Thursday of Holy Spirit Week

Lucky and blessed, my Husband is working from home again....

I baked 2 hamburgers in the toaster oven, worked great,

toasted the bun briefly in the toaster oven at the end.

Salads, smoothies and 

then a meal at our favourite diner with a new church friend!

That was really nice!

And I finally got my root beer float!

Fast Free Wednesday of Holy Spirit Week

Chicken burgers, ice cream, cheesecake and milk in tea...

I am finally making a dent in housework, 2 more loads of laundry done.

I went out for ice cream with a newer church friend who has two darling kids.

We are hoping to go to Princeton this Saturday for lunch and stay around

for vigil... that will be nice.

I am reading more of the Ordinary Wonders and have been pondering

and appreciating this book. 

I have been reading a bit of it to Mr Husband as well, which is a joy.

Holy Spirit Monday

Liturgy this morning.

Picked up our candle desk man for liturgy.

He lit all the lampadas and candles.

After liturgy we went to the diner.

Boy was it busy!

They seated us fairly quickly which was really nice.

Mr Husband and I were back in church tonight for

the Akathist service "Glory to God for all things" 

We watched the Walton's tonight.

I am feeling pretty saturated at present,

a bit overwhelmed but also enjoying nice times.

I am seeking to be thankful for the many blessings I have,

instead of focusing on what is difficult.

In the end, all is about trusting in the mercy of God.

Pentecost and a Sunday afternoon tea

A beautiful liturgy.

Somehow I am always really tired on Pentecost.

Nonetheless, I appreciated again the kneeling vespers

after the liturgy.

***

We had a tea today for our local priest and Matushka (priest's wife) 

as we desired their counsel... it was a really nice time.

Trader Joes thankfully has great baked tea items 

that worked perfectly as I did not have a chance to bake

like I had hoped to. 

***

Our unbloggable is turning and we will see what God does.

***

Tomorrow we hope to go to liturgy for Holy Spirit Monday

and bring our elderly candle desk man....

***

Wishing you all a blessed Pentecost week! 

Whew, what a week

Well.

This week was full of a lot of emotional whiplash,

things changing so quickly and so much, it seemed...

we are hoping that a corner is being turned in our unbloggable

situation and that things can slowly improve for good.

It's been a long hard road.

Not over yet but we have a bit of respite now, at least to some degree.

Today with the light and the heavy/silly and serious

Well, you can see I have had fun with funny faces today in food :) 

Sometimes it's good just to be a bit 'silly' in these ways. 

So a big THANK  YOU to everyone who has commented over the last days!

It's funny how you all say 'no wonder you are in need of rest' or 'I would be tired too' 

and you all don't know the unbloggable what is every changing and

tonight I actually felt feelings of panic but was able, with God's help, to get past it

fairly quickly...  if I could talk about it, you would see how this is

amplifying the rest... but yet God is here, 

I really do have much to be thankful for 

and I am trying to take things one day at a time... 

...well today I wrote some letters, had some intentional quiet time, 

began a light encouraging new book 

and prepared the prayer rope for my cousin S who asked me to get her

one, after seeing mine!

Also a blessing is that dear ones in my life are in Greece right now

and going to many Holy Places and praying for us at them!

That's a HUGE blessing!!! 

***

You all are such blessings to me too!

Thank you for being in my life and reading my blog!

May God help us all and bless us in the midst of difficulties! 

May He comfort our hearts and lighten that which seeks

to discourage our hearts... 

Catching My Breath

Thursday: Feast of Ascension, lunch, grocery shopping, 

getting home late, eating left overs...

Friday: a blur (I talked to C., cleaned and remember

being exhausted) and prepared for Saturday (stew making

and biscuit baking)

Saturday: taking, with friend G, a lovely 15 year old to her 

first (and my first) Broadway show, A Bronx Tale, then cabbed to local church

for vespers and then dinner at home! 

Chicken stew with biscuits!

The only thing I want to do differently next time is simply NOT use

a whole chicken but instead use boneless chicken,

will be much faster and easier to serve, etc.

It was a lovely dinner with the 15 year old telling G and I many things

and we both really enjoyed her very much! 

Sunday: Liturgy, saying goodbye to a wonderful Romanian priest 

and his 15 year old daughter and then a very nice, cute and well planned baby shower

 for a local church friend and then dinner, 

an important talk with Husband and

watching a Walton's episode. 

Monday (today): Cleaning, laundry, dishes, preparing leftovers for dinner, etc.

***

Wednesday night we were rather broadsided with some further

stressful unbloggable news that coloured a lot of the days I just listed.

All I can say is that we feel less "stuck" than before and that part is good

but we are in an intense time and are grateful that so many we know and love

are praying for us. 

***

I am in a really busy patch of life right now but I 

have a lot to be thankful for and am reminded and have been pondering

how thankfulness makes the heart light 

even when in difficult circumstances.

***

Soon it will be Pentecost and then fast-free week

before the (long!) Apostles' fast...

***

I am preparing two tea events DV in the next 5 weeks and

am dreaming of doing a Slava for our 6th wedding anniversary in September,

Lord Willing (DV = Lord willing).

I've been tinkering with a menu for this for a while...

I am really seeing how much of what I love to do in terms of creativity is

in cooking, baking, table settings and hospitality. 

It's hard to imagine that I will be DV married 6 years in September

and that I have already known my beloved Husband for 7 years! 

***

I do hope to sew again soon, but tomorrow, I hope, DV, is a quiet rest day

and I hope to catch up on some paperwork that has been put aside

due to lots of other things (flights, events, AC-Pantry saga, etc).

***

Meanwhile, I am thankful for social media and also smart phones and the

ability to text people near and far.

***

I know that EACH of us are in such battles in life and that

we can be really weary 

(I have been so tired that have been practically woozy at times 

recently but am planning on 2 days of more at home-rest 

so that I can get past that, I hope!)

***

Meanwhile, the Ascension greeting I learned in Ottawa is:

Christ is Ascended! Ascended in Glory!