When Jesus Took Him Away

About a week ago I heard shocking news from my Mom. She told me via SMS that one of my brother's friends died. He was only 29 years old. The other day I called my Mom via Skype and got to talk to my brother, as well. He told me the story about his friend's illness and death.

He died because of some type of either lung or liver virus (it's not clear which is which). He was treated in a hospital for about two weeks. Twelve days in the hospital, he saw bright lights and Jesus. Jesus told him that He came to take him away.

He said to Jesus, "Lord, if I can bargain, I'd wish not to be taken away now, because I'm getting married next May."

Jesus told him that he could only get two more days before He came to take him away.

Two days later he saw Jesus again and I guess in the end he did go with Him. So he took his last breath exactly on the day that Jesus said He would.

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When I first heard the news, I felt a cold chill running down my spine when I thought about what would happen to his future wife. I bet they've already booked at least some things for the party. Finding a place to throw a wedding party isn't easy (esp. if the place is a favourite, then you have to book much earlier than the D-day). She must have been in a happy state before he got sick, thinking that next year they'd be husband and wife. But now all their dreams of life together is shattered. May God comfort her and guide her throughout this grief.

May God comfort his family, too.

My brother said that as sad as it was, at least Jesus was the one that took him. He's in a far better place now. :-)))

Rest in peace, Benny!
You're missed...

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Language Fun + Flower Pics

I've been slacking in learning Finnish lately and the training at the hotel doesn't really help much with my Finnish skills 'coz I spend most of my time cleaning alone. Sometimes there's somebody else that helps me, but then more often than not, we clean different rooms. Lately I've been picking up a Finnish novel that I'd started reading a few months ago.

Here is the conversation that happened on Sunday.

Me: "Honey, what's the meaning of this sentence: 'Bla bla bla?'."
R2: "What do you mean?"
Me: "What do you mean by that? I just wanted to know the meaning of the sentence!!!!"
R2: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Oh dear...what do you mean 'what do you mean?'?"
R2: "That's the meaning of the sentence. 'What do you mean?'"
Me: "Ooopppssss. Sorry. I thought you were asking me a question instead of answering it."

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL...

Anyway, here are some flower pics from my MIL's garden. I don't know the names of these flowers, so if you do know them, please let me know he he...

 

Note: This post is written using Blogger Draft, so if I haven't had time to blog-hop, I'm going to do so during the weekend, OK?

Another Cabin Trip

Yesterday eve after work we went to my in-laws' to spend a night at the cabin near their house. It was a fun night! :-D

Anyway, it had been a cool week prior to today (temperature ranging from 3-6'C at night and around 14-18'C during the day) and it was cloudy and rainy, too. However, yesterday was slightly warm and today was HOT!!! I didn't even want to go to sauna. I took a nap for a while on the swing after watering all MIL's plants. It was tough work 'coz first you've gotta use the pump to get the water and then carry the water around the huge yard.

I also got to videotape my MIL when she harvested potatoes from the ground for us to eat. She plants potatoes in summer and this time I had my camera ready when she came out to get them ha ha ha...



I also got to take these photos...


Here was the view that greeted us in front of the cabin when we walked there at around 8.30 pm. Arttu has warmed up the sauna and he swam three times (skinny dipping) in between our time spent in sauna. I cooled off simply by going outside 'coz it was such a windy night.


And here's the view that greeted us from behind the cabin in the morning at around 10 am when we were about to leave it behind. I just LOVE the sparkle of the "diamonds on the water".



And yes...autumn is coming soon. Actually it's rare that it gets this HOT still at the end of August (around 22'C). Last year it was already cool enough outside that I had to wear my jacket outside.


And of course there were still plenty of bees and butterflies around the yard. I took over 20 pictures and only got THREE good ones. :-D Still it's better than nothing. Here they are from different angles he he he...

Facebook: Old Friends + An Old Pic

Lately I've been re-acquainted with more and more ex-elementary school friends through Facebook. Some Indonesian people (mostly women) who married Finnish guys and live in Finland have also found me through Facebook. The bigger the amount of friends I have, the more cautious I become in writing about anything. I've even deleted the link to this blog in Facebook, simply 'coz I feel that my "privacy" is better kept that way.

The other day a friend told me that her brother wrote something in his wall status that caused an uproar among their relatives. My friend told us that he should have been more careful in writing his wall status, 'coz other people might get the wrong idea, especially those who don't understand the reason(s) why he wrote what he wrote.

On the positive note, I'm organizing a little get-together with my ex-elementary school friends when I go back home in November. I don't know yet how many of them will come, but at least a handful of them have told me that they'd definitely come. CAN'T WAIT to meet them! :-D


We've also been having fun "walking down the memory lane", talking about our teachers and other friends. We've forgotten some friends and through some of them, we get to know what has happened to some other friends.

The most shocking news came today about one ex-elementary school friends of ours. Unfortunately I don't remember her, but one of them met her recently. She has got a daughter, but her husband died already. :-(((( Being a widower in such a young age...gee...my friend told me that the husband died due to brain tumor and they found out about it at such a late stage already. :-((((

Anyway...I'll blog-hop during the weekend as usual. Right now I have to write a LONG email to someone he he he he he...Take care, everybody!!!

P.S. I don't think I've shown you this pic. My cousin uploaded this one in Facebook. As you can see, I was 7 years old and boy, my Dad looks SO young and "plump" in this pic ('coz now he's SO skinny!!!). As comparison, let me also show you last year's family pic that we took in Indo.

3BT: Random Days

Note: I seem to be getting rather "quiet" in the blogosphere since my training started, but I can assure you that I have had many thoughts running in my head. But I won't share them here yet...maybe later he he...

1. A hot week (or hot weeks to be exact) followed by a rainy, cool week (this week) 'coz that means we can still stay at home comfortably without having to buy a fan or an aircon. Ah...bliss! (Plus cool weather means that sauna feels MUCH MUCH better!)

2. Hubby has been washing the dishes every week without being asked 'coz he knows how tired I am every day (and how I don't want to clean up the house after cleaning all those rooms).

3. Getting a jar of homemade strawberry jam from MIL.

4. Hubby cooking chocolate pancakes to eat with the jar of strawberry jam from MIL. PERFECTTTTT taste!!! (and I didn't even have to do anything BWA HA HA HA HA HA...)

5. In MIL's house, they gave us ice cream and hubby let me take the one he wanted (even though after I noticed that he actually wanted that one and offered to exchange it, he still gave it to me). *grin widely* I just felt SO loved!!!

6. Hubby leaving me the last piece of pancake, even though I didn't ask him to. Come to think of it, he always does that...if there's a little food left, he'd ask if I wanted it or not before he eats it (esp. when it comes to the kind of food that he knows I like). Again I feel SO loved!!!

7. One caring coworker. It's obvious that she was slightly worried that I might not survived (given my shortness, she could guess that doing some things would be harder for me than for taller people). God bless all caring people in the world!

8. I had enough strength and willpower to play Wii Fit+Sports for about an hour on Saturday night. I missed working out. Ever since I started my training, I hadn't exercised much 'coz every time I come home, my feet are so sore that I just don't want to stand up anymore.

9. Laughing with hubby until we had tears in our eyes and until he couldn't speak anymore. :-D

10. Not having a demanding, controlling hubby who tells me what to do. In fact, he always lets me choose my own path. :-D

11. Sharing a joke (the joke was made by R2) with my family in Indo and hearing my Mom laugh so happily on the phone.

12. Not having to be stingy on chili or other instant mixes or Indonesian food that I bought from tokoindonesia.de 'coz I know I'll bring SO MANY things from Indo soon enough to restock the things I've used HO HO HO HO HO HO...

13. Sharing a bar of soft chocolate mouth-to-mouth with hubby and when we got to the middle, we ended it with kisses. ;-D

Baba Yetu - The Lord's Prayer

A friend posted this clip in FB and I just want to share it here he he...Enjoy!!! I'll blog-hop during the weekend, OK?

3BT: Random Days

1. A very friendly and thoughtful person at the pharmacy. She spoke VERY slowly and clearly in Finnish to make sure that I'd understand her. :-D

2. Picking around 7 litres of strawberries from MIL's strawberry field and packing most of them in the freezer for future use.


3. Surviving another week at work.

4. Being short, 'coz it has its advantages...just take a look at this pic below. Isn't it nice to be able to stretch yourself fully?


5. Eating the sweetest cucumber EVER in my entire life...fresh from my MIL's tree. Wanna see how HUGE they are? (Yeah, I know I'm a small woman, but still they're huge, aren't they?)



6. Having a thoughtful bro-in-law and sis-in-law. How blessed am I!

7. Dipping myself in this lake when it was around 28'C outside and looking at this gorgeous sky. What a splendid summer!



8. Having tapioca flour means that I can make "batagor" tomorrow (click on the link to read the recipe), though I'll use salmon fillet as the main ingredient. WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! It feels GREAT to be able to recreate some of the food I've been missing.

9. Having an option that I can't write about here yet, but still I'm thankful for it. :-D

10. Daydreaming about all the glorious food I can eat again in Indo and knowing that soon I can enjoy them HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

11. Having more than enough of everything. :-D

12. Not obsessing on baby making program or my test results.

Squirrels Video Clips + Stung by Bug

On Saturday my MIL told me that one squirrel dared to come inside the house a few days before to get some food. Since it has been hot lately, their front doors were left open. It seems that the squirrel lives in their shed. After some time, that Saturday the squirrel made its appearance, so my MIL quickly got some bread to feed it.

We came inside the shed to give it some food. MIL said that the squirrel looked different (smaller) from the one who came inside the house the other day, so we were sure there were two of them there HE HE HE...

Here's the video clip of the smaller squirrel. I made several video shots and combined them into one. What my MIL said in the video clip was basically something like, "Come here, little furball...here's some food for you...come here and don't be afraid...hereeeee..."



At first it was hesitant and it was running in circles and wouldn't grab the bread, but in the end it did take it. Some time afterward, the other squirrel came out.

Here's the video clip of the other squirrel. In this clip, it was just munching on the bread he he...



I got the surprise of my life when I peeked inside my MIL's greenhouse. Here is the pic of the cucumber two Saturdays ago:



And here are two pics of the cucumber plant last Saturday (these are two different cucumbers, the first one is bigger than the second one):




Anyway, on Saturday I was also stung by a bug. At first it was like a mosquito bite but it gradually grew larger and larger and redder and it went swollen. The diameter is around 15 cm on my right calf. It started becoming painful at times and also if the area bumped into something (also if I slapped on the area). Last night it also started becoming SO itchy that I was awaken by the itch, though the swelling has subsided a bit. So I didn't go to work today. Went to the health centre and then I bought some medication and salve. They said that if it worsen in a few days, I should come back. Oh well...tomorrow I'm going back to work, though. Hope the pain and the itch have subsided even more by then.

I'll blog-hop during the weekend, okay? Take care, people!