Blue water is calling…

I will soon be visiting The Bahamas – a place where I’ve never been before but always has been on my bucket list.

I am so privileged to have family living there so accommodation comes easy 🙂

The Bahamas is a large collection of islands, some populated ad some not. I am especially looking forward to shark diving which is one of the few places where that is possible to experience. Besides that lots of “normal” diving and sunshine are on the agenda so I hope to be able to post some images from below the surface I the clear blue and warm water which does to exist where I normally live.

See you in Caribbean.

 

My Finland celebrates 100 years of freedom today

Today Finland celebrates the 100 years since the independence from the Russian empire on the 6th of December 1917.

I have grown up my entire life with Finland as a parallel universe as most of my mother’s family is Finnish. So today is a big big day up-there and I could not be happier for them. The former dominance and intimidation from the Russians have always been lying latent in the Finnish people as well as the winter war with Russia during World War 2 where Russia tried to invade Finland without success.

As I have the Finnish blood flowing in my veins, I have visited Finland on a few occasions and enjoyed their beautiful nature and lovely people. The natives don’t say much though and their language is difficult to understand too, but they like to be perceived as “we speak when we have something to say“. So in general calm Nordic people who has given us the great composer Sibelius as well as the rise and fall of Nokia to mention a few,

A big congratulation on the BIG day for Finland from a distant relative 🙂

(Picture is from a family summer visit to Finland in 1981)

Welcome to Holland!

I have to share this essay…it is just so true and meaningful. Please read ahead and enjoy the life you have been given.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by

Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

My2Boys

My two wonderful boys…just at dad’s humble reminder to himself.

Two very different human beings and both with a tough start of life as adoptees. However, still growing stronger and more mature despite their legacy of loss and betrayal. I see them grow every day developing into adulthood…wonderful…their history will never leave them but may live latent and hidden on the inside. But they are mine and they belong to our family forever. Love you guys!💙+💚

Happy world adoption day

Today is world adoption day and I just had to post a picture of my two fantastic adopted children. I am so happy that you chose our family and I definitely never could imagine you being anywhere else but with us. Love you guys 💚💙