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The Half-Time of Lent

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I can't believe that tomorrow is already the Sunday of the Cross. This is the half-way point in our Orthodox Lenten journey and I cannot believe that our family (minus the two youngest) has made it twenty days now without any beef, pork or chicken! This is HUGE for us and clearly only because of God's grace and strength. Without that we would never have had the strength to do this on our own. A full Orthodox Lent fast would mean absolutely no animal products (except for shellfish) so we are far from the ultimate goal in our fasting practice, but we are grateful for the small steps we have been able to take.  Fasting is a wonderful tool that The Church gives us to help quell the passions, strengthen our self-discipline and spend more time focused on Jesus Christ. It is NOT easy for me (or my family) but I am grateful to have my church family to walk and struggle with on this journey to Pascha.  I was listening to something recently that compared the Sunday of the Cross to a loc...
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Community and Stability

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" As we all face yet another world crisis and are tempted to despair, how important it is that we lead our home, our conversations, our relationships in the direction of holding fast to the goodness of God, to cultivate close community in order to provide a sense of stability and hope." -- Sally Clarkson As our family is completing our first week of Lent, I am diving deeply into two words God is continually placing before me: stillness and stability.   In contemplating the word stability, I am reminded of the context in which stability can really be exercised and that is within COMMUNITY. And so today, when I read the above quote from Sally, I decided to write a little blog post about my thoughts on these words: community and stability. June 20, 2020 was the day that our family officially became part of the Orthodox Christian Church but more specifically, the local community of Christ the Savior Orthodox Church in Harrisburg, PA.  You would have to know my past histo...
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My Wilderness

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Today was a really rough day. I admit that I felt defeated and plunged into despair. I even found myself for the first time feeling angry. Why God? I text a few friends complaining about my situation.  My husband had interviewed earlier this week for a supervisor position with the most perfect schedule: Monday through Friday, 7-4pm. The absolute answer to prayer for this mama who has been treading water. He had a department manager put in a good word for him and the man who interviewed him said he did, "Excellent". Our hopes were high and the announcement was to be made today about who got the position.  He didn't get it.  Store manager assured him that he interviewed very well, but someone else had a bit more experience in that particular department.  My heart SUNK. My attitude took a nose dive. Why God? Can't we catch a break? Do You never want us to be financially successful? Yes, I am well aware that I have chosen to stay home and spend my days saturating o...
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Meltdown Musings...

It was almost eleven o'clock and typically our children are all tucked in bed for a least an hour by now but this night was later due to some activities. I had worked so hard to plan and be prepared and follow my schedule as best I could. It was time to tuck Ava in bed for the night so I sent my hubby upstairs to do just that. A few minutes later I could hear Ava having what I describe as a meltdown and I began to pray. Liam was fast asleep in his bedroom but his room isn't that far from Ava's bedroom and I worried about her waking him up. Next I heard repeated pounding on the floor sounding like a herd of elephants running from danger. My oldest came downstairs from his third floor bedroom wondering why on earth his room was shaking and what was that sound. I prayed out loud some more, begging God not to let this wake up Liam. If it woke Liam up, I feared that I would mentally and emotionally snap. I sent my oldest back to bed assuring him we would take care of things and ...
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