Enjoy our Year in Review! Read More
Meet the Pauls
We met the Pauls in April of 2008 at our interview conference. They were pure-bred Californians deciding whether to serve in Indonesia or Finland. Since our church was doing work in Indonesia, I tried to persuade them to go to there. They decided Finland. We went back to our separate coasts, packed up our lives, rented out our homes, and reunited in August in Richmond at our training center. For 9 weeks we shared meals together, sat together every day for our sessions, and bonded through Read More
13 months and 9 days…
The moment came at the perfect time. We were at the home of Irma, an amazing Finnish woman who glows with the presence of God and who owns a lovely piece of property in the outskirts of town. We had just sat down for afternoon coffee with her and our dear friends here, the Pauls, when Darcy busted in the front door from playing outside screaming, “I have to go POO-POO!” Colby got up to help her when I heard his phone ring. My stomach immediately dropped and the Finnish fancy cake I was chewing Read More
Adventures in Scandinavia, Part 1
In Iceland, people are serious about catching rays when the summer sun shines (since it's so rare). It’s almost as if people just collapse wherever they happen to be when the sun peeks out. One time, I looked out my window and saw a full-grown man lying prostrate on a piece of grass beside the bank parking lot. I love to see the Icelandic people enjoying the warmth of nature and not taking it for granted. Naturally, here in Finland I want to soak up every last bit of summer. Yesterday, I Read More
My Week in Status Updates
Annie is: amazed that all we really need to survive anymore can be packed into 4 suitcases.Annie is: watching a Finnish TV station with Colby who is trying to imitate the new sounds (His response when he saw me watching him: "Oh sorry...I was just thinking about Diphthongs.") Annie is: APPALLED to hear that you have to PAY to use public bathrooms here.Annie is: attempting to blow-dry and curl her hair in the kitchen using the reflection in the microwave as a mirror because the only outlet Read More
Living on Poo-Poo
When our Finnish friend first told us, I didn't believe him. "We live where?" "Poo-poo-hoo-dante," he said again. The girls went nuts. (Darcy, of course) "So, who lives on Pee-pee?" (roaring laughter from her and Haley). I guess there are worse things to have as your street name. Honestly, I could care less what this thing is named...I can walk out our door and take my next step into the woods. And then my next step is on a trail that wraps around a beautiful lake. The leaves are Read More