Numbers

Women's Bible study at my church resumed last week. There are 130 women registered between the Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening sessions. Wow! Today was day 2. We are studying the book of Numbers in the Old Testament. Sounds rather dry, right? You could not be more wrong. Already from the first chapters we can see God, how he creates order out of chaos, how he has a plan, how he keeps his promises....I could go on.

I really appreciate the discussions we have in our table groups. Every term the group of ladies changes but what stays the same is their commitment to study God's word deeply. They do their homework faithfully, they come prepared. What a blessing Tuesday mornings are to me.

Quebec City

I went to Quebec City for the last week of summer break with my friend Serene. It was wonderful. Quebec City is beautiful and has such a lovely old world feel to it. Just wandering the cobble stone streets, popping into shops and eating outside in little cafes was so lovely. There were street musicians everywhere and they were really good. We actually stopped to listen to them! The food surprised me. It was delicious!! I did not eat a single bad meal and the atmosphere in every place, although different each time, was also great. We went to an English style pub, to the Chateau Frontenac, to several Italian restaurants and of course multiple cafes for coffee and pastries. We wandered the historical sites, we shopped and we relaxed. It was a great way to end summer 2025.

Marina

My posts for the last six weeks are going to be completely out of order chronologically because I have so much to write about and I don't feel like starting at the beginning, lol. I am not even sure whether all of it will end up being published. I currently have 48 drafts in my blog account, so maybe not. We'll see.

Anyway, Marina, Matias and Sarah came to stay with us in the middle of August. We had such a good time and I love spending time with my granddaughter! She was doing the cute worm crawl where she'd pull her body along the ground. She reminds me so much of Matias and of course makes me ask that old lady question of where has the time gone? I was reminded of those times when we had a baby and leaving the house was carefully timed between naps. When you had to maximize your time out between juggling naps and feedings. When leaving was never quick, and you had to bring so much stuff and just when you were ready, the baby pooped or threw up. I sympatized with Matias and Sarah since they are currently in that stage of life. Anyway, we did manage to go out for dinner to The Keg as a family and it was a lovely way to celebrate Pentti and my 26th anniversary at the same time.

Azim

Azim was my sister's father in law. He was diagnosed with cancer last month and he passed away this week. I don't know how that happens and I have serious misgivings about our medical system. But, that's not what I want to write about.

Azim was such a warm, friendly guy. As extended family, we met up at many family gatherings. He was always interested in others, asking questions and genuinely engaging with people. In many ways he was very similar to my father and they got along great. They were both engineers, immigrants and all about family. He too was a wonderful, fully engaged grandfather to my sister's kids. But Azim was also into food and often brought persian food to gatherings and even had some of his own special recipes. He loved soccer and was still actively playing just a few months ago. 

He will be missed, but praise God, Azim is in heaven. He became a Christian this past spring and I am confident that he is now more fully alive than ever and completely healed. He was a good, decent guy but that's not why he's in heaven. He's in heaven because he believed. And that means that this is not goodbye, but see you later.

Meet Lavender

So after years of Emmi's begging, we relented and got a dog. As someone who has never had a dog, I am so grateful to the people who helped me. And I am so happy that I got connected to the shelter that I did through a friend. It even turned out that I had a personal connection with the trainer who had our dog. It was all like it was meant to be. 

Anyway, we are now getting used to life with a dog in the house. I am not going to lie, it has been a tough week. Lavender is a rescue dog from the streets of California and has a fair bit of anxiety. She is lovely with us in the house, but does not like visitors or other dogs. It is proving to be more challenging than I expected....Some days I am overwhelmed and wonder whether things will ever get better. I watch dog training videos and wonder what the right approach is. Having never had a dog, it's hard to know who's advice to follow. I feel out of my depth. But, we love her and we want to help her feel safe and secure. Surely, she will eventually sense that and settle down...?

But that is not to say that there have not been lovely snuggles. Morning walks in the sunshine. Play. Emmi's joy. We press on.

July

July was lovely. It felt really long and I spent lots of time relaxing on my deck, chilling at home, decluttering and sleeping in. But, I also found time for lots of other things. It's funny how much time there is in a month when you aren't working...I tried to pick one highlight, but I couldn't decide, so here are my favourites:

I met with six other women for Bible study every Tuesday morning. We finished with a potluck on my deck and it was perfect. It is not easy to find women who would commit to studying the Bible in the middle of summer. I mean really, who does that? But my friends were dedicated and I couldn't believe that they continued showing up week after week. 

I spent five days in Hope. Going to the cabin is always relaxing and lovely. I have blogged about it many times. 

I spent quite a few afternoons on my friend Lesley's deck (or she came over to mine). 

My friend and I went to a jazz hymn swing. We had zero expectations and really no idea what it would entail. It was part hymn singalong and part jazz concert. It was amazing. We even got to sing one of my favourite hymns: Abide with me.

Emmi took an art class with her friends and loved it. On her birthday, we took a mother daughter art class with two of her best friends and their mothers. She said it was her best birthday ever.

There were quite a few birthday celebrations and we're not even done yet. Emmi and I both have July birthdays and the celebrations are continuing into August...

One of my very favourite things was the July birthday celebration with my two choir friends. We could not believe how amazing they were at Joey's on Lougheed. The food was delicious. There was free dessert and flowers and free champagne. I was blown away.

It's still early days of August and I am grateful for that, but this summer has already been amazing. And August is shaping up to be even better, Stay tuned....

next yr

I was talking to a friend of mine about next year's classes. It's August already which means that anyone who works in a school is thinking about September. They say that August is one long "Sunday night" for teachers and it's true. Anyway, I am staying at grade two, so I will not be keeping any of my students. But, if I were rolling into grade three, there is only one kid I would like to keep. He is funny and off the wall. He doesn't really listen. He comes in full of energy and never stops. He is likeable and quirky. And he is never boring.  I am ready to pass on the rest of my students, the challenging, the goody two shoes, the quiet ones; they can be "enjoyed" by their next teacher. But R, him I will miss. And if you read my previous post about Joonas, you will understand why.

Joonas

My middle child graduated this year. He is the one child for whom I would receive phone calls and emails from the school. He had been caught throwing banana peels off the roof. He had gone hiking out of bounds with his friends. He had a flask that he was using as a water bottle. He had violated the tech policy...He was also the one that told me in kindergarten that he had chosen a friend because, " I like him because he is BAD!!". It is because of Joonas that I am a better teacher. I love the crazy active little kids in my class who have spunk and personality plus. I understand them. I like them and they know it. It makes my job so much easier when I like the sassy students and they in turn like me. 

Back to Joonas. Despite his many antics, he did very well in school. I am proud of how well he did and how he managed to be successful even though I rarely saw him doing homework. He is smart and funny and I am excited to see where God leads him. Joonas graduated this year and it was such a great time of celebration. I already blogged about our family party in May. In June, there was the convocation and the grad banquet. We were celebrating not just Joonas, but also his really great group of friends, who may also act first and think later, but who are just really great kids. Joonas and his friends formed a group called the Harmonica Boys and they performed at both celebrations. They formed a fishing club which became one of the official clubs at the school. I often hear that a group of boys has invaded our basement and that the group of them are going for swim and sauna at midnight. I hope their friendships continue even though they are all going their separate ways in a sense. 

Joonas isn't sure what he wants to do yet, but as long as he's not living in our basement when he's 40, I am okay with that. Besides, he cooks a mean steak and I like having him around.

Summer Bible study

So after a five year break, I have finally resumed summer Bible study. I started these summer studies back in 2018 because I was annoyed that all programming ends just when my holidays start and I would have more time for reading and studying. When you can't find anyone offering what you're looking for, start your own...So that's what I did. 

We meet in Lois' lovely backyard to discuss, chat, have coffee and snacks. We are studying the prophets of the Old Testament and it's fascinating stuff. Today's lesson was on Habakkuk and I think it was my favourite one so far. Then again, my favourite book of the Bible seems to often be the last one I've studied...lol. But Habakkuk, what an honest and relateable prophet. He questioned the when of God's timing. Why wasn't God doing anything? Then when God told him that he planned to act and how he planned to do so, Habakkuk questioned the how of God's methods. How like us. How like me. God is either sovereign and in control or he isn't. All things work for my good, not just the pleasant ones that I "approve" of. I want to be able to say with Habakkuk that "though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food....yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in my salvation." I am working on it.

"social"

Nitsa and I are the social committee at school. We're not on the committee, we are the committee. I tried to get it renamed the antisocial (or even the selectively social) committee but apparently that was antithetical to what a social committee is supposed to be....who knew, lol?!

Anyway, it's great because Nitsa and I are both type A perfectionists. You might think that that creates problems, but it actually totally works in our favour. We like to plan events, we like to have things organized, we like things to look nice and we work really well together. We also teach next door to one another so she is constantly popping into my room to make sure the invite she's sending out is perfect, or I'm popping in to show her the sample of the decorations we're going to make.

This year has had a lot of extra social events so there has been a lot of planning and ordering of food and decorating. That's ok. But only because I've done it with Nitsa.

Thinking

I mentioned in a previous post that I had finished some Bible courses at my church. Our church is very blessed to have professors from Regent who attend and sometimes help teach. One such (retired) professor was teaching two courses, one on Old Testament and one on Church History. If you know me, you wouldn't be surprised that I could not resist taking both courses. I have often thought about going to Regent or taking some theology courses, so I feel like these courses were handed to me on a silver (much cheaper) platter. What a gift.

To sum up what I learned would be impossible because there was just so much over the course of eight weeks. Besides, a lot of what I learned was much bigger than just facts. Ian talked about world views and the lenses we use and shifts in culture. Maybe I'll blog about those some day. But what I have been pondering this week is what he taught in the OT course regarding wisdom literature. He pointed out that Christianity is meant to be a thinking religion. It is not about blindly following a bunch of rules. That's what the Pharisees were all about and Jesus condemned them because they didn't love people and in fact added to their burdens. Yes, there are rules for right living, no question about that, but at the heart of it is (or should be) love for your fellow man. You need to go beyond the rules to ask yourself what is the most loving response in this situation. Ian pointed out that in Proverbs 26, for example, verse 4 says "don't answer the foolish arguments of fools", but the very next verse says "be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools". So which is it? Although different reasons are given for answering or not answering, the point is that you need to be discerning about what to do. There is no blanket rule for how to respond because situations vary. In fact, Jesus often answered questions with questions. 

In light of this, I've also been thinking about the rich young ruler story in Matthew 19. He claimed to have followed all the commandments. But Jesus said to him, "if you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor". I've always thought that he went away sad because he was so attached to his wealth, and I think that's part of it. But for him to think that he had kept all the commandments while hoarding his wealth and not helping the poor.....to claim that he has loved his neighbour....well that's all talk. It's like the priest and the Levite in the good samaritan story who would have proclaimed loving your neighbour with their doctrines and lips, but with their actions, not only walked past but made a point of going past on the other side.

So, back to thinking and discernment. Every situation requires thinking about what is the most loving thing to do. And then doing it. That is true Christianity.

May

It has been a crazy month and it's not even over. I already wrote about my choir concerts. It was also Mother's day in there as well as my best friend's birthday. My coworker and I hosted two baby showers at work, which turned out great! I also finished two Bible courses at my church and I am resuming a women's Bible study with some friends. But the highlight for sure was having Matias, Sarah and Marina, my granddaughter, stay with us over May long weekend. They flew into town for a family celebration that I hosted for Joonas and my nephew Noah, who are both graduating this year. I ordered the food and the cake so that I was able to enjoy the party along with everyone else. Everything turned out great and I think everyone had a good time, even though the rainy weather meant we were all stuck inside. We have a lot less family gatherings these days, so they are that much more special when they do happen. My mom was still in town and able to meet her great granddaughter.

The rest of the weekend, we relaxed with our immediate family. We went to the aquarium. I got in lots of baby snuggles. We had a lovely time even if it was way too short.

Now the four of us are in Hope and it's quiet and lovely. The weather is warm and sunny and we have nothing on our schedule. How perfect.

Yesterday were the final two concerts under the direction of Gail, our beloved musical director. It's hard to put into words how much she means to the choir members, both past and present. Her direction and demands for excellence have pushed us, challenged us, inspired us and ultimately made us proud of our hard work after concert days. But her guidance is about more than just the music. The community and sense of belonging that she has been able to create and inspire are second to none. 

There are so, so many good choir memories from rehearsals, concerts, and retreats. The retreats in Whistler every fall were so much fun: the talent show, the (super competitive) silent auction, walks, games, the hot tubs and of course the singing. At rehearsals: the beauty of harmonies coming together, the laughter, running to beat the washroom line, reconnecting that first Monday night in September, and debriefing after an event. On concert weekends: the excitement in the stairwell right before a concert, playing cards in the green room, stepping onto the risers, the audience, the band, Gail's piano playing and her voice, the high after a concert. The happy times are why the choir is so full of joy and love and friendship.

 But there were some sad times too and it's those times that show how Gail made us all family. There was the death of Nichole, a long-time choir member who actually brought me into the choir. There were other deaths and serious illnesses, personal challenges, surgeries, COVID, the Lapu Lapu tragedy and hard times of many kinds....During difficult times, we came together. We talked, we cried, we hugged, we prayed, and we sang. It was healing and beautiful. In fact, when my father passed away and I had to take a leave from choir, I went to our Christmas concert. Sitting in the audience singing along and seeing my choir family was the best medicine for my grieving soul because, thanks to Gail, it really is a family. I'll never forget how my choir friends comforted me after the concert and Gail's big hug and comforting words. I will sorely miss being in choir under Gail's direction.

students

These two are not my students. But since my class and their class do a lot together, they are often in my classroom. In fact, for some odd reason when the two classrooms are open, mine will have 30 students and the other will have 10....But these two, they also come to find me at random times of day. They run to hug me so hard that I am nearly knocked off my feet every time. They're sassy and funny and on this particular day pictured, posed with my sunglasses on. They bring me so much joy.

Election day

On this rainy election day, I am immersing myself in a sweet book about kindness, generosity, friendship and wonder.

Excited!

I am excited about new courses starting at my church, my mom and her husband coming for a visit, a weekend away, waffles with whipped cream, school restarting, sunshine in the forecast, choir practise tomorrow, my new patio umbrella, my new striped sweatshirt, daffodils, a new playlist on Spotify, my choir concerts, seeing my students, finally decluttering upstairs, donating two bags of clothes, my best grandma ever mug, and spring. 

Prayer

Having friends who wish you well, have your best interests at heart, and who love you, are wonderful. They can support you and share your burdens. Do you know what they can't do though? They can't fix your anxiety. All the positive thoughts in the world aren't going to calm your anxious heart. Friends who promise to pray for you, on the other hand, are another matter entirely. They can go to the sovereign ruler of the universe on your behalf. Through prayer, they can move mountains.

Recently I had really bad anxiety for several reasons. I mean based on the frightening, chaotic state of the world, who doesn't have anxiety?? But I had personal reasons too. I told my best friend. She prayed for me. I shared with my community group and they prayed. I went to church and I asked for prayer from the prayer team. A friend saw my teary face afterward and put her arm around me and promised to pray for me. The thing is, people often say "thoughts and prayers", but they really only mean good thoughts. I'm glad to have people thinking good thoughts, but that doesn't actually change anything. What I am very blessed to have is friends and a church community who says that they will pray for me and then do so. Really. It reminds me of a song that we sing in choir: "long as I live, and troubles rise, I'll hasten to His throne". What a privilege that I can hasten to His throne, but how amazing that there are people who are willing to go there on my behalf as well.

So, anyway, back to the anxiety. After all those prayers my anxiety was replaced by inexplicable peace. Not a single thing in my circumstances changed. But my worries and anxieties were brought before God, the one for whom nothing is impossible. He answered the prayers for peace and a calm heart. I am well aware that He does not always magically remove all anxiety. But in this case, because of all my praying friends, I had peace. And as a result I had the most wonderful time with the thing I had been most anxious about.

Granny Annie

In January, I became a grandmother and a few weeks later, we were able to fly out to Alberta to see our new granddaughter, Marina. She is perfect and beautiful and cuddly and I could go on and on. I love babies, I always have. But to hold my own granddaughter was something quite unique and wonderful. Looks like I will be making vacation trips to Alberta....

Resolutions

I did not make any resolutions this year. At least not in the usual sweeping way that I normally do. Instead, I am going with moderation, more of some things and less of others. I am doing (way) less shopping, less (no) wine, less junk food, less sharing of my opinions, less social media. And I am doing more exercise, more water, more reading, more prayer, more trying new things. This seems to be more manageable and is working so far. Today I went to the gym for the first time in five years!! No, I did not enjoy it before, during or after. But I went. Last night I went for sauna and swimming. Perhaps there's a chance I can actually keep this going. Well, except the not sharing my opinions part, we all know that's a lost cause, lol.

2024

2024 had some bitter disappointments, death, unexpected drama and conflicts. But, it also had answered prayers, new friendships, new family and travel. Overall, I am grateful. The hard stuff hopefully changed me for the better and besides, I can trust that it came from the sovereign hand of God.

Some of the highlights from my travels with family and different friends are in the collage. Naturally, we went to Hope multiple times. But, I was also able to go to Powell River, Washington, Orlando, Victoria, Whistler, Rock Ridge Canyon, San Francisco and Lumby. Washington was full of museums and walking. Powell River was chilling by the ocean. Lumby, which we visited twice as a family, was relaxing with extended family. Rock Ridge was spiritually enriching connecting with ladies from church. Victoria was educational and fun and turned into a weekend of food and shopping. Orlando was a spiritual retreat among the palm trees. Whistler was a perfect weekend away. San Francisco was pure fun and adventure. Every single one of these trips was a highlight of the year in a slightly different way. But now on to 2025! And before I can even think of travelling, I need to declutter my house...