today

i am 31... strange but true. i got two books of St. John C's homilies for my birthday!

i am going to a monastery tomorrow ... until tuesday.

this season with family is very busy.

wishing everyone God's blessings

Prayers as I travel

i am going home.

i am currently quite exhausted. and not fully packed. and i am not going to leave my house clean like i had hoped.

will my house ever get vacuumed, i wonder.

however, my dishes are almost all washed, and my fridge is empty.

i will be gone two weeks.

i will be at the church i was chrismated in. i will see God willing, the new icon of Christ in the dome of my church.

my family is not orthodox; it is so hard to be a convert and not have your family understand why you want to go to vespers and liturgy!

one of my close friends is taking care of Cleo - she is going to visit Cleo while i am away.

i plan on driving while at home - i have not driven in winter (i.e. snow) and it has been quite the saga just convincing my family that at 30 years old i really can drive in winter.

i love my family very much.

and i get to see my Godmother.

i will be missing my spiritual father though, and my church.

i hope to be going to a monastery while i am home.

please, if you would, pray for me.

one moment at a time

I read various blogs that I do not have on my blog roll; keeping up the 'look' of my blog is a very low priority. One of these blogs is RW's blog - http://anacceptabletime.blogspot.com/ - and I wrote a comment this morning that I think summarizes the state of things for me... (will put this comment on the end of this post).

I am currently enjoying my work; I have felt that I have not been crushed with unreasonable demands (and I do not work late, which is why I do not feel crushed). I am going home for Christmas, which I think is a good thing. Trying to keep up with my own life I find hard.

Like eating balanced meals, keeping a clean house, doing all things in an appropriate balance (i.e. prayer, social times, reading good books to learn or to gain a better sense of the English language, reading mystery books, time to call friends, church services, cooking, apartment upkeep). Really my life is one of the better ones, by which I mean I have: a job, an apartment, friends, family, a church home. it is not that my life has been smooth or straightforward. but right now, at this hour, in this moment, my life is okay.

I go home soon for Christmas. I have library books for the plane. I have dreams of my Mother's cooking. I am going DV to a monastery for a day or so. My sister's birthday is this week and mine is a bit after New Calendar Christmas. I am holding on to the individual moments of peace, anticipation and quiet. I live always knowing that these moments can be tragically changed in the next moment...

the summary is that I am grateful that my life right now can be summarized in this comment:

I hear you! I admit that my desk at work is often messy but the work is contained to one cubical, one computer. Home is not so contained, which is the challenge. Home has all different demands (and I only live with my Cat) - spiritual, physical, emotional needs of myself as a person is only one dimension; taking care of my apartment, another; keeping up with my family and friends another; it all gets melded together with the days that pass so quickly. You have 3 others in your house plus you and a house to keep up! Perhaps we should be encouraged for just showing up for the daily battle to keep our lives in a state of organizable chaos, with lots of God's grace asked for...