Ah, bliss !
Have been to Confession, been relieved of my burdens, been given a blessing to receive Communion today and attended the Liturgy.
Our priest served a Molieben of Thanksgiving for Abigail`s safe recovery from surgery,and my precious god-daughter was visiting as well.
And my DH spent most of the Liturgy in Church with us, rather than just popping in at the end to venerate the Cross and receive the Antidoron.
I wish you could see the smile on my face !
God is *sooo* good to me.
If only my dear god-mother was able to be with us, instead of being in hospital, my joy would have been nearly complete........
but nevertheless, Glory to God for all things !
Monday, September 27, 2004
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Pain and Confession
Today has been a weird sort of day.
I have been in a lot of pain with my arthritis, and my mood has been correspondingly black and gloomy.
I took my painkilling medication, which made feel sick and sleepy, so I crashed out and slept for about two hours while DH entertained the kids.
I woke up in less pain, but feeling headachey, sleepy and sick. I don`t know if it was worth taking the painkillers :-(
Poor husband bears the brunt of my bad moods, and he certainly does not deserve it.
This evening he was teasing D3 and she was getting wound up.
I shouted at him "For pity`s sake, do you really want to start me shouting and adding another ten minutes onto my confession tomorrow !!"
This cracked him up and he fell about laughing.
As a non-O, he often wonders what on earth I find to confess.............bless him, he doesn`t think I have much to confess, but I know just how much I do have to confess :-(
I am trying to pluck up courage to start my pre-confession prayers, but I am feeling very down-hearted at the moment.
Asking your prayers,
the sinful handmaiden of God, Elizabeth.
I have been in a lot of pain with my arthritis, and my mood has been correspondingly black and gloomy.
I took my painkilling medication, which made feel sick and sleepy, so I crashed out and slept for about two hours while DH entertained the kids.
I woke up in less pain, but feeling headachey, sleepy and sick. I don`t know if it was worth taking the painkillers :-(
Poor husband bears the brunt of my bad moods, and he certainly does not deserve it.
This evening he was teasing D3 and she was getting wound up.
I shouted at him "For pity`s sake, do you really want to start me shouting and adding another ten minutes onto my confession tomorrow !!"
This cracked him up and he fell about laughing.
As a non-O, he often wonders what on earth I find to confess.............bless him, he doesn`t think I have much to confess, but I know just how much I do have to confess :-(
I am trying to pluck up courage to start my pre-confession prayers, but I am feeling very down-hearted at the moment.
Asking your prayers,
the sinful handmaiden of God, Elizabeth.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Just Friday
Today has been an average sort of day.
The sun is shining, I have got my second load of washing drying in the gentle garden breeze, and the last of the summer flowers are putting on a brave display despite the increasingly chilly autumn nights.
Having DH home has been a delight, even if he is busy upstairs at the moment, stripping wallpaper from one of the bedroom `s walls........
I keep looking at him and grinning ; I miss him so much when he is working away all week and it is lovely to think that from now on he will be home with us for four days a week. We are truly blessed.
D3 came home today a little upset because she only got 9/10 for her spelling test . What was the dreadful word that tripped her up ?
Every.
She had already spelt very correctly in the test, but for some reason she missed out the second "e" in every.
The trials and tribulations of being six years old....... ;-)
The sun is shining, I have got my second load of washing drying in the gentle garden breeze, and the last of the summer flowers are putting on a brave display despite the increasingly chilly autumn nights.
Having DH home has been a delight, even if he is busy upstairs at the moment, stripping wallpaper from one of the bedroom `s walls........
I keep looking at him and grinning ; I miss him so much when he is working away all week and it is lovely to think that from now on he will be home with us for four days a week. We are truly blessed.
D3 came home today a little upset because she only got 9/10 for her spelling test . What was the dreadful word that tripped her up ?
Every.
She had already spelt very correctly in the test, but for some reason she missed out the second "e" in every.
The trials and tribulations of being six years old....... ;-)
A Busy Day
Husband came home last night, his work finished for the week.
It is soo nice to have him home. :-)))))))))))
Today we took his mother out shopping for her birthday present, which was enormous fun. She is such a lovely person, that it is easy to see why my husband is as wonderful as he is........
This lovely man even went and bought a bluetooth usb adaptor just so I could download ringtones from my computer onto my new mobile phone. He spent all afternoon tweaking the computer and phone.
My phone now rings to the theme music of ER, and has a screensaver from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I nearly had the Powerpuff girls screensaver, but decided that as I am 40 and a half, I needed something a bit more grown-up !
When DH phones me, he has chosen the music from Village People`s YMCA to ring. With several thousand polyphonic ringtones to choose from, he chooses that one.
Well, I suppose he can`t be perfect all the time..... :-)))
It is soo nice to have him home. :-)))))))))))
Today we took his mother out shopping for her birthday present, which was enormous fun. She is such a lovely person, that it is easy to see why my husband is as wonderful as he is........
This lovely man even went and bought a bluetooth usb adaptor just so I could download ringtones from my computer onto my new mobile phone. He spent all afternoon tweaking the computer and phone.
My phone now rings to the theme music of ER, and has a screensaver from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I nearly had the Powerpuff girls screensaver, but decided that as I am 40 and a half, I needed something a bit more grown-up !
When DH phones me, he has chosen the music from Village People`s YMCA to ring. With several thousand polyphonic ringtones to choose from, he chooses that one.
Well, I suppose he can`t be perfect all the time..... :-)))
Relics and Icons
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Relics
For those who may be desirous of obtaining a relic...
First port of call, as always, is your priest.
There is usually a stock of relics in each archdiocese, if only for the production of the antimension :-)
You just may be allowed to have a tiny fragment of a relic, if you are lucky.
Equally, your priest may not feel it is appropriate for you to have a relic at this time.
For Western saints, you may need to follow one of these routes, as historically many pre-Schism Western saints may not have been widely known in the East......
Other options.....
check out antique shops.
There have been very many thousands of relics distributed by the RC church over the years, and when families are clearing out after a relative has reposed, they may not be interested or even know what the relics are, and pass them onto an antique or second-hand shop. The owners of these shops may not know exactly what they are, either !!
EBay
Caveat emptor !!!
There are some wonderful relics on EBay, but I would advise only buying from a well-established trader with at least 99% positive feedback.
Be prepared to pay quite high prices. Having said that, last year I bought a tiny relic of St Lucy the Martyr for 40 dollars. Sometimes, you can strike lucky if there have been a few relics of a saint in quick succession and the market has been satiated..........
The fierce bidding on relics of Christ can be amazing. Personally, I would not think of bidding for these...after all, we receive Christ Himself in the Holy Mysteries..........
You need to look for relics which have their wax seals and threads intact, to show they have not been tampered with.
Relics with documents of authenticity from the ecclesiastical issuer of the relic always sell for more than those without documents. Always check that the wax seal of the relic is identical to that of the documentation.
You need to look for saints which are obviously Orthodox. Any before 1000AD would be likely to be a safe bet, with the exception of the later popes. An awful lot of relics on EBay are for very recent RC saints.
Having said that, I do have reservations about buying relics. Many of the relics were freely given by the RC Church, with the owner receiving documentation and only paying a *very* small sum for the cost of producing the metal case for the relic. Many relics now are changing hands for very large sums of money, which does not seem right to me.
RC Sources
It is still possible to obtain relics from the RC Church, if you are a priest. Although this obviously applies to RC priests, I would imagine that if there is good communication between the Orthodox and RC church in your area, there may be a chance that a RC bishop would agree to vouch for you, or your parish priest on your behalf, and forward a request for a particular pre-Schism relic to the Vatican.
All pre-schism saints` relics no longer are issued with authentication, by the way. Only if you purchase an antique intact relic case issued before Vatican 2 would you get documents.
Bear in mind that Vatican 2 decided to stop officially commemorating quite a few saints, including St Christopher.
For those interested, there is a good RC web site devoted to information about relics at
http://www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/relics_for_sale.html
I hope this satisfies your curiosity, folks !
I will try to post pictures of our relics tomorrow.
First port of call, as always, is your priest.
There is usually a stock of relics in each archdiocese, if only for the production of the antimension :-)
You just may be allowed to have a tiny fragment of a relic, if you are lucky.
Equally, your priest may not feel it is appropriate for you to have a relic at this time.
For Western saints, you may need to follow one of these routes, as historically many pre-Schism Western saints may not have been widely known in the East......
Other options.....
check out antique shops.
There have been very many thousands of relics distributed by the RC church over the years, and when families are clearing out after a relative has reposed, they may not be interested or even know what the relics are, and pass them onto an antique or second-hand shop. The owners of these shops may not know exactly what they are, either !!
EBay
Caveat emptor !!!
There are some wonderful relics on EBay, but I would advise only buying from a well-established trader with at least 99% positive feedback.
Be prepared to pay quite high prices. Having said that, last year I bought a tiny relic of St Lucy the Martyr for 40 dollars. Sometimes, you can strike lucky if there have been a few relics of a saint in quick succession and the market has been satiated..........
The fierce bidding on relics of Christ can be amazing. Personally, I would not think of bidding for these...after all, we receive Christ Himself in the Holy Mysteries..........
You need to look for relics which have their wax seals and threads intact, to show they have not been tampered with.
Relics with documents of authenticity from the ecclesiastical issuer of the relic always sell for more than those without documents. Always check that the wax seal of the relic is identical to that of the documentation.
You need to look for saints which are obviously Orthodox. Any before 1000AD would be likely to be a safe bet, with the exception of the later popes. An awful lot of relics on EBay are for very recent RC saints.
Having said that, I do have reservations about buying relics. Many of the relics were freely given by the RC Church, with the owner receiving documentation and only paying a *very* small sum for the cost of producing the metal case for the relic. Many relics now are changing hands for very large sums of money, which does not seem right to me.
RC Sources
It is still possible to obtain relics from the RC Church, if you are a priest. Although this obviously applies to RC priests, I would imagine that if there is good communication between the Orthodox and RC church in your area, there may be a chance that a RC bishop would agree to vouch for you, or your parish priest on your behalf, and forward a request for a particular pre-Schism relic to the Vatican.
All pre-schism saints` relics no longer are issued with authentication, by the way. Only if you purchase an antique intact relic case issued before Vatican 2 would you get documents.
Bear in mind that Vatican 2 decided to stop officially commemorating quite a few saints, including St Christopher.
For those interested, there is a good RC web site devoted to information about relics at
http://www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/relics_for_sale.html
I hope this satisfies your curiosity, folks !
I will try to post pictures of our relics tomorrow.
Enigma
I loved Philippa`s comment about our suit of armour ;-)
After all, it really isn`t what you would expect when you walk into a four bedroom, semi-detached house, is it ? A stately home, maybe, but an ordinary house ? !!!!
There again, there will be very few houses in our town where there will be icons either. Maybe some of the RC families` homes, but that`s about all.
Even more unusual for your average home is the fact that we are blessed with two relics, one of St Helen the Empress, Uncoverer of the Cross, and one of St Lucy the Martyr.
The two reliquaries are on the top shelf of the icon corner, out of harm`s way, though D4 (who will be 3 next month) will often take me by the hand, lead me to the icon corner and demand to be lifted up so she can kiss them with great reverence.
Sometimes I wonder what our daughters` friends make of our home....."Mum, they have a suit of armour...and a sword....and pictures of saints, and candles, and BITS OF DEAD PEOPLE !"
After all, it really isn`t what you would expect when you walk into a four bedroom, semi-detached house, is it ? A stately home, maybe, but an ordinary house ? !!!!
There again, there will be very few houses in our town where there will be icons either. Maybe some of the RC families` homes, but that`s about all.
Even more unusual for your average home is the fact that we are blessed with two relics, one of St Helen the Empress, Uncoverer of the Cross, and one of St Lucy the Martyr.
The two reliquaries are on the top shelf of the icon corner, out of harm`s way, though D4 (who will be 3 next month) will often take me by the hand, lead me to the icon corner and demand to be lifted up so she can kiss them with great reverence.
Sometimes I wonder what our daughters` friends make of our home....."Mum, they have a suit of armour...and a sword....and pictures of saints, and candles, and BITS OF DEAD PEOPLE !"
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Prayer request
Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Barbara, my dear step-father`s younger sister, who died yesterday.
Lord, have Mercy.
May her Memory be Eternal.
This will be the second funeral my step-father will have gone to in 6 weeks, following on from the death of his mother Evelyn. Very hard to bear.
Lord, have Mercy.
May her Memory be Eternal.
This will be the second funeral my step-father will have gone to in 6 weeks, following on from the death of his mother Evelyn. Very hard to bear.
More about the suit of armour
The suit of armour is 6 feet tall, made of steel, and it is *exceptionally* heavy.
It came from a man called Nigel Varney, who makes accurate reproductions of historical suits of armour, swords, shields etc.
DH has worn the helmet, and says it is comfortable but very heavy :-0
The armour is all sectioned, with leather straps to fasten the various sections. It *is* possible to wear it, but whether you would ever be able to move in it is another question entirely ! Now I understand why medieval knights needed their pages and servants to help them get on their horses before they went into battle.
I would imagine it is impossible to do most things without help if you were wearing this......
The sword is quite safe to have in the house, as it has been professionally blunted to be as safe as the edge on a butter knife, the tip has been filed round and it has been wired onto the knight`s fingers so it cannot come loose.
To remove the sword, the wires would need to be cut. Or , if you had nothing better to do, you could unstrap both arms, put them on with the sword affixed to your thumbs and wait for gravity to pull you down to the ground with a resounding clang if you attempted to wave the sword around........
It does look great, although I keep thinking there is someone in the room when I look out of the corner of my eye !
Oh, and its name is Big Dave.
I wanted Ethelbert, but I was outvoted.............
It came from a man called Nigel Varney, who makes accurate reproductions of historical suits of armour, swords, shields etc.
DH has worn the helmet, and says it is comfortable but very heavy :-0
The armour is all sectioned, with leather straps to fasten the various sections. It *is* possible to wear it, but whether you would ever be able to move in it is another question entirely ! Now I understand why medieval knights needed their pages and servants to help them get on their horses before they went into battle.
I would imagine it is impossible to do most things without help if you were wearing this......
The sword is quite safe to have in the house, as it has been professionally blunted to be as safe as the edge on a butter knife, the tip has been filed round and it has been wired onto the knight`s fingers so it cannot come loose.
To remove the sword, the wires would need to be cut. Or , if you had nothing better to do, you could unstrap both arms, put them on with the sword affixed to your thumbs and wait for gravity to pull you down to the ground with a resounding clang if you attempted to wave the sword around........
It does look great, although I keep thinking there is someone in the room when I look out of the corner of my eye !
Oh, and its name is Big Dave.
I wanted Ethelbert, but I was outvoted.............
Big Foot, Little Foot
Bruised....
WARNING !!!
Those of a sqeamish disposition may wish to skip this post. It involves Blood......
Today I went to the local hospital for a follow-up appointment with the Rheumatology department.
I saw a new consultant, who was very nice and extremely thorough. In fact, I wish she wasn`t quite so thorough :-)
She decided to run a wide spectrum of blood tests, which involved 11 vials of my lifeblood being painfully extracted from my arm. Normally, I quite like giving blood.......but.....
The phlebotomist doing the sampling was a bit harrassed as it was a busy clinic, and like the helpful person I am, I proferred the arm with THE VEIN.
I am usually a bit difficult to get blood from, except from one lovely juicy vein which is well-hidden below a layer of fat.
In other words, it is easily accessible but not easily visible.
Instead, she chose to go for an attractive little number, easily visible but also a treacherous, rolling, superficial vein, which of course got punctured right through in the course of the procedure and I now have an enormous and painful bruise as a consequence.
I don`t know if she was inexperienced, or tired, harrassed, fed-up, distracted, or just didn`t like me pointing out my good arm, but for whatever reason, she chose differently.
She did apologise profusely for the colourful bruise, which is 2 and a half inches long and still expanding, and she obviously wasn`t aware that I am "staff" , but in the days when I had to take blood, if a pregnant client said she had a "better" arm for taking blood, I would always take her word for it. No -one likes to have a painful bruise, and if someone has had blood taken before, they usually know roughly where the good vein was located.
Perhaps I was just lucky to have been taught to take blood by a lovely and very experienced midwife named Irene, who taught me to learn to feel good veins with my fingers, not just go for ones that look good. And yes, Irene was a phenomenally good midwife all round !
I am sure there is a moral here...even if it is just to *not* rely on appearances, not to allow my eyes to be deceived by the apparently easy option handed on a plate, but to look deeper, to test the tree by its fruit. All that glitters is not gold......
After that, the six X-Rays that were taken of my chest, lower spine, hands, feet and hips were a doddle :-)
And courtesy of the good old NHS, I only have to wait 3 months until the next appointment to find out the results ................
Those of a sqeamish disposition may wish to skip this post. It involves Blood......
Today I went to the local hospital for a follow-up appointment with the Rheumatology department.
I saw a new consultant, who was very nice and extremely thorough. In fact, I wish she wasn`t quite so thorough :-)
She decided to run a wide spectrum of blood tests, which involved 11 vials of my lifeblood being painfully extracted from my arm. Normally, I quite like giving blood.......but.....
The phlebotomist doing the sampling was a bit harrassed as it was a busy clinic, and like the helpful person I am, I proferred the arm with THE VEIN.
I am usually a bit difficult to get blood from, except from one lovely juicy vein which is well-hidden below a layer of fat.
In other words, it is easily accessible but not easily visible.
Instead, she chose to go for an attractive little number, easily visible but also a treacherous, rolling, superficial vein, which of course got punctured right through in the course of the procedure and I now have an enormous and painful bruise as a consequence.
I don`t know if she was inexperienced, or tired, harrassed, fed-up, distracted, or just didn`t like me pointing out my good arm, but for whatever reason, she chose differently.
She did apologise profusely for the colourful bruise, which is 2 and a half inches long and still expanding, and she obviously wasn`t aware that I am "staff" , but in the days when I had to take blood, if a pregnant client said she had a "better" arm for taking blood, I would always take her word for it. No -one likes to have a painful bruise, and if someone has had blood taken before, they usually know roughly where the good vein was located.
Perhaps I was just lucky to have been taught to take blood by a lovely and very experienced midwife named Irene, who taught me to learn to feel good veins with my fingers, not just go for ones that look good. And yes, Irene was a phenomenally good midwife all round !
I am sure there is a moral here...even if it is just to *not* rely on appearances, not to allow my eyes to be deceived by the apparently easy option handed on a plate, but to look deeper, to test the tree by its fruit. All that glitters is not gold......
After that, the six X-Rays that were taken of my chest, lower spine, hands, feet and hips were a doddle :-)
And courtesy of the good old NHS, I only have to wait 3 months until the next appointment to find out the results ................
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Why Didn`t I keep My Hands Off The Keyboard.......
Jim, I do so wish I hadn`t asked you about these RSS feed thingies !
I spent all yesterday on the Web researching, and I have now found a way of accessing feeds which does *not* require downloading the enormous WinDoze NET framework program first in order to then download a RSS reader :-)
It is a glorious, (and FREE !) web based gizmo called Bloglines at www.bloglines.com
I have now added all my favourite blogs (basically everything from Karl Thienes` site and then some) and am now on hourly updates.
What would take me the best part of an hour to manually visit each morning over my cup of tea is now more or less instant.........
Whatever happened to delayed gratification, I wonder :-)
Can you become addicted to blogging ?
I`m Elizabeth, and I am a blog addict........
I spent all yesterday on the Web researching, and I have now found a way of accessing feeds which does *not* require downloading the enormous WinDoze NET framework program first in order to then download a RSS reader :-)
It is a glorious, (and FREE !) web based gizmo called Bloglines at www.bloglines.com
I have now added all my favourite blogs (basically everything from Karl Thienes` site and then some) and am now on hourly updates.
What would take me the best part of an hour to manually visit each morning over my cup of tea is now more or less instant.........
Whatever happened to delayed gratification, I wonder :-)
Can you become addicted to blogging ?
I`m Elizabeth, and I am a blog addict........
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Problems, problems
Suddenly, it seems that almost everyone I know, or come into contact with, is struggling with heavy burdens.
On the Metanoia mailing list, there are many requests for prayers for seriously ill family members.
In our own family, we have one member on a 9 month waiting-list for a quadruple coronary by-pass operation, one person seriously injured in a deliberate arson attack on the nursing home where he lived, another member with serious lung disease caused by his occupation, a friend on dialysis who is on the kidney transplant list, another family member in hospital, a friend ill in hospital.........May Our Lord God bless, preserve and heal His suffering servants !
All reminders of how transitory our earthly life is, and how little time I may have left to turn away from my sin and repent. It is no good putting it off till I feel better, or have more energy, or more time. I need to start living a Christian life now, not a nominally Christian life.
Lord, have mercy ................
On the Metanoia mailing list, there are many requests for prayers for seriously ill family members.
In our own family, we have one member on a 9 month waiting-list for a quadruple coronary by-pass operation, one person seriously injured in a deliberate arson attack on the nursing home where he lived, another member with serious lung disease caused by his occupation, a friend on dialysis who is on the kidney transplant list, another family member in hospital, a friend ill in hospital.........May Our Lord God bless, preserve and heal His suffering servants !
All reminders of how transitory our earthly life is, and how little time I may have left to turn away from my sin and repent. It is no good putting it off till I feel better, or have more energy, or more time. I need to start living a Christian life now, not a nominally Christian life.
Lord, have mercy ................
The Cold Season
It is , literally, the cold season again !
The central heating is switched back on, warm jumpers have been unearthed to cope with the early morning and evening chill which creeps in, although our days are often very hot still.
But it is also the other cold season. I am currently sniffing and snuffling and sneezing, and I have lost my voice, Glory to God, so there is no point whatsoever in me bothering to shout (croak) at the children.
A time -out for me to learn some detachment and a chance to not let my angry thoughts pass through my lips.
Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining......... A-choooo. :-)
The central heating is switched back on, warm jumpers have been unearthed to cope with the early morning and evening chill which creeps in, although our days are often very hot still.
But it is also the other cold season. I am currently sniffing and snuffling and sneezing, and I have lost my voice, Glory to God, so there is no point whatsoever in me bothering to shout (croak) at the children.
A time -out for me to learn some detachment and a chance to not let my angry thoughts pass through my lips.
Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining......... A-choooo. :-)
Friday, September 17, 2004
Pictures At Last !
Well, ok, one picture........
This is my patron saint, St Elizabeth the New Martyr.
It seemed appropriate for my first picture upload !
If you need help posting pictures, go to the Blogger homepage and check out the new (and free!) Hello program. It must be idiot-proof, I`ve managed to use it .......
Work V Home...and Home Wins
Today is the last day that my husband will be working full time.
On Monday he starts part-time work, which means that he will only be away from home for two nights a week, instead of up to four nights.
It will be great to have him home, I miss him very much when he is working away. The income goes down, but the fun goes up !
We are looking forward to this sooo much.....he has had to spend so much time working away that he has sadly missed out on home life and watching the young `uns grow up. Of course , he has missed lots of the tantrums and other delights of life with children :-) LOL.
Now, *where* did I put that list of jobs that need doing around the house...........
On Monday he starts part-time work, which means that he will only be away from home for two nights a week, instead of up to four nights.
It will be great to have him home, I miss him very much when he is working away. The income goes down, but the fun goes up !
We are looking forward to this sooo much.....he has had to spend so much time working away that he has sadly missed out on home life and watching the young `uns grow up. Of course , he has missed lots of the tantrums and other delights of life with children :-) LOL.
Now, *where* did I put that list of jobs that need doing around the house...........
Parish Matters
I do not want to go into details, for fear of exacerbating the situation, but I would be grateful for prayers for our parish and especially for our priest and his wife.
At the moment the parish is divided with conflict generated and maintained by a small number of people.
Please God that this may soon be over, and with minimal damage.
The distress and hurt it has caused may well take longer to heal, unfortunately.
Lord, have mercy.
At the moment the parish is divided with conflict generated and maintained by a small number of people.
Please God that this may soon be over, and with minimal damage.
The distress and hurt it has caused may well take longer to heal, unfortunately.
Lord, have mercy.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
The Snail
As I type, there is a snail on the outside of my garden window.
It hasn`t moved at all since daybreak; it is just sitting there.
I cannot understand why it had the urge to crawl up a wall then onto a window, some four feet above the floor, just to stay there for the day.
There is no food for it......no companion snails, even.
Sometimes, things are just odd.
It hasn`t moved at all since daybreak; it is just sitting there.
I cannot understand why it had the urge to crawl up a wall then onto a window, some four feet above the floor, just to stay there for the day.
There is no food for it......no companion snails, even.
Sometimes, things are just odd.
Many Years !
Many Years to my beloved husband, who celebrates his birthday today !
That is obviously the main news for today, but another issue of note is that it has finally stopped raining, and I did not have to do the school walk with an umbrella :-)
As I spend nearly 80 minutes each school day walking the children to school, then walking home till it is time to collect them again, the weather is of great importance in my life..........it makes you appreciate the beauty of the changing seasons, which isn`t always the case when you are in a car.
I also have time to reflect when I am out walking, and as part of my path runs alongside a small lake, I get to see trees, ducks, swans and geese on a daily basis.
I think I am much luckier than those who have a car, as I have the time to appreciate the wildlife, rather than just zooming past in a car, barely giving these lovely things even a passing glance.........but when it is raining, I do envy those nice warm car !
That is obviously the main news for today, but another issue of note is that it has finally stopped raining, and I did not have to do the school walk with an umbrella :-)
As I spend nearly 80 minutes each school day walking the children to school, then walking home till it is time to collect them again, the weather is of great importance in my life..........it makes you appreciate the beauty of the changing seasons, which isn`t always the case when you are in a car.
I also have time to reflect when I am out walking, and as part of my path runs alongside a small lake, I get to see trees, ducks, swans and geese on a daily basis.
I think I am much luckier than those who have a car, as I have the time to appreciate the wildlife, rather than just zooming past in a car, barely giving these lovely things even a passing glance.........but when it is raining, I do envy those nice warm car !
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
I Have Links !
As you can probably guess, I have made a breakthrough with my struggle as to how and where to incorporate my blogrolling code into my blog, thanks to the kindness of Fr John McCuen, who talked me through it set -by-step.
I have *Links* ! I still need to tweak to get it right, but it is there !
Woo-hoo !
On the Home Front:
Abby continues to make good progress and is eating again. She does not seem to be in much pain now, which is a relief, as prior to surgery she was reluctant to eat because she was in so much pain.
I am slowly starting to de-stress after yesterday, but feel utterly worn -out.
I will be glad to go to bed tonight.
Tomorrow is DH`s birthday, and his present arrived today...a 6ft reproduction suit of armour.
I know, I know, but it is something he has always dreamt of since he was a small boy, and becoming 38 seemed to be the right time to get it, for some reason :-)
Once I work out how to get photos onto my blog, I will post a photo of the armour. It is very impressive...............
I have *Links* ! I still need to tweak to get it right, but it is there !
Woo-hoo !
On the Home Front:
Abby continues to make good progress and is eating again. She does not seem to be in much pain now, which is a relief, as prior to surgery she was reluctant to eat because she was in so much pain.
I am slowly starting to de-stress after yesterday, but feel utterly worn -out.
I will be glad to go to bed tonight.
Tomorrow is DH`s birthday, and his present arrived today...a 6ft reproduction suit of armour.
I know, I know, but it is something he has always dreamt of since he was a small boy, and becoming 38 seemed to be the right time to get it, for some reason :-)
Once I work out how to get photos onto my blog, I will post a photo of the armour. It is very impressive...............
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Abby Home Safe and Well
Dear friends,
Glory to God ! Abby`s operation went well.
We were told she would be intubated under anaesthetic for 45 minutes for extensive dental surgery. It was far more complex than the surgeon originally thought, and she was actually in theatre for almost 2 hours....................so DH and I were biting our fingernails down to the knuckles at this point !
She was in recovery/observation with us for a further 2 and 3/4 hours before the anaesthetic staff were happy for her to come home.
She has a fairly rare genetic disorder called Amelogenesis Imperfecta .
Put it this way, in our town of 18,000 souls there may be perhaps one child with AI.
Guess what, *both* of my youngest have it :-((((
It is like Brittle Bone Disease, but primarily only affects enamel, so their teeth initially appeared perfect when they first appeared, then literally lumps of enamel start to shear off the teeth, leaving the dentine underneath raw and exquisitely sensitive to pain, decay and infection.
Abby had her first op last December to remove 5 front upper teeth which had deteriorated so much in 6 weeks that they could not be saved.
Today she has had one further extraction of an unsalvageable tooth, plus one filling, plus stainless steel caps on all her back teeth to protect them as much as possible.
They are hopeful that the secondary teeth will be less badly affected.
Of course, because the baby teeth act as guides for the adult teeth to follow down, the loss of her baby front teeth means that she will require *extensive* orthodontic work at a later date to correct the inevitable problems as the adult teeth grow misaligned.
Not nice, but as my DH always says, there are many, many worse things than this disorder :-)
She is sitting watching Rugrats Go Wild and eating a cookie, and seems perfectly happy :-)
Thank you all so much for your prayers !
Glory to God for all things, and heartfelt thanks to the Theotokos, St Nicholas, Righteous Abigail, St Lucy, the Great Martyr St Barbara and her Guardian Angel for their intercessions.
Glory to God ! Abby`s operation went well.
We were told she would be intubated under anaesthetic for 45 minutes for extensive dental surgery. It was far more complex than the surgeon originally thought, and she was actually in theatre for almost 2 hours....................so DH and I were biting our fingernails down to the knuckles at this point !
She was in recovery/observation with us for a further 2 and 3/4 hours before the anaesthetic staff were happy for her to come home.
She has a fairly rare genetic disorder called Amelogenesis Imperfecta .
Put it this way, in our town of 18,000 souls there may be perhaps one child with AI.
Guess what, *both* of my youngest have it :-((((
It is like Brittle Bone Disease, but primarily only affects enamel, so their teeth initially appeared perfect when they first appeared, then literally lumps of enamel start to shear off the teeth, leaving the dentine underneath raw and exquisitely sensitive to pain, decay and infection.
Abby had her first op last December to remove 5 front upper teeth which had deteriorated so much in 6 weeks that they could not be saved.
Today she has had one further extraction of an unsalvageable tooth, plus one filling, plus stainless steel caps on all her back teeth to protect them as much as possible.
They are hopeful that the secondary teeth will be less badly affected.
Of course, because the baby teeth act as guides for the adult teeth to follow down, the loss of her baby front teeth means that she will require *extensive* orthodontic work at a later date to correct the inevitable problems as the adult teeth grow misaligned.
Not nice, but as my DH always says, there are many, many worse things than this disorder :-)
She is sitting watching Rugrats Go Wild and eating a cookie, and seems perfectly happy :-)
Thank you all so much for your prayers !
Glory to God for all things, and heartfelt thanks to the Theotokos, St Nicholas, Righteous Abigail, St Lucy, the Great Martyr St Barbara and her Guardian Angel for their intercessions.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Counting the Hours
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