At the beginning of the twentieth century my grandmother immigrated to a mining town in Upper Michigan, from Finland. She married a copper miner in the Copper Country. Long after my grandmother passed away I learned about the miner’s strike and a disaster that killed 73 people, most of them…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 God’s amazing design is before us in the birth of Jesus. Jesus did not enter our world as an…
My mother picked strawberries and wild blueberries with her mother, and so did I. My Finnish heritage has given me a an appreciation for berries, wild and cultivated. Berries are abundant in Finland (37 types of edible wild berries) and an important addition to the diet. Enjoyment of berries is…
In July of last year my husband and I flew to Finland to visit my grandmother’s birthplace and to attend a family reunion. We had a nonstop flight on Finnair from Chicago to Helsinki Finland. Relatives met us at the airport. My grandmother’s travel to the United States was much…
This past summer my husband and I traveled to Finland. We visited the village where my grandmother grew up, north of the artic circle. We enjoyed seeing the pristine forests, rivers and lakes. And we saw reindeer roaming freely. They graze in the forests, fields and even in yards adjacent…
A number of years ago I read an article about a Finnish midwife. In 1909 she had been at the center of a court case, determining the legality of midwifery in Massachusetts. She had been arrested a number of times (despite the fact that her statistics for live births were…
Every Friday the FMF community writes for five minutes on a prompt given by Kate Motaung. To visit this inspiring community of writers, click here. Today’s prompt is: PLACE While we were in Finland we visited Turku, a beautiful old city. It was the “capitol” of Finland when Finland was…