Monday, 29 June, 2009, Ivalo, Finland~

Dear Journal~

Terve! Miita kuuluu?  Kiitos hyvaas!

Sari Annike here.  It has been a while since I last wrote; I last wrote back in May, just when the weather started to warm up.  Now summer is here; trees and flowers are out in full force, as are the long nights and warmer temperatures.  Feels very nice on an old, tired, achy body.  LOL

I am happy to say Erick and Magdalina haven't been sick since their bout with a respiratory viral infection that put them into hospital for about a week.  They've both been bursting with health; this has been a big answer to prayer!

Nik, my husband, he has been working lots of hours; anything to try to make extra money, so we can pay off the children's medical bills.  I'm just thankful our oldest child, Birtta, aged three, has remained healthy; I don't know what we would have done had she gotten sick as well!

I would have probably pulled my hair out by the roots!

I have remained homebound.  Not sick, but my MS has been giving me fits most days, as has my fibromyalgia.  It's been very difficult to try to function when my body continually betrays me.  I just thank God for Nik, the children, my brothers, and my friends!  I also have a very good team of doctors at the MS clinic, where I go every month, so they can monitor my condition.

I got my hair cut for the summer:  too hot if left long; I hate fighting with it when my muscles act up, or if I am in pain, so I had it all chopped off.  Some people say I look like a boy.  I don't think so; I look like a woman with very short hair.  LOL  At least I'm not bald!  LOLOLOLOL

It's easier to manage this way, and Nik likes it.  I'm not so sure about Birtta; she sees me more as a second daddy than a mom, when I am very much of the female species!  LOL 

She gives me strange looks, tells me to let my hair "get big" (her way of saying that my hair is growing).  LOL  I don't think she likes it; well, I do; it's much easier to handle!

The summer months are here; even in the middle of the night, it remains quite light outside.  It will remain this way until the middle of next month, when the days start getting shorter, which is a signal that fall will soon be arriving.

Then by October, we will have our first snows, and by December, we will be enveloped completely in darkness, with only the street lamps and northern lights providing enough light for us to see or function.

I have been watching the news about Michael Jackson, Ed McMan, and Farah Faucet, all, of whom, died this week.  I am sad mostly for Michael; he was only fifty:  he died of a sudden cardiac arrest.  By the time paramedics got there, they couldn't save him; it was too late.  I loved Michael Jackson; he was quite the talent!

He will be missed for a very long time to come!  The music world lost a true legend in Michael Jackson's passing!  Such a tragedy!

I liked Ed McMan too; he was on Star Search and on Johnny Carson; I have watched videos of him, and he was a very classy gentleman.  He will be missed a lot, too!

(Farah was an angel.  That's really all I know about her, plus there was a poster of her in a bikini that sold millions.  Other than that, she remains a mystery; I really don't know much about her.)

Well, I am going to go to bed; it's getting terribly late.  The kids are getting cranky, and I'm getting bone-tired; have been up since three this morning, when Birtta decided to smear honey all over the kitchen, and herself.  What a mess!  *Sighhh*

Until later, Nakemiin!

~Sari Annike.  :)