Sunny Thursday ~ new icons and knitting

I am waiting to hear about the
young adult who is in hospital.
Praying....

I was very happy to get new icons from
this monastery that Mr. Husband and I go to.
This icon is special to me as it is
the monastery's three main icons.
*
The one on the left is St. Mary of Egypt;
I had always wanted her icon and am so happy
to have it now! 

I also got this small diptych
of St. Xenia and St. Matrona.
I had been wanting one of St. Matrona for sometime,
so this was a real blessing!

I am about half-way through reading this book
on Abbess Thaisia.
She went through so many trials yet God
brought her comfort and help in the midst...
It's a real treasure of a book...
of course the reality that a Christian has to bear his or her
God-given Cross is not easy but
God promises to help us...
*
I have been making some new pages on my blog...
the one on Elizabeth and Family
I wrote as a further introduction
since with knitting I am
meeting some new to me people...
And I made one today that I will update as I can
on books I am reading this year...
doing this in part for my own record and
as a place to share books and links on or about them.

I am making a new knitting project ~
a small baby blanket for a
girl's doll.
I am using a 100% wool fingerling weight yarn
and have double stranded it for this knit.
The yarn was 50% off so I bought it :)

I am realizing that I enjoy working with smaller
knits and love the creativity in discovering what
I can do with different sizes of yarn.
Ravelry here.
*
For my yarn quilt
I am well on my way ~ I've made so far
cream, blue and red squares.
Question: I am thinking of using the
fingerling weight wool yarn 
to knit the squares together.
Would using wool yarn/thread to do this 
backfire because it is wool and may shrink?
The yarn I am using for the squares is
washable mainly or all acrylic yarn...
*
I am still tired from all of our travels but
have been so encouraged from
my visits to monasteries.
*
God is good to us and will bring help to us in
His timing... 

Weekend - Butter Week is almost here

I found Cleo sitting on my seat
yesterday
somehow hoping for something... :)

Thankful for little things
like ice...
had a bit of a very minor mishap
in the household and ice
has solved the problem...

Mr. Husband and I are
so glad we had our
half-year anniversary yesterday.
I continue to pray that
he does not fall ill in anyway...

I ordered these last week
and they arrived yesterday!

Amazon,
so helpful for so many things.
I have long been wanting
another option for my
buffet icons
other than paraffin candles
which are not the best for health and
then there is the waste of all the small
tins that they are in...
I have used small tea light candles for a long time
and it was something I could do and afford
in Ottawa,
especially with my sister-friend and I's
occasional trips to IKEA;
thought she was concerned about all the
paraffin...
I was just glad to have the candles
as lighting them for help
and to honour the Saints and
ask their prayers
is such a blessing.
*
However,
I had been wanting to change them out
for some sort of table top
oil lampada
but I also wanted to protect the wood shelf
on my buffet from tons of oil spills.
And with me and oil and lampadas,
there is always a bit of spillage.
*
Mr. Husband and I thought about it...
I wanted some sort of saucer to go
under glass votive holders...
but where to get saucers that would be small enough
for the icons that we use
and the size of the shelf?
Normal saucers would really be crowded...
and so it went...
*
Until I thought,
wait a minute: I should use Google
to see if Amazon has smaller saucers.
And then sure enough
it turns out that there are
saucers used for Turkish tea.
So I ordered them....
they came right away,
from Brooklyn it turns out.

4 inch saucers.

I love that they are very small
and curve up so much.
They will keep the oil from spilling
on the wood shelf...
*
I am still waiting for an order
of the wick holders that I will need.
Getting them from
Holy Cross Monastery.
Mr. Husband had their catalouge from last year and
I ordered something for Pascha as well...
to be shown I hope to all
in the bright season.
*
Speaking of Pascha,
I ordered some clear votives as well
to use for the seasons of
Christmas, Theophany and Pascha.

 

I think they will work really well.
This icon of Christ
is Mr. Husband's and is the
first icon he ever had;
before he was Orthodox years ago
from Greece
where he was on business...
*
It is wonderful to be building a home
with Mr. Husband and merge things
like our icon collections...
I must say his book collection is also quite lovely.
*
As a parishioner in my Ottawa parish said
once about his own marriage to his lovely wife,
I know when I've been blessed.
*
Meanwhile,
Mr. Husband and I are looking forward to
our last meal together of meat and dairy tonight.
Left over beef-roast and vegetables. :)
*
I continue to be grateful for popsicles,
my throat is still on the mend...
I made it to our local church today;
Mr. Husband had to go to our not-so-local
church today as he is involved in
service there and was needed.
So a very gallant and kind friend who lives
near by took me with her to our
closer church and it was such a blessing
just to sit in church
(I am quite fatigued and had to sit,
mono,
it really takes the stuffing out of one)
and have Holy Communion.
*
I am so thankful.
*
Lent is going to be really different for me,
as I can't go to as much as I would normally.
But yet I feel God's protective and merciful hand.
That I needed a quieter lent and to just be home.
That said...
I am praying that our lent is not too much heavier
than our current sufferings with my mono.
May God have mercy and bring us
through to Him;
may this lent be for all of our healing of soul and body.
*
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy!

Three of the Icons I got at the Monastery

Great Martyr and Healer - St. Panteleimon.

The Holy Theotokos, Birthgiver of God.

St. John the Theologian and St. Prochorus.

Through their prayers we can learn

to keep silence before God

and know God's love.

++++++

I love getting icons from the monasteries I pilgrimage to.

It feels like taking the blessing home with me.

They were blessed today at the liturgy (old calendar) for the

Nativity of the Birthgiver of God.

And then I went to Church

I love Saturday vespers.

Today nothing seemed to work out - well - a few things did - but the weather was damp and bone-chilling and a lot of my plans went wrong.

So... my paper for my class is not done.

It is due in a week, but next weekend is the famed kind of dreaded work-over-valentines-day weekend.

It is a daily battle for me not to panic. I often fail.

But then I go to church. And then was blessed by my spiritual father. And then went out to dinner with two good friends. And now I am home with my Cleo Cat. Have chopped vegetables for a good energy-giving soup.

And I had friends over for tea yesterday. Laundry done and work clothes ready for the week.

Even better - Lord willing I will be in church again tomorrow. We have new Icons and I am overcome with their beauty; so comforting.

Would appreciate prayers (please!!) as this work week is going to be challenging - doing a work project - and working extra hours - etc.

Thank God for His Church and His mercy.

Icon Corners - my old and new apartments

My longtime (almost 11 years!) friend Tamie asked for pictures of my new place. I will try to do so sometime this week. First though I feel like I need to finish staying goodbye to my old apartment.

The picture above is from my Icon corner in my now former smaller cute apartment. I knew I would miss my former Icon corner and I do. It was this cute little room and I would light it with candles year round in the morning; it gave me a lot of hope, light and comfort during many hard and difficult times.

My new Icon corner is being assembled; the same shelf with the same Icons is up - a good friend of mine put it up for me the same afternoon that I moved. But it is different!

I picked the wall colour itself - a light blue - it almost seems too flat or dry looking. Perhaps I would of liked a glossier sheen, even though that is not what is typically done. And it looks so bare and empty still. And way to clean looking - by which I mean I do not yet have my prayers, lists and quotes up.

However, at least I have a start. And my Icon of my Patron Saint, Saint Irene of Chrysovalantou, is now up as well. Patron Saints are really important - they pray for us and can be Mothers and Fathers to us. Of course I do not know how to explain why or how this is, but I know it to be true. St. Irene is especially known for her prayers for peace; Irene means peace. I struggle to stay at peace, so she is a real gift to me.

About the Icon Shelf in the picture. The Icons from Left to Right are:

St. John of Rila, Patron Saint of Bulgaria

The Resurrection of Christ

The Crucifixion of Christ

St. Xenia of Petersberg

The Theotokos

Christ

St. Nicholas of Myra

St. John of Rila can teach us about prayer and the love of God.

St. Xenia prays a lot for provision of us - homes, jobs, families - and was a fool-for-Christ. This Icon was the first one I ever bought and is from St. Herman's.

The Theotokos is also referred to as the Mother of God - to understand Christ as Incarnate God and Man one has to understand that His Mother bore the Son of God and is His Mother. She can also be our Mother and prays mightily to Christ Her Son for us. I got this Icon from Holy Dormition Monastery shortly after I was chrismated.

The Icon of Christ was a gift from a fellow parishioner at St. Herman's. I remember looking at this Icon and the Icon of St. Xenia and wondering what I do with them. So I just looked at them a lot. To be honest, for a start, I think this was the best thing I personally could of done. I have a lot of tender memories of this beginning in my life. St. Herman's was the best place for me to have begun my journey into the Orthodox Church!

St. Nicholas of Myra - I was chrismated at his Church in Michigan and this Icon was a chrismation gift. St. Nicholas is also known for his prayers for financial provision and for protection. As a Bishop, spiritually he has been a Father to many through the centuries through the Holy Spirit and prayer.

I have been supported by so many over the past year in prayer - looking for work, the foot injury of this past summer, and starting a new job and moving. I hope I have been humbled by this, as I have seen how much others have interceded for me and I have struggled to do the same.

I know there are seasons in our lives and that we cannot always maintain things as we want to. I remember appreciating Fr. Thomas Hopko's comment about doing and praying as we can, not as we wish we could!

Thank God for His mercy and that there are Saints who can pray to Christ for us!

home again

Thank God I am home again. I had a nice trip; it was really good to see my Oma. She is still knitting, and at 99 that is pretty good. I know that she will not always be alive, which is hard. It was reassuring to see everything still the same; other than that everyone keeps getting older.

I saw my parents, more aunts and uncles, my Oma. I was surrounded by people speaking Dutch; it was wonderful, even though i do not know the language. I grew up visiting my Opa and Oma and it is almost second nature to be around people speaking in more than one language.

And I saw a lot of pictures in the hallways, and a lot of beautiful things.

It is strange always now, though not to see Icons.

but I saw many other signs of God's kingdom in the faithfulness of my Oma's people.

and, on smaller notes, the tea pot, sugar and creamer that I got from my Grandma (not to be confused with my Oma) over Christmas are now with me; my parents brought them up, with a silver mirrored tray that I bought at an antique store when antiquing with my Grandma. They are adorning one of my bookshelves and that is lovely.

I have been thinking about identity and what we surround ourselves with. I am the type that surrounds myself with things that are linked to my family and friends. I do not have the minimalist IKEA-only apartment. I have IKEA things along side of family dishes, pictures, knitted things from my Oma, and Icons from my various Orthodox churches and from the monastery that I love in Michigan. To me these things show and tell me where I am from; my Church, my family. And to me having things I bought with my sister, Grandma and Mother; or slippers, scarves, mittens, and tea cozies from my Oma, is like being surrounded with their love. and it shows me that others think of me, that I am remembered.

How I wish Protestants knew that we can pray for those who have died! when we, Orthodox, says Memory Eternal, we are praying for God to remember the person who has died. It is such a comfort that someday, if my Oma dies before me (the statistical view would be this way) the grief will be real, but I have been given a great comfort in the church, to pray for her and to have a service for her.

Prayers as I travel

i am going home.

i am currently quite exhausted. and not fully packed. and i am not going to leave my house clean like i had hoped.

will my house ever get vacuumed, i wonder.

however, my dishes are almost all washed, and my fridge is empty.

i will be gone two weeks.

i will be at the church i was chrismated in. i will see God willing, the new icon of Christ in the dome of my church.

my family is not orthodox; it is so hard to be a convert and not have your family understand why you want to go to vespers and liturgy!

one of my close friends is taking care of Cleo - she is going to visit Cleo while i am away.

i plan on driving while at home - i have not driven in winter (i.e. snow) and it has been quite the saga just convincing my family that at 30 years old i really can drive in winter.

i love my family very much.

and i get to see my Godmother.

i will be missing my spiritual father though, and my church.

i hope to be going to a monastery while i am home.

please, if you would, pray for me.