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.

Flight nightmare

We booked our flights to Brazil well in advance and managed to get a really good deal from a Christian travel agency recommended by our pastor. We got one way tickets actually half of the price of return tickets (instead of paying the same rate or more as the case usually is) and were really happy with everything. We had a 12-hour stop over in Brasilia where we were supposed to visit a friend, have a meal, take a shower and see some of Brasilia's famous architecture. Now you may have noticed the past tense of the verbs...

Varig recently cancelled all of their flights (obviously including ours) and they just started to reopen some of their routes. Everaldo called them yesterday just to see if they had any plans to reopen the route to Porto Velho and they said they had no idea when (and if) that was going to happen. So I had to call our travel agent today (who by the way has been extremely patient and helpful) in order to see if she could offer us anything else. Needless to say she couldn't offer any special prices with any other Brazilian airlines and although she did find a direct flight for us from São Paulo to Porto Velho the price was way too high.

So now we're facing the task to surf the internet in search of decent priced domestic flights to a destination most Brazilians don't even know exists... Sounds promising doesn't it!

Still in Finland

We've got 60 days left in Finland and I have so far cleared two boxes of useless stuff, mentally organised all of our books, physically organised maybe 10% of our books, done some paperwork and found out some things related to moving and also set the dates for various farewell parties and kids' birthdayparties that are to be held.

Our house in Jaru is standing but still lacking windows, doors, plumbing, electricity, floors, painting etc. Next door is our wooden house (or more like a cottage) where we'll live until we finish the actual house. Our temporary house needs general fixing (like building a room for my mum in the back of the house) before we can move in so we'll spend the first few weeks with my in-laws.

Right now I'm really excited about moving but incredibly tired because of our wonderful kids.