Encouragement and Thanksgiving

We went to liturgy this morning... 

Tomorrow is my husband and I's 4th wedding anniversary!

I hope to write more about this later, but for now, 

these two things:

This happened today:

"The Lord always blesses me for our anniversary + St Phanourios celebration! 

This year I ordered 2 fillets of salmon as we are unable to have a full Slava this year.

 Only one of the fillets was in the package! Ack!!! I was going to prep them today. ... 

called our grocer immediately and the person could see 

that the mistake was indeed made. 

They not only are they crediting the cost, t

hey are giving us an additional credit and 2 new fillets tomorrow! 

What a blessing! Thanks be to God!"

***

And a bit more from my latest essay, for your encouragement:

"Elizabeth Goudge also speaks of what faith, in such moments, can look like. She describes, in The Middle Window, a man fighting in the highlands of Scotland, who nearly died before a kindly couple took him in, nursing him back to consciousness and health. He, having thought his life over, now had to come back to life, and realizes what troubled him most is his loss of faith. It is then that he realizes, “[f]lames may die down but nothing could rob one of the ashes” and that, perhaps, “he was, for the first time in his life, actually experiencing faith. This fighting with no certainty that there was anything to fight for, this going out into the night with no belief that dawn would ever come, was…the real thing…”(Goudge, 200-201)5."

Read the rest here.

{reflections} ~ Our First Slava and third anniversary

A Slava is a centuries old Orthodox tradition, esp. practiced by Serbian Orthodox.
Two of my dear Serbian friends who are sisters, last Great Lent,
told me as we drove down to a Greek Monastery, what is needed.
And they were gentle with me.
A candle, bread, icon, meal (fasting if a fast day), kolivo.
*
I was not able to make a proper bread other than the one to St. Phanourios,
and did not have time to make the kolivo...I am realizing
anew how life is a process and one just needs to begin with things
and build as one can as one goes...
*
I found these two things online:
Hey, You! What's Your Slava?
and this older wonderful book, entirely online.
*
Well, I should of expected what always happens
when you are trying to do something new to honour God
and His Saints: temptations!! 
First, a bout of insomnia.  Then our AC leaks all the way down to our
neighbour's downstairs and we suddenly don't know if we can
do the Slava at our house (with fresh wild caught salmon and swordfish fillets
already paid for and being delivered that morning, etc),
Well, it was a bit touch-and-go: not a goodnight sleep, the plummer ending up
being 2 hours late (he called and explained, it was understandable),
and everything was thrown off in terms of preparation time.
*
But in the end God's mercy prevailed over us in such profound ways;
the house cooled down, I realized, with the help of others and some
google searches, that I could bake the St. Phanourios bread at 350F as needed
and wrap the fish in individual foil packets and do them at the same time.
*
The fish was done this way:
I had 7 pieces of foil ready,
cut up an onion half moon wise in thin slices and put in bowl,
grabbed lemon that was sitting with a little water already sliced in the fridge
and cut each piece in two, salt and peppered the fish, doused it with extra virgin olive oil,
put onion and then lemon on top and wrapped in foil, folding the ends and the top.
Was done about 30 minutes or more on 350F and was perfect!
It was not at all dried out but instead was swimming in juices and oil when done.
*
I made a fruit salad and put 'truwhip' (vegan premade whip cream!) in our
Delft Gravy boat, Husband set the table,
I almost forgot to make the rice (not to self: make 3 cups next time! my guests
graciously did not fault me for only having 1 serving each...)
and I was so thankful that I was able to make the Saint Phanourios bread 
and three mini loaves to give to our guests.
*
We had the bread and vegan sorbet - blood orange and chocolate were the ones 
chosen - and enjoyed lemon water and white wines with the meal.
*
Our priest from our far-away church was one of the guests and he did the 
service for the Slava to St. Phanourios before the meal.
Was really special and I really felt deeply that it was
really both our wedding anniversary and Slava.
For we honoured St. Phanourios at our wedding,
giving a hand painted icon from Romania to my Ottawa parish
at our wedding reception. 
*
It was a really special time and I felt so connected to everyone, 
in my Ottawa parish and my new life here.
*
Our Matuska commented about the temptations that they always surprise us but 
always happen when we are about to receive a great blessing!
*
I am so very glad that we were able to have this time, this Slava and 
hope to make it a yearly tradition!
*
I was so surprised at the gifts we were given -
a Le Creuset frying pan, red, my favourite colour for my kitchen!
and a beautiful decanter and (not shown) a bottle of Drambuie! 
*
I told my Mom the other day that I feel that we are in the 'building' stage of our lives,
slowly collecting quality things for the kitchen, for entertaining and also
in our library collection.  
But I know also that there is a time to 'tear down' in this life.
I was recently given some beautiful vintage cookbooks,
that I hope to show you at a later date,
that were the Matuska's who passed away almost a year ago 
and when her daughter was telling me how her Mother got them,
I could see it all, the one she used a lot, the others she had,
and how she was a vibrant living woman working in NYC,
living in NJ, and how I only knew her at the end of her long life.
It came home in a real concrete personal way how
fleeting life is, how we are young and then a bit older,
then middle aged and, if God wills, make it to old age.
*
My Oma had collected a lot of nice things and when she got older,
she lived to 102, almost 103, she started giving everything away,
over many years.
My Grandma is doing the same thing now...she is in her mid-80s...
I always try to remember that.
That one day I will, I hope, be the one giving away my things.
I have them really only in trust for someone else to use
later.  And they are to be used to benefit others and for
the betterment of my family.
*
The greatest gifts of course of this evening, our first Slava
and our 3rd wedding anniversary, was the friendships and the deep
kindness of so many in our lives...including the ones present.
*
What a mercy of God!

Past and Present-my Oma and Mr. Husband

I often say
when I do something, I do it really well.
That includes head colds.
I am ready for this flourishing cold to cease.
*
Meanwhile,
it was a year ago tomorrow
that I traveled to Brampton to see my Oma
with my family
and that night
my Oma fell,
and
she fell asleep in the Lord just days later.
*
One of my Mom's sister called her
to talk about it and the memories...


I am so glad I was able
to memorial service for my Oma
last year.
*
One of the miracles of this time
was not only that
my sister Rebecca and her husband Mark
were home and got to see my Oma
with myself and my family
just before she fell,
but that I was already dating
the man who was introduced to you in
February as Orthoman
and now is my beloved
Mr. Husband.
*
The second miracle around my Oma's death
is that because my sister and brother-in-law only come
once a year, typically,
to the States from Romania where they live
and care for orphans,
Mr. Husband came to Michigan to meet
my family while my sister was home.
And he came the night before my Oma died.
I could not tell you all then about this aspect of it
as our relationship was still so new
and the changes
including knowing that I would need to leave
Ottawa to marry him
were a bit dizzying to me.
But come Mr. Husband did,
with flowers for myself and my mother
with his warmth, laughter and love.
*
When my Oma had fallen,
it was late at night by the time I found out
and it was too late to call my then
boyfriend the wonderful Orthoman
but I texted him
and then emailed him the next day on the train.
I texted him on the train right before I
was getting off for home in Ottawa
from Brampton
bring your passport to Michigan
realizing that my Oma may be dying
and my Orthoman would not be able to
have the choice to come with me
to the funeral if she died while
he was visiting myself and my family.
*
And so he left work early
to get his passport
that was safely at a friend's house.
That was the other crazy intense part of this story.
Mr. Husband had owned a wonderful
Dutch house that he got
two offers on
(he needed to sell it due to too long of a work commute)
the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend
that he first visited me on.
The house was packed and officially sold on the day
my Oma fell;
early on in our relationship I had sent him
the Akathist to St. Menas
as he really needed his house to sell
and it was not long afterwards that he got the two offers
on the same day;
a sunny day in Ottawa when we were newly
meeting and greatly in love.
St. Menas is one of the Saints that is quick to hear
and send help.
*
And so Mr. Husband sold his house and just
days later flew out to Michigan
to be with myself and my family.
*
He came with us to Brampton and saw
where my Oma lived
and was with me at her grave
where we prayed for her.
*
My family loved him
and I knew that I would marry him,
and told Mother Gabriella
on new calendar
St. Nicholas Day
that this seemed to be what was happening.
*
Orthoman, now Mr. Husband,
and I were at the monastery
last year for St. Nicholas Day,
the day before we all went to Brampton
for my Oma's funeral.
*
I know.
It is all so full of God's mercy and compassion.
Sometimes I fail and get anxious and forget
God's abundant mercy in my life.
But it is there,
God is the steady hand of love
in our lives
even in the midst of deepest sorrows.
*
And so a year later
I and Mr. Husband are married
and soon it will be one year anniversary
of my Oma's falling asleep.
I had mailed my Oma pictures of
my Orthoman that
I had taken that first
Canadian Thanksgiving we had
and she was so happy for me.
She said that everyone wants a little bit of happiness.
She knew we would marry
and my Mom,
when she and her sisters were packing my Oma's
things after her falling asleep,
packed a lovely Dutch sugar spoon for me
for my wedding
that my Mom gave me months later at my
family bridal shower in Michigan.
*
I told Mr. Husband that I loved him
for the first time on
Western Christmas Eve.
The day that my Oma turned 103 in heaven.
*
And so my life has turned from tragedy to
comedy, for as Mr. Husband tells me
the comedies always end with a wedding.
*
When I tell Mr. Husband that I still worry about
it turning again to tragedy he
tells me there is nothing we can do about
the future.
Good reminder to be with God today.
*
And so I have been working
hard on our wedding book.
A 150 page wedding book.
Full of beautiful
beautiful
pictures like these two:

My Grandma's wedding dress.
I saw my Grandma last Sunday
with Mr. Husband
and we made her laugh
with all of our joking around.

 

St. Phanourios will
always be our family Saint
as we were married on his day.
Above is a picture of the icon we had made
in Romania
for my church as a gift.
And our two wedding icons from
the Greek monastery in Quebec.
*
This past week I finally
put up our wedding crowns
on two small hooks
above our bed.
I still have to take a picture of it.
The wedding book has been taking over
my life and I feel that I am indeed
creating a book
a story of the wonderful
day of our wedding
which was a very blessed day from God.
*
For all of this,
I give thanks
to God for His great mercy!

Sunday - Sun and Storm

Beautiful morning liturgy.

I finally made my St. Phanourios bread

the recipe I used (see link above) was slightly different,

as it called for zest of 1 lemon and cinnamon as well...;

it turned out well and my priest graciously blessed it

with the small prayer that is the book I have

on this Saint.

This was a real gift to me, the making of the bread and

the small prayer that was prayed.

I am very grateful.

I am enjoying very much the book on

Elder Anthony,

Elder Moses' younger brother.

I am finding both Elder Anthony and Elder Moses,

in the reading of their life stories,

to be very restful and instructive.

I thank God for this day;

even for tonight when we had a strong storm

with wind, lightening and rain,

it gave me time to continue reading about

Elder Anthony!

*

How has your day been? Any blessing to report? Worries?