and so it is about to begin

Great Lent is almost here.
*
Please,
I beg all that I can ask your forgiveness
as we begin Great Lent!
Forgive me,
for anything I wrote that was
unwise, miss-spoke or without thought or worse.
Forgive me a sinner.
*
FYI - a great post on the fast.
*
May God bless and protect us!

Friday - a cold grey day but warm inside

Happy to say that
though I did not fall asleep until late,
I slept the night through.
First time in a long time.
That I am still tired is merely not a surprise.
I am thankful.

The tulips from an earlier day.
The purple one are starting to droop.
Going to see if I have a taller vase for them...

I am thankful for the oil for my lampadas.

 

It is almost Great Lent.
*
Mat. Emily has some great ideas for lent with small children.
The Psalter Reading Group is going again.
I signed up this year ~ my first time.
I hope I will have the strength to do it;
I have the cute green Psalter now
and hope to carve some time for this,
while sitting in my cozy corner.
*
It's been a month now since I first got sick.
Various people with mono have said it took them
between 1-2 months to recover.
I am hoping that by Pascha I will be well.
*
Other than some more link-lists I hope to do,
I am happy with how I changed my blog's layout
and look...
I had been wanting to do it for a while.
*
Mr. Husband and I finished watching
The Princess Bride.
Cute.
Mr. Husband thought it was nice to watch once
but would not watch it again.
I on other hand can see watching it again.
*
It's almost Forgiveness Sunday.
I don't know if/that I will make it to the services.
Am tired.
Such a strange time.
But God is still here with us.
*
Am still getting used to Feedly.
It seems to not have archived all of the data I
had in my Google Reader account.
More to be looked at there...
*
What is in store for your weekend?

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!

Trusting God with this Lent

So many we are praying for to
St. Nectarios.
Just learned today of one of my
undergraduate friend's mother having
stage 4 brain cancer,
starting treatment this Monday.
So heart breaking.
I am still waiting for news of other friend's
health or health of their family members...

This is Mr. Husband's icon.
When one first looks at it,
one thinks it is the
icon of the Protection of the Mother of God.
It is very similar but is actually
the icon of
the Mother of God Joy of All Who Sorrow.
My icon of the Holy Protection
is a close-up of the Mother of God
holding her veil
and
is on our buffet...
*
It is so wonderful that we have
such wonderful icons of the
Mother of God to
comfort, protect and keep us....

 

Mr. Husband and I continue
to learn how to deal
with my current illness.
We have ordered groceries online again.
*
In hopes of a stronger Elizabeth in the
Bright Season
after Lent,
Spring-form Pans for Cheesecake
have been ordered.
Mr. Husband is a great lover of cheesecake...
*
My second yarn and needle order
has been shipped and I hope
to have it early next week.
*
My first dish cloth is done!!
I will try blog about it soon...
Am having fun knitting a small scarf for
one of my nieces.
*
My cousin M. is mailing me a slipper pattern
like our Oma's slippers
that she always knitted for us.
*
Mr. Husband said that
I did a
'Nourishing Traditions FAIL'
as I wanted Campbells Chicken noodle soup
over the stock we made from scratch.
What can I say?
When sick, I still go for what I always
had before...
*
Tomorrow is the first Soul Saturday and
I am homesick for my Ottawa church
and the Panakhyda they 
will have tomorrow.
*
Mr. Husband is taking really good care of me.
I am so blessed and grateful.
*
This lent is going to be very different for me.
I will not be able to fast that much
as my body is incredibly weakened. 
Already talked to the priests
I know here about this...
My fast is going to be well, 
from things like ice cream
(but not popsicles!)
*
A while back my Ottawa spiritual father and I
talked about when one cannot fast
in ways one wishes
because of circumstances 
outside of one's control,
one can focus instead on gaining a
greater love for prayer.
*
I can only hope for God's mercy.
*
With my health and 
hopeful May and August plans,
it is very possible that I will not be able to return
to Ottawa until early September.
We just will not know.
*
My Oma often said
take it as it comes
and that is indeed what we will have to do.
*
Tomorrow Mr. Husband and I will 
be married for 
6 months.
For this I am very very thankful. 

Well, at least it is, as far as we know, *only* mono

This was the verse from my
calendar yesterday.
*
I look for it... our eyes are to the mountains,
where does our help come from?
*
So...
I went to the doctor
and the blood work came back
screamingly positive on the test for
mono.

Now that the meds are slowly
getting out of my system
my energy levels are falling
with marked rapidity
and that throat of mine that is still swollen
when I look at it
with a flash light
now feels swollen again.
Time for more tea and popsicles.
I guess I will not be making the bread
after all...
oh well,
there are much worse things than this.

Lent is soon.
I feel that Mr. Husband and I's lent
started early,
like the minute the Triodion was about to start.
*
I have a feeling we will be
ordering groceries for a while
and I will be knitting and on the couch
for a while to come....
when I am not sleeping...

 

Please keep Mr. Husband and I in
your prayers.
*
I thank God that as far as we know
it is nothing worse...

Peaceful Beautiful Friday Evening

Old picture of the time during the Dormition Fast.
Well, I am so relieved to finally be able to have
announced how my life is changing.
Just a note -
I realized tonight that I forgot to change the RSS
feeds for my new blog
and I have fixed this and it is now
subscribable via google reader.
You're all invited there;
I am going to keep comments off on it
for a while
to give myself some time to adjust to everything,
but comments will stay on this blog
and I,
as you can see,
am not forsaking my beloved first Orthoblog! :)
Hard to imagine that God willing
my life will be different after next
Dormition Fast,
Lord Willing.
*
I spent the evening with my close dear friend
who is really my
sister-friend
and we talked about my plans and we
both can't imagine me leaving.
*
I don't even want to think about that part sometimes.
I mean really,
Cleo is the cutest cat of all of Canada
but what if there is a cat in the States who is cuter?
The disappointment may be quite overwhelming
for my dear Cleo Cat
darling of all she surveys.
*
 Still waiting to hear about the contract job.
Last heard is that the paperwork is now in process
but still don't know the outcome of the
process. 
So that means I don't have to go to work on Monday.
Somehow,
given the amount of laundry I need to do,
that I have to go grocery shopping
and that I need to do paperwork
not starting this Monday is not bad.
Besides being the first fully day of Lent.
*
With everything that is going on for me
it is going to be a challenge to
do Lent properly.
How does one do Lent, a potential new job
and continued moving and wedding logistics?
It's not like I am waiting to the last minute to do either.
Anyway,
one thing at a time
and I am going to try to really treasure this last Lent
that God willing I have in Ottawa
with my church family and spiritual father.
I can't wait DV to stand in church with my spiritual father
and our Deacon and all my church family
for the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.
Lord have mercy and help our Lent to be fruitful!

Almost There

Lent is almost upon us.

We need the Saint's protection

and God's mercy.

*

With taking French twice a week and work
and looking for more work
I find that I don't have as much time to blog
or read others' blogs.

Please know that it is not that I have lost
interest in any of your blogs,
but just that I am trying to keep my head
and maybe my shoulders
above water.

*

Lent will be even more busy,
so I don't know how much I will be blogging
for this reason alone.

*

I still am struggling with anxiety about my
unknown after this month of March
job situation.
It is more the being alone with nothing but job searching
and a lack of daily structure
that scare me than money at this point.

*

The rash that I had in November and that came back in January
may be returning again;
I seem to have a questionable spot again on my face.
I ask your prayers.
I really did not want to go on the strong medicine for
a third time.

*

If however there is something one of you
my beloved blog friends
esp. need me to know
please email me at roosjeblog @ yahoo . ca

*

Meanwhile,

Here's some great resources for lent:

Fr. Thomas Hopko's podcasts here and lots of podcasts

with a lenten focus here

*

The first thing though is the services;

confession;

repentance.

Life instead of death is what lent is all about.

May Christ have mercy on us.

*

Forgive me for anything I may have written that

in anyway hurt or wounded.