Going Green Simply

here it is all rolled up!

I discovered in the last month a very convenient and simple way to go green–no matter what store I’m at. I bought a Chico bag.  It is the coolest invention for saving our earth from all those plastic bags!  It is a material bag that rolls up into a neat little holder that you can clip to your keys or purse or wherever you want.  I bought mine at Whole Foods Market (another great place to help us ‘go green’).  Now, I’m NEVER without a bag and I don’t have to be hassled with what to do with all those plastic bags!!!!!

 

 

here is what they look like opened!

um, okay I’m bored

um….ok….I guess I’m bored and boring these days on my blog.  I haven’t had much to say.  I’ve been so busy trying to get a new job, moving to another part of California, taking a grad class, living in a house full of people…that I haven’t had much to write.  So, I’m just checking in and saying hi to any of my fellow blog friends who still visit my quiet space.  Maybe I’ll have something to post soon. =)

my life in clovis

So most of my friend know that this past month I’ve taken a huge step in moving back to my hometown where I grew up. What has life been like for me these past few weeks?  Well, here’s a short little snippit:

1.  I went from living on my own to living with my parents and grandmother!  Huge adjustment!
2.  I went from having my own apartment to not having any of my own space.  I have a corner in an upstairs loft that is open so if anyone is up, I’m up.  I’m thankful for a nice place to put my head but doesn’t make it easy. =)
3.  I packed up my apartment that ended weighing 10,000 lbs worth of stuff (average for two bedroom apt is 4000-6500 lbs), Yikes! It’s all in storage right now but when it gets somewhere to live can you say garage sale?!
4.  Urban landscapes are exchanged for prairies for acres and acres and cows, horses, sheep, etc.  What a great way to be surrounded by!  The Sierra Nevadas look pretty in the summer too!
5.  Hot, hot, hot!  This week it was 110 degrees one day! This is an adjustment.

Besides all of this, I’m still trying to land a job so I can eventually move out into a place  of my own.  I’ve encountered less than favorable responses.  I would appreciate your prayers and thoughts during this adjustment!

Juno: The Accidental Pro-Life Film

If you haven’t seen the movie Juno, don’t worry I won’t spoil it here.  I recently saw it.  It’s a comedy about a teenage girl who is “unintentionally” pregnant-ed by her teenage boyfriend.  It is the story of her decision to give the child up for adoption to a seemingly ‘perfect’ yuppie couple instead of seeking a “hasty abortion” to quote her.  Well, the film takes some getting used to as it has the likings of a teenage cult-film along the lines of Napoleon Dynamite.  I’ve also heard that if you have kids in the 13-24 age bracket that it might freak you out a bit as to what kids are up to and talk about today.  So, I’ve also heard it’s one of those movies that gets better if you give a second and third try.  Anyhow, despite the Hollywood producers, it is an “accidental” pro-life film.  In my opinion, it is a redeeming film for that reason.  Beyond that, it has much redemptive value as we see choices we make in life change us and define us.  So, see Juno if you haven’t already and chime in if you want.

A Mosaic

I came across this mosaic awhile ago.  I absolutely love it and wish I could get an icon made of it, at least a copy.  It is a mosaic done in St. Jude Catholic Church in England (I think it was England).  Read more about it here.

A Question for God

Awhile back a friend of mine and I were having a discussion about what if we could ask God one thing what would we ask Him.  In this same conversation, she asked me if I could, as well, ask God for one thing what would I ask for.  It was sort of a hypothesis based on the story of Solomon in the OT and how he asked God for wisdom.  Well, I decided that if I could ask God to give me one thing (of an abstract, non-material kind) I would ask Him for peace.

Why peace?  Well, I’m one of those anxious, stuck-in-my-head-too-often kind of girls.  I think though that it is very hard to have consistent peace living in southern California, surrounded by traffic, traffic, more traffic, and media images of all sorts.  It’s a crazy world.

The first question of what I would ask God is not an original one.  After all, you hear all sorts of people joke about what they  are going ask God when they get to heaven and even some who are not joking.  I remember a time in my life where I would have said, “well, I wouldn’t ask God anything. He’s God and He owes me nothing.”  This is true but I think I prided myself that I would be so “spiritual” to not ask God a thing and this would mean I really loved him.  I think my thoughts since then, thank God, have metamorphosed.  I do believe that God is God and that He owes me nothing, but I think that I have found, over time, I have many questions I’d like to ask God.  These are not the sorts of questions one asks with fists raised towards heaven but rather my feeble heart wanting understanding where there has been left but a dim light.  I have many questions over the meanings of so many sayings of Jesus.  Jesus is hard to understand sometimes.  Actually,I think many of my questions are in regards to Scripture.  Most ardently though I think I would want to know:  What does it mean that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church?  It seems, however one defines the ‘church’, this statement seems only half-true.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Scripture is not true or something like that.  I am just saying that often I don’t understand the reality I live on earth and the heavenly kingdom reality and how and where they intersect. 

Hmm….so I guess when I come before God one day, maybe I will get a chance to ask Him my questions.  Maybe one day I will be graced with illumination to understand so many of the things I question and struggle over.  May God grant me, a sinner, many years!

You know it’s Bright Week when….

You know it’s Bright Week when. . . .

-on Wednesday, a normal fast day, you find yourself ordering beef tacos and getting giddy about it
-you find yourself taking every opportunity to eat meat every day of the week, after all this isn’t a week like any other
-several times you find yourself humming “The Angel Cried”
-every Orthodox you know constantly greets you with “Christ is Risen!”
-you open your refrigerator and see your red Paschal egg
-you feel a bit lighter than the week before, for Lent is over, and you feel the joy of the resurrection
-you’ve traded the prayer of St. Ephream with the thrice prayer: “Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”

Happy Bright Week!  The Darkness has fled, for Christ has had victory!

Christ is Risen!

Cristos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Christos Voskrese!

I’m sort of blog-stealing this from Fr. Stephen Freeman’s blog but enjoy anyways!

Translation:

People rejoice, nations hear:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Stars dance, mounts sing:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Forests murmur, winds hum:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Seas bow*, animals roar:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Bees swarm, and the birds sing:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!

Angels stand, triple the song:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Sky humble yourself, and elevate the earth:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Bells chime, and tell to all:
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!
Glory to You God, everything is possible to You,
Christ is risen, and brings the joy!

The Journey Begins

This week is what the Orthodox call “holy week.”  It is the week that we journey with Christ, beginning with Palm Sunday (this last Sunday) towards the cross.  As we journey with Christ to the cross, we look expectantly towards the resurrection.  We’re reminded that as we partake in His death, so shall we partake in His resurrection.  Just like Lazarus last Saturday, with Lazarus Saturday, Christ made the universal resurrection of man possible.  This Holy Thursday and Friday, we will lament, as did the Mother of God, the death of our Lord.  This weekend though we will rejoice at His resurrection and our eventual resurrection as much as we are in Him.  For we are those who “look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

 

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and if you want ideas on how you can help preserve creation click here.  Also, I’ve begun to think that ecology or caring for the earth is a theological issue.  Here is an article on the relationship between Orthodoxy and ecology.