear on a daily basis. She seems to be calming down now though (or maybe I´m just getting used to all the screaming and the tantrums...).

We painted the wooden house and fixed the floors as well as some of the walls and it´s getting cosier all the time. We don´t have that much furniture yet but we´re getting there. The main focus is now on the "real" house next door. We´ll start (or someone who knows what he´s doing will start) working on the interior next week. We however have no idea how far our money will last and when we´ll be able to move in...

Church is good. Luana loves Sunday School and we just love being able to sit down and listen to the teaching (as opposed to having responsabilities during the church service). We take it in turns to attend on Tuesdays and on Thursdays without the kids and then go all together on Sundays. There are two services on Sunday; a more teaching focused service at 8.30 and then a worship service at 19.30.

Hoping to hear from you who read this blog!

In Brazil!

After a long and exhausting journey (Helsinki-London-Sao Paulo-Manaus-Porto Velho-Jaru almost 50 hours) we finally arrived on Sunday morning local time. There were no bigger problems during the trip, it was just generally tiring with the kids. We've now somewhat recovered and started doing things over here. We did have little angels along the way though like the unknown lady who held Luana at the airport when she was really tired and we had to get our luggage or the wonderful family of a Brazilian friend in Finland that received us for an afternoon in Manaus between our flights.

On Sunday we got to see our houses. It was amazing to see the new house that we had only ever seen in photos. We were able to get inside the house and see it all for ourselves. Some rooms were bigger and some smaller than what we had imagined and the amount of work ahead of us is almost intimidating but it was still great. I couldn´t be happier with the construction! The wooden house where we´ll live temporarily isn´t in a very good condition but we´ll fix it so that we can live in it and later on rent it.

The reception over here was wonderful. The whole Sunday the house was full of people. We only got to church on Tuesday and it was great to be back. Everaldo was especially reminded of a promise he received from God more than ten years ago. God said He was going to take Everaldo to the nations but He was also going to bring him back to Brazil (see Psalm 126). That promise is now fulfilled and Everaldo can hold his head high for having believed that which seemed impossible to start with.

What we really need to get used to is the climate. It´s just HOT all the time and the days go by without doing much as one gets so tired with just a little walking around. We can´t complain however as we´ve complained about Finnish winters for several years :)

All in all everything is good. There´s a lot of work ahead but we´re really excited about the new opportunities and the possibility to build our house. I´ll keep you updated whenever I get to use the internet.

Old clothes

Today I finally did some packing. Although I guess it was more rearranging and throwing stuff away than really packing... But still, getting there! I took all my clothes from the cupboard and sorted them into "will take along", "will leave at my mum's" and "won't need ever". The "won't need ever" pile was then divided into several smaller piles with people's names and one that was for recycling. We ended taking three bags of clothes into the recycling box near our house.

I also got together a nice bag of things for a pregnant friend as well as another pile for a Brazilian friend who had told me she needed some winter clothes. I told Everaldo we should give her a call and before we noticed she called me and asked if we were at home as she and her boyfriend were driving nearby. She loved all the clothes and also took a pair of winter boots that I don't need anymore!

Sorting out clothes has proved to be surprisingly emotional. We've been so greatly blessed by people giving us especially children's clothes. Now it feels so right to give them to others. It's a great feeling when you look at a piece of clothing and just know who you want to give it to and who probably would need it. It's also been slightly sad. I've felt so nostalgic going through some of the clothes; here's a shirt from India, bought in Paraguay and given to me by a great friend, this is the hippy-shirt I wore when I first met Everaldo in Bolivia, this one is the t-shirt with hand prints and writings from an exchange student camp years ago. There are some really old and worn pieces I just couldn't get rid of...

I'm still proud of myself as I got rid of LOADS of things just like that (some of you might know how hard it is for me to throw anything away!). Tomorrow I'll continue with the clothes and shoes and will then go back to the books. I started that one some time ago and there are a few boxes on the shelves but now I really have to get it done properly. I've planned to write a list of the contents of each box (that stays at my mum's) on the outside so it'll be easier to find a particular book should that be necessary later on. This all sounds great and organised; if I actually will get it done is to be seen...

Hand luggage

Just checked the BA website again and things look a bit brighter; we're now allowed a bag each in the cabin. It's smaller than what it used to be but I measured our bags and they're all the right size. We still don't know what to do with Everaldo's new guitar that he obviously wants to take along...

Everaldo came back from St.Petersburg this morning. He visited a Russian friend who had organised several opportunities for him to speak and share his testimony at a local church. Our friend also leads a Bible study group of Latin Americans and they had a Spanish speaking meeting while Everaldo was over. They also participated in a street evangelism where Everaldo was allowed to speak. He was very excited about the trip and thankful that he was able to go before we move to Brazil.

We've had very little sleep last night; Everaldo because he travelled in a bus and I because Lucas was sick at night and I had to clean his bed and move him to sleep in the livingroom. He seems to be fine now but Luana's batteries are low and I kept her at home instead of taking her to the nursery. We've got the kids' birthday parties coming up this weekend so hopefully we're all well by then!

Back at home!

I'm so relieved to be back at home again. The week at my brother's was extremely difficult. My niece and nephew were really good but my own little ones weren't. In fact this was their worst behaviour, I didn't even know they were capable of such behaviour for such a long time! It's obviously understandable; away from home for a long time, having to compete for their mum's attention with two new people, having the dog around etc. But even when I understand all that it's hard to cope with it. At some point during the week I was wondering why I was so tired and irritated all the time. Now I understand that I spent an entire week alone away from home with the two of them taking care of loads of other things as well. No wonder I got tired!

It was however a good experience too. I finally got to spend some more time with my niece and nephew, be a "real" aunt to them and get to know them a bit. I enjoyed little things in life such as a dish washer, a washing machine (as opposed to a laundrette) and an own sauna (as opposed to a weekly hour in the common sauna). I also realised several little things in which my parenting is different from that of my brother; there were many things I wouldn't allow or want my kids to do that seemed to be normal in their family.

Today I went to church all alone. My mum came over to take care of the kids. I felt I really needed some time for myself. It was great to be in the church and participate in everything without having to worry about Lucas crying, Luana running around, kids being hungry, Everaldo loosing his Bible etc. We had our first Sunday School today and there were just a few kids. Church seemed to be empty today as well; there were some other Christian events in Helsinki today so I guess some people went to them. Next Sunday it'll be Luana's birthday party in Sunday School; I hope more kids turn up!

Tomorrow we're back to normal life; Luana goes to the nursery and I have some laundry and grocery shopping ahead. It's just so good to be at home!!!

Flights at last

We managed to book and pay all of our flights all the way from Helsinki to Porto Velho. The trip will take us some 43 hours (including the 5-hour bus trip to get us from Porto Velho to Jaru). It'll be interesting to see how the kids cope...

Now there'll be no visiting friends in Brasilia nor spending the day at a huge mall in São Paulo but sweating 10 hours in Manaus... I hope we'll get to see some of the town itself instead of just the smallish airport. Providing our check-in isn't too difficult we should have time to go to the centre and have a meal and a look around.

It seems our lives are all about flights but surprisingly there are other things going on too. Today we had a lovely picnic with the Sunday School kids and some mums too. We went to an open air museum in Helsinki, played some games and had some food. All the kids participated so well, no one happened to have a temper tantrum and everyone seemed to have genuinely enjoyed it. Luana was really good at walking there and back and having her nap slightly later than usual.

Tomorrow I'm off with the kids to stay at my brother's for a week. He and my sister-in-law are going on a holiday and I'll look after my nephew and niece while they're gone. The kids are already 11 and 17 but they still need someone to cook for them and just to be there for them. They also have a dog (the calmest and best behaved dog I've ever seen) and Luana will hopefully not be afraid of dogs by the end of the week...

So at the moment inmensely thankful for the fact that we finally sorted out our flights and slightly anxious about staying at my brother's with the kids.

Luggage nightmare

It seems our trip is getting more and more difficult every day... Everaldo spent an hour on the phone to Varig yesterday booking just one part of our Brazilian domestic flights and it's still not completely done. We however have now flights from São Paulo to Manaus. Today he'll try to fix the last leg from Manaus to Porto Velho.

This morning I was reading the newspaper and checking out the BA website in order to see what we're allowed to take with us on board and it doesn't look that good at all. Travelling with two toddlers and being allowed only nappies and nappy cream on board on a long haul flight is not a good combination. I'm hoping that by the time we fly we might be able to sneak in a book and a few pencils and paper for Luana and maybe a few toys for Lucas too. I guess it would be a liberating experience to travel with virtually no handluggage at all but really with kids you do need a few bits and pieces...

This is a good time to start bowing knees even more that what we've done so far.