Roadtrip to Italy!!! :-)

What can I say...? I was blessed with a wonderful holiday roadtrip through Europe to Italy! It still seams like a dream, a bit surreal, even now after the trip...


On the 5th of August after my morning shift at work, I finished packing my bags and headed to the airport. I flew to Copenhagen that evening where three Norwegians and a BMW were waiting for me. The travelleres were, my wonderful wonderful friend Anette, her boyfriend Jostein and his friend Oystein (sorry can´t make norwegian Ö)... They came driving down from Norway, and together the four of us continued driving through the night through Germany.
Anette, Oystein and Jostein...

The guys...Oystein and Jostein... The chicks...Jen and Annie...

Early in the morning we came to Austria, were we stopped and had breakfast at a river.

We then continued down to the northern parts of Italy. We came to Chioggia and found a hotel in Sottomarina near the beach. There we stayed two nights, had some beach time, some wonderful Italian food and icecream, and long walks through the city...

Sottomarina...



The following day we spent in Venice. What a wonderful experience! Such an amazing city! So charming!!!

Jostein and Anette in wonderful Venice...



Me in Venice.

We then continued down towards Rome and we drove through San Marino, the little country inside of Italy. Rome was fantastic! I was so blown away by that city actually!!! Soo much to see and amazing buildings!!! We got both some Rome by night and Rome by day! Beautiful, beautiful!

Tourists in Rome.
Colosseum...

Love sweet love...

Rome by night.

Dinner in Rome.

After that we headed for the beach and got some time there before we continued driving further up north...We stopped in a small place called Tarquinia and stayed there at a hotel. It was a charming little city. We had breakfast in the city and walked around in the small streets and shops.

View over Tarquinia.

A charming breakfast.

That day we were supposed to have a beach day, but the weather didnt agree with that plan, so instead we headed up to Pisa and saw the tower. We had a nice time there in the rain. A different rainy touristy experience. Quite charming that as well:-).

Some serious rain clouds...

Pisa!!!

In the rain with sun in our hearts...

From there we drove up to Genova. We checked in at a hotel, had dinner in the city and then enjoyed a nice movie evening at our hotel. :-) The following day was amazing with warm sunny weather, and we had an AMAZING day at the beach!!!:-D So beautiful and nice! As you will see in the pictures...;-)

The BEACH!!! :-D

Anette in Genova.

Beach in Genova.

In the evening we drove further north to Milano, were we found a nice hotel, which only had an available suite-so we took it! :-) Talk about nice hotel...hehe we then enjoyed some delicious Mexican food that evening! Most of the people in the city was actually gone- all Italians were by the coast..hehe, we though for a while that we were the only ones in the city...but then we found plenty of people at the restaurants...

Milano.

The next day we drove on and continued up to Switzerland. Talk about a beautiful country!!! The mountains were just so beautiful! We were acting like some serious papparazis! :-) (you know me...) The wonderful Swiss Alps...

Well, then we also drove through Lichtenstein, up to München, were we spent some hours that evening. München was a nice surprise for me actually. I dont know what I had expected, but it was a nice place...:-) and the restaurant owner really did his job well... :-)

München...

Lichtenstein...

We then drove through the rest of Germany that night, taking a 4 hour stop at a petrol station, were we slept in the car... We then got to Denmark in the morning and drove to Sweden. We had a little beach stop in Denmark though... That evening we arrived in Norway. We were all more or less tired..hehe...

Beach break in Denmark.
A break in Sweden for spirit, soul and body...

I then got about one and a half day in Norway, which was really nice. :-) I felt like a princess the whole journey!!! I just felt soo blessed and I was overwhelmed at God´s goodness and faithfulness. He blessed me so much financially through all these amazing people! And I could not have enjoyed the company more than I did! Guys, you are amazing! Thank you for an unforgettable trip!!! :-D

Anette, Lise and I then flew from Norway to Estonia. I had a few days there at our youth camp and after that I returned to Finland, where I am at the moment. I have a few more days of work and then I head back to Estonia for next years studies... What a blessed and amazing summer it has been!!! Praise God! :-D

Summer Update!!!

Ok, this is crazy! I haven´t updated my blog in one and a half month! so here comes a breef overview...

well, mostly I have been back in Finland working taking care of elderly people. It has been a really good job, that I have enjoyed. It is so good to get new experience (after so many years at shell working in the cafeteria branch and in the kitchen). It has been a very blessed working season. I will still work one and a half weeks before I return to Tartu for 2nd year at medical school...

I was so blessed being at the Conference at my Church in Tartu in the beginning of July. We also got a nice time with my family up north at our summer cottage. That was a really nice relaxing quality time! Besides of this time off work I have used the time seeing friends, the cell girls from Fredax and spending time with my relatives at my grandparents summer cottage near by... I think this has been much of the summer program in general...but then comes my biggest blessing this summer...A ROADTRIP TO ITALY!!! I will write more about that in a bit...cause there is sooo much to share from that experience...but now, a picture tour from this summer...

Mom, Doris, Hanna, and dad...A nice evening at our summer cottage...

A nice summer dinner at home in the sun..with my wonderful parents and dog!

My wonderful sister Hanna at our summer cottage...

Fredax cell evening...:-)Hanna, Laura, Abonesh and Ebisse:-)

And the rest of the girls, Sandra, Emma and Linnea:-)

Wonderful to be back in Tartu!!!

I am now back in Tartu for our SUMMER CONFERENCE! It is soo amazing to be back, even though I have only been away for about 2weeks..hehe.. Yesterday I arrived in the afternoon and got ready for the evening meeting. It was a great start at the conference with Pastor Eino preaching about running our race well. Today I was helping in the cafeteria and I have enjoyed it so much.:-) I "missed" the day meetings in that sense, but instead I think I received a double portion this evening when Stefan Salmonsson was preaching. It was sooo good and so funny! Life changing preaching spiced with humor! I like that! I laughed so much I think my stomach muscles got some serious good training!;-) He was preaching about the difference with living a life searching for happiness and a life in God´s blessing. Seriously great preaching! And especially for me who can (sometimes) get caught up too much in my feelings!:-) I received so much this evening, it was great!:-) And tonight I was also part of the choir, which was sooo great! I felt something getting stirred up in my spirit and Hillsong memories from the choir came rushing back...I felt so at home there:-) So yes, it has been amazing so far and the best is yet to come!!! Still 3more days of the conference!:-) AMAZING!!!:-)

A glimpse from the children's meeting.

Enthusiastic pastors... Stefan Salmonsson preaching and Eino interpreting ...

Kai and I at the Conference cafeteria...

We also got some wonderful time together with Anette yesterday both before the meeting and after. Then we went to the city for dinner. It was so great to sit outside the restaurant a warm summer evening...felt like we were more further south than Estonia for sure!:-) I just LOVE this city! Then Anette came to my place and spent the night here, which was nice as usual!:-) So really lovely days, in other words! God is good!!! Hallelujah!:-)

Anette digging in for dinner...:-)

A wonderful day...

Today I had a day off work. Even though the weather has been rainy and a bit cold lately, today it was not raining at least and I went to Borgå to meet my friend Maria that came from Helsinki. I haven´t seen her for close to a year, so it was so good to catch up! We are childhood friends and it´s funny how even though we haven´t seen each other for a while, it feels as there has been only a little time inbetween... :-)

We met in Borgå and walked around in the shops and in the city, being like tourists taking pictures...(you know me!!hehe) Then we went from there a bit outside the city to this mansion Haikko. I haven´t actally been there before even though I live so close! So we went there walked around taking pictures talking and sharing at the same time...:-) It was so beautiful! :-) Then we went inside to the fancy restaurant and she was so lovely and she teated me for lunch! We had a really nice time there! Then from there she came here to Liljendal with me for a while before she headed back to Helsinki. Such a lovely time...:-)

Maria and I in Borgå.

The mansion of Haikko.

Me and Maria.

Healthy good food!:-)

Summer in Finland...

Now I have been here in Finland for a little over a week... I have begun my summer job working with old people and helping them through homeservice and at this old people´s home/community... It has been good and a wonderful experience to "get closer" to old people and see all the beauty they have to share through just being themselves...:-) Good with new perspectives and experiences... They are sooo cute in their own kind of way!:-) Makes me think of the scripture "He has made everything beautiful in its time..."



Last weekend I had one day off and I got to spend some time over midsummer at my grandparents summer house...It was a nice and relaxing time with relatives, swimming, sun tanning, sauna,reading, a nice looong jog/walk (11km!!!) and some good food... Here are some pics from that weekend...


My cousins Eva and Catrin and my sis Hanna...:-)

My grandparents summer house...

My cousins, aunt and grandma:-)

Swans swimming by...

Facing the Giants- An AMAZING movie!!!

Hey guys, if there is anyone who hasn´t seen or even heard of this movie, then you HAVE TO SEE IT!!! "Facing the Giants" - It is totally amazing! It is such a quality movie, with a fully Christian message. It is Sharewood Baptist Church of Albany Georgia that has made it! So here is the link to the webpage. Check it out and make sure to see the movie!!! I am so buying this one!!! :-) Blessings blessings, I am heading to Finland in an hour...just thought I´d share this important message before that! Tsau!

http://www.facingthegiants.com/

HALLELUJAH!!!

Praise God I finally have my SUMMER HOLIDAY!!!:-) :-) :-) Today is officially the first day of it! :-) Yesterday I had my last exam for this year!I hope it went well...haven´t gotten the result yet, but the practical part of the anatomy test went well-I got 19,5 / 2o points! God is so good!All glory to Him!:-) So yeah I hope that the written part also went quite well...let´s see...It is hard to believe that I have finished my first year of medical studies!:-) Wow...

I just got back from an AMAZING day at Otepää. Anette and I drove there this morning and spent the day at the beach, walking around, taking pictures, eating out, and we even did some shopping and found so many nice things!!! It was just soooo Amazing!! (Did I mention that already;-) ) Here are some pictures from our day...

There are some other updates I have to make here as well of things that has happened in the midst of this hectic exam period... Some wonderful high-lights... Katrin and Lauri´s wedding!!! That was last Saturday, and it was really beautiful. I only participated in the first part of the wedding, at the church, so for more pictures of the continuation of the celebration, check Anette´s blog... But yeah here are some pictures from their wedding...


Then the Friday before that we had our last cell group before the summer holidays...we had a combined cell together with Getlin and Kristel´s cell group... It was nice having all the girls here. We were mostly planning the last youth outing that our cells organized for this Friday... Some pics from the cell...



This Friday evening after I had my wonderful last exam over we had the youth outing. We went out of Tartu to Michel and Triin´s country side. It was a beautiful place and a wonderful evening... We had some worship, games, barbecue, sharing, swimming, relaxing, and so on.. some of the youth had tents with them and they spent the night there as well... A really wonderful start on the summer holiday!!!

So yeah, wonderful, wonderful! God is so good and faithful and He sees us through anything!!!:-) All our sources are in Him, and I so thank Him for all the strength and grace He has given me during this whole school year, but especially during this exam period!!! All glory to Him!!!