All in the Family!

Today I want to share some family pictures. They were taken at the first party of my niece, Sointu Aura Vellamo, whom you can see below with my mom. Isn't she a sweetheart?

This is another picture of Sointu, this time with her mother. Who is obviously my sister-in-law, the wife of my elder brother.

The young man in the next picture is my younger brother, Taneli. He' s so cute!:)

And finally my cousin, my god-daughter and her elder brother. My god-daughter turns 3 in June and is adorable. My cousin has the typical look of men in my family on his face...It's just agony to try to make them smile in photos!

Well, that's it. I wish I had some nice pictures of my dad and my elder brother, but sadly no. I'll add them some day. Right now I just wanted to add these pictures to remind me that I'm not alone in the world. I'm blessed with some of the most amazing (and difficult) people in the world and I thank the Lord for that every day.

All kinds of dreams

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

The words of Eleanor Roosevelt. I've always had a very active and interesting life in my dreams. I'm known amongst my friends as the girl with the weird dreams. They are often filled with suspense, mystery, excitement and other James Bond themes. I love my dreams, but sometimes it seems like too much.

For the past two weeks I've had several of these dreams. It seems I'm running around the world all night every night. And every morning I wake up tired and confused. It might just be the spring. I hate spring. All the sun shine and warmth and water...the worst depression is over, but I'm still feeling a bit down. And the dreams aren't certainly making it any better!

Last night before I went to bed I asked God to not let me have any dreams. I just wanted to take a break. I feel like my brain never stops working and it wears me out. He answered me and I slept quite well. It was wonderful for a change.

I have other kinds of dreams as well. Day dreams. I dream about meaning. I wish that I could fill my place in this world. Those are the beautiful dreams Mrs. Roosevelt was talking about. And I like to think that those are the dreams that were given to us by God. They are not just any dreams. They are dreams that are meant to become reality.

A week ago I taught about Blessing to about 30 Christian students who had gathered to spend an evening together. I thought it went pretty well and the feedback has been awesome. I'm humbled by the fact that God has used me to speak to people. Teaching is something I really enjoy and it is a big part of my dreams of the future.

On this very day I feel like God is finally taking me somewhere. I've made some plans concerning next fall and even my dissertation seems to be going somewhere (55 pages, my friends!). Next fall I will be taking full responsibility for our alpha-course for students. It's our fourth one and I'm as excited as ever. I will have to learn many new things to fill my place, but I'm certain that this is a step to the direction I want to be going to.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. The most important word in the sentence is believe. Believing is all about trust and obedience. One is useless without the other. Trusting God and obediently going where he tells you to go is the key to fulfilling your dreams. The important ones, of course.