Honeymoon in Turkey

Sultanahmet mosque in Istanbul

August 5

We got married on August 5 in Ristiina.

Officially married

We actually got married on August 3, at the Maistraatti in Mikkeli.

Wedding preparations

Most of everything for the wedding involved work. We did as much as possible ourselves, handmade... So many people helped us and everything looked really nice! It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun :)

Astuva

One Sabbath afternoon we went on a walk to the Astuvansalmi rock paintings near Ristiina. 

Jetlag

Family and friends and fun and Finland

Casey and I in Helsinki after picking up people at the airport

George!

Meet George, our newest family member
He's named after Curious George

More weddings!

My cousin Petteri and his bride Hanna, in June

Summer in the US

This summer I spent 7 weeks in the US with Casey and his family and had a wonderful time :)

Laura and Morten

Laura and Morten got engaged in September 2011.

We took some engagement pictures around home in Ristiina.

Me and Casey

So... Casey and I started dating in 2011 when he came to visit Finland.

We got engaged right before Christmas 2011 when he came for another visit :)

Europe road trip

In July 2011 Casey, Laura, Alina and I went on a 3 week long road trip through central Europe. On our way we passed through 15 countries and drove over 7000km. It was great! We slept in the back of the van, washed up in rivers and streams and cooked over a camping stove. We saw lots of beautiful scenery along the way and met up with a few friends too :)

Highlights of summer 2011

The whole family together for a little while!

I'm back!

So... I took a little break from blogging. A year and a half to be exact. I didn't mean for it to go so long, but it did. A lot has happened in the last year and a half. I started dating Casey, we got engaged and got married. Lots of school has happened. And a bit of traveling and time spent with family and friends. 

I'll do a little recap of the highlights between April 2011 and now and then I'll hopefully get back to business :)

Taimo, in memoriam

 Taimo Laitinen was active in God's work all over the place. He served as youth leader, camp director, pastor, mission trip leader, pathfinder leader, just about everything.

I can remember him from different places ever since I was a kid. Laura was dedicated by him as a baby. There have been pathfinder camporees (Osh Kosh '99, Denmark '06 and Finland '10), Maranatha trips (Ghana '04, Norway '08, and many others with Dad), and many other events - campmeetings, Maranatha meetings, General Conference meetings... He's always been there. It's difficult to try to understand that he isn't anymore.

 Päivi

 Taimo was active in Maranatha work, leading out on short projects in many countries over the course of many years. Ghana in 2004 was the first time I remember being on a project with him. There we started work on a a surgical theatre building for Akomaa memorial hospital.

 This was our group in Ghana, Taimo on the far left.

 Another project we've been on together was the Leknes SDA church renovation in Norway, 2008.

 In 2010 we were in Atlanta at the same time for the SDA GC meetings. Here Taimo is representing Finland with Eliisa (left) in the closing meeting. Photo by Linus

 Päivi telling us of messages Taimo had a habit of leaving for her. This was the last one she received. It says "SHMILY rakas!" It stands for "See How Much I Love You dear".

Mom and I at the funeral

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away... Blessed be the name of the Lord

 Long-time church worker, youth director, camp director, pathfinder leader, Maranatha leader, ADRA director, friend Taimo Laitinen passed away suddenly a month ago. Lots of people came to pay their respects and say farewell.

 these are part of a Maranatha group that Taimo led to India in November

 The pathfinders honoring a dear leader

family

drive carefully please

 Slushy roads, soft shoulders, ruts, etc... make for interesting rides.

I'm glad Dad wasn't hurt! 

It could've been worse

cake decorating

 The boys hosted a special night for the girls and I got to be a part of it since they wanted help decorating and filling cakes. I don't think I've ever decorated a cake before, but with Juha's (below) expert help we figured it out and had fun!

The boys had gone to great lengths to make the evening enjoyable for the girls :)

They had a nice show with homemade movies, the sweetest self-written love song ever, snacks, cake and all kinds of good finger-foods, and a pool party with the sauna decorated with white cut-out messages and hearts and UV-lights. It was neat :) I didn't stay for the pool party, but could hear them for a long time since I live right above the pool :D

Hyvä pojat!

play day

 One of our many days of playing around with equipment

 morphine - check, adrenaline - check, alfentanil - check...

Everyone basking in the few lone rays of sun that day :D