Life Lately :: October

 In a few more weeks, we'll hit our half-year anniversary of living here in Finland! Wild. I keep noticing how quickly these weeks pass by and want to remember the little ways that joys are found. Here are a few snippets of life lately:

We got our first snowfall yesterday! Most are pretty certain it won't stay long, but it has us switching gears into winter mode.

A lot has changed since we first arrived. And then again, a lot hasn't. We're definitely learning a bit about ourselves and I'm becoming aware of the unrealistic expectations I had regarding community and life in general when moving to a new place. I think it's easy to set the standard of what friendship 'should be' based on what we left back stateside. The reality is that those relationships were cultivated over years and years of time. The soul-rest that comes from knowing people for half a decade doesn't come in just a few months. And that's actually okay. It's the same with realizing that what my plate could or couldn't hold back in Minnesota may not be the same over here. I'm working through it and grateful for the grace of Ben's friendship as I verbally process through it all. 

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We're also gearing up for Baby. I think this week it really hit both Ben and I that my belly isn't just growing bigger and bigger because of all the delicious pastries (well, there may be some of that) and that there is, in fact, a little friend in there. We've got 15 weeks to get used to the idea-give or take-so I think once he makes his grand debut, we'll be more than ready for him. 

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I drove home from a friends house without a GPS, so...thats like 100 points. I also find myself giving tourists and other newcomers tips on what places to see. It feels strange walking away from those moments realizing that we now have our haunts that we like to visit. It feels pretty good, actually.

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   There's been a lot of hoops to jump through since we got here. The latest was having to reorder Eowyn's birth certificate because the original one (with an apostille stamp verifying she was in fact born) got lost in the mail on its return to us. So, I had to fill out a new application for a birth certificate, but it had to be notarized by a US notary. 

So, we got to visit the US Consulate!  As a little side note: a lot of people don't care much for the way Finns insist on a certain way of doing things. They are people that go by the book. If your appointment says 3:30, you will meet with said person at 3:30. If you have to have a certain amount of paperwork, in our experience, that means that you better make sure you have it. So, this way of doing things has become customary. And if any of you know me, you know that my type-A personality is totally okay with this.

 So, the consulate: After waiting for them to verify our passports for entry, going through metal detectors and searches of all our things (which we weren't allowed to take with us to the waiting room,) we waited. Then we got to talk to someone to explain why were there, then asked to go sit down again. We did this process 3 times over before we finally made our way back out with notarized application in hand. I think I forgot the way the states works. The way you can go to an appointment but not be seen for several minutes (sometimes hours) after. I anticipate that'll be a hard thing to reacclimate to when we go back stateside. 

All this to say, I've gotten a bit used to the Finnish way and their timely nature and processes. It was nice to wave to the picture of our President on the wall, but then it was nice to walk out to the right-on-time tram that was (of course) arriving right on schedule.

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 More "Yay Finland!" news: I got a new midwife! The one I had previously was very kind, but struggled through our conversations due to language barriers. She retired, and I was reassigned a different midwife who is AWESOME. Seriously, like...amazing. I keep praising Jesus for her.

I applied for my finnish residence card, now that I officially am married to Ben and have a number. So that's nice. And we found a pretty decent craft store out in the burbs. 

We got our car a few weeks ago. We're callin' her ruby because she is RED. But, we're grateful to have it and it'll make travelling to our friends who have a church plant every week much more of a sure thing. Also, when needed, we can hike out to the suburbs and go to one for the big grocery stores and not have to take our groceries home in the stroller-which feels pretty magical. We celebrate with donuts.

This has been probably the best month yet. Even with the darkness, I think we're finally finding our routine and having the energy to work on loving each other well rather than surviving through our brains being dead from all the decisions that need to be made. I'm grateful. 

My parents come a week from today! We're ready. Now to just figure out a way to keep them here. They're bringing a load of baby stuff I bought from target and shipped to their house, and also random goodies like ranch dressing, and vanilla extract, soooo christmas is coming next week.

Also, we got the sweetest surprise package EVER this week and it included this fantastic headband. It's been all the rage at our house this week.

I feel like I could write a book and how to be a good friend based on the way our family and friends have loved on us these past months. God did amazing when making a human be so kind as to think of a light-up-headband to delight a 2 year old girl. Then, that human buys said headband and sends it over the ocean? We're marveling.  There have been a lot of joyful tears.

There's a lot of good things happening here.

Hope your weekend is wonderful and filled with community.