Tag Archives: awareness

Christianity, dance, faith, Greek Orthodox, happiness, hello: goodbye, Life, music

Food for thought #7

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My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.† For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?† But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;† but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2:1-9, OSB)

This came up in my daily readings this week.

Ironically, I started going back to church after my husband died, because I felt I needed the fellowship in my life. I also pursued dance class at the same time, taught by a parishioner of my same church.

I don’t fit in either place it seems, though I was excited and eager to be both places, I don’t quite seem ‘good enough’ in either place. Dance class made me feel inept and the instructor cancelled further leasons after just one, citing lack of interest. He restarted them 3 months later but I didn’t bother because of how the initial experience felt to me.

After church, when people gather for fellowship, I end up mostly sitting alone at a table, most already have their people they talk regularly to…I’m simply not one of them and after several weeks, I still wasn’t any closer to being…and I did try.

I don’t tend to have a negative outlook on life or a victim personality…but I’m feeling a little down with regards to these things.

Best,

A

Christianity, country life, faith

Food for thought #6

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I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.† (John 10:14-16, OSB)

I’ve never had sheep, I’ve only ever had goats and chickens. But I can tell you from experience that getting 2 flocks that are different in nature, be it the age or type of flock or whatever, is a challenge.

I can’t imagine what could have been going through the original flocks (Israel-Jews) head when the concept of a new flock not only being in existence but especially the idea that eventually the 2 flocks would be inevitably one, as they shared one shepherd.

I can tell you that the idea that the sheep know their shepherd isn’t foreign to anyone who owns any type of animals, you learn your animals and what makes them special and how they need to be talked to, what they need to be fed…etc.

I like that Christ spells out a familiarity with his followers in this manner, many may make fun of Christian’s as sheep but to me it’s a slightly different context than they would like you to think of when they shame us as such.

Sheep can be led to slaughter but that’s not what Christ is offering us, he’s offering us to protected by His grace as we go in and out to ‘find pasture’.

Just my ramble thoughts for the day,

Blessings,

A

country life, faith, Greek Orthodox, happiness, hello: goodbye, hospital, Life, Travel, wonder

When I was 17, I wrote a poem that was published in my high school ’paper’

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It was a poem about my biological father. I can only remember snippets of it to this day.

two parts I remember:

‘Tis eighteen years since we last met, I’m only seventeen. I barely know to be my dad; a man I’ve never seen.’

And the end of poem:

‘Would I have been a daddy’s girl, if I had had a dad? Or would you be just like the rest, and make me very sad?’

When I was 36, I finally met the man I’d wanted my whole life to know. The man I’d daydream busting with pride because I was in the army and following his footsteps even without him being there. (He was a green beret, sniper, in Vietnam)

My dad was the ultimate disappointment in life. He was a perverse old man who though he knew about all of his kids (there were at least 5 of us) he took responsibility in life for none of them. Claimed no knowledge, but had photos of all of us when we were babies there in his home.

He died of lung cancer in February when I was 40. His family treated me and my children like a nobody at his funeral because all his other children looked like him. I didn’t favor him in any way. (My grandma used to say I was nobody’s kid, because I looked like nobody I was supposed to look like in her opinion.)

Despite all this, I’m glad I got to know the truth on him, that he wasn’t the man I watched for in all the drill sergeants and instructors I had while I was in the army. He was just as ordinary as any other man, and a purposeful deadbeat at best.

Sorry for the dark and twisty start to the day.

All the best,

A

(Craig, I also wrote about Christ when in elementary…about keeping Christ in Christmas, I think I was 4th or 5th grade. He wasn’t ever allowed to be present much in my schools growing up: atheists will tell you that’s a separation of church and state, I believe it’s just one more way to keep their thumb on believers- but o see it as one more way Christ separates the wheat from the chaff, enough trials like that and the chaff will fall away…the wheat won’t…just my 2 cents)

(Also Craig, per Luke, the Holy Spirit forbade them from preaching in Asia. Maybe there was a reason the Asian churches fell away? (Acts 16:6-7) )

Christianity, faith, Greek Orthodox, happiness, hello: goodbye, Life, Travel, Uncategorized, wonder

So, mostly a humdrum kind of day today.

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Up and did chores today, didn’t take time to walk to the garden area today because I had other things in my head.

Dental appointment this afternoon, my face is still numb and it’s been nearly 5 hours. Picked picnic stuff up for dinner tonight and had an easy night.

Grabbed a mini rose plant because my husband loved those, going to work on planting a handful of those in between the regular roses this year.

Have an appointment at 10 tomorrow for the truck to get his tires looked at and also to see why the windshield washers aren’t working, went ahead and did most of tomorrows chores tonight.

I’m really into reading my Bible for just over a year now, just got into the gospels this week, 2 chapters into Mark at the moment. Loving the reading.

Watching the chosen, I like most of it but hate when they sneak modern agendas into a timeline it didn’t exist in.

Hope you’re well, have a blessed day/week!!

Amanda

Travel

Happy 2024.

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Hope you’ve had a great day!

Been a busy one here. Normal daily chores and beginning of the year bills for Real estate fees and such. Made black eyed peas and cabbage in the crock pot and also had cheese noodles and smoked sausage tonight for dinner.

Walked a while and did a workout (first supernatural workout of the year ) and some light reading and TV.

Tackled a few small clean up projects and wrote a letter. May write one more before bed.

Tell me about your day? Anything you’re excited about in the new year?

All the best,

Amanda

Travel

Mental health moment

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Just a side note to all, you may have an issue that you see as the same as someone you know because they are generalised with one name.

Depression isn’t the same for everyone, it is not handled or approached the same by everyone, it is not the same degree, it does not have the same impact on everyone. Someone who is outwardly very, very happy/successful/outgoing can be the loneliest and most depressed around you.

Anxiety is not the same for everyone. There is no textbook answer to handle anxiety. No cure all medicine, no ultimate way to help someone through an anxiety attack. Some may prefer that you be there for them, some may get more anxious by trying to continue a conversation. You may have anxiety and think you know what it looks like…but you only know your version, and you can’t define how others see it.

The best you can do is be understanding when someone tells you they are up against something like this. Take it seriously, don’t dismiss and don’t try to make anyone get past whatever they are going through by telling them it’s not real.

This is all I have to share today, have a good one.

~Α

Travel, Uncategorized

a little more mundane details post

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But let’s face it, sometimes the mundane details can be the factors that later on make the difference whether your trip goes smoothly or is a nightmare.

This weeks call was with Verizon wireless, making sure that we’d be able to connect with home as much as necessary during the excursion without breaking the bank. I got a pleasant customer service agent, Amanda,  who went over every aspect of the trip with me in great detail, then shot me an email when we got off the phone to cover all the details of what we had just discussed.

First hurdle, E’s phone is not compatible with their normal travel plan, which means either:

  •  She will cost far more and be very limited throughout the time we’re abroad…this makes for a very unhappy tweenager, and subsequently, a very unhappy mum.(she’s practicing for London and has been calling me that this week, I find it endearing)
  • We upgrade her phone to a compatible, which costs a bit more, but locks her into the more affordable price point on the travel plan. or…
  • She does’t get to use her phone during the trip, which I think sounds like the most miserable option of all.

We opted for the middle choice and brought her, and her brother (to be fair) up to a more compatible phone. Both phones should be here by the end of the month and hopefully we’ll be able to get their info converted to the new phones.

So, it seems on the Queen Mary, we will need to work to keep ourselves limited to just their wifi.

Amanda told me they charge somewhere around 3.25 a minute to use the phone onboard. She highly suggested that I keep both of our phones on Airplane mode the entire time and tether them to the wifi when able. I hope that I can keep E honest on this policy, as I really don’t want any surprise charges. I’ve tried searching the Cunard site to better understand the Wifi capabilities and costs, I can only tell so far that 120 minutes will cost me approximately 45 dollars, and that we cannot be on more than one device at a time, I will encourage E to let her friends know that she will be out of touch for that week and get email addresses if she absolutely needs to contact her friends. The good thing is the bulk of emails can be written offline (as can my posts) and only take seconds to a minute or 2 to actually connect and send. I will probably try to encourage her to understand that factor prior to embarking on our adventure as well.

In London, it seems we’ll be in good shape, I should approximate 20 dollars a day as an extra cost.

We have 2 phones at 10 dollars a day,  and for that 10 dollars, it keeps everything on our normal plan the same. Unlimited texts, unlimited calls, ability to call US and UK without any extra charges (in case we order takeout or something). Data usage will be same as it is in the US, and hopefully we’ll have some rollover data from previous months to make up for any extra we may use during that time. I will also have Wifi, unsure of whether it costs any extra as that hasn’t been disclosed, in the Apartment while we’re there.

only possible bump with the costs there is if we make a day trip to Paris. Then it will cost us 40 for the day if we happen to use the phones while in both countries. Amanda was very thorough on explaining this. I love Verizon’s customer service for this reason.

So, now I am in the know, with one less detail to fuss with…have a good one!