A weekend full of God's goodness

Those who read Jodie Anna's lovely blog

will recognize this icon;

the first time I saw her blog and this

icon of the Mother of God

I was overcome with its beauty and tenderness.

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So here is how I creatively make icons:

on a very limited budget:

1. find beautiful icon jpeg online

2. borrow and put on flash drive

3. walk to grocery store, print out at Kodak film kiosk for .33 cents

4. go to dollar store with photo icon and match to right frame

colour and size wise

5. frame

6. have it blessed at church.

Cost: less than $2.00.

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Great as gifts...

God has blessed me in so many ways this week and weekend

I can't even begin to tell you all.

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After 12 years of my (protestant) spiritual mother's passing

I was finally able to do a panakyda

for her on Saturday before vespers.

Above is the bread I baked for it.

(My first bread ever baked!)

I used my bread machine (my Grandma's old one)

to make the dough

and then ended up phoning different times to my

Ukrainian Ottawa family for

bread making instructions!

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I was able to sing part of the service

(with a very inexperienced meek voice,

I've never been in a church choir!!)

with my spiritual father

and it was so beautiful;

I was able to wear some of my finest clothes,

bring the bread, kolivo and wine.

I felt like it was Pascha;

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A taste of what I have heard at so many panakhydas:

we grief with hope as Christians

firmly believing in the Resurrection of Christ.

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At the same time,

a beautiful woman at my church just lost her mother

this week

after losing her father only 41 days before;

they are separated by an ocean

as both parents were still in Russia.

I am still stunned at the thought of losing one's parents

41 days apart.

Please pray for them.

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All I know is we must always pray for each other;

we all go through such suffering in our lives.

Thank God for His mercy,

the Church

and that we can reach out in prayer to support each other.

God has blessed me yet again -

I was able to secure a plane ticket home

that was cheaper than a two day bus ride

(was going to split it in two days as a 20 hour 1 way ride

was too much for me).

What a gift of a plane ticket and that my parents

are able to fund it for me

so I can come home

for

(new calendar)

Christmas.

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I have been so full of joy lately

that I almost feel worried!

(Knowing both that sorrow and joy are often close together)

The prayers of my family church family and blog community

have been so encouraging to me.

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This week I will continue with various job searching

activities.

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This coming Sunday (old calendar)

is St. Nicholas Day

and I am so excited for this day.

Am making 2 vegan chocolate cakes

and then fly out the next day for home.

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What mercies of God.

How tenderly God is in these mercies.

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May God continue to sustain and comfort us.

A Beautiful Tuesday in August

My family's garden is blossoming.

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I got to visit with my Grandma!

She has so much energy and is always doing something -

She was out to breakfast at 8:30 this morning

before spending time with me

and having a visit from my Aunt and my Aunt's 7 year old grandson;

all of us, including my Grandma,

went out for ice cream.

It was great!

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And tonight I walked for 2 miles with my Mom.

A very full day.

I finished another cover letter and resume

and submitted it.

Each application is so different, it really takes

time, thought and various edits

before I can submit the application.

I have at least one more to do while I am visiting my

family home.

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It is a good but still uncertain time for me.

When will I get a job, where and what will it be

are all unknown.

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I am hoping to go to the monastery next week

to pray about this,

as I really need a lot of wisdom and courage

during this time.

My friends who are visiting Cleo

assure me that she is fine.

I always miss her a bit

when I am gone

but I am sure she misses me more;

she is a cat who loves human company and routine.