My family consists of a father, Mika, mother, Grace; brother (20yr. old) Ari; sister (18yr. old) Marita; and Laura (12 yr. old). We also enjoy the company of our two dogs, Pepi, a Australian Shepherd mutt, is the older of the two, and he's in the picture to the right... over there :) yep. and Henry, a Bernese Mountain Dog, is the larger of the two, they like to have domination fights.
When summer ended, my family started getting super busy. My brother came home from college, and my sister started packing up to move to college! She's going to be a mortician, and needs to leave home to get the schooling she wants.
We were all around for about two weeks, as far as I can recall, before Dad left for Thunder Bay, I believe, for a conference. Then he came back, and and left once again for my grandfather's funeral in Finland (June 1, I'm pretty sure). He's back now, just returned on the 17th, and is happy and healthy :)
I started summer school legitimately on June 7th (before then i had been taking Trigonometry classes to help with the Pre-Calculus course I'm going to have to take online in Indonesia) I'm now into my Biology class, and it's rough, let me tell you, but I am a fast typer, so note-taking on Microsoft Word is a blessing! I'm also working at Taco Bell on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and have been writing a summer list, which I'll get to :)
Marita packed up and moved, with Mom following the next day, on June 16, with an 8hr. journey with Jake (her boyfriend) in front of her. She's doing splendid, as we got a video from her showing her new room, and she's set it up great... which is how she's like :) She wouldn't leave the boxes sitting around, she finished unpacking as fast as possible! haha.
Ari has gotten his car fixed, which he's been working on, and is going to be working as a lifegaurd this summer. So he's hanging around here.
Laura has actually gotten herself into volleyball camps, and youth group at church, and softball, plus the days where Anna comes over to hang out, she's super busy.
The family is doing great, though. We're all getting things done, and honestly, when I come home, it's more of a... let me get everything I can done while I'm here... more than a... let's sit down, relax, and hang out... unless we're at the dinner table :) which is where we all sit down and hang out, and is probably one of the only times.
I don't even watch TV... I don't have time. (which I do... I just have better things to do all the time :] )
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This summer the family is planning on summer school, Finnfest (which we go to every year, as it is the Finnish heritage [of Finland], where my Dad was born, and where we all got our names :] ) and some retreats with the youth group. Hopefully a camping trip, because we haven't been camping in years, and a going away party in July :)
I don't know when I'll be leaving, but I've got contact with my host family!!!!! :) it's so exciting, honestly. It's really cool because the few days before, people had been asking, and each time, I would sigh loudly, and have a huge peace come over me, and know that God was taking care of it, and I needed to be patient :) So, blessings have followed.
Two more tidbits of fun facts for today: I've also become patient in driving, each time I completely stop at a stop sign- which is what you're supposed to do, but many of us do not- as I love to do, I say to myself: You will be blessed. And it's true! That's how it is with speed limits too :) it's a good thing to tell yourself. I wouldn't hesistate to recommend it to you!
Secondly, if you have any opinion whatsoever on the different pages I may put up, please tell me. They all look so cool that I'm having a hard time deciding, so they may just change, unless someone has some sort of opinion on what they'd like to see when they open up me website!
Farewell fans :)