Retrospective of Gladness

It's been nearly 10 months since
Mr. Husband and I married
and I moved to our first home.


We've had so many adventures
and dips and turns in the road,
yet God has been with us at every turn.

I was telling my long-time friend
that sometimes Mr. Husband and I
forget how we were so well
matched for each other.

How much we have in common
in our vision for the world,
our love of beauty,
our love of our Dutch heritage,
our families,
how our lives, even down to our icons,
blend in a new beautiful whole.

How much our life is blessed with roses.

Beautiful plants and things that are truly
savoury.

How things like Basmati rice
suddenly with
chicken or
with a salad on a fast day
can be like a feast for two
or really three
as Christ is always in our midst.

How committed we are to restoring
culture, to localism, to hope
amidst  often desolating circumstances.

 

How much we have to be
thankful for.

Ottawa in Autumn

Pumpkins and apples

overflowing at my grocery store.

The light is fading quickly these nights.

I love how this tree's

branches twist and turn upwards....

I am in the middle of unexpected

transition again

and must look to the Creator of Trees...

God is our hope, our light, our strength...

He will not abandon or chastise forever...

Day by Day

It's been hard,

the days of just job searching.

But every day this week, even if it was unexpected the day of,

I have had something to do, someone to see or someone

to come over.

I and some friends are going to read

St. John of the Ladder's

ladder of divine ascent

this summer for which I am glad.

I am praying that the reading can be spiritually

profitable to all of us.

*

I am focusing on library job search activities this week

but am already trying to start thinking of

other places I can apply for work.

I need to be proactive and start knocking on many doors.

The time is now.

*

I have such a hard time balancing this part.

*

I was blessed with an unexpected happening

yesterday:

free tickets to the hear the

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

and the Violin Soloist is very accomplished

and was playing a "Marsick" Stradivarius of 1715!

Wow.

I never knew I would hear one played live.

The playing and the high notes

were very well done,

I had never heard it done so well before.

A close friend and I were able to go,

and it was really special.

*

Lesson of this week is God's mercy and provision

of unexpected blessing,

fully undeserved.

The Martinitoren

Remember when I wrote about my Aunt and Uncle's house

burning

and how they lost the Martinitoren Cross-sticth that My Opa did

and then how we found out that it was spared.

*

My Opa and Oma have 8 children

and my Opa

(who lived to be 91)

made 9 of these -

one for each child

and one for his beloved wife, my Oma.

*

They are very detailed and intricate -

much careful work went in to them.

*

My Mom,

when I asked her if I could show my blog community Opa's work,

said of course

and so I am showing you now.

These are some of the real treasures of our family;

I spent a good bit of time today

photographing the various things that

make up the stories of my family

and express the Dutch culture that we are from.

My Opa's Martinitoren.

My Oma and Opa lived in Groningen

before they immigrated from Holland to Canada

after World War II.

*

Many people from Holland immigrated to Canada

after the war.

*

My Opa was a Sargent in the war

and God preserved his life during this time.

My Opa

years ago also did wood working;

this is a spoon rack that he made.

*

My Mom has had it in our house for many years.

*

Having been Orthodox for a few years now

and being in houses of immigrants from

Slavic countries

has made me more aware of the importance of the items

that make up one's culture and story.

*

The beauty, intricacy and insistence on good craftsmanship

(if my Opa's work had a flaw he would start over;

this commitment to beauty is hard to find now)

is important for us to see.

*

When I think of my family

and see all the beautiful family things

I am overwhelmed by the riches of it all.

*

It is so good to be awake to what God has given;

it is too easy to fail to see it.

Blessings and Prayers

I have begun to read Wounded by Love

by Elder Porphyrios;

Here is a sample of this book...

*

In the beginning of this book,

he narrates how his father taught him verses to the Theotokos

and how he prayed to her desperately

when a small child,

so that he could go to the Holy Mountain.

We are so blessed to have such books in English now.

It was recommended to me as a gentle book...

*

Let us pray for those in Texas who are reeling from the loss

of a priest,

Fr. Matthew - see also Fr. James's blog for more.

I have seen first hand the emotional devastation

when one's spiritual father dies and the sense of being

at a loss, of being orphaned.

I have seen how these orphaned can still ask the advice and prayers

of their fathers

who have gone from life to life.

Let us pray for them whose loss is so new to them now...

In other, smaller, news...

The Lord is merciful in so many ways.

Today I was given free chocolate croissants and tomato soup

that could not be used tomorrow as they would be

'a day old.'

I felt so blessed.

It has been beautiful summer days here in Ottawa;

not too hot

and sunny.

Let us use our days to learn to look to Christ

in all things.

An Act of God's Mercy

As some know, my Sister and Brother-in-Law desire to be Protestant missionaries to orphans in Romania. They have seen God leading them for the past three years in this direction. They have been praying that their house would sell. In Michigan, where we all grew up, it is fully a buyers market. Today, they accepted an offer on their house.

Also today, my Grandmother, whose house has been on the market for over two years, had her counter offer accepted.

This is a clear act of God's mercy; my Grandmother had been praying selflessly that her Granddaughter and Grandson-in-law's house would sell before hers. And to see their prayers answered all in one day - wow - the phones were busy tonight!

My family is very close and this day marks many transitions. For my Grandmother, it will be the first time she moves out of a house without my Grandfather. For my sister and brother-in-law, it means closer to their dream to move overseas and care for Romanian orphans. For us all, it means adjusting to having loved ones overseas. We have already been discussing skype.

God walks with us

God walks with us...

He scoops us up in

His arms or simply sits

with us in silent

strength until we cannot

avoid the awesome

recognition that yes,

even now, He is here.

-CM

When I was 16 (half my lifetime ago; yes I am young; but I am the oldest I've ever been right now, as I am apt to say) I worked at a camp in Ohio for the summer. I washed dishes, set tables, cleaned cabins, helped campers go swimming (the camp was for physically and mentally impaired children and adults, depending on the week). One of my friends, who I have lost touch with, CM, wrote the lines posted above.

I still have the small faded paper that I re-wrote them on, I keep it in my icon corner. I have always liked these words and thought it was time to share them.

God's Goodness

I ordered this Icon from 8th Day Books. It was blessed this past Sunday

and is now in my desk area in my small

corporate library.

It is so encouraging to have Icons in the Work Place.

Astounding in someways.

I am learning more for work and am seeing the fruit of it.

Paper due this Monday. Lots of work to do.

Yet I am feeling relieved.

Was at church yesterday night.

So good.

My icon of St. George is in the Alter area now.

One of my closest friends mailed me an icon of

St. Elisabeth the New Martyr.

God has given me such blessings on the Eve of Lent.

Oh to live more in the light of Great and Holy Pasca!

To be greeted by my spiritual father,

vested in white

on earth

as in heaven:

Pasca.