More to Do Than Twiddle Our Thumbs

I look at what needs attention in the next week, and I must admit that for me it is daunting.  For some people it is part of their normal routine to handle lists the size of what I am looking at.  But for me and for my family it is huge. 

One of our tasks is to empty our house so that it can be prepared for renters.  As you may have read, we have been downsizing considerably.  The lack of stuff is getting to be refreshing.  I thought I would have to wait to get to New Zealand to feel that. If you are reading this...lol... I recommend you get rid of a lot of stuff.


MF from SafeHOUSE talked with me this past week.  They have a thrift store where they sell used items to make money for their shelter.  Half of our two car garage floor is covered in boxes filled with things that we cannot take with us to New Zealand. I think we can strike a deal with Safe HOUSE

We had the blessing of talking with Metropolitan Amfilochios yesterday.  He is in Fiji now, and ministering and keeping company with those who are newly baptized.  He seems so at home there.  His love for the people there keeps drawing us and motivating us to get a move on.  He encourages us to be very patient with everything that we are doing.  FP is very anxious to get to work in Fiji as well as NZ.  But we must wait for the immigration process to take its course, and that could take another 2 months. 

After talking with His Eminence, we feel better about a lot of things, including our choices.  If there is only one thing that we lcan earn from him, it would be that prayer, attention to God in our prayers, and the reading of the prayers of our Mother Church, is the best avenue for getting things done. 

So, we try to pray more than plan. 

We try to pray more than worry. 

We try to pray more than think.

We don't always get it right.

Friends came from the parish to help me strategize the next week.  They will make the next week less intimidating.  They say things like, "we don't know why we are helping you to leave when all we want is for you to stay".  One of our doctors said that he could easily take bribes from the parish to flunk us on our health exams so that we would have to stay in the USA.  Although he was laughing as he spoke, he supports our endeavor. He seems to understand what it means to live a little different. He wants us to do well when we finally get there.


Paraklesis in Santa Fe last Friday was another wonderful opportunity to pray and to see this beautiful eklesaki on the hill there.  The iconography is breathtaking and spiritual. It is something that I will greatly miss when we are gone.

The Saint Elias The Prophet Church in Santa Fe

Saint Mark the Evangelist icon and others inside the Church

I can't imagine what my next post will sound like.  But I hope that the week ahead will go slowly enough in my perceptions that I will be able to think of something.

Please pray for us when you are thinking about us, and we will do the same for you.  The Paraklesis is chanted every day in most churches for this fasting period. Go and be refreshed in your spirit.  May the most Holy Theotokos be with you. She is so good to care about each and everyone of us!