Friday in Michigan

Today I worked for over ten hours

to finish up the proposal

for the contract

that I found out about two weeks ago.

It was due today and

given the week I had

today was a bit of a scramble to get it done.

Thankfully I had help

and it is now submitted.

*

My family all made it home safely.

*

Tomorrow I have a ride to vespers and the next day

to Sunday liturgy.

*

Sunday night my family will do a quiet

Christmas time

and I fly out early Monday morning.

*

I have a lot more to process but

will have to do that when I return to Ottawa,

God willing,

on Monday.

*

Your love and support over this time has

been a great source of solace.

Thank you.

*

God is with us.

Onward but never alone

I was at liturgy at the monastery for

St. Nicholas Day.

This was a blessing.

*

I was aware of feeling really sad as my

Oma has died,

passed on from life to life...

*

I go with family to Brampton today

visitation tonight

and funeral tomorrow afternoon

and then a long drive back.

*

Thank you all for your prayers

and love and encouragement

in this.

*

Grief is always sudden, unexpected

and a hard road to navigate.

Thank God that we do not go the road alone.

Loss in the beginning of the Holidays

My Oma just in the days before she fell

finished 7 scarves;

one for my Mom, one for my Aunt,

one each for two of my cousins

and one for me and one for my sister.

My Mom gave me my scarf from Oma

yesterday; one last gift.

*

It's hard to imagine that she is really gone.

She was such a strong woman.

And a woman who loved God and her family.

*

Found out tonight that

one of my sister's friends

her age,

just died of cancer.

*

So much loss and so quickly.

*

My parents and others go tomorrow to Brampton.

Others of us,

including myself,

go Wednesday.

Visitation Wednesday night.

Funeral service and burial Thursday.

Will return late Thursday night.

*

My proposal for the 3 month contract is due Friday.

For new calendar

St. Nicholas Day

I have a ride to the monastery and

need to go there more than ever.

*

I can't tell you how amazed my family is by

the timing of everything with my Oma's death.

How even the days my sister and brother-in-law

have for family are the ones

that are when we will be going to Brampton.

God's mercy is very abundant in the midst of all this.

*

Please pray for us and also my sister Rebecca

as to lose a friend who is still young

and one's Oma in the same

week

is very hard.

*

Yet God is with us all

and promises to never leave or abandon us.

My Beloved Oma: Memory Eternal!

(above pictures from the Holland Christian Home

where my Oma lived).

From an email I just wrote:

My Oma survived surgery and

then last night at 2 AM she was checked by the nurse and was fine.

When my Oma was checked at 4 AM,

she was found passed away to life eternal.

I write with tears but with trust in

God's mercy for my Oma and

that my Oma is no longer suffering.
I am home (as already planned by God's mercy)

with my family in Michigan.

We got the phone call at 7 AM this morning.

Please keep us in your prayers -

My Oma was 102 years old, to be 103 December 24th.

We praise God that we all got to see her before this happened.

It was such a nice time.

We are really going to miss my Oma;

she was so strong and always there loving her family,

knitting and cooking for us.

For my dear Orthodox friends,

please also remember my Oma Grace as newly departed.

May God remember my Oma in His Kingdom

and have mercy on us all!

Memory Eternal, Memory Eternal, Memory Eternal!