fAmiLy...iT's whErE oUr hEarT iS...

I had a great time with Emma in Ireland last month... getting to know her beautiful friends in Belfast and her family who live in a farm they call Annahavil, near Cookstown in county Derry... I could experience a "proper" Irish Christmas, and meet part of her family... they are great, very hospitable and making sure I was welcomed and feeling included ... I felt at home and among family with them...
After that, we went to the Land in Portugal to spend the new year with another family... the one we choose to belong to...

It was nice to be back home, to see Rosie and Ton...Josh was in the Algarve visiting his mum and Carly was in Lisbon with her family... Jared was also back there, Julia and little Anna came from Germany with Birger... Hajo and his sister Monique also came from Germany but left the day after we arrived... Darek from the Czech Republic has been there since the beginning of December... and Emmanuel came from Sweden with 2 other friends...
It was a nice group from "the wider family"  ...

It was raining most of the time and the roof of my house was broken in some parts, so I had to fix it a bit to stop some rain from dripping inside... It felt so good to be back in my little cozy hut... I'm looking forward to starting to build it soon ...

I didn't do much the 3 days I was there because I only stayed in the "landing" stage and I didn't get time to "settle"... It was nice to chat with most of them at different times... most of the days I hardly left my house because people would come by and we'd just stay in nice conversations...

Nobody had great plans to celebrate the New Year, we were all feeling like having a nice and relaxed evening in each other's company... and that's what we did... Birger,  though, got excited for some fire show, so they all brought the fire equipment out and we had a nice time watching them...














After a nice show we didn't stay up so late, because we had a loooong ride the following day... 2700km to be precise...

Me and Emma were still wondering how we would get to Berlin to meet the other part of the wider family... we thought about hitch-hiking, but I'm glad Julia came up with another idea...

"- Why don´t you drive my car, drop Birger in Karlsruhe, and she could get the ride Birger arranged for himself"... This sounded crazy, and extremely generous of Julia, but it made sense and it would work out for everyone...

In a record time of one and a half days, we drove around 1800 Km from the land in Portugal to Biesenthal, north Berlin... Where there was minus 12 degrees...

But it was definitely worth it... we were again with family...

This is a special one ... our "nomadic family"... we all met at different times in different places or travelled together... we share many memories and many common dreams together...

we pray for one another...

we encouraged one another in hard times and celebrated the good times..

we supported each other in our lives, passions and dreams...

we cried and laughed with one another many times...
And this was another time like this... another memory created...

It was nice to hear how everyone was doing at the moment, to hear the things each one is involved in... what are some of our dreams and expectations... what are difficulties and challenges...

what are our pains and struggles... and after listening to one another, we would pray for one another...

and God would come in our midst, around us and inside each one of us doing the part that only The Spirit of God can do...

what a precious thing it is , to belong to a FAMILY ...

After 5 days I came back to Portugal... it was time to come back to the Land, and I'm really looking forward to this new season...

I'm not there yet... I'm also with my blood family, here in the Algarve, where my sister Edna lives now with Paulo, Pamela, the twins Joshua and Nelson, Rute, Paulo's sister in law, and Mafalda, her daughter...

I went this morning to a Christian gathering where I also met Sarita, with whom I lived in Lisbon, Rodrigo, Zeza, Rafa and Rania, a beautiful family who is also my family...

It was nice to be away all this time...the longest in these last 2 years...it was nice to be without responsibilities for a while... without the need to think about what needs to be done...

This was a time also to gain perspective and see more of what it's ahead of us in this new season...
As I said, I'm excited to start building my house. I guess after 2 years it's time to care for my own shelter, my nest... But I heard the prayer shelter was also destroyed by the storms, so I would like to build that first... For me it is a priority for us to have a place to be with God, The Bigness... a place to retreat... a place to shelter... a place to hide... a place to "date" with God...
I'll see...

We also hope to have fewer visitors the following months until the permaculture course in March (check out our new blog if you're interested), so we can also have more time for ourselves and for one another... to grow closer as a family who are living at this physical place at this moment...

I feel so rich to have such a varied and beautiful family spread all over the world...
Some people spend their whole lives storing money and possessions in order to feel rich and secure... and they spend so much of their time "making" money, and sometimes they end up not having time for family... we can see a lot of that during Christmas season... people spending lots of money on presents, but not really spending their time with those who are close to them...

Sometimes TV takes the place of family and consumes all the time people could have together... How sad is that ?!!! anyway, I don't want to develop this here...

As for me, I want to keep storing those I love in my heart... where my family is... that's what makes me feel rich and secure...I know I'll never feel alone... That is for me, to be rich...
I feel so blessed !!!
Thank you God...

I feel tired though, from all the travelling and constant being with people around... I might be changing and losing my nomadic predisposition as I used to be... I'm looking forward to accepting Jesus' invitation when He said : " Come to me, all those who are tired...and I will give you REST" ... I need to get back to my shantii rhythm again... with my quiet and solitude times ... all we need is balance !!! There is time for everything !!!

and here is just a funny contrast...showing how fast were the changes lately...
here's me at minus 15 degrees Celsius in Biesenthal...

and me with 12 positive in the Algarve...

I definitely prefer the warmth if I can choose...