Summer

We estonians like summer.

It is a time for eating, resting, recreating, hanging out. And of course watching the World Cup. Some random thoughts that i have in my mind right now:

1. English Camps are going on with 3 different local churches. You definitely can pray for the Koma, US and local church teams. And of course for the students.
2. Anna's pregnancy is going well but it is getting tougher for her as the time for delivery gets closer. 17th of August is right now the date for our second son to be born.
3. We have a baptism service this sunday and after that we will be meeting in a park through out the month of July. It will be a great opportunity to bring our friends to these celebrations.
4. There's a whole list of household chores that need to be done. Somehow the time seems to be slipping so fast out of the hands that it is hard to get to them...
5. This summer is a summer of weddings. I will be doing 5 weddings - 2 have been done and 3 are still ahead. Love it.
6. It is tons of fun to see the kids growing up. Here is a quick sample of Emma stylin'

Ordination

Last Sunday was my ordination. It was a special day. Since Risttee is part of the baptist union then the president of the union, Meego Remmel (who is also the pastor in Salem church where i grew up) and Toivo (he is currently the other pastor in Risttee but he will be going to Salem to help Meego pastor that church since summer) did my ordination.


Many people have asked me "Do you feel different now?".
I think that i do. Its not that my role or responsibility has changed or increased. But I do feel more confident in working/living as a pastor. At the same time i feel so honored to be able to work in the calling of God among the wonderful people of Risttee.

Family photo shoot

It is good to be have a family where there are 3 models. It takes the pressure off from the dad to look handsome ;)

Here you can see the pictures that our friend took this last weekend.
www.mustvalge.com/saared

Estonians least religious in the world

I dont know if you happened to read this article about a study that was done among the countries of the world. It is definitely an interesting read. Here is the beginning of it.

------
Five EU members figure among the world's top 10 least religious countries, with Estonia leading the list, a new poll has shown.

Just 14 percent of Estonians answered positively to the question: "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" according to a poll released by Gallup earlier this week.

Estonia is followed by Nordic countries Sweden and Denmark, where 17 and 18 percent of those asked answered positively to the same question.

The survey was carried in 143 countries, with an average of eight people out of 10 saying religion was an important part of their lives.

You can find the rest of the article from here.

Family car

We have had our old car Audi for 5 years now. I like it. I mean, i like it when it drives. Unfortunately last months it hasn't been that often. Just a week before Elliot was born and i hadn't been able to pass the car inspection twice (inspite of spending couple of thousand krones on fixing it), we understood that it is really time to start looking for a bit better car for the family.

Well, a week later we had found what we liked - more functional, reliable and comfortable car - Toyota Avensis Verso.


The market right now is in such a bad shape that we were able to get quite a good deal (more than 4,000USD off the original price!). Of course it was still expensive so that our family will be on a tighter budget for a while.

PS I dont think we will allow Porsche to ride along in this car. At least for a while.

Elliot Leevi

27.01.2009 06:08AM Elliot Leevi was born.

The labour with Elliot was much easier than with Emma. Also when Emma was born we went to the hospital around 4am But the difference was that Emma was born 7pm while Elliot at 6am. Well, of course this time Anna knew much better what to expect and so we didn't hurry to the hospital too early but just in time. Also what was fun was that Elliot was born into the water.

The miracle of new life never gets old.


Elliot is so handsome and cute. He has at least one dimple. Maybe 2, but im not so sure about that. One difference we have been able to tell so far with baby boys and girls is that Elliot is almost every time able to pee himself all the way wet. It doesn't matter how well you put on the diaper, he still finds a way to do it.

So life is busy right now with family. Emma was also sick for a couple of days, so during that time she became a daddys girl while Elliot was mamas boy.
Anyways, it is a lot of fun. You should come and visit us.

Things you can do with the snow

Today Emma had fun for the first time in her life playing with the snow.
According to her the best thing you can do with snow is:

1. Eat it
2. Chase the snowballs that daddy makes