Monastery Visits

On Thursday, April 11th, our family took a "field trip" to Vashon Island.  It wasn't a field trip for school, it's just fun calling it that. But well, we did sight see a bit.  The purpose of the trip was to visit All-Merciful Savior Monastery and visit with Abbot Tryphon. 
Continuing to count...not in order today.
 150. Our whole family taking a day trip to Vashon Island & monastery.

Kelsey Anna, Charissa, Nicholas and Joseph by the Bike in the Tree on Vashon Island.

 We stopped off at cute little country store and explored a little bit.  They had all sorts of neat gardening things and trinkets.
Then we went to find the famous Bike in the Tree.  It was really neat. 
 

When we arrived at the monastery we pulled into the parking space and right in front of us was another family visiting the monastery.  It was a family of deer!

Look closely and you'll see the mama deer.

The monastery beehives. They were pretty active.

 I love taking pictures of my children. Here are some sweet faces.

148. Reluctant young daughter smiling & at ease after talking with Fr. Tryphon unexpectedly.
149. Peace, peace in my mind & heart! Giving all to God & the Theotokos.

 After a morning full of clouds and rain, we were blessed to have the clouds break up and a very sunny afternoon as we visited with Fr. Tryphon.  There were 3 of us who have chosen Fr. Tryphon as our father confessor and we were there for our Lenten confessions and guidance.
 151. Confessions, forgiveness, new starts.
152. Sweet faces framed in scarves.  

Kelsey Anna waiting.

Nicholas was the one of the protesters of this trip. He did not want to go! But as were hanging out in the courtyard he explained...
147. Nicholas exclaiming, "I love this place. It makes me so happy." 
He talked all day about how he wished he could stay or he couldn't want to come back. 

Nicholas in front of the beautiful Church doors.

Joseph having cuddle time.  He was cold.

 We got to visit our chickens that we took to the monastery a couple years ago.

It was such a lovely visit to the monastery.  We thank God for this opportunity to be together as a family. 
Thank you, Abbot Tryphon for seeing us and visiting with us.
146. A beautiful visit to the monastery.  

Lenten Spring

This year Great Lent began 2 days before the official start of spring.  I find it appropriate and beautiful.  

As we make our way down this lenten path, we watch as life renews itself all around us.  The budding trees, the bulbs emerging, grass growing, birds readying for hatching. Life! Full and vibrant.  

At the end of the lenten path we find true life.  We find life that has conquered all that is dark and dead.

I must get ready. Weeding and pruning, scrubbing and cleaning.  Not just the outside world but within my heart. 
Getting ready for life. To really live!

(Since my last blog post I've counted 40+ blessings, so I am not writing them all down here, just an excerpt from my journal.)
Counting....on my way to One Thousand!  Glory to God for all things.
108. Forgiveness: seeking it and receiving it.
109. 4 loads of laundry done.
110. All four beautiful babes at Canon with me & dad. Singing or prostrating, participating.
111. Giggles from girls at bedtime after a tense, angry evening between them.

Red-flowering Currant. The hummingbirds love this.

127. Making dinner with CJ.
128. Planting spinach and sweet peas.
129. 64 degrees
130. Hanging sheets on the line to dry in the sun.

   Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
    For His mercy endures forever. 

 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
    For His mercy endures forever. 

 Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
    For His mercy endures forever:

Lent

We begin our journey through Great Lent.
Preparing ourselves to meet our Risen Lord we ask forgiveness.
Please forgive me brothers and sisters, wherein I have sinned in word, thought or deed.
We spend more time in prayer, hoping to become more like Him.
We fast in order to "gain mastery over oneself and to conquer the passions of the flesh. It is to liberate oneself from dependence on the things of this world in order to concentrate on the things of the Kingdom of God." (V. Rev. Thomas Hopko)
We give alms more often as we were commanded to. ...if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? (I John 3:17)

Beware of practicing your piety before men, in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do…that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:1-4)

May you have a fruitful Lent.

See you on the bright side!

Clean Week cleaning.

Emma over at Charming the Birds from the Trees posted her "Lenten Cleaning List". She asked for others to share so I thought I'd share what I was doing. I don't have a Lenten cleaning List but rather a "Clean Week Cleaning List".
I decided for this week we would take the week off from school and focus on Church and cleaning. To start Lent off with a clean and organized home my hope is to being to then focus the rest of Lent of prayer, fasting and alms-giving.
During the time that we would normally be doing school we'll work together to clean and each day we will cover a different room. In each room I hope to deep clean by cleaning off shelves, culling unneeded items (next Wednesday Northwest Center will come through the neighborhood), washing windows and scrubbing floors and moldings, etc. Here is my list:

Monday: Livingroom
Tuesday: Kitchen/Diningroom
Wednesday: Laundry room (Presanctified Liturgy in the morning will shorten our cleaning for this day)
Thursday: Girls Bedroom and downstairs bathroom and downstairs hallway.
Friday: Master Bedroom and Boys Bedroom
Saturday: Cabin

Have a blessed Clean Week and a fruitful Lent!

On Forgiveness and the start of Great Lent.

Excerpt from "Great Lent" by Alexander Schmemann

He is speaking about the Vespers service...

This day's Great Prokeimenon announces the beginning of Lent:

Turn not away Thy face from Thy servant for I am afflicted!
Hear me speedily.
Attend to my soul and deliver it!

Listen to the unique melody of this verse--to this cry that suddenly fills the church: "...for I am afflicted!"--and you will understand this starting point of Lent: the mysterious mixture of despair and hope, of darkness and light. All preparation has now come to an end. I stand before God, before the glory and the beauty of His Kingdom. I realize that I belong to it, that I have no other home, no other joy, no other goal; I also realize that I am exiled from it into the darkness and sadness of sin, "for I am afflicted!" And finally, I realize that only God can help in that affliction, that only He can " attend to my soul." Repentance is, above everything else, a desperate call for that divine help.
Five times we repeat the Prokeimenon. And then, Lent is here!...
We will have to wander forty days through the desert of Lent. Yet at the end shines already the light of Easter, the light of the Kingdom.

One of the things that is so amazing to me, the thing that has been so comforting and appealing to me from early on in my journey to Orthodoxy is knowing that all over the world, Orthodox Christians are singing these very same hymns. Orthodox Christians all over the world are walking together, singing and repenting, asking forgivness and beginning this journey of Great Lent together. Knowing that I could go just about anywhere and enter just about any Orthodox Church and I would hear the same hymns being sung:
Turn not away Thy face from Thy servant for I am afflicted!
Hear me speedily.
Attend to my soul and deliver it!
Together we fast, pray and give almsgiving as we strive a little harder on our path to salvation. That we may come out in the end a little bit more like God.

My dear friends and family in Christ, as we begin our journey through Lent I ask forgiveness.
Please forgive me!
God forgives all!