First Tuesday of Lent, Reading, Cleaning, book buying + unpacking, Canon of St Andrew

Did I mention that I got this book recently?

The Orthodox Church in the World: Talks and Discussions in Cyprus, Russia, Romania and Georgia

It's been really informative; I did not get the link

between dogma and how it translates into lived experience; 

how right dogma (doctrine/ideas about God) creates right culture/living.

Makes perfect sense, I just did not frame the idea in this way,

thought I have been pondering this topic 

(of how we are where we are today/in history) for years.

This book is a bunch of things on many topics, including kids/child-rearing.

I love books like that, wide-ranging.

I've been thinking over and over today

dogma = right living and such thoughts.  Ortho-nerdy fun at it's best ;)

***

I got to do more reading today. 

It was SO NICE.

Uninterrupted quiet reading on the futon in our library/chapel with

time to make notes, look over past notes (I write a lot of quotes from books

I am reading esp that I want to write about) and making notes for DV

future essays that I want to write. 

I have not had a lot of chance for such a time and I really deeply 

appreciated having it today.

I love this plant that a friend gave me this summer...

Books for church bookstore! New Rome Press! 

That was a heavy box to carry up 2 flights of stairs! 

I was out of breath, I admit!

And under 10 minutes of my opening the box of books,

there was Cleo exploring the newly emptied box!

These 2 new books are WONDERFUL, cool and the St Paisios book very BEAUTIFUL.

My godkids often get books from me and I was so excited to see these 2!!! 

Church tonight.

I was really glad to be there.

Was tired tonight so I sat some.

But that's cool. 

I have been learning to not push myself into sickness

and am trying my best there.

Speaking of that, I need to get on to sleep for the night! 

***

May God bless, protect and heal us all!

Friday, after 2 days in NYC, with a blur of activities

Whew, as I knew it would, this week

came hurtling in like a ton of bricks.

I had 2 days in NYC,

including my eye appointment, which I am happy say

went well and my right eye, as myopic as my eyes are, is OK.

***

I picked up a few more presents in NYC and my list of things to do

is still high...I finished our Christmas card in a 2 hour rush yesterday,

I read over lunch a lovely article about why using good China is 

not only that which brings quiet and honour to a guest,

but is deeply linked to how a tradition-based Christian lives out their

sacramental life. 

Fr Andrew Damick's book, 

Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy is proving to be a very enjoyable,

clear and thought-provoking read. 

I find it to be both gentle and forthright. 

***

Well, I have a lots of cleaning and paperwork to do today,

I hope to get our Christmas tree up sometime soon,

hopefully next week and I have 2 weeks to get my 

St. Nicholas and Christmas baking done...

and a new Church book sale prep and everything else...

***

This is always my most busy time of year.

***

Lord have mercy and help me keep the spirit of the

Nativity Fast amidst it all! 

Thursday Already!

I am loving my new table cloth...:)
As you can see,
my computer station still shares the dining room table...

We got a few inches of snow - two or three.
Sadly it's mostly gone now.

But happily it was a sunny blue skied day!
I really do not understand these trees
how can they still be green?

These trees seem much more seasonably appropriate...

I love seeing this church...
seeing the Cross is always a strengthening sight...

The hydro trucks were out
everywhere today.
I talked with some of the workers
and they showed me all the
dozens of power meters
that they had to replace
because they had been flooded...

 

Many have power in my town now
but the overall area still has thousands
without power...
*
I made a simple meat sauce with a premade
tomato sauce and whole wheat spaghetti;
made great cheddar and garlic muffins...
I really enjoyed them...
*
Mr. Husband really wants me to learn
to make bread...
I am thinking of looking into a book
that Willfulmina uses...
*
Thanks to my friends who have taught me
over the years and recently
spaghetti and muffin making... :)
*
I still get the FB posts from Noah's Mom Kate
and Noah really needs our continued prayers-
he is fighting infections that are
becoming immune to many antibiotics...
*
So thankful we can pray for others.
*
I and Mr. Husband are both so grateful that
we have been safe through the hurricane
and continue to have power--heat, light and Internet...
*
I was telling my sister-friend about
a mother in the hurricane who lost her two babies
two and four years old
out of her very arms...
and how others lost everything,
homes burnt to the ground...
*
I think Haiti got hit pretty badly as well...
*
It's hard to understand how bad it is in some places
even near by
when our own place fared so well...
*
I was going to make my first trip to the local library today
but it was closed due to hurricane damage...
*
So I read at home;
more of St. Augustine's biography and
another novel that I am re-reading by
Madeleine L'Engle...
*
I seem to really be wanting to read fiction again
first time in quite a while.
*
This past while has been so intense
with the hurricane and then uncertainty of the
nor'easter and everything being out of sorts here
buses, trains, subways...
Mr. Husband is finding new ways home from work...
I am so thankful for my blog...
and all of you...
really helps me in the navigation
of my new life and world...
*
Things like making the bed,
keeping the kitchen clean,
reading novels
are all helping
me in this time...
*
I am aware that
we are very blessed.

Okay... Thank God

Over all things are OK.

My new job is quite overwhelming; lots to do; I am praying for a part time person to help. I have found work clothes on sale and ironed others. Where I work has a dress code... Not that I did not dress up for work before; I started wearing work clothes when finishing my Honours BA years ago... I find it helpful to have clothes just for work and then, when I am home, to change. I guess in someways it is like acting - different props for different roles.

My work has a paid for by work cookie tin. Chocolate. This is wonderful. Of course now my Dormition fast is about to begin... :)

Read a wonderful line today about someone working in church... that people pray for those who work and those who work work for those who pray... reminded me of the monastery I go to when I am at my parent's home...

so I thank God.

So...

The saga of my life continues. Surprise surprise. :)

I have an interview for a 1 year term position. The second round interview was postponed, date still unknown. Am still waiting to hear about other things.

Ah life transitions. how I dislike you, life transitions.

oh well!

I remember reading in an Anglican prayer book over ten years ago how God is the unchanging one, the still centre... (I am paraphrasing btw). So I seek to remember this.

I am reading a mystery book; lovely after fasting from them for Lent. Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson. I like, though I must say she is pushing things a bit in places; the phrases. I was an English major and am still aware of what I read. None the less, I am enjoying it thus far.